Exactly, recruiting players and of the right quality is a majr priority for any sports club.
Rochdale supporters can now be excited about the fact that they're likely to have a handful of players who are on the fringe of a superleague squad (fit, strong, proffesionally trained lads who are likely focussed on building a career in rugby league). They also have access to a coach that has been in an enviroment learning his trade with a Superleague club, so likely has seen more cutting edge practises.

I'd say its quite a boon for the club and that, given we have one of the better youth production set ups, clubs associated will do well out of us.

So all Saints players who are 20+ years old and not one of the five allowed to play for Rochdale are expected to be playing for Whitehaven or not playing at all. What happens with all the players reaching 20?, are they just surplus.

I guess if they don't make that cut, then yes, they will be surplus to Saints. They'll have to find themselves a new club, I suppose. That's no big loss to Saints, but its not great for RL as a whole.
Its may help bring on these slow bloomers better by forcing them towards looking for first team action for lower league clubs in a sink or swim situation, but I can't help thinking that most will go back to their amature local clubs and playing for fun.

So when wheeler isn't injured, where will he be playing?

Rochdale, i think?

Hope their hospitals have been warned, they'll nee to put a bed aside each weekend.

It seems that Mike Rush won't be involved in coaching perhaps.
In the statement on the club's website they describe Rushy as "Saints General Manager Mike Rush".
That's a move which is hardly unexpected.

Quote: SaintsFan "Exactly. Arrogance. Mike Rush's coaching was pretty turd but would we like it if Rochdale Hornets sidelined him and appointed their own coach over our players? No. We wouldn't. (Well, actually, I wouldn't care a damn but I'd hate the principle of the thing) It was perfectly possible for Rochdale to have Matt Calland as their head coach and for Talbot to be the youth coach, which is precisely what he is.'" Why would Saints want a drugs cheat coaching their young players. I doubt Castleford and their drinking culture did anything for Scott Moore. www.examiner.co.uk/huddersfield- ... -13206756/ Ensuring that our juniors get coached properly is not arrogant it is professional. Rochdale will get a lot out of the partnership. Good coaching, better training facilities and some extra fans. I will definitely make my way down to Spotland next year.

Quote: SaintsFan "Exactly. Arrogance. Mike Rush's coaching was pretty turd but would we like it if Rochdale Hornets sidelined him and appointed their own coach over our players? No. We wouldn't. (Well, actually, I wouldn't care a damn but I'd hate the principle of the thing) It was perfectly possible for Rochdale to have Matt Calland as their head coach and for Talbot to be the youth coach, which is precisely what he is.'" Why would Saints want a drugs cheat coaching their young players. I doubt Castleford and their drinking culture did anything for Scott Moore. www.examiner.co.uk/huddersfield- ... -13206756/ Ensuring that our juniors get coached properly is not arrogant it is professional. Rochdale will get a lot out of the partnership. Good coaching, better training facilities and some extra fans. I will definitely make my way down to Spotland next year.

Saints were quite happy standing by another kind of cheat when it suited them. Longy served a lengthy ban if memory serves.


And you know that Matt Calland, with assistance from Saints, wouldn't have coached them properly how exactly?

I know. How violated must the Preston North End fans have felt when Manchester United gave them David Beckham for a few games.

I suspect that the same players will turn out for the same clubs. With the better players honeymooning in the lakes (poor bar stewards). Ashe, Forster, Greenwood and Maggenis, assuming he is still at the club, would be good candidate.

As for Gary Wheeler I am sure he will be at Saints full time, probably at right centre.

And Gleeson got shipped off. While Long is the only one of the big three not to have a job at the club (currently). Other players like Moore and Bannister have been released for doing less than Calland.



I don't know if he would or would not do a good job and more importantly neither do Saints. But Saint do know Talbot will do a good job. A good professional that I have had the pleasure of watching a number of times. He has also never been banned for drugs or betting against his own team, which is a plus. Calland has a role at Rochdale so Saints can see how he does in that role. If he plays his cards right it could be a great move for him.

If Ian Talbot does well at Rochdale coaching the team there, then it also opens up a career pathway for him to bigger and better things.

Same goes for other young coaches.

At present its basically SL or bust for wannabee top line coaches. The likes of Shaun Wane have gone from being under 20 coaches to being in charge of some of SL's best players. That represents a massive step up, and im sure Wigan would have preferred Wane to have made an interim move to coaching say Leigh (while still employed by Wigan) so that he could find his feet there, before being thrown head first into SL.

This is how the aussies work with their system. They also use SL as a final finishing school.

That doesn't make it better.

Once we start to think for ourselves again, like grown ups should do, we will start making progress IMO. At present though there is this ridiculous notion that just because it happens in Australia it is the best and we should follow without question.

So you are happy to use the Championships in the same way the NRL uses SL then? If so, that smacks of the same kind of arrogance.

I really don't see why it is using. If it works well, it will be a symbiotic eelayionship that both sides benefit from. I would be more worried as a Rochdale speccie if saints weren't taking it so seriously. In the end, it will only benefit saints if it improves Rochdale, it certainly is of no use to saints if Rochdale go down the tubes.