Quote: Greg Florimos Boots "Imagine an ideal world where players from catchment areas got assigned to their local pro clubs with funding from the RFL to improve them and also to pay the amateur club that produced them. Then they stay at that club for a minimum of say a couple of years and if a SL team or anyone wants to take them they have to pay a fee again with a % of that fee going to the amateur club. We can only dream of a system like that which could improve the whole game but the top clubs would never go for it.'"
That's fine in principle GFB but, like you earlier post, it misses the point somewhat.
Players don't become good professonals because of the particular blades of grass they train on, but by the quality of the training given. The facilities and coaches are not all equal. The Bulls' academy is rated amongst the best in RL, better than many SL clubs, in fact. It is also very expensive to run and is without doubt, with the possible exception of players wages, probably our biggest expenditure. The RFL were adamant that it should continue when the new guys took over, so they can also see the benefit of it. I'm not knocking what is available at other clubs, they do what they can, but it doesn't mean they offer the same coaching, or chances, as others.