I know someone who plays for under 18s at west bowling and stanningley in fact. I watch them nearly every week and the division which is the top division in yorkshire is at a very good standard. Title contenders are west hull, bowling and stanningley. With hull and bowling the strongest i would say. Why arent bulls looking to sign anyone of these players up. There are players that are signed up with clubs which is fair enough but there are plenty of players who dont have a club and are quality players. I see medley and other scouts come to watch players that have outstanding games week on week and nothing happens. Just seems a waste when they are doing so well and seem a lot better than the standard they play at. Why dont the bulls take advantage of this, there is players in this league with a lot of potential.

Who says they haven't been looking at them?

just saying that I haven't seen anyone picked up by a club

I guess there’s no simple answer. I remember Medley saying that young kids tend to want to go to the successful clubs or those that offer decent money. The Bulls can offer a clear pathway to the 1st team but I’d also imagine that since we went into admin we’ve a bit of a damaged reputation. That said a lot of our youngsters go on to get places at other clubs e.g. Patrick, Wardle, Ferres, Atkins etc.

I wonder if many of those kids are cut out for making a career in professional RL. It’s a big commitment if you’re going to make it. There’s a lot of distractions at that age. The club will only want to and be able to invest in those that are mature enough to qualify.

To be honest, I've wondered for a while if the Whitehead saga, and then losing Bateman, will have soured the club a little on how much time and money they invest into the academy.

When you get the benefits, it works out very well. But we do not have a good record at holding on to the best talents that come through, or not recently anyway, and it would be difficult for them not to wonder what the point is sometimes.

Like Whitehead and Bateman? Though I suppose they at least commanded a fee when they moved on

I think applying the maturity test could be going a bit far - besides before you know it could be expanded to cover posters on RAB?

Are you suggesting folk on here are immature?

We will never know if Bateman,Whitehead,Kopzcak would still be Bulls players if the club had been run right these last few years

I do think that Cummings is far more open to looking at youngsters after he saw how successful they were at Leeds. Nobby and Elliot were more about instant success. I doubt many youngsters will come through at Salford in the next few years. We do need the youth set up now and for the next few years. We should be investing in them and telling them that they will get a chance if they work hard enough. My question back to CleckBull would be - how many have been signed by other SL clubs?

According to wickipedia here's who debuted who came through our academy under Elliott and Noble.

Debuts under Elliott (6 seasons) - Fielden, Peacock, L, Pryce, Deacon, Sykes, Stanley.

Debuts under Noble (5 and a bit seasons) - Langley, Parker, K, Pryce, Bridge, Kopczak, Ferres, Moore, Reardon, Smith & Cook.

Debuts under McNamara (4 and bit seasons) - James, S,Burgess, Halley, Hawkyard, Johnson, Carlile, Crookes, Whitehead, Olbison, Donaldson, Finegan, Addy, Southernwood, Wardle, Crossley.

Some of the lads at WB were at bulls but released when money troubles started

The standard in the amateur is the lowest ive seen in years those that look good at bowling now only do so because the others are poor. The basics are just basic one player thinks hes miles better than the rest and tries to do things that he can only do in his heaf. Leeds have got the best 2 from drig the bulls the next best. Thees a fb and scum half at batley u13s who are immense. The fb knows exactly when to hit the line knows exactly where and when the scrum halfs gonna kick the ball.. we need to look at these 2 as soon as we can cos they incredible.

Shaw Cross have the best halfback partnership in the country at Under 13's (Not my words, but those of the bloke who has been in charge of youth development at Wigan for an age!) . Wigan are all over them, as are Wakey. The Bulls would be mad not to keep an eye on them.

The two lads at shaw cross are good players but imo the team has suffered over the past couple of years has everything went through them has a result they have been found wanting and have been passed by plenty of half backs in that age group.