Sam was a bit of a freak though - in the nicest possible way? You'd not say George and certainly Tom are at the stage he was at, despite making good progress nonetheless? Would you throw George in now where we did Sam? Depends on the individual, surely? Donno looked ready for it, for example?

Penny was a problem in defence. I liked the look of Finnigan, though - he seemed more than capable of mixing it with the other side's big buggers?

Agree totally re throwing in too many youngsters cos the first team is crocked/crap.

Must agree Penny had a poor defence, and for that reason i would hope Bradford would go know where near him, as we cannot afford to leak any more tries than we already do.

"Cannot afford to leak any more tries than we already do..." Amen to that, brother...!

Maybe Sam Burgess was a bad example. All I'm saying is if a lad is good enough, at say 17-18, then they deserve a go in first team without a worry that it's too soon. Then if they perform deserve to stay in the team ahead of probably more experienced players. I guess this is where you really have to trust the coaching staff.

I've never understood why Bradford has produced so many good forwards but rarely good backs, especially with real pace ( Leon Pryce?). Only reason i could ever come up with is that most of our coaching staff have always been ex forwards. More knowledge in the area.

Kevin Penny has zero RL talent, he's got a bit of pace and thats it. Thats why he hasnt made it as a SL player.

According to my Quins supporting pal Penny has come on quite a bit since the dark days when he came through.

Thought he had either signed or was signing for Wakefield according to a lot of our fans.

Worrincy and Penny? Are you preparing for a drop into the NL or something? Can't believe a SL club wants Worrincy!

Not heard the Worrancy rumour, but Belle Vue is the centre for unwanted SL players so it wouldn't surprise me. In a couple of years time you may find Bradford are in a similar position.

I don't necessarily think that Sam is a bad example. He was seventeen and he was ready, history is the judge of that. The real problem only comes about when it leads you to believe that this is the norm, because it isn't, it's an exception. It was different times as well though, the team was still playing reasonably well at the time, certainly better than now, which always makes the transition easier.

I agree that any kids doing well should be left in the side. It is up to the coaches, and they, I'm sure, would recognise that all players are individuals, and that some will cope with the step up better than others. Some can just be left and others need more nurturing, good coaches will know the difference and act accordingly.

If Michael Worrincy gets another SL contract then his agent should change his name to Jesus Christ because you will never seen a bigger miracle

He's got to be in the running for the worst player in SL, not a chance he'll be at Wakey next year, thankfully.

I'll never forget his first game at Headingley when he scored those two fantastic tries.

Not to mention the one he scores at Knowsley Road against St Helens.

Sometimes it's pretty tough to tell which kids will kick on and which kids will sink when given a shot at SL.

Some kids really stand out at an early age and you just feel that they're destined to make it, where as some kid's come from absolutely no where but then go on and step up to first team level with ease

I watch the Rhinos academy sides regularly, last season Chris Clarkson looked a very good solid player with bags of potential, but was never a stand out player that you went home and raved about, but he has been given a chance by the club and he has seamlessly made the transition into an established SL player, and one who still looks as solid, and as promising, but at a far higher level and has only trained part time.

Where as on the other side of the coin, we have a 16 year old kid at the club now who looks to be a real bolter for SL stardom called Stevie Ward, now if this kid doesn't make it to the very top, then i promise that i'll buy a Bulls calendar and hang it up in my kitchen or my daughters bedroom..................

IMO all of the SL clubs will have both of these type of players in their academy squads, its about which ones get the opportunity like Clarkson has.

Your one to watch is James Donaldson imo, he looks a tremendous prospect

The Bulls have given him a shot this season, and he must have played at least half a dozen SL games, is he 18 yet ?