You are totally wrong there , Derek said a couple of years ago he wanted to invest in an Academy side , but was turned down by the RL , folk keep talking as if he’s a fickle fly by night , but he is a very Loyal man and we are lucky to have him in charge , and he’s been in charge nearly 10 years now , and has stated he will be at Leigh for a while yet .

Very true mate , Derek was told Leigh wouldn’t be allowed to run an Academy side , so he puts his heart and soul into having a decent squad .

The RFL don't want academies being run by anyone other than SL clubs if they're in existing RL heartlands. Hence our troubles earlier this season.

I guess the benefits of having an academy depend on how well it's run. Is our still as well run as it was when John Bastian was in charge?

The dilemma is that the better the academy performs, producing quality players the less the club benefits as they move on.

If £200k is the figure then what is that as a proportion of the budget and what does a top end Championship player earn? Would there be a small group of players earning £40k, with an even smaller group at full time clubs earning what Leulia and Asiata are getting? On the basis of these total guesses, do we get 4 or 5 top end championship players benefit? If Leigh/Fev are touching a million we must be nearer 600k so that is a huge chunk. Worth it?

I'd say No. If anything the benefit goes to other clubs who we're competing with for a place in SL. The club never made a song and dance about the academy until McNamara when it became a distraction from what was happening on the field.

Yes, I did not apportion blame for the non-level playing field. I was aware that Leigh had been knocked back in their attempt and I believe that Featherstone also made noises about wanting to run Reserves.

No, the problem is with the structure of the game. And the blame rests with the RFL and SL.

The Bulls are required to run an Academy whether they want to or not, yet Leigh are not allowed to run one even though they want to.

Is that fair? Does it even make sense? All it does is create a playing field that benefits Leigh and Featherstone - it's not necessarily their fault, and as Charlie Caroli says, Beaumont is only playing the hand he has been dealt.

Apparently they've now decided that SL must run Academy's, even though Salford never have. It will interesting to see what happens next year when Leigh or Fev get promoted. Will they be required to run an Academy? If so, they'll hardly have got it up and running before being relegated the next year and - presumably - having to close it down

The game is being run by clowns!

Seeing as the club fought so hard to retain its academy how can it be a requirement? Does academy receive some kind of funding if a player goes on to play super league?Is not much of the cost offset by compensation,Storton/Milne's 100k,Wilson 100k+, Butterworth 35k,Scurr to come? You also get a year or two 1st team seasons out of the good young players for absolute peanuts.

I get the argument about us missing out on signing proven players and us producing players for other clubs but you have to balance that against the players we keep and the money their transfers bring in. I also believe it's better for the game for clubs to run academies. The more opportunities for players the better. Although that's all very well provided you can afford it.

Keep. If we ditch it then no more good youngsters even though we have struggled to keep them over the last decade or so. Spend all our money on over price primadonnas and don't go up then we have lost everything.
Going up would be lovely - as long as we can compete but we would then need our young players coming through. For me it is nice to bring on our own lads and shouldn't be a case of one or the other.

Good for the game. Good for the young players of the area and the community as a whole. Good for Hull KR.

But good for Bradford Bulls? The supporters. I don't see it. Clubs with smaller fanbases are spending more than us (not necessarily owing to the academy). I think the next 4/5 weeks are pivotal in many ways. Big decisions will need to be made about the coaching set up and the direction of the direction of the club, possibly including the academy, as what's going on at Odsal right now doesn't add up.

I still stay keep it.

Remember the show ponies that refused to dig in and play with pride in the shirt? Those that put us back into financial trouble and landed us with Chalmers?

Far better to be rolling over to get our tummies tickled on the cheap if you ask me.

Don't forget you'll lose interest from grass roots if the local 'professional' club has no interest.

Hudds and Leeds will fill the void at amateur level in Bradford and who will those parents go watch? Won't be anyone in Red, Amber and Black.

What do you mean doesn’t add up?

I suppose playing in a 25k stadium and paying 200k for an academy while unable to beat Sheffield on our own pitch, with a 67 year old coach who doesn't do the coaching. Players who seem to have issues with diet. It's odd.

What does that mean?

Genuine question

A poster on here goes and watches training and Kear isn't there apparently.

Apparently he was in a meeting with Jonathan Ford that day!