Quote: Wales for super L "The England Academy squad to tour Austrialia has been named. There are 6 players from Wigan, 5 from Leeds, 3 from St Helens, 3 from Warrington, 3 from Bradford, 1 from Hull FC, 1 from Huddersfield and 1 from Salford.
There are no players from Hull KR, Wakefield, Castleford, Widnes or London. When are these clubs going to wake up and realise the benefits of investing in youth development. I think its not coincidence these are the clubs regularly finishing outside the top 8. Maybe its time to start being a bit more forceful, something like 20% of all players wages must be spent on those eligble for U20's.'"
clearly widnes need to invest in youth
I would just like to point out that The widnes academy team won the valvoline academy competition a year or two back, twonking all the 'big' teams in the process. jack owens has played for England academy in the past couple of years and we also had a lad in the squad against france, was it last week?
we have also given superleague debuts to half a dozen academy products this year.
also, how can we 'regularly' finish outside the top eight? its our first season back in superleague.