Quote: snowie "You both have a tendency to suck them up at junior level, it's no wonder they have stars in there eye'"
This is a more interesting argument. It’s definitely easy to get into a logic loop of “do the two academies attract the best young players because they’re most likely to become professional players, or are the two academies most likely to produce professional players because they attract the best young players”?
I know Saints put a lot into attracting the youngsters they want. Before Covid the Australia tour was seen as a massive incentive to join. I don’t know how other clubs approach attracting young talent and it’s very much back to MildRovers original hypothesis of money which may be a differentiating factor. I suspect Saints and Wigan spend the most in junior rugby and coaching. The question is is the likely difference more or less than say what Warrington have spent on marquees