Have we been drinking again

The new structure does not benefit the smaller clubs in SL, it ensures that they will be playing in a relegation league every season.
What it does ensure, is that the top six, plus 2 others will dominate the league more than they currently do, probably leading to an even smaller
top flight in the next few years.

It does allow a possible promotion for Leigh, Bradford, London or Featherstone but, of course they too will still have to get lucky when the relegation league comes around each season.

Although there is some merit in the comment you make regarding the salary cap, this was only brought about to prevent other clubs trying to
follow the lead of the leagues biggest club, Wigan, who bought success and almost bankrupted the game.

Maybe, you haven't travelled outside the big city of Leeds very often but, you really should take note of the numbers and quality of junior set up's
in the areas around the clubs that you are talking about. Without which, there would be somewhat fewer youngsters taking up the game, which would
make the player pool very small indeed.

Perhaps the big 4 should just play with each other and leave the rest "behind" ???

Makes me laugh when I read about how Leeds rhinos have this amazing scholarship system when the truth is that it's full of young lads from Wakefield Castleford and Featherstone.

Then there's the Academy which is packed full of players who have spent 2 to 3 years in scholarship systems of so-called smaller clubs only for Leeds to come in for them when they are 16 years old and offer them more money to go to Headingley.

I accept that that is the way of the world and it's the nature of sport but for fans of the bigger clubs to then come on the forum and start criticising the smaller clubs for not producing players is downright pathetic.

what right pathetic is a pro club expecting some kind of acknowledgement for that fact that another club scouted and trained and developed a player who at some stage lived quite near them .

The lads playing for the Leeds Rhinos academy have the square root of F all to do with the pro clubs in Wakefield, Cas and Featherstone. That these places are a hotbed of amateur players playing for the big clubs is not source of pride for those pro clubs, it should be a source of shame.

It makes me laugh that we see fans of these smaller clubs arguing that because a lad in the leeds academy once went to nostell priory it is somehow necessary that we have 3 pro clubs in Wakefield.

Could you say its a source of shame then for amateur clubs in a large city like Leeds if the Rhinos look in other districts constantly for junior players?.

Lol at that, all of it!

So a kid from Castleford, who attends Castleford Academy school which has strong links with Castleford Tigers, who's spent 7 years playing for Castleford Lock Lane and 3 years being trained by Castlefords Tigers youth system, who when turning 16 is tempted to Leeds by a few extra grand has the square root of F all to do with Castleford?

Don't talk daft. There are a ton of players from Leeds playing SL for Leeds and for other clubs.

Cas tigers? Yes. An RL professional isn't made at 14. It's a pretty pathetic claim to fame that the club is near where a player lived for a time.

In that one statement you betray the fact that you know F All about player development

at 14 a kid is naturally talented, at 16 a kid is naturally talented, they aren't pro's.

I have seen players look world beaters at 16, absolute quality ready to be pro, I've seen those same kids.be semi pro by 20 and go on to do nothing in the the game.

The biggest effect clubs have on youth development is taking naturally talented kids and make them pros. That is the difficult part and our game is littered with players who were brilliant at 13/14/15/16/17/18 and went on to do nothing because the important part of their development failed.

Looking at 14 year old and seeing he is talented is the easiest part of youth development. It's the bare minimum a club can do and still claim to be doing youth development. Taking them and making them pro's is the tough part.

Claiming good youth development on the basis a kid has contact at 14 is pathetic, in fact it's embarrassing. Players are nowhere near pro at that age. The best evidence is I'm fact Wakefield, how many of their grand final youth team 2009 made an SL career?

As I stated, your knowledge of what happens within modern youth sport development programmes is worse than poor!

Keep digging though eh!

Oh go on then name them then.... you know you want to

16 x NRL U20's sides......say 400 players. Tell me purdie, how many do you think step up to the NRL?

What's that got to do with what's being discussed Nutterfax

How many kids that show promise actually make the grade.