thats what i'm saying - we can all put a list of potential teams we could put out, doesn't mean those players are ever going to be good enough though.
i cant wait till most of SL puts out all homegrown players but till then all clubs need to work hard to achieve this.

Are Cas not close??

Apparently not.


I could put out a list of 17 to look good like "the clan" has. But I won't.

thats the point i made...yes Wakefield might be able to list 17 homegrown players but realistically how many of those listed are going to make and impact in SL in the future ?

I can see something like that happening; one of the big clubs resting their big international names, but, rather than saying that, making a point of selling it as "rotating the squad to give the youngsters a chance" and display the wealth of young English talent at the club. They'd get a nice bit of PR out of deliberately fielding a weakened team.

It wasn't a d!€{ measuring contest or meant as a slight against any club, the point being made is that a number of clubs ARE playing a 17 that only has 3 or 4 non Fed players. That's a he'll of an improvement and maybe a sign that one or two clubs are close to regularly fielding a 1st choice and strong home grown team.

Why does every thread have to degenerate in this way!

Yeah and more often then not, we're one of them clubs that out of 17 have only played 3/4 non fed players. Not sure why you failed to recognise that because it's been fairly common knowledge this season.

Its a difficult question to answer though. I don't think you can definitively say one club will get their first. All clubs have strong home-grown policies now, thanks the licensing system. For all that folk get hysterical about the amount of Aussies in the league we're in a better situation now than ten years ago. Clubs are gradually moving away from the reliance on foreign players, but its going to be a while off yet before we get to a situation where there isn't a non-Fed in the starting 17.

If I were a hazard a guess I would say though Wigan, Leeds, Saints and Hudds all have great home-grown policies, which they successfully put in to practice and are reaping the rewards they won't be the first to achieve it. Teams like these sign quality non-Fed players. On the one hand its to strengthen the squad and on the other it brings the star-quality to the club, which gets bums on seats. These clubs invest far too much time and money into these players and they're not going to stop anytime soon.

Its most likely going to be the clubs lower down the rungs. They don't have the money for the stars and are discovering that you can get a better squad together with local youngsters. As Jonny said Leigh have already done it and I would imagine its for this reason; its cheaper. It won't be long before Cas, Wakey, Quins, whoever, do it, but we're still a few seasons off, unless a big club rests their big players for the first round of the CC as I said above.

the point i was making is its all well and good teams putting out 17 'token' english players to look good on paper but they have to be competitive and upto standard.

pointless saying 'my club can put out 17 english players ' and then listing 16 / 17 year old kids who, chances are, wont get anywhere near Super standard in their careers

Wellens, Gardner, Shenton,Wheeler,Foster, Lomax, Gaskell, James, Roby, Clough,LMS, Wilkin, Dixon, Pyrce, Moore, Magennis, Eastmond would make a very good 17 from Saints ............12 of those already been in the England training squad.

Workington Town put out 17 Cumbrians at the weekend and usually have 16 Cumbrians and our 1 Australian any other week.

Who be that?