I know a few lads who have come through at Leeds and a few who have fallen away for all sorts of reasons, i've yet to find one who has a bad word to say about the youth set up at Leeds.

One player in particular that left recieved all the help he needed from the coaches at the club, they went above and beyond to help sort him out.

So i agree with you 100%


On another note i believe Cas have been hard done to from what i know of the set up down the lane.

For me the proof of the pudding is in the eating - ie how many top class players or volume of at least SL standard players should be the main marker.

How many "Top Class" players have Cas & HKR produced over the last 5 years?

As for Wakey, I can't think of any (but the fact the Burgess brothers are all from Wakefield and the 3 trained over here came through Bradford & Leeds academies speaks volumes.)

No its because you had a knight in shining armour who came to your rescue so you didn't have to sell them. Other clubs weren't so lucky.

How about all the others over the time you've been in SL?


Again Smokey, we aren't talking about players that are world beater are we?


Again Smokey this is your opinion. Cas have produced the quality and quantity. Hull KR are starting to produce them,


So you've actually produced 5 or 6 first team regulars. Sutcliffe wouldn't even be in the first team if it wasn't for the mounting injury list.


At a time when there was no salary cap and having a very rich benefactor who financed it.

Leeds' owner has never subsidised the club. He is the only owner in the league who takes dividends out.

Never? Even back in the dark days when they were about to go under?

Daz Clark ??? Usually it takes more than 5 years for 'top class' players to learn. Out of interest could you define 'top class players' please.

There is no need for Wigan/Warrington and Leeds to sign Cas players because they can pay for and bring through their own because of a) money and b) attraction of being at a big club.

However, your ridiculing of Cas is quite amusing given the side currently top of the league (Huddersfield) features several ex-Cas academy players, which is a lot more than Leeds have done this season. To name them for you: Lunt, Blackmore, Cording, Dawson, not to mention Ferres has come from a Cas conurbation and Larne Patrick is from nearby Pontefract.

Well for instance look at the players coming out of the top academies making up a decent part of the England squad. I'd say top class is those getting regular rep honours for England.

Yep that's what I'd say too. The challenge for those on a 3 grade is to start developing quality players not just squad fillers at bottom half of the table teams. For some to gloss over the lack of quality by simply pointing at a handful of average to poor players is not helpful to anyone.

So, what have the clubs/areas judged to be better produced ???

A Leeds fan and a Wakey fan getting cheap digs in at Cas..... I'm amazed, honestly

Shaun Lunt, a hooker that you would have happily taken at Leeds after last season and a hooker who really should be in the international set-up?

And regarding Patrick/Ferres, I merely included them to point out how fruitful Castleford as an area is to subsidise the Cas produced players. It was made to illustrate just how elitist and disingenuous you are because you hate Cas, much as you dress it up otherwise.

Shaun Lunt is a good player. He isn't evidence of a succeeding youth development system. The fact Ferres and Patrick are from places not too far from Cas isn't evidence of Cas Tigers youth development system working.

As a game we can look at our failings and address them, or we can ignore them and pretend they don't exist with spurious arguments about players being born in nearby villages, how other clubs are 'lucky' or that criticism is just because others hate your club.

The funny thing is, I would love clubs like Cas and hkr to improve and challenge, but as long as they keep burying their heads, my club keeps lifting trophies

Not cheap digs at Cas, you are producing good, solid SL players and are considerably better at producing talent than most of the league, but all the top players are coming from the select few academies. If the rest of SL could all reach Wigan and Leeds standards it would increase the pool of top players, improving playing standards in SL and Internationals.

I think licensing was the right way to go about trying to achieve this, but it's been poorly executed this time round.

So you support our argument that Castleford is undeserving of it's 3 rating and should be a 2. Not quite upto Wigan/Leeds/Saints standards but better than most of the other sides in the league.