Quote:
wolfinwidnes "Quote: wolfinwidnes "your youth academy is still rather unproductive (dunno if you are improving in that aspect?) and crowds still a fair bit behind Wigan, Saints, Leeds...
sure you are doing well right now and improving quite rapidly, but you need to prove that your success is sustainable'"
Let me just quash the myth that our acadamy doesnt produce. Against wakey we had one aussie and eight players that have come through our acadamy on the field.
Here are some notables from our non existent acadamy.
Ben harrison
Matty blythe
Tyrone mcarthy
Rhys evans
Rhys williams
Chris riley
Jordan burke
Brad dwyer
Ben currie
Gareth o'brien
Mike cooper
All those have played sl games this year others include
Lee mitchell on loan at cas
James laithewaite on dr at leigh
Glenn riley on dr
Ryan shaw on dr
James mendieka on dr
There are probably others I have forgotten but id say that is pretty impressive'"
Its not impressive because not one of the players mentioned are key players for your club or even the best player in there position. The same couldnt be said about Leeds, wigan or saints.
Your key players are - Briers, Morley, Monnaghan, Hodgson, Westwood. Not Blythe, evans, williams and o'brien.
The difference between those clubs is that Leeds, Saints and Wigan could all put out a team purely from academy graduates and get in the play offs Warrington couldnt.
In full strength 17 by my reckoning Leeds would have 11 academy graduates, Wigan also 11, Saints 8 and warrington just 4.
Back on topic the Hull derby is the most passionate imo. As a Leeds fan I look forward to playing wigan and saints more than i do bradford. it was a good game when we were rubbish and they were class and even better when we were both quality circa 03-05 since they went down hill it doesnt excite me anymore!!
