Quote Saddened!="Saddened!"The academy setup looked mega. What happens if any of those players turn out to be good? Is there a logical path for them?'"
The academy's being supported by Rhinos community coaching staff (and the Rhinos have actually invested a lot of effort into South West Rugby League as a whole with Gary Hetherington attending a lot of events and endorsing various partnerships between the area and the Rhinos). It's seen as a pathway for players in this area to get into pro RL - in three years it is intended to be in line with SL standard academies and quality players from the area would be signed up by pro clubs. Filton College has an outstanding set up for most sports so we're naturally delighted that RL has been picked up.
Even at university level things are improving tenfold our way. Exeter went unbeaten in their regular season, Gloucester Uni is outstanding and both have had their budgets increased drastically by the respective Athletic Unions. The plan is to have such a strong set up that prospective young players actually come to these universities wanting to play rugby league and being able to play it to a high standard, but can also get qualifications to give them more security for after their playing careers. We've also got some young coaches cutting their teeth down here and being given a route into the RFL coaching set up. RL is starting to build up some pace down here!
