Quote: Magic Superbeetle "I sincerely hope he does. I have made my views on the home grown vs marquee debate clear - and have no wish to have one now - I must confess I found the report disturbing, as little/ no progress appears to have been made - but I do hope it gets the care and attention it deserves, having the ability to tap into the Manchester area for new talent would have a massive affect on rugby league imo.
Anyway to answer the OPs question, saints home grown team for this season would look like
Salford pretty much lost its academy after the financial implosion, just as that academy was starting to produce players for the first team. Even so, the academy then was far from perfect, and, obviously, there's a lot more work to be done, but we can't expect massive improvements in such a short space of time. As I said, Marwan has already mentioned the academy as something the club needs to address, and, contrary to what fans of other clubs seem to think, he's generally delivered on what he says about Salford. There's no reason why we can't have an improved academy and a marquee player at the top, which is why I think Eamonn McManus is being disingenuous when he tries to turn it into an either/or issue and pretends that's what's good for the game.
As for a Salford home grown team, well, without resorting to 'good players for Leigh' or former Hull KR players as you have, it'll leave a few gaps, but...
Evalds
Platt, Turner, Watkins, ***
Ratchford, Sneyd/Fages
A Walne, Owen, ***
J Walne, Walton
***
There may be others and I'm sure someone will fill in the gaps, but all of those players are playing regularly in SL, with the exception of Michael Platt and of Gareth Owen, who should be but isn't because of an error by a previous coach who sent him out on season long loan. Considering how poor our academy is, that's not too shabby.
