Philbin's haircut is extreme, as is Russell's. Appreciate they're only kids but we need to keep an eye on this. We don't want another Daryl Cardiss situation on our hands.

thats the thing, Riley looked the part when he was introduced in 2013.

Bridge definitely wont play for us again, i dunno if Tony has one eye on Riley's development this 12 months. Its too much of a coincidence both him and dwyer being sent down at the same time, but on different terms.

He makes a damn good point

Interesting question. Einstein once thought that there was certainty in the world that he explored ( "God does not play dice" ), but he got it badly wrong. The same seems to be true for whether a junior will make SL standard or not. You can perhaps pick out a group that are more likely to succeed, but its impossible to predict exactly. Some develop quickly, then plateau whilst others look like no hopers and develop late.. A couple of years ago how many fans would have laughed if you told them Penny would be playing for Wire ?

So what we are left with is probability. TS's decision to release Riley and Bridge presumably means he believes there is a better chance of some of his other youngsters making the grade, than either of them.. so he is 'playing the odds'. They didn't show enough to convince him when he let them loose in the first team.

Laithwaite, Harrison, Currie, O'Brien and Penny all regulars this season for us, been a while since we could point to a steady core of the week in week out line up that has come through our Academy and shows that things are turning now it's not all about buy some quick fix from the NRL who wants a pension but having patience in your own youth to come through: its what Wigan and Leeds do.

I think Toby King made his comeback last week from a broken jaw, best young centre in English RL imo

Alas, you are correct. If only we had a few more like Roy Asotasi to do the long hard 40 minute shifts. And of course Ashton as well, I had a look on the SL stats page, his average metres is astonishing.

But on a more serious note, how many of our RL players are being chased by the NRL ( as opposed to that second string comp that they run). Sadly we have a pretty poor quality competition these days, and that is due to long years of under-funding and neglect of the youth / grass roots game. Flooding the game with ageing Aussies is not the answer, it's a bit like a medic treating the symptoms but ignoring the underlying cause. I suspect there will be a reaction from the RFL and SL clubs to the current problems - we may get marquee players appearing perhaps, but there is not the money in the British game to buy in 2-3 young Michael Monaghens for a SL side. It's going to be a long hard slog.

How is the speech writing for Dave's campaign going ?

Campaign's going well, trying to slip a few innuendos in there and see if they go unnoticed and he ends up saying them, growth, risk of rapid deflation, will pull out if its right to do so, don't fall for Ed's big stimulus package, plugging the fiscal hole, etc.

I would remind Warrington fans how far we have come over the past five years, two Challenge Cups, two Grand Finals, a League Leaders' Shield, more home grown young players than ever before. Do you want to carry on and finish the job we have started or do you want to go back to what we had after 1997. Van de Velde, Plange, Anderson, spending, financial chaos and bail outs. Thats the choice that you have, completing the job or going back to chaos.

I'm for completing the job at Warrington RLFC of course.

very good player indeed,he certainly looks to have all the attributes required to make it at the highest level