Why do we consider 20/21 as almost too young? I can understand in the pack that more experience might be required but I'm amazed jack johnson hasn't been given more opportunities....he's looked very good each time he's played. If it were down to me id be looking at developing him as our main full back and shifting ratchford between centre and the halves where necessary. Smith has had the accusation thrown at him in the past of not giving the youngsters enough opportunities and on the whole i tend to agree.

Nothing wrong with pinching a nugget from elsewhere and we should aspire to having he best team, but, as a club IF you run junior sides and we do then we should at least have the wherewithal to see it though? Failure do that would be a waste of time and money apart from de motivating any home grown talent and future recruitment if the club are seen as paying lip service to development

Completely agree with the logic. But something may be wrong that we seem to not deliver any players from the catchment that make it to the top grade. Unless I have overlooked someone?

If it's not working - change it.

Let's ask it another way, has Wilde done anything is his performances this season to earn the right to more appearances next season? Patton has - he grabbed his chance by the scruff of the neck.

I hope any new signings give those you mention a kick up the arris and impetus to improve to a level where they are deserving of more chances.

Why not widen the catchment area like Wigan have done this year - 7 Wigan Academy players toured Australia with our one Morgan Smith. All the "Wigan" lads were from all over the north, none from Wigan. We've done it before and there are current academy players from outside the local area.
WRT senior players, why do we always look towards buying ready made supposedly better players, why not look at as well what specific coaching is required for each team member to realise their true potential? Surely we can develop Evans, Russell, Lineham, Philbin, Wilde, Patton, even the internationals Ratchford, Hill, etc. So how much improvement is there in the current squad? Given that it is basically a young squad, there must be a lot more they can give with the correct coaching and conditioning. Players developed through a club's system tend to give more for the club

I think we have no alternative but to look internationally for our academy set up, and the evidence is we do with recruits from England, Wales and France. I cannot answer the very good point on the specific one on one development - Do we have someone that can train Evans, for example, to be a more effective centre? Or Lineham to be a more effective winger?

We do have 47 members of our "Performance Team" from Tony Smith downwards...