I think it's important to look at what version of a Wire team Patton has been a part of. He broke through into first team at the "beginning of the end" of the Tony Smith reign in 2015. Our amazing 2010-2013 squad was no more, and dross was replacing quality.
Asotasi, England, Penny, Russell were our 2014 signings.

Without opening the can of worms, it's fair to say the dressing room was probably not a great place to be during this time. Popular players leaving under a cloud, Smith with his favourites. Patton himself was frozen out for a chunk of time after falling out with Smith.

Now consider age. You could point the finger at some senior players for not delivering during our bad spots, but that environment is not great for a developing 20/21/22 year-old. We signed the reigning MOS, a 21 year-old who was also named in the 4-nations team of the tournament just before arriving. He looked a different player under TS and went backwards.

We have one of the best academy's in the country, and we go out to sign young talents too. While I wouldn't go as far as saying we ruined talent, we could never seem to nurture it once it reached the first team.

Off the top of my head, GOB, Laithwaite, Rhys Williams, Matty Blythe, Tyke McCarthy, Rhys Evans, Gene Ormsby were all given a ton of first team minutes, none progressed. Even when times were good. These players may never have been destined to be world beaters, but our youngsters historically seem to stop developing once they get a squad number.

I'd even throw Myler in that list as a young talent signed who never really progressed in our first team.

It's worth mentioning that Currie and maybe Chris Riley for a period bucked the trend. Cooper too, but he left for the NRL at the right time to miss out on the dreaded Warrington development sticky patch.

Why is this important? Because Steve Price is now our head coach. Under Price we've seen T King properly break into the first team and develop well. Philbin too has looked our most impactful interchange. Clark is somewhere near back to his MOS form. And the list continues with some of the more senior players too. Price is bringing something different. Price is giving the players structure, coaching and renewed confidence.

Patton is still only 23. He's had a pretty crummy time in his early development, but it's not time to throw him on the scrap heap yet.

Then why bother if we are trying not to play those exceptions

Our squad is currently 30.

"I'm pretty sure you can do the maths", take away a match day 17 from 30 and that means the 'A team' would need to find 4 more players. take into an account of injuries ect, an squad of 40 players could sufficietly field 2 teams a week.

30 from 40 is??? 10 players like I said.

We want to play the exceptions, the likes of Wigan must have done very well with U21's coming in to the first team squad and not counting on the cap, but we need them to be ready for the first team when they are called upon.

The club believe a reserve competition is the best way to turn 19 - 23 year olds in to regular first team players. As a bonus it also keeps fringe players match fit and allows players returning from long term injury somewhere to play rather than being thrown straight back in to first team action.

I think the reason we have seen a plunge in the quality of rugby league in the UK is down to the low numbers of school age kids playing the game. Fewer players coming through results in fewer SL quality players at the top of the pyramid. For some time there have been club reports of matches being played with only 13 aside and even a few with 11/12 a side. I think releasing the Scholarship players back to their clubs will help somewhat, but lets remember that they only play 6 competitive games for the U16's during the year anyway. And of course ideally we also want the best quality coaches (Wire ?) overseeing their development if possible such that we at least get the full potential from the smaller numbers that continue to play.

If we had plenty of youngsters we could have U16, U18, U21 and Reserve sides, but we don't. So the problem we face is not really about what age groups we need, it's how do we get more local youngsters playing the game. Until we ( all RL clubs) solve that one we will continue to see 35/36 year old players extending their contracts and more poor quality matches being played out. If the sport fails to hold the interests of the viewing public we could easily see a fall in the Sky monies that underpin the game over here, or as has recently been announced with the Sky cycling team (with Froome and Thomas), Sky could pull out altogether.

I think to be successful and not come up short towards the back end of the season injury and fitness you would need 45-50 players in the squad. We got 30 now for one team and still get headaches injury wise through the season how will ha bing another 17 members of the squad playing a competitive game help this? We will have 34 players in a 40 player squad playing competitive games every week how many will be fit come the end of the year.

I want every team to have a reserve team but not if its not practical financially.