well said

This is a good point. I think there are 2 separate issues, the quality of our young players and the fact that every good squad needs some fringe players and there are certain characteristics you want in those players too.

Fringe players are never going to be elite talents, if they are they will sign somewhere else if they aren't regulars, but ideally you want them to be versatile so they can cover various positions, be consistent performers rather than boom / bust types, and be low-ego players who will knuckle down and not rock the boat if they aren't getting in a winning side. If they have come from your academy and stay around for a long time and give you consistency, great. If you have a revolving door of signings who are fringe players at other clubs, spend a bit of time with us before moving on somewhere else (as we have done since the later TS era), not so good.

On the issue of young players not being good enough / getting more chances than they would at other clubs I think the difference between us and the likes of Wigan is just the volume coming through. They always have young players pressing for places in their team, so when their Academy players break out in the first team, it's not long before they have the next generation underneath them pushing them hard for places. If someone from the next generation is better than them, they get pushed out and moved on to clubs like Warrington.

With us, where there is less talent coming through, players are more likely to break out in to the first team and then be able to survive a lengthy time of plateauing or going backwards than they would at Wigan because we haven't got enough talent from the next generation pressing them. Rhys Evans and Dec Patton would have felt pressure from below sooner if they'd been at Wigan.

Interesting point here. It's been a while since we lost players against our wishes to a club perceived to be bigger than us/offer better prospects.

Probably the last one was Mike Cooper going to St George-Illawarra, but the NRL is slightly different as even the top UK clubs can't resist NRL clubs.

Who was the last Warrington player who got poached upwards in the Super League food chain? Fozzard going to Saints in 2004, and Toa going to Hull in 2001, are the last ones I can think of?

The last home grown player we lost? Sculthorpe going to Saints in 98?

Didn’t realise I would have to use an emoji on that post!

OBrien to Salford. If we are defining food chain in terms of league places.

I dont think it can come down to just volume and statistics as you would expect us to have a n% of star players come through the youth setup when compared with wigan where n represents the volume disparity. Maybe list our home grown international players over the last 30 years then compare with Wigan.

Currie and Mike Greg do not count. How many do we have?

Why do Currie and Mike Greg not count?

I understand that you are being mischievous, but, the Salford that GO'B joined wasn't the same version that punished us in last year's SL (hopefully a one off my biggest nightmare). How do you really define "food chain" and how long does it last, could Dwyer and Myler going to Leeds be considered an upgrade for them?

Quote Boss Hog="Boss Hog"Why do Currie and Mike Greg not count?'" Currie came through the Wigan system, signed when he was 18. https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2010 ... -close-win Mike Greg signed pro at 18 direct from Wigan St Pats and into the 1st team in 1982 aged 18. I am asking which player have we had go through our youth set up start to finish and achieve international honours. I can think of Mike Cooper who was on our books from 11.

Quote Boss Hog="Boss Hog"Why do Currie and Mike Greg not count?'" Currie came through the Wigan system, signed when he was 18. https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2010 ... -close-win Mike Greg signed pro at 18 direct from Wigan St Pats and into the 1st team in 1982 aged 18. I am asking which player have we had go through our youth set up start to finish and achieve international honours. I can think of Mike Cooper who was on our books from 11.

Yeah it all depends. If we go on recent league placing then Salford could argue to be higher up the food chain in 2019. If we ignore league places and go on honours/success then Leeds would be higher up the food chain bringing Dwyer into the question. Myler does not count as he left Warrington to go to Catalans who could not reasonably be counted as higher up the food chain.

Quote Wires71="Wires71"Currie came through the Wigan system, signed when he was 18. https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2010 ... -close-win Mike Greg signed pro at 18 direct from Wigan St Pats and into the 1st team in 1982 aged 18. I am asking which player have we had go through our youth set up start to finish and achieve international honours. I can think of Mike Cooper who was on our books from 11.'" Currie played for Warrington`s 1st team when he was 17, he also watched him play for Warrington`s Academy team prior to that. Mike Gregory was signed from St Pats, I agree. I saw him play for Warrington A team, immediately after he turned pro. Moving from an amateur team and then playing for a professional team`s reserves, was the recognised way of progressing at that time. There was no Academy system in those days He was one of those rare talents that didn`t need much time in the reserve system.

Quote Wires71="Wires71"Currie came through the Wigan system, signed when he was 18. https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2010 ... -close-win Mike Greg signed pro at 18 direct from Wigan St Pats and into the 1st team in 1982 aged 18. I am asking which player have we had go through our youth set up start to finish and achieve international honours. I can think of Mike Cooper who was on our books from 11.'" Currie played for Warrington`s 1st team when he was 17, he also watched him play for Warrington`s Academy team prior to that. Mike Gregory was signed from St Pats, I agree. I saw him play for Warrington A team, immediately after he turned pro. Moving from an amateur team and then playing for a professional team`s reserves, was the recognised way of progressing at that time. There was no Academy system in those days He was one of those rare talents that didn`t need much time in the reserve system.