At the moment Oz imports are too expensive, and there is a dearth of talent for sale in the UK. That seems to me that the club youth system is now much more important if we are to maintain a 'top 4' position in SL. So now that most of the angst has finished over the GF, I have been looking back over the past 7 years to see how successful we have been in bringing through youngsters to the first team. To the best of my knowledge, these are the figures;

Debut appearances for 1st team;

2006 Pickersgill, Bracek, Harrison, Penny
2007 Jerram, Mitchell, Blythe, Cooper
2008 Neal
2009 McCarthy, Thompson
2010 Evans R, Williams
2011 GOB
2012 Currie, Dwyer
2013 Laithwaite, Bridge, Riley, Evans B

(I have omitted the 2013 crop from the rest of the data because we don't know how they will turn out.)


Number currently playing SL standard

10 Players. Pickersgill, Harrison, Blythe, Cooper, Neal, McCarthy, Evan R, GOB, Currie, Dwyer


Number that established themselves in 1st team

6 Players. Harrison, Blythe, Cooper, McCarthy, Evans, Currie

So in 7 years, we have really only produced 6 players for the 1st team from our youth system. Is that good enough ? Personally, I would have thought we should be aiming for around 2 players per year. Over a 10 year period that means 20 players from a squad of 25 can be replaced, with the remainder coming from transfers.
But the bottom line, is that our close competitors Wigan and Leeds appear to be able to bring through or attract a larger number of quality younger players. There are undoubtedly very good reasons for this which we can all think of, but it doesn't affect the conclusion that in the current climate, our youth system is far more important to us than in the past, but doesn't seem to be producing the number of 1st team players that we need.

But out of those players how many have become, so far. more than bit part players & this shambolic dual registration system is still to be proved a success. I think for SL in general to use more affordable English players though may give us a lower standard than we have now because we don't seem to have enough quality coming through to supply all the clubs & the players that are seen as outstanding are being lured to Oz .

I don't think our youth development is seen as important as Wigan, Leeds and St Helens regradless of events over the last few years. When Wigan announce that they will be using the Tomkins transfer money for their Academy you know where their priority lies.

Mind outside those three clubs the rest of rugby league is sadly wanting. Everyone needs to up their game in developing talent.

Well Nine, by the stricter definition of who have we developed that has become a key player, I would say only Harrison and Cooper so far. We will have to wait and see how important Rhys Evans and Ben Currie become over the next couple of seasons.

Unfortunately the current youth training system has only served to cut in half the number of youngsters that each SL club develops. So regardless of the D/R arrangements, we are now producing even fewer rl players for future years - that has to be bad news for everyone in the sport.

Both of them?

You don't win any prizes for 'numbers of academy players brought through'

We've won 3 Challenge Cups, a league leaders shield and made 2 Grand Finals in the past four years. Had Monaghan and Ratchford not got injured we would have won on Saturday too.

I quite agree, as a club, we don't get much back from the numbers taken through to SL standard. But it should represent a pyramid of talent, and the more at the bottom of the pyramid should mean more quality players coming through in total. It also means that every now and again we might unearth a Tomkins at the top. And its no coincidence that our two closest rivals have a strong track record in bringing through young players.

Unfortunately, the days of popping over to Oz and picking up a Matt King or Chris Hicks are gone. Our current new signings are England, Asotasi and Penny - two Championship players, and one Aussie that has not exactly had the faithful drooling in anticipation. They may do well, but we are not signing proven talent at the top of their game.

Where are these replacement players going to come from that are going to keep us in the top four ?

I think the most ridiculous thing that has happened this year is bringing O'Brien back from Saints when they could have let him stay there & get some play off experience. Hardly going to benefit the "future half back hope" ,coming back to sit in the stands !

Sally said Had Monaghan and Ratchford not got injured we would have won on Saturday too.

Surely that is a massive unsubstantiated assumption ?

I think from the kickoff Wigan were proving to be a handful. We took our chances and scored, they didn't.

If their right flank hadn't blown 2/3 clear chances it would have been a much closer affair at the break.

Their McIllorum and Green tries were down to poor defence, affected by the injuries yes, but not totally
so.

The injuries were a big influence on the game granted, but I would have thought TS should have been
more capable of managing the situation than proved to be the case.

The fact is we fell apart completely following two injuries. Disappointing.

Saints, Hull and Salford academy would be a good place to start.

Those are the most likely teams to overtake us and knock us out of the top four so assuming they won't be able to just pop across to Oz and get a Matt King or Chris Hicks they will be overtaking us through their home grown talent.

So getting in there and pinching it would be a good way to disrupt our rivals.

LOL, are you that upset we are not buying NRL stars any more ?

Warrington won the Academy Grand Final last year.

Our Academy also provided St Helens with their halfback in Super League this year.

Wigan prioritise their academy so much that their replacement for Sam Tomkins is a 32 year old Aussie with dodgy knees.

The purpose of the club is to win - how we achieve that is really immaterial. Granted it might be nice to do it with home grown talent but at the end of the day it will be how much we have won that matters not which players did it. The best player we can attract will fill each position, no matter where they come from

The three lads who could play fullback Tierney, Hampshire and Burgess are still only 18 years of age. Wigan have won five of the last six academy Grand Finals including a trouncing of Leeds two weeks ago.

Saturdays Grand Final team had eleven players who came through the academy, so I reckon the production line is doing o.k.

Yawn. The point as you well know of the Academy is to produce players for the first team squad.

How many of that (now disba
nded due to the RFL admittedly) played regularly if at all for the first team in 2013?

And Bowen is on a one year contract and will be replaced by Hampshire. Just look at how many Wigan GF players were brought through their system?