How does Riley Dean prove he’s worth a new contract without a reserve team.
We know that next year Widdop and Williams are our half back partnership and unless there’s an injury when will Riley play. The club have only given him to the end of next year.

I think it is Riley Dean's 20th birthday tomorrow (Wednesday). Widdop was 21 before he made his first team debut and only played three games that season.

We shouldn't expect too much too soon from young players.

Personally I like the mix we have at the moment. It does look as though some of the more elder members of the squad will be moving on and we will have an overall average younger age next year. Furthermore, I wouldn’t be too concerned about the opportunities to come given Powell’s decent track record with youth development.

In relation to the elder players on the way out:
i.e. Clark, Austin and possibly Hill moving on they are all in their 30s. (Lineham is 29 next month and looks certain to be on his way)

So I would expect the likes of Thewlis/Ashton to get more game time on the left wing spot. If Hill does leave, we have Butler and J Harrison ready to make the step up off the bench with Mulhern/Philbin starting. Williams is obviously 5 years younger than Austin.

With the likes of Walker, Wrench, Longstaff, Doro and Dean on the back of that I think those players will get their opportunities throughout next year under Powell. I would suspect a lot more then they would have under Price. Powell has more of a focus on developing and bringing on young talent - it was only a few months back he gave a 17 year old a starting spot on the wing to make his home debut, in which he scored an impressive try.

I think the difficultly Powell will face next year is having to knit the side together, there is a lot of comings and goings along with a fairly new HB partnership, which may take time to develop.

Lets be honestt, Powell has played a lot of younger players through necessity with a smaller squad at cas and quite a few seasons with a long injury list (which I hope won't be replicated here). Price has done similar last year, before the cup final and when we fielded a young team to get games on for a spell. His reputation for giving youngsters a chance is a little exaggerated, however what he will do is allow the players who look the part to keep the shirt and force their way in to his plans where they can flourish (Truema for example) which is I suppose what we have been guilty of, again long injury lists do help the youngsters cause.

Those are the sort of opportunities that younger players have to take, they can't shy away or just do the basics, then hey have to show something to catch the eye, that could be no errors, good control of tackled in the ruck or a few good eye catching tackles, line breaks, catches under pressure, support runs etc etc, basically anything that puts the team on the front foot. Thewlis, Longstaff and Dean (good vision for a pass and a gap) have IMO, Danny walker did too (even though I wasn't his biggest fan to start with, still think its obvious where he is going with that big foot plant). Robson and Doro haven't taken their opportunities IMO, rightly or wrongly my overall impression of doro is that he's too small to be a prop and he doesn't make much impact and robson is unspectacularly steady. I appreciate that may be an injustice to them both but they have to earn the next opportunity by showing they can have an impact at superleague level, even if they make a few mistakes, same goes for all younger players really. The more impact they have the more quickly a second opportunity will arise, I can see why there is no rush to get them back in the first team as they aren't moving ahead of anyone else through performance. I doubt Powell will be rushing younger players to the front at the expense of fully fit first team players but I do hope he will blood younger players who catch his eye in training to keep the first team on their toes fighting for their shirt.

Hmm, not sure I agree with that, the first part, cas fans have complained about his reluctance to bring academy players through, unless he absolutely has to, let's also not forget the initial rejection of the elite academy award, due to lack of production.

You can point to Trueman and Foster, but they were Bradford products brought in during their latest demise.

He's another coach that makes 4 changes to cover 1 player dropping out.

It’s a valid enough point. When the contract extensions to the 6 youngsters were given out though Riley Dean was only given to Nov 2022. Next year Widdop and Williams are our half backs. Unless Widdop is given occasional rests without an established reserve grade I worry that Riley won’t given the chance to prove his worth for 2023.
I only bang on about Riley Dean because what I’ve saw of him I think he has every chance of making it.

You say you don't agree then agree!

I said the long injury lists are what has given cas youngsters more opportunity and it was a similar situation here last season.

I honestly feel younger players have a great chance when they come in to the first team, they have to demonstrate no significant weakening to the team against an established player who is likely paid an awful lot more money than them in a salary capped sport. Toby King came in and offered no significant weakening against Ryan atkins who will have been on a shed load more cash so King gets a run of games. I remember early on against wigan King on the last play dabbed a kick through with nothing on and forced a drop out, that's a really big play for a young player under pressure showing composure and an ability to play what's in front of him. That's the sort of thing younger players have to do to catch the eye.

Demonstrate no significant weakening and a next chance will come sooner. I think longstaff is knocking on the door now, very young but he's looked the part to me as well. I'm a little dissapointed that Dean hasn't had a few more chances as he looked good when he played. I also understand the sentiment behind sita playing on the wing when wrench could have been given a go but we won the match so hard to criticise the coach too much.

It's terrible how few games youngsters are playing at the moment, no wonder they struggle to break through.

Out of all the contracts given out to the youngsters who have played first team, there’s only Nathan Roebuck and Matty Ashton who don’t seem to have deals for next season. It could possibly be a last minute deal for Nathan.
Is there any news on Matty or are the club waiting for him to prove his fitness.

CW what chances has Robson had that you don’t think he has taken? I genuinely can’t recall the times he has been given an opportunity this season, that may be a reflection on his performance or my memory to be fair.

I think the number of interchanges may be a factor in why Wrench didn't play any part at Headingley. If were now down to 10 (correct me if I'm wrong) then Hill and Cooper going off and then back on again takes up 4. If two further forwards also go off and come back on again, that's another 4, which leaves just 2. Not a lot of wriggle room if there's a knock or two to factor in.

Good point.