Out of interest why is it that everyone automatically assumes that because a club has more players picked in the England Academy team its because it has better players?

When Steve McNamara named his England team full of Leeds players then everyone said its selectorial bias just picking Leeds players.

But we assume there would be no bias in the England Academy selection of course...

I think the RL stats show that out of a clubs 15 and 16 age group, only 2 will make it in Superleague. So I think it is correct to be cautious about how many of the academy side will be top flight professionals. Similarly many of this age group not selected to tour will push on with their development and turn out to be Superleague standard.

Nevertheless I do think there is a strong indication that you have a vey good youth setup if you can get 6 players into the touring team and I would be delighted if we achieve that in future years. It's no guarantee of success, but I don't think you could ask for much more from your scouts and coaches.

The England academy coach has no ties with Wigan, in fact he has more connections with Warrington.

As Winslades Offload quite rightly says normally only one or two make it through to the very top level. Occasionally you get a crop over a two or three year spell. Leeds with Sinfield, Burrow, Maguire, JJB, etc
Wigan at the moment with Tomkins, McIlorum, Mossop, Charnley, Goulding, Farrell etc.

Of the six Wigan lads who are going on tour, at the moment Williams, Burgess and Hampshire all look very good. Ryan Sutton is also an interesting one as he has been chosen ahead of Learmonth and is only 16 years of age. I'm hopefully wrong but I think he may find it very tough against props who could be almost two years older. I was really surprised at that selection, although to be fair I haven't seen Learmonth play this season.

If you look at the England Academy team from the second test in 2006 Warrington and Wigan both had 5 players in the 17:

1. Chris Riley (Warrington Wolves
2. Sean Gleeson (Wigan Warriors)
3. Daryl Goulding (Wigan Warriors)
4. Craig Hall (Hull FC)
5. Kevin Penny (Warrington Wolves)
6. Thomas Lee (Hull FC)
7. Thomas Coyle (Wigan Warriors)
8. Joe Walsh (Bradford Bulls)
9. Scott Moore (St Helens)
10. Ben Harrison (Warrington Wolves)
18. Stephen Bannister (St Helens)
12. Luke Adamson (Salford City Reds)
13. Paul Clough (St Helens)

14. Ben Kavanagh (Wigan Warriors)
15. Brett Robinson (Wigan Warriors)
16. Anthony Rourke (Warrington Wolves)
17. Danny Colquitt (Warrington Wolves

you would have to say that the "hit rate" of players converting to being top line Super League players is not good.

The Aussie team was:

1. Chris Lawrence
2. Shannon Walker
3. Joel Thompson
4. Israel Folua
5. Obadiah Geia
6. Mitchell Pearce
7. Chris Sandow
8. Aiden Tolman
9. Nathan Strudwick
10. Tim Mannah
11. Tim Robinson
12. Kevin Proctor
13. Joseph Paulo

14. Joel Brown
15. Will Matthews
16. David Hala
17. Luke Muttdon

Not sure if their overall hit rate is any better but they were a good team and certainly better than the team that toured last time.

The Aussie 'hit rate' from their national schoolboys team is never that good either, you usually see one or two superstars and a lot that don't even make first grade. Also a lot of the guys that are touted as real superstars as juniors in Australia don't quite go on to be what was expected. I remember in the mid 1990s hearing about Andrew Dunemann as the best schoolboy in Australia, I thought he was a class act in SL but he didn't go on to be a Johns, Langer, Fittler type player. Then a few years later the big schoolboy talent was Willie Peters who had a couple of fine seasons with Gateshead and Wigan but didn't set the world on fire in the NRL.

Always thought both AIS wingers would make it. Both had great speed and balance.

Arghhh Kevin Penny, whatever happened to the "New Offiah"

A lot of the young players drop out at 16 - 18, but Penny is a good example of the fact that even an older player who shows great promise can 'fall at the last hurdle'. It's a tough business for anybody to make a living.