I think Leeming was only with us for a year and I don't think ever had a professional contract - not sure we released him as much as he wanted to go back to Huddersfield.

Gaz O'Brien is probably the best example of a player to have left and gone on to do quite well, but he hasn't been good enough to land a spot at a top 4 club. He seems to have found a level with mid / lower table clubs. Him moving was the best decision he made as he's gone on to have a decent career thus far. Dec Patton take note.

Cooper left then came back - any others from the SL era?

Watkins was never part of the Warrington set up as far as I know, he played a year or so for Latchford Albion I think with Patton & Philbin etc, but don't think he ever signed up for Warrington. He was at Leeds at 16.

I must confess, I'm devastated we haven't got Kruise Leeming in our squad right now.

Quote: Fantastic Mr Catpiss "i wouldnt say we let newton go'" Terry Newton sparked controversy from his earliest days in rugby league. Initially signing at 14 for Warrington, he also signed for Leeds on his 16th birthday. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1904091415/ ... TF8&btkr=1

Quote: Fantastic Mr Catpiss "i wouldnt say we let newton go'" Terry Newton sparked controversy from his earliest days in rugby league. Initially signing at 14 for Warrington, he also signed for Leeds on his 16th birthday. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1904091415/ ... TF8&btkr=1

If we are honest, we can't say that we have let any youngster go in the modern era can we ?

Normally we get a 'promising' lad come through and they get 120 1st team games at eg centre / SO. Then they switch to BR for 75 games before finally being moved out to the Wing. After 250 games we realise the (now middle aged) man is unlikely to 'fully develop his potential' whilst under pressure in the cauldron that is Super League, and he goes out on loan to Swinton /Rochdale /NW Crusaders. Promising stories ensue of his exploits " unlucky to drop the ball when over the line", "just missed a drop goal attempt" and fans start to demand his return to the HJ before he is talent spotted by Leeds / Saints. After that it goes very quiet for several seasons. Occasionally someone on the Board asks what ever happened to that likely lad. And the final nail in the coffin is when somebody mentions his name as one of the great talents that we groomed,..... but let slip through our fingers.

I cannot think of any. You have to go back to the likes of Harris and Sculthorpe (Paul, not Danny), where I was gutted that we had to let them go as the club needed the cash. These two examples were once in a generation talents, the like we have not seen in our academy set up, since. This is no disrespect to Joe Philbin, and others, who have been good products that we've seen come through.

Well I’m glad it isn't due to my failing memory that I can’t recall the young superstars we released!

Newton, with the assistance of Leeds and the usual pusillanimous capitulation of the Rugby League to the top clubs broke his contract. Warrington fought for the best part of twelve months to enforce the contractual arrangement. How can that be described as 'letting him go'. Can I suggest you go back to your online research and discover the full story.

I think Richie Mathers was on our books as a schoolboy too, before going to Leeds. His career path tends to involve rejoining Warrington every few years

But if you discount the players that were only briefly on the books as a schoolboy and focus on players who actually spent time in the U18 or U21 teams, there haven't really been any stories of players we let go who went on to show us what might have been.

We've actually done better the other way round, with young players who other clubs have let go to us early in their careers and maybe were surprised at how they turned out with us: Lee Briers, Ben Westwood, Simon Grix, Chris Bridge.

In the case of Westwood and Grix, they weren't really let go, they were signings forced by financial pressure and relegation, but I think Wakey may have fought harder to keep Westwood if they'd have known how he would turn out and that Gareth Ellis was heading to Leeds a couple of years later. Simon Grix joined us with relatively little hype around him.

Briers and Bridge were let go by big clubs at a time when they were likely to be back ups for the foreseeable future. They both became first team regulars from the off at Warrington, and they became much better players and had long careers.

In the case of all four of those players, Warrington coaches persevered with them through some bumpy times through lack of form or injury, and I wonder if they would have had the same opportunities at other clubs. Worth considering when you next hear the critique "Warrington don't know how to develop promising talent/not willing to be patient enough to give talent a chance".

You're correct, he came through amateur RL in the Leeds area and then the Leeds Rhinos Academy.

He had a loan spell with Warrington (2002) before breaking into the Rhinos first team.