I know Dougie very well and I'm shocked. I was speaking to him just a few weeks back and he was saying how good things have been under Bastian. He was already on a scholarship at Warrington, so I'm guessing he's just changed to Wigan's. What a shame, from all I've spoken to, he was really good.

Nothing do with the Rylands coach being a scholarship coach at Saints then?

Crikey lets not go OTT here, these lads have still got a long way to go before they are even SL standard never mind world beaters.

How many junior players have we heard about as being the next Harris or Sculthorpe only for them to fail to make it to any serious level.

If any of these three develop into a world beater thats when we can start crying about it and only then.

Ah but was only last year Rhys Evans was playing service area. This time next year, Wigan and Saints fans will be asking for these to step up to first team. If they are good enough there old enough. Then we can complain all over again that we cant secure the signings that end up in the first teams of St Helens and Wigan.

short sighted board.....
dear oh dear.

They were some of the top lads at their age group, an age group that seems to be very strong compared to others around the nation. They're obviously nowhere near established players, but we as fans love nothing more than seeing the homegrown lads come through and establish themselves in the first team. If the best players from every age group, your Mellor's, your Watkins and so on keep on leaving, we have to wonder WTF is going wrong, and it's natural for us to show our disappointment.

I'm not sure if it's the club going wrong, the player's making their own decisions or a combination of both.

what posistions do they play?

Just spoken to a mate of a mate who told me Warrington only offered him the chance to train once a week for his age, whereas Saints offered him training twice a week. Can't really argue with that. Still a scumbag

SENSATIONAL

That'll explain why Latchy isn't on the forum tonight then.

but panties is.

The whole scholarship/service area system is a farce, not just Warrington's. The fact you can only bring together your top [itwelve[/i players in the town from each age group on a weekly basis throughout the year challenges no one and doesn't develop an individual player's talent.

Service area would be worthwhile if it ran for more than the current six to eight weeks at the end of the BARLA season. Without prolonged exposure playing against the best in the country on a regular basis from a young age, we're not going to develop enough talent to improve the standards of Super League and become a competitive nation against Australia and New Zealand.