Smaller than Burrow's what?

I would really like to see Toby King kick on this year and establish himself at centre and we certainly need more from that position. He is still only 20 and a year younger than Declan Patton and is definitely big enough at 6ft 3'' and well over 14st.
Also, I can't recall when we were as well off for good quality goalkickers - Gidley, Patton, Livett, Smith, Ratchford and even Westwood and Westerman. Might be important this year especially as Wigan are struggling to come up with a recognised goal kicker.

A very comprehensive list Charlie.

All the players mentioned have a chance to make an impact this season, whether it will be career defining or not will IMO depend by and large with the possible exception of Patton on the fortunes of others. By that I mean we are better off in the C/BR than anywhere else as can be seen by the players mentioned and also the possibility of more game time for Benjamin Jullien, he might want a 'go'?

Good post Charlie

It certainly has been a bumper crop come through these last couple of years al a Wigan, just hopefully now they can all kick on a fulfil their potential

The academy side with the kings, Johnson,Wilde,Philbin and Dec was the best academy side I have seen and were unlucky in the Grand Final against Wigan

Toby king,Dec Patton and Jack Johnson had a real understanding and were exciting to watch whilst Sam Wilde and Joe Philbin did the donkey work but still have good handling and rugby skill set

I am not surprised to see them all starting to come through in the first team, I am surprised that Harvey hasn't made his full debut yet but there were some mumblings last year about attitude,work ethic and Briers made a bit of an example of him but after watching him at Widnes his debut can't be far away

Dec has always looked classy and has got that bit of arrogance you need but sometimes lost concentration and looked frustrated if things weren't going his way but his attitude last season and becoming a father has made him grow up and show maturity,if he keeps progressing he will be first choice in the next couple seasons

Sam is steady but needs to be more dynamic, he is safe carrying the ball and in the Jack Hughes mould and has probably made more first team appearances than he thought he might do at this stage but TS obviously trusts him

Joe must wonder what he has to do get a run in the team, always does well at the line and puts a shift in, definitely deserves more minutes this season,strong & powerful runner and always enjoy watching him play

Jack is an explosive and elusive runner with a real rugby brain, he is very quick in mind & foot, one game I watched I think he was in his first academy season he left Dom Manfredi for dead, like Charlie says he is devasting in broken play and is learning the positional side and finer points of the position, big season for him

Morgan came with a big price tag & reputation, I think he has found it more difficult than he thought in the academy,reserves and first team but there are glimpses, attitude has been mentioned but like Dec with an arm around him I think he can be a player

I think we have a strong nucleus of talent coming through & that can only be good for the future

I had forgotten all about him. I suppose the Rochdale match might show us how he has developed over the close season.

Remember this happening in 2014? Three of the former international players have already left (Brunt, Fox and Moore) and the other three have not been offered full-time terms as of date. The question is are the players they are bringing in from elsewhere (another two this year to my knowledge, one from Leeds and one from Widnes) better than these players and why are the club unable to bring through locally produced prospects? What is the disconnect? www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... ing_style/

Remember this happening in 2014? Three of the former international players have already left (Brunt, Fox and Moore) and the other three have not been offered full-time terms as of date. The question is are the players they are bringing in from elsewhere (another two this year to my knowledge, one from Leeds and one from Widnes) better than these players and why are the club unable to bring through locally produced prospects? What is the disconnect? www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/spo ... ing_style/

The old perennial subject of "the future's bright look at the youth coming through". We have this every year. The vast majority end up in the Championship or lower.
I mean are we really suspending disbelief to such an extent where we think the likes of Wilde will make a top SL player?

I think if you look at any sport 'pyramid' you will find exactly the same situation. In order to get to SL standard you are looking at that small triangular bit at the very tip. For Wire as a top four side, the triangle is even smaller than that. So it's not surprising that most of our scholarship intake doesn't make it through to become Warrington players.
But if you are an Academy coach at a SL club do you start with the attitude that the 'future is not bright' ? How do you summon the enthusiasm to inspire your charges such that they reach their potential if you start out with negative thoughts ? If you are a teacher in a secondary school can you afford to think 'none of this lot are going to amount to much'. Even worse for an inner city school with a catchment encompassing a deprived area, where you have to re-define the meaning of a successful outcome for your pupils. When she visits her local sports club does Jessica Ennis start by telling her eager young athletes that they only have a thousand to one chance of even going to the Olympics ?

I think if you start out with negative thoughts in any type of job / sport / project, you are doomed to failure. The people that inspire us are those who overcome adversity to achieve their goals and who have the boundless enthusiasm that they can pass on to others. If we are realistic, the stats for our current crop of youngsters are not good - only 2 are likely to make SL from the scholarship intake, that probably means only one for our requirements. But you surely have to be optimistic that we are going to unearth an England standard player, or perhaps 3 high quality 1st 17 from the same year - or whatever floats your boat. Otherwise we will end up with little enthusiasm for anything in life, apart from running a nice hot bath and reaching for the razor blade packet - only to find of course, that somebody else has used the last one.

Great post Charlie spot on

So looking at those statistics a pool of 12 SL clubs will be lucky to find 24 half decent players within their ranks.Hardly enough for a decent squad at one club & with the lack of overseas quality i think our game will have to lower its sights ,or at least us fans will.

If a player's career is from 19 to 31 that gives 12 squads of 24 academy produced players. That would be brilliant but unlikely.

I'm looking forward to seeing Savelio... reckon he could have a cracking season.

Outsiders view. I think Patton is plenty ahead of where GOB was at Warrington however GOB is now a very good player now he has been first choice at Salford and got that much needed experience. He is vital to them. Problem Warrington could have is that Patton could keep being stagnated and never progress and end up in the championship where GOB will have had a better career which would be a shame as i think Patton is better. We have kind of done the same thing with Hampshire. We have held him back and held him back and now he is 22 and just been moved onto Leigh. He had bags of potential but if it goes wrong at Leigh there will be no Super League lifeline for him when he could have been an international player if given the chance. His problem is 'Ratchford Syndrome' though. Nobody seems to know where to use him.

Very good post and I'm sure I'm not the only one with the same concerns that your raise. Patton needs high pressure game time, he needs to make the mistakes and learn from them. Rather than be dipped in and out for games against lesser opponents. I think sometimes with GOB everyone was waiting for him to take control of the lesser games, whereas regardless of who the half back is, when the pack are making meters at will (like they were at times in 2011/12, tries often score themselves.

GOB's better games were against better teams, the Wigan game in the play offs, Leeds (in the MND shirt) and St George spring to mind, but he just didn't have enough time to learn from his mistakes and put them right on the big stage.

Saving grace is that neither Gidley or Brown will play 25 games this year, so he will get minutes.