He wanted to join Warrington and was a fan of team but we couldn't afford him, so he went to Saints.

Yes, KC, the St Helens lad whos brother played for Saints, supported...THE WOLFS.

protip for you, Saints signed him from a wigan amateur club, think it was orrell st james

Warrington is a much bigger place than st helens... its hardly suprising that we are churning out much more talent than they are.... they HAVE to turn to warrington lads to make up for the shortcomings in their own area.... its been going on for ages now...

Are you absolutely sure about this?

I can only assume this is an ironic post.

St Helens pop: 102,629
Warrington : 196,200

Almost twice as big. May not have been sarcastic. May even be true.

its ok... you're not alone.. warrington lads make up half of wigans ' local talent' as well.

Its rubbish

I notice the wolfs fans crying about Saints nicking a few youngsters who would rather play for a big club, havent mentioned themselves nicking Sculthorpe and Harris

we aren't complaining we are asking questions. Why are they leaving? If it's down to the fact that they support the club there is nothing we can do about it. But if it is down to the quality of the system that is where questions need to be asked. And regarding the 'big club' comment, yes saints are classed as a 'big club'* but what are warrington? Granted we aren't there yet but we are certainly a club on the up and are not looked at as a 'small club'*


* i really don't like this phrase because who decides who are the 'big' or 'small' clubs.... big as in winning trophies or fan base or what???

I'm not sure what conclusion is supposed to be drawn from this story, are people saying that Saints snapping up players out of our youth ranks is a negative for us or them?

It's just like a balance of payments, we're a net exporter. The German economy is built on producing stuff which is exported, that shows that they are producing stuff that others don't have hence they need to import from Germany. I know we're not receiving payments for these young lads going but if our young players are in demand from other clubs then something must be right at Service Area level if it's Saints who are interested.

If we have a thriving youth system then we are inevitably going to come across the situation where someone ends up going on to make it elsewhere. In the early 1990s in Newcastle they had Andrew and Matty Johns coming through the system and also Brett Kimmorley and Scott Hill....the Johns boys stayed, Kimmorley and Hill made their futures elsewhere, its just a good reflection on their set up, you wouldn't have had all four of them being first teamers at the Knights.

Money talks?

]

No!
My lad left Warrington scholarship because of the focus and overwhelming desire to bulk the lads up from 14 yrs up with an intense weight training programme at the expense of developing core skills. Quote: Peter Farrell - "we like big lads at Warrington".
Saints have a different approach, core skill 6 -week training blocks, didn't pick up a weight until 17, all core work.

Now when contracts were signed, completely different matter, Saints pay buttons, Warrington pay top draw.
No I'm not bitter with cash, my lad is developing at a decent rate not at bulking up but at learning the game.

The guys running this know what they are doing, Jon Bastian, Peter Farrell, they have got good experience elsewhere. Didn't Bastian do Service Area at Leeds, then coach their Junior Academy, then end up Head of Youth Development there....Leeds had the best youth system in the country. I would trust them on that, plus Tony Smith has a good track record of bringing players through into the first team so he will know what needs to be done at junior level. If some lads want to choose to join another club because they think the regime suits them better then its up to them and good luck, but we've been hearing this for years about how our best prospects leave because of faults in the youth system, and it hasn't been guys like Riley, Harrison, Cooper and McCarthy leaving, it's been other guys who haven't made it.