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.

If we won St Helens it would mean we'd have loads of players so couldn't sign any more from Warrington.

Was talking to the mum of Josh Swift today. She was aware of this thread and wanted to make it clear that Josh was only offered a scholarship from Warrington months after offers from firstly Widnes and then Saints. The only offer from Warrington came after he had already signed at Saints.

As far as she is aware the Warrington scouts watched a Crosfields team including Josh play around December last year. Some Crosfields players were offered scholarships as a result of this, Josh was not one of them. As stated above the 2 scholarship offers from Widnes and Saints were made in May. He is/was a member of the Warrington service area team but was not offered a scholarship until, she believes, Warrington lost a number of players to other clubs and were looking to make up the numbers.

Why Joe and Kane ended up at Saints I havent a clue.

That bit in bold shouldn't be happening with the recent success the club has had young local players should be staying with us not going elsewhere, basic mistakes are being made somewhere.

Twas St Judes. He played in the sameteam as Longy, as well as GB U16's.

We've been taking 'em for years. Saints signed virtually the entire Crosfields U16's one year, to get Andy(?) Haigh, Joey Hayes and Danny Arnold.

Bracek is one you took off us. He came thru at the same time as Graham and was tipped as the better of the two. The rest is history.

And we did the same with Leatherbarrow (Mellor& wigan)