Whilst most people are awaiting news on contract extensions and departures for the 1st team squad, we have a number of 'older' youth players that are in a similar position. A number of these were signed by Swinton at the start of the year, and I am assuming they will either be re-signed by Wire, or released;

Gavin Benion and James Saltonstall
Both players are still only 19 and are contracted to 2015 and 2016 respectively. Benion (prop) has had 6 games for Swinton this year whilst Saltonstall has played exclusively for the U19. Saltonstall can play wing, centre and more recently has filled the FB role.

Ben Evans
Contracted to 2014. He had a pre-season operation on his hip which kept him out for the first 12 weeks of the season, but has since regularly appeared for Bradford as interchange prop. He is still only 20. Back next year to get some game time with us and/ or a further SL loan?

Glen Riley
Again, only 20 and has now had 2yrs with Swinton to gain experience. Played 6 1st team games. Was rumoured to be off to the Warriors, but perhaps not ?

Brad Dwyer
Only just turned 20 and is contracted to 2014. Played a half dozen games for Swinton where his form was apparently not great. Loaned to Hudds and played 9 games as interchange hooker. Surely he will feature at the HJ next year, but we don't yet know if Monas is staying for a further year or whether we have signed the classy Cas golfer. Must be a certainty to stay on our books though ?

Ryan Shaw and James Mendeika.
Both players are now 21, play at centre / SO, and have played most of their games with Swinton. Shaw had last year at Barrow but this is Mendeika's first year away from the HJ. Mendeika has been loaned to London (6-7 games ?) and on his return to Swinton, Shaw replaced him. I don't think there are any certainties for both these players next year.

James Laithwaite
Laithwaite is 21 and contracted to 2015. If he hadn't broken his ankle I suspect he would have played several games for us by now. Made his SL debut for HKR last year (4 games) and prior to that impressed at Leigh. Certain to be here next year.

Jordan Burke
He is now 21, and debuted for us last year at FB in the Keighley CC game. He is now 21 but was unlucky with a bad ankle injury during the early season at Swinton (3 months out). He has switched from FB to wing and has had some good reviews. I would hope he gets another year at least.

Jack Morrison
Jack is 20 and plays prop at Swinton. He has not had any SL experience as yet. He is still young for a prop, but I suspect he may remain where he is for next year.

Danny Bridge (20)
He seemed to show some nice touches when he played in those 3 games this year. Possibly a late developer ?, either way, for a number of reasons I am pretty certain he will be still with us next year.

Gene Ormsby (20)
Contracted to 2015. He has played exclusively with Swinton this year, but has moved from wing to 3/4. I saw him play once, and he was not out of place at Championship level. Something of an unknown quantity.

So we have 12 younger players all looking for a place next year. At the same time, some of the current U19's will also be looking to push through. Another unknown quantity is what age groups will we have next year; will there be an U21 ? So there is still quite a lot of uncertainty for this group, and I would imagine that until the 1st team squad is nailed down, they will not make any definite decisions here.

All the above info is correct to my knowledge, but apologies if there are any inaccuracies.

With all these players in the wings and having seen some play and heard about the rest you would think that we are good for the future, But. Some of these kids have been around for some time with either no orvery little 1st team experience. Are we too believe that they are not going to make it, as the ones that have made it have already come through i.e Rhys Evans, Ben Evans and Glen Riley etc or are these lads quite a bit older than the rest. When you read the list it makes you wonder if having a team of all stars is not so good for youth development?

I think marshman is right, I believe that if these lads were at any other club, and that includes the pie's and whino's, they would have played far more games this season.

You missed out Duffy, on loan at Leigh this season young prop

Quote: chrissyg1996(2) "You missed out Duffy, on loan at Leigh this season young prop'" I think you will find he has signed for Leigh, rather than on loan. www.leighcenturions.com/news/53 I liked watching Ryan in the U20's, he is a god old fashioned prop with a lot of heart.

Quote: chrissyg1996(2) "You missed out Duffy, on loan at Leigh this season young prop'" I think you will find he has signed for Leigh, rather than on loan. www.leighcenturions.com/news/53 I liked watching Ryan in the U20's, he is a god old fashioned prop with a lot of heart.

Says on the love rugby league website hes on a season long loan from us? Is it not like how some of ours have signed for Swindon for a season, but they're still our players?

My bad, ignore that haha

It is likely that next season may see the return of the U23s in addition to the U19s and U16s. Nothing definite as yet though.

really?

the Warrington Guardian hints at him staying at bradford on loan again.......rlhttps://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sport/wolves/10599924.IT_S_MY_VIEW__Rovers_prop_looks_set_to_switch/rl

Problem is some of our fans want it both ways on youngsters.

They will say we should play these young lads more and rotate the senior players in the league because league games don't matter but on the times where Tony Smith has left out senior players and played youngsters people come on here saying its disrespecting the fans and why should we pay our money if the club can't be bothered fielding a serious team.

I wonder which ones of our senior players should have been ousted to make way for these youngsters, and also if our fans would rate them so highly if they actually played in SL.

From what I understand;

Wigan and Leeds have different youth structures to us. The Wigan area produces a large number of youngsters, and you will find them scattered around the whole of RL. Have a look at how many wigan players were in the last England Academy side. So Wigan can afford to pick the best from this crop and they will appear in their 1st team. Leeds have a policy that says you can tell if a player is going to make SL by the time he reaches 19. So by definition, their 19 year olds are already showing a level of performance that allows them to be moved into the 1st team. At Wire, TS believes that some players will move straight into the 1st team (Currie), but others develop later, and you need to hang on to these players and give them more time and experience.

So we end up with a number of 20 somethings that require game time at a higher level than U19 / U20. If you look at the list I produced, you will see that from the 12 players, only Saltonstall (19) and Ormsby have not played at Championship or SL level. They are nearly all loaned out to get the required experience. We have used Cas, London, Saints, Salford, Bradford and of course Swinton to achieve that.

As to who has the correct youth policy; Leeds or Wire, I really don't know. But we do need to remember that both Leeds and Wigan have access to far more local talent than we do, so there is a good argument for making sure we fully exploit every promising youngster on our books, before we release them.

Warrington have a similar view to Leeds as they have a small group of academy players known as the 'Wolfpack' who they identify as having the best chance of playing SL. They receive extra training, nutrition etc.