Is our youth development working ?

Here is a list of our youngsters that have achieved a SL debut over the past 12 years;

Player
2004 None

2005 Andy Braceck
Steve Pickersgill
Chris Riley

2006 Ben Harrison
Mike Cooper
Kevin Penny

2007 Anthony Jerram
Lee Mitchell
Matty Blythe

2008 Taylor Welch
Adam Neal

2009 Tyrone McCarthy
Alex Thompson

2010 Rhys Evans
Rhys Williams

2011 Gareth O'Brien

2012 Ben Currie
Brad Dwyer
James Laithwaite (HKR)

2013 Glen Riley
Danny Bridge
Ben Evans (Bradford)
Ryan Shaw (London)
James Mendeika (London)

2014 Gene Ormsby
Joe Philbin
George King
Toby King

2015 Declan Patton
Jack Johnson
Sam Wilde


Over the past 6 years the U20/19's have never finished outside the top 4 in the league and have been first 3 times, winning the GF once and contesting 3 finals ( invariably against Wigan). You could say that is a very healthy record and that our youth development is looking very successful. Certainly the club has had a major push over the past few years to raise standards, bring in juniors from the rest of the country, re-connect with local schools and clubs, and to provide high quality training facilities and coaches. On the other hand, the academy only exists for one purpose - to provide high quality players for the first team squad and by that measure we have not been quite as successful (as yet)

For the past four years you can see a marked increase in the number of youngsters getting a taste of SL - nearly 4/year. However we have also waved goodbye to quite a lot of the players as well. From 2013 only Ben Evans remains whilst the rest have been playing at Championship level (I think Shaw may be at HKR next year). The 2014 and 15 players are still with the club and it is still too early to know whether they are going to make that last final jump to becoming either a first team player.

Have we had a good return from the academy ? I suspect there will be lots of different views on this as everyone will have a favourite player or individual that they believe has lots of potential. Personally I think we have probably produced mainly 'squad players' such as Matty Blythe, Tyke and GOB. Will Rhys Evans and James Laithwaite make it past 'squad player' - they are already 23-24 yrs old and no longer fresh youngsters. I would argue that at minimum we need one player each year that becomes a first team fixture, and the only one on the books atm that I see is Ben Currie. At the moment SJM is footing the bill for half of a new team, but you can not predict who will own the club in the future. I think we need to see more of a dividend from the youth system - at the moment we are still talking about youngsters that are 'good prospects' and a system that 'is starting to bring players through'.

Ah, Taylor Welch. Those were the days. USA! USA!

IIRC we bought Andy Bracek from Saints?

You have a good memory, yes he was 17.

We also stole Currie from Wigan - he played in their U16's. And last year we apparently paid Leeds a lot of money for Morgan Smith ( England U16's 2012,2013). However we appear to be taking increasing numbers from the Warrington area, last year we promoted 9 U16s to the U19's and six of them came from Latchford Albion. That might just suggest we are getting a better pool of talented youngsters from our own area which should mean we at least get first pick of the better prospects.

Ryan Shaw has worked his way back into Super League as he has just signed for HKR.

Where do we reckon this team would finish (let's just say we'll have GOB twice)? Not a bad pack but badly lacking in the backs and obviously halves.

1. Chris Riley
2. Rhys Williams
3. Matty Blythe
4. Rhys Evans
5. Kevin Penny
6. Gareth O' Brien
7.
8. Ben Harrison
9. Brad Dwyer
10. Mike Cooper
11. Ben Currie
12. James Laithwaite
13. Tyrone McCarthy

Who was the young lad who left for a job in the oil industry? Was he a half?

Answering my own question - Craig Harvey.

2006 was a good vintage wasn't it?

6 years till we next got some good players through though, but since 2012 i'd argue we potentially have had a player a year who may end up a first team regular, Currie, Ben Evans, Tony King, Jack Johnson. I'd say it's too early to judge whether the youth system is successful right now.

What I'm probably more interested in right now, is the participation in the amateur scene in warrington, how is the club engaging with that, how are we tracking participation in amateur clubs, schools etc. Do the club track the amount of players registered at each age group? How are they influencing participation? I played for Woolston Rovers when I was a kid. We were the only club with a side at each age group, every year, in Warrington. We now have Rylands, Latchford Albion, Crossfields & Burtonwood to go at - is that enough?

Our problem right now is that we are trying to tempt Wigan, Saints, Yorkshire club fans to sign with us - which to be fair we seem to be doing a pretty good job at. But, as I touched on in an earlier thread today - we will have more luck tempting the next Chris Hill to the club if he is a Wire fan in the first place, and we will get him cheaper than paying a big transfer fee and inflated salary to tempt them over.

We have made great strides in the last 6 - 7 years, but we are still at the beginning of this investment - take note Marwan Koukash!!!

Good thread as per Winslade.

no offence too the players. as all players have been great players to play for us. but with the exception of cooper. they are not world class. which sadly is the harsh reality of our academy system thus far

I posted this on another thread. Who are the the Wire homegrown players to gain England or GB caps in the last 20 years.

I have Jon Roper. Can't think of any more.

Paul sculthorpe and iestyn Harris

Not as good as some clubs. Your just the best at pinching them from other clubs because you have a big money backer who can splash the cash. Still two of the best that you didn't get are Cameron Smith and Zak Hardaker at Leeds

Did they come through the full youth system?