Disappointing as it's essential for a club to have a pathway for young players for its long term future. However what are our alternatives? Join the new Super League reserves and get trounced every week by Super League players being rotated or stick with the Championships reserves and play once a month half the time against players who can't get in League 1 teams, neither does us much good. There's just not the opportunity to develop players young players for clubs outside of Super League all we can do is try to get into Super League then set up a proper reserves and academy once we have the opportunity.

More evidence Rowley not playing the youngsters hope its not boom or bust, poor decision

Like in the press release the decision was a team one between the board and the coaching staff. It is only for a year now and no coaching staff have been sacked of resigned to my knowledge. It may be a bit of money saving but like has been said. The comp in the Championship reserves has been poor and hit and miss. The whole of the coaching staff now can concentrate on the first team and that has got to be good. No help for junior pathway has been sacrificed. I'm sure that this decision has not been taken lightly and I have faith in it. Don't forget that we all want to be in SL. Don't we?

Whilst it is a disappointing decision, all decisions currently need to be made to focus on the main objective of the club - i.e. getting into the top structure of RL. As such, I would fully support this one.

As for supporters of other clubs, who criticise our decision to scrap the reserves, how many of them have been running with reserve teams lately? (those clubs without reserve teams, have partly contributed to our decision to join them!)

Hill debuted at 16 after signing from New Springs and didn't Wire release Grundy

Reserve RL under SL is busted, it is not fit for purpose. We must work harder with the amateurs and get to SL

In life choices have to be made, this is the right one for this moment in time. Great times ahead, followed by a great FT SL academy

We"ll see.Not fair on the lads who cant get a game in the first team.

Where did Hill, Taylor, Grundy etc play before they reached the first team? They all played in the academy.

Work hard with the ametuers? I'm sure Pownall and Hopkins have played academy rugby, which has no doubt benefited their careers. You can't just jump from ametuer to Pro, to big of a leap.....

This is a backwards step in my opinion! All the top teams have the best academies, Wigan, Leeds and Saints. They build their team around youth products, a bit like we did a couple of years ago.

Let's hope the boom and burst works!! Or else we could be left with no youth players, ageing players with massive salaries and impending debt.

If a club like Leigh can't afford an academy, what does this tell you about the state of their finances???

All our cash is going on Rangi and co, Mooky.

A very poor decision.
Is the proper plans, aims and desire that was all talked about to reach SL as our long term goal being replaced with an outright short term obsession?

There is just NO pleasing some folk...

Got to ask you the question? If we had been promoted this season to SL what would have happened to the reserves?

Had we been promoted we would still have a reserve team.

To get promoted you need a Superleague standard team as this season just gone has shown.

Getting promoted brings a much bigger income from prize money Sky money and better attendances.

I realise that your a Wigan lad and your son played in the Academy, but you need to cease winding folk up on here. To build a real conveyor you need to compete for the best kids both financially and with a proven pathway, neither can be done at Championship level and hence you simply turn a side out and tick a box.
There will be loads of kids with better potential than we can attract shown the door by SL clubs every year, as it stands we can only attract the kids SL overlooks and that isnt going to feed you.
Lets focus on the youngsters at East/Miners/Parkside etc and get the club into a position we can offer a decent opportunity for the better players who now are snapped up by the established SL clubs in the area, and that means SL.
20 years of sky funding has only created a few decent SL academy's, we have no chance without being in SL

Who has an Academy in Championship/SL..Where do the players from a SL academy end up if they don't make the grade? Where do those academy players come from originally?

I think the issue many have is not necessarily the cutting of the reserves, as long as it's a temporary measure, it's spending the savings on a huge gamble like Chase.