Quote: ShortArse "the point Dave is that our philosophy has changed with IL. In the past we would have blown the budget on a big name and been left with a weak squad as a whole. We have also been reluctant to give opportunities to young players or develop a youth system to be as strong as possible.
By focussing on youth development we have been able to build a strong, large squad without the need to blow money on big names. The TEAM ethic has meant that often our 1-17play as a unit better than the sum of the parts.
We could not have used this approach without the quality supply of juniors that are able to come in and fit in straight away when injuries dictate.'"
Exactly, we paid a few players pension plans, granted we had a few gems as well, but we were forced to let go of promising youngsters , some of which came back to haunt us.
The way the present regime is going about things means we have a team ethic carried over from juniors to seniors , as opposed to bedding in overseas seasoned pros.
End of the day our youth system is the envy of a lot of superleague clubs, so why change i?