Quote: mattsrhinos1978 "Yeah, not great really, but looks to be getting better, still the odd concern though.
We went through a period when Barrie Mac was heading our youth where the recruitment was pretty bad tbh. We rectified that and started to get top talents into our scholarship system again. Brian Mac wasnt renowned for develping youth which, for me, showed with even some of the players who'v become first teamers under him.
If anybody remembers Stevie Ward coming through, he looked like the next coming of Paul Sculthorpe, all the skill in the world, he became a good backrower, but nothing like the player he could of been if developed properly, even taking into account his injurys.
Liam Suttcliffe was a great running 6 in his best season in the Academy, he never developed his passing game at first team level, still hasnt to this day, we probably ruined his chances of becoming a top player by constantly moving him about, he should of been developed as a 13, allowed to develop there and build his size up over time.
Singleton, i just think lacks the natural size, we tried to put some weight on him but he just dosnt carry it well, dont think we could do a lot more with him. If you could put his aggression in a bigger body, he'd be a real player.
Agars doing a good job in develping the young lads. I wasnt in favour of his appointment but its mayb not a bad time for him to be here, listening to players he's worked with in the past, they all rave about his ability to improve them individualy, obviously hasnt shown in results on the pitch in his carreer but Newman, Oledzki, Holroyd, Smith, Handley all seem to be develping well under him also Jack Walker, whos always been a great runner, was rounding out his game nicely before injury and we'r going ok on the field so he's doing better than i expected.
My concern is our love of ex players as coach at Academy level, Adrian Morley was a disaster, Rob done pretty well, now we'v got Chev Walker, who i dont rate atall. Our Scholarship coach, Mark Butterill, is one of the best in the buissness, they play lovely stuff and every year he sends a load to the Academy who look real class, thats when a lot seem to stagnate, we dont seem to develop them at that age as well as yourselves or saints do.
All just my opinion ofcourse.'"
Interesting, thanks for that. As an outsider, I got the impression that Leeds were excellent at getting young players ready for first team rugby, but until the most recent crop struggled to get them to kick on once they were there. On reading this I was probably being unfair.
Certainly Ward is just down to horrendous luck. For a while he was rated as highly as Bateman, so nothing the club could do there. It does seem like one of Agar is doing a good job with the youngsters too, impressed with Oledzki in particular in the last few times that I've seen him.
