Quote: nathan_rugby "But you cannot keep everyone - it’s a sign of the quality of our academy.
There are always going to be players we keep who don’t work out and those who leave who go onto better things.'"
Agreed. You also can't legislate for those that look ordinary at an early age and then go on to be great players.
Even from a Saints point of view Whitley was in our Academy and Ashurst has gone on to forge himself a good SL career.
Welsby is probably the one that got away as it seems he was told he wasn't good enough. Maybe he wasn't that great as a junior as I've suggested above.