Russell slipped behind Murphy in the pecking order this year so there was already competition just to become back up for Tomkins. He's the sort of player who could really become a huge talent if he fixes the weaknesses in his game and there's much better coaching available in Australia.

Out of the current under 20's who haven't played any or very many first team games the ones I think the club really needs to keep are -

Rhodri Lloyd (pretty sure he's already contracted for a few years)
Jack Murphy
Greg Burke
Dom Crosby (although he's over age)
Sam Powell
John O'Donnell

Out of the rest I don't think there are any who would really have anything to offer.

It is a problem that we will have to come to terms with. I would be happy for the club to have an arrangement, with an Aussie outfit, were players can spend a couple of years in Australia before returning to play in this country.

We need to make sure our succession planning is spot-on, for example we need to ensure that we have a ready made replacement for Sam in two years time. The constant moving of the goal posts is neither helping clubs or players.

Possibly not, but late developers like Crosby would have slipped through our fingers if the U20s competition had been scrapped a few years ago.

I mentioned that on another forum, scrapping the under 20's disadvantages prop forwards who generally peak later in their careers and some probably aren't ready to play week in week out even once they reach their early 20's.

Just had a quick look on google maps at the stadium (Skilled Park) and the local area including the coastline and all I can say is....wow! For a 23 year old lad to be given the opportunity to get out there and be well paid for it is every young persons dream.

Get out there and don't look back..!

the full back is jimmy watson, very highly rated at leeds. the prop is brad singleton who should have played plenty for the first team this year. a really good player

i have never ever seen a topic regarding the wigan academy without rogues gallery making reference to it in some form or other.
As he has constantly bigged up the wigan academy set up and has taken great delight in belittling the Rhino's academy set up,i would have expected him to do the decent thing here and eat some humble pie and congratulate our far younger winning side?
i hope that rogues does not try to out do leon pryce and try to take his mantle of the hide and seek king away from him

on a side note this was a fantastic result for these Rhino's kids against the much more experienced Wigan counterparts,the majority of our u20's will be moving onto pastures new next season due to the changes that will come into force from the rfl

To be fair to Rogues, I've not seen him post for a number of days.

fair enough pal and i do hope that he is ok

nice guy rogues. i've always found him a decent bloke. even if he is a wigan fan

There are 2 others I would add to this list, Liam Carberry and Matt Crow, neither have been given much of a chance this season by the current coach, for whatever reason I am at a loss. Carberry is a hooker but for some reason seems to have played most of his games at loose forward, which it is obvious he is not. I appreciate that Hooker is Logans position but believe Carberry should have been given more opportunities to develop in that role. Crow who together with Carberry and Burke showed a lot of promise for the previous 3 seasons at centre and 2nd row, has barely had a look in, being on the bench or not even in the squad. I looked at Rogues stats and he has had only 2 starts all season. At 2nd row he gives the team more pace/vision and definately more discipline certainly than Connor Farrell has shown in that postion.

Isn't Matty Russell only 19 ?

For the record - Rogues has been on holiday for the last fortnight in Greece. He is 97 and has left the butler at home (cheapskate!) so doesn't have anyone out there to type his internet rambles for him. He's back later this week though, so I'm sure he will eat his humble pies!

Quote: Bilko "For the record - Rogues has been on holiday for the last fortnight in Greece. He is 97 and has left the butler at home (cheapskate!) so doesn't have anyone out there to type his internet rambles for him. He's back later this week though, so I'm sure he will eat his humble pies! The butler did a spiffing job keeping the house clean and the parlour maid pampered to my every wish whilst were were in Kefalonia. I wish I hadn't given my yacht's captain six months off as he could have sailed us back up the Manchester Ship Canal past the Screwfix, along Carr Mill Dam and up the Roley Brook (now a river) to finish the holiday off in style. U20's. Congratulations to both Warrington and Leeds on reaching the final (it's about time we had some competition). Let's hope the proposed changes provide a better challenge for our young players, but I am yet to be convinced. Here are all the tries from the Leeds v Wigan Game. www.therhinos.co.uk/news/20426.php? What was Ryan King doing for that third Leeds try?

Quote: Bilko "For the record - Rogues has been on holiday for the last fortnight in Greece. He is 97 and has left the butler at home (cheapskate!) so doesn't have anyone out there to type his internet rambles for him. He's back later this week though, so I'm sure he will eat his humble pies! The butler did a spiffing job keeping the house clean and the parlour maid pampered to my every wish whilst were were in Kefalonia. I wish I hadn't given my yacht's captain six months off as he could have sailed us back up the Manchester Ship Canal past the Screwfix, along Carr Mill Dam and up the Roley Brook (now a river) to finish the holiday off in style. U20's. Congratulations to both Warrington and Leeds on reaching the final (it's about time we had some competition). Let's hope the proposed changes provide a better challenge for our young players, but I am yet to be convinced. Here are all the tries from the Leeds v Wigan Game. www.therhinos.co.uk/news/20426.php? What was Ryan King doing for that third Leeds try?