I agree with this, and when I saw Faz play in the 20s a few years ago, I said he'd be a future MoS and I still stand by that.

Yes. It says the names of the scorers at the top left btw.

A Thornley / Burgess combination is a mouth watering prospect.

Ryan Hampshire has stood out from the highlights and I here a lot of people talking him up, from the people who follow the academy how good is Ryan? how good can he be? and how close to being a first team player is he?

I think we'd see him go on loan at Championship level next season to progress his development.
Somewhere like Leigh would be good for him.

All six Wigan lads picked for the first test in Canberra on Sunday. Congratulations to all of them, particularly Ryan Sutton who only turned 17 yesterday. It'll be a big ask for him against a big physical Aussie pack. Good luck to all the team over there. www.englandrl.co.uk/article.php?id=25823

All six Wigan lads picked for the first test in Canberra on Sunday. Congratulations to all of them, particularly Ryan Sutton who only turned 17 yesterday. It'll be a big ask for him against a big physical Aussie pack. Good luck to all the team over there. www.englandrl.co.uk/article.php?id=25823

Brilliant to see all 6 in there and it's going to be a massive aid in their developments.

We expecting to see the majority of them in the first team squad next year? It would be great to get these playing regular u20's with us and then get them some loan opportunities elsewhere.

Exciting times.

They won't have an under 20's competition to play in it seems. They'll be playing under 19's and getting some time on loan at South Wales I imagine.

I think Farrell, Hampshire, Williams and Burgess may well get first team squad numbers for next year. Tierney is still behind Tomkins, Murphy and Russell at the moment so will have to wait a little longer. Sutton will probably take longer to make the step up (assuming he does) since he's a prop.

4 of these guys are 1st year under 18s meaning there only just 17 in a lot of cases.
I wouldn't be worried about them not being in the 1st team squad until 2014 if it were up to me. That doesnt mean we couldnt use them (not too many at once though please) if needed but by the 2014 season most of them will be around the late 18/ early 19 mark which for me is the ideal time for them to be exposed to the 1st team.
Lets' not expect too much of them too early.

Five of them are first year U18's this year. Only Connor Farrell is second year.
Hampshire, Williams, Burgess, Tierney and Sutton are all still 17, As I said Sutton was only 17 yesterday.

Agree with everything you said about introducing them gradually and certainly noy rushing them yet.

If Joe Burgess continues to develop he could be the ideal replacement for Pat Richards, and in Hampshire we have a kid with blistering pace and a superb goal kicker.