On what do you base that opinion?

i think mr meldrews quote was mr agars reference to our champ,ionship winning side not the current academy side who with the greatest respect are not in the same class,if im right with my thinking RA was at hull at that time a team that our u18s got the double over,amazes me,its been said on here before the acheivments that team did but most posters on here, not everyone havent a clue never watched em iwas at that evening with richard agar and yes he did refer to the fact that other teams didnt play their best teams ,i took time on previous threads to name wigan , cas and i didnt mention leeds with callum watkins no mr agar your quote was hearsay and its time supporters on here gave that team the credit they deserved r,rant over

Even if he did fancy a move to Toulouse if they got into SL, at best it wouldn't be for a few years and it'll probably be time for a change anyway by then imo.

In those age groups players change every year anyway, so surely a lot depends on the standard of that years players and can't compare one season to another, doesn't it.

Also like others have said surely if you have a grievance shouldn't it be at the the guy running the academy program, which is Dickens isn't it. If he isn't doing a good job, that wants looking at definitely because it's one of the most important jobs at the club imo. Personally I just don't get to the amount of Academy games I used to in years gone by so it's hard to give an opinion on the subject.

we had agreat performance and then a decent one against a very poor salford team,lets be honest weve got to mantain that form ,its only a couple of weeks since we were way below par against cas and hull kr lets not get carried away and see what happens the rest of the season and the same players we are raving over us criticts were rightfully at that time pulling em apart,i agree collis deserves another contract butsome want treating with caution

I thought it was supposedly Kear who held back the players in the Championship-winning side? There was plenty spilled years after about how it was detrimental to those players' development. What's Agar supposed to do about it, after the stable door has been opened and the horse bolted?

Out of interest - where are they now, all those other lads in the side? Did winning the Championship really screw up their careers as rugby players, or is it just the normal level of shortfall/disinterest you'd expect from any year? Of the current U19s - are they technically weak, or physically weak?

No. He has had just shy of 50 games in charge. We have looked like a decent side for about 1/4 of those matches at best. We have looked a shambles for at least 1/2 and somewhere in between for the other 1/4. We have been too inconsistent and hsi decisions on players like Walshaw, Mariano, Ellis, Wildie, Lyne, Trout and others are just plain wrong for me. I think he's an assistant coach who likes to analyse stats but cannot motivate a team. We ought to be 5 to 8 points better off than we are now for the games we didn't turn up for this year. I would prefer a change but it seems we cannot afford a sacking so time might see him develop as a coach...I doubt it, but we are stuck so let's see; but offer him more time now would be a vey bad idea fo me. If he goes elsewhwre, ces't la vie, he's broken no pots here.

Totally agree and, as I recall, a criticism from Hull fans; he fails to bring on home grown talent. I don't have a lot of confidence in his ability as a leader and a spotter of talent, though it sounds like he knows his stuff on stats and training drills. The former are massively more important fo success as head coach/ football manager. The right guys on the pitch in the right positions is the biggest factor in winning for me

I can't agree. The head coach should not sit back and leave it to his junior staff to decide who to bring on. Do you reckon Alex Ferguson never went and had a good butchers at his golden era boys before Beckham et al got put right in? Nope, he should be down there seeing where his next stars are coming from; the most cost effective way and most pleasing for a club like ours, to buils a team. His job!

Alex Ferguson - fantastic example. Completely bab in his first few years at ManU, and was facing the sack... but luckily for them, they held on long enough for his work to pay dividends, and for him to reap the benefit of a youth system that was probably in place before he even got there.

I wasn't happy when we signed Richard Agar, and I don't know anyone on this forum, bar one, who was. He's been proved right, IMO, and I think we've now got a top coach who may not make every friend or relative of every young player who'd like to play for us happy, but will do a fine job in bringing this club forward in the long term.

no rebel rebel of course not blamingRA for what happened to the players in that side ,just dissapointed he jumped on the band wagon of discrediting their acheivment by saying other teams didnt play full strengh teams when folk who watched the academy that year knows it just wasnt true

The post i replied to was blaming Agar for the U19 side not been as good as the championship winning one but how is that his fault with a completely different set of lads, who are not as talented to pick from.

I'm not sure I get you're point, who's said he's sat back and left it to the U19 head Coach, no one. Who's said he isn't down there keeping his eye on who's coming through etc, no one. Surely though the day to day training and skills development is in the hands of the U19 Head Coach. He's the guy that gets the plaudits when they win, just like Tony Dury did in 09 with the Championship winning side did and surely must take responsibility when they don't. I know you don't like Agar but come on a bit of balance imo.

Tbh though neither of us know what the crack is with this years side, unless we're there with them and watching them each week.

Fair enough, mate. Still, as someone who was obviously pretty close to what was going on with that team, can you say why we're not seeing the benefits? Where are they now? And why? I'd be interested to know your opinion.

Out of the winning side we've still got Cowling, Walshaw, Annakin, Trout & Wildie, so we've still got a number of them here.

A few have gone onto pastures new for one reason or another, off the top of my head Southernwood went to Bradford now at Whitehaven, Russ Spiers was at Dewsbury now back at Dons. Adam Slater is now in Aus at Burleigh Bears. Griffin I thinks at Hull KR.

I don't know the ins and outs as well as others but I would say we had a really good chance to test a number of that Championship winning side when we went into administration. Instead we brought players in from here there & everywhere instead of going with our own youth more.

As I've said before, Agar is doing his best to salvage what he can from a group of lads who were badly let down by the previous regime; given the total disconnect between youth and 1st team in the past, he deserves credit for doing as much as he has, particularly since the scrapping of the reserves has made it much more difficult.

The current system will start to pay dividends in a few years time - I don't know much about this year's 16's, but I do know that if we manage to get the majority of the lads who are on the scholarship radar for next year, we'll have a group of very talented young players in our system - keeping hold of them all will of course be a different challenge.

Suggesting that Agar is somehow responsible for the plight of Cowling, Walshaw et al is egregious and in my view, beyond the pale; have an opinion by all means, but at least try to base it in some version of reality.

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