AS others have posted, I thought that all SL clubs had to run an academy team.
In many ways they are more important than the senior team and the juniors are the future, not only for their respective clubs but, for the sport as well.
All that cash and still no decent advice our guidance on where best to invest it.

We know how the big boys poach players and sweep up many youngsters but, the likes of Wigan, Saints and Leeds have built their success on having a strong nucleus of "local" players and then add 3 or 4 quality overseas players to make them really tick.

Also, if the British (or should I say European) game doesnt develop it's own players, we will never be competitive on the International scene.

Yeah but most don't

It's supposed to be so. Don't know if you saw that post MC left on here about what we get from Sky, he said that we get £100k for the Academy from Sky and it has to be matched by the club. I presume that's the case for every Club.

A professional club, even a semi-pro one, is the top of a pyramid that involves the Academy, Development Squads, local amateur senior and junior clubs. It is a line to be drawn through all of them and our club, thank goodness, recognises this and works very hard at it. The Salford club have become disconnected since their move to the new stadium, which is often a point used against NM, but in Warrington they kept all those connections and indeed made the most flourish, which is partly why they are such a strong club these days. Salford are committing Hari Kari by doing this as they are removing the connections to the local community.
I cannot say how strongly I feel that this is a terrible step and that the RL should step in and make them reverse it - NOW!

But they won't because they are spineless and to many people in SL are still seduced by the Doctors cash.

With you on this Vastman

For me no Academy no place in SL regardless of who it is If this means spending less on the first team so be it
Spending the full cap and more did not help Salford todate and a few more

Completely agree. The RFL should step in....

Why would any RL fan wish to see a club burn to the ground?

This is about the game as a whole, not just Salford, but I don't want Salford ato stop producing players - why should the other clubs produce Salfords players?

I also thought that each SL team had to have so many of their own Academy players in the first team, can't remember what the minimum was.

How can that be? We Leigh don't have one..Now if your talking players under a certain age you might have a point.

Correct,and hopefully they wont stop producing players if things pan out.

Well it was 5, and up until recently we would add 5 young uns to the squad who wouldn't get a whole lot of game time. Whether it is still 5 I am unsure, but it should be. We look like having up to 8 in the squad and plenty of game time between them, so all good!

I gather that Salford will launch a joint academy with Leigh; and the RFL have set the precedent for that kind of retrograde step by their support for the joint academy in Hull.

At this rate, we'll end up with one big academy set up and a draft system.

Scandalous really and by allowing Hull and now Salford to have joint academies, they are culpable in allowing the game to reduce the numbers of youngsters entering the sport.
Of course, IF these academies pooled their coaching and training facilities but developed twice as many (or more) than a "single" academy, then, it would just be the logistics of "sharing out" the players.
Also, if they have a joint academy, are both clubs able to claim the RL payment of £100k per annum (the same goes for KR & FC) ?