Seem to remember Lee Crooks doing ok at the age of 17 and what about James Graham he'll of been about 17-18 yr old, drip feeding into games every now and again speeds up maturity you wouldn't want to break them but 20 mins at the right time is what's needed

Wouldn't deny that but wouldn’t want to put that level of expectation on them. Nearer to home I remember Feather and Mason breaking through as props very young. Do think that’s a lot rarer these days though.

Working out who’s going to make it at 17 to 19 age especially in the forwards is really hard to do, so many factors. I don’t envy the coaching staff that one but I’m really delighted to see we are pushing it.

All the same I doubt the club has any serious plans to use them this season. Aydin is next in line for the pack and he will do well to get a game, hopefully for his sake and ours).

Wigan seem to have a batch of very young aggressive Forwards ie Smithies, Partington ..... who are 19/20. If you’re ready you’re ready regardless of age. Listening to a Sean Long interview on rugby AM he said they have the same youth coaches at Wigan as when he first came through and they literally have them running through brick walls for the club

I think we are heading that way but it takes time.

I remember Applegarth as a player, he was a mediocre talent but his enthusiasm and effort were exceptional. He's the perfect youth Coach IMHO. His attitude is spot one in that he will instil a work ethic and he understands failure and that it can be overcome, he understands all players develop differently. Far too many youths coaches concentrate on the obvious talent at that ages group but that is often deceiving, you need a Coach who can spot ticker as well as quality or qualities yet to be developed and I think he does.

Lets put it this way, in the last six years we've not had too many failures and even those have gone on to do ok elsewhere, we have also had a few success stories sowe must be doing something right.

Too many fans base their expectations on the golden generation at Leeds. To have that many quality players coming through at a similar time was a freak, and won't happen again for a long time.

In reality, if we can keep a couple of players coming through the system each year then we're doing well. Jowitt, Batch, Johnstone and Crowther are all regulars. Kershaw and Croft are probably a couple of years behind, you've then Bailey, Aydin, Bowes just starting out with Greensmith, Eseh, O'Donovan and Windrow a year or two further back.

Not all of them will make it, but within a couple of years we've the potential for half our first team to be home grown. I don't think we can complain at that.

Bet they can

Of course for every crowther we will have say a hooley or a gwaze.hope we do have a team of home grown lads playing for us in sl there would be nothing better.i could name one of next lads too but its unfair on him but he a scholarship lad and he looks to hsve everything to go far( just pity covid is hampering development)

Going slightly OT but an interesting choice of players there and one that shows how incredibly difficult it can be t sign the right players, especially at youth level.

Hooley was touted as a star in the making. Yet IMO his career in SL was over after his first big game appearance in the boxing day game a few years back. Don't know why but for some players just freeze when they step up and he instantly looked out of his depth. Yet 18 months previous the smart money was on him.

Gwaze on the other hand never looked a world beater but he was making steady progress and looked a reasonable squad player in the four games he played. We could do with him now that's for sure. I'm told and I can't offer to much detail that Gwaze wasn't let go for Rugby reasons but due to a shall we say a difference of opinion on current issues, you work it out. Might not be right but my source is usually on the money.

These may be relatively unimportant younger players but it's not untypical of all ages and goes to show just how difficult it is to get the right blend of 30 players and then keep them happy, I couldn't do it.