To be fair to Hull as a club both the owner Adam Pearson and Radford wanted and were/are very strong advocates of the U23's/Reserve side but the sad fact is very few clubs provided sides on a regular basis. This then made it a complete farce when we had a team that had no fixtures to play due to other teams failing to put a team out etc. that is no fault of our set up/academy.

Taking in to account the cost involved in running a proper reserve side Adam Pearson & Radford have in my view made the correct decision to scrap the reserve team and use the money elsewhere to help improve the development of players and build stronger links with lower league clubs etc.

The fault of the failure of this in the most part down to the RFL for not making it a mandatory requirement for all SL clubs (including those that are trying to attain SL) to have a proper reserve team set up to run inline with their SL fixtures.

After years of neglect by the previous owners/regime Adam Pearson from day one has stated that producing and nurturing home grown players is essential for the long term future of Hull FC. He has stuck to his word and put a large amount of money investing in this area of development and with the input of Radford etc completely overhauled the systems previously in place.

This doesn't provide home grown talent over night but thank fully we at Hull FC are now seeing some positive results in this with the young players now appearing on the fringes of the first team and players such as Logan, Fash, Turgut & Matongo making advances in the first team.

With regards to the joint academy for for fans on both sides of the river the jurys still out on that one but as has been said we as fans have to take what our owners has said on the reasons for this as he has made sound decisions thus far in putting this club back in the top of the sport.

I agree with him as well. I've always admired Wigan for the way they churn out quality players. Other Clubs including Hull should use them as a benchmark on how to do it. That's why they have less excuse for having 8 overseas players on their books. I'm just surprised he came on our board to point our the failings of our Club which we already know.

It's hardly harming the international game...the World class players we do produce don't get selected anyway!

Didnt saints 'borrow' half the rovers squad for reserve games?

Brisbane, finally a RL town.
RLWC sharing centre stage with the ashes, probably more on the RLWC.
Great to see after Perth and Melbourne where no one had a clue there was a game on. Brisbane has put a big splash on and it feels like your attending a big sporting occasion.