Quote Mrs Barista="Mrs Barista":1sxwwc2wInteresting to hear Ralph Rimmer tonight on the length of time the process has been underway (3 years) and seems that the primary aim is quality of academies rather than quantity of participants. And that currently academies aren't delivering high enough quality so can't continue to just do what's historically been done. I guess time will tell whether the decisions will deliver.'"
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TLDR summary) to be changed. The RFL, I would guess, will now be pretty passive in letting the Sport Resolutions appeals play out, making changes likely, imo. It won’t necessarily be to Rovers’ benefit, but between them the most disappointed clubs have a lot to go at.
I was going to call Rimmer’s arguments specious but I just checked the definition and I don’t think they are even superficially plausible. The 3-year process reflects understandable delays relating to the pandemic rather than the panel having read the submissions cover to cover (Castleford’s was apparently 2000 pages... wtf? No wonder the panel was unsympathetic to them). The ‘haven’t beaten Australia in a series in ages’ argument (Brian Carney has at least beaten them in a game, which itself now feels a bit like being reminded that Aberdeen once upon a time beat Real Madrid in a major European football final), and we have to do things differently is nonsense. We don’t beat Australia for the very broadly the same reasons English football managers haven’t won the English league for nearly 30 years - the last two that did were both called Howard, for goodness sake and only Tottenham caretaker Ryan Mason finished in the top half of the PL this year - it is numbers and culture.
Side note: going back a bit further, Englishman Bob Paisley must be among the most underrated managers in sports history.
Side note to side note: I recommend the Bob Emergency sports documentary by Jon Bois.
Back on the academy decision. This isn’t, and in fairness was never intended to be, about reform. It is exactly the same system, but with slightly fewer/different participants. The leap from this to materially improving our chances against Australia, even as one small piece of the jigsaw, is ludicrous. Rimmer can’t say it, but if it is about saving money (which is in very short supply) or increasing participation in the Southeast and Northeast that at least makes some sort of sense.
What has been interesting has been the suggestions about real reform that have emerged through the furore. Terry O’Connor fell into the Jamie Peacock trap of extrapolating from his personal experience, but I agree with him about scholarships so I’ll forgive that - and I know it resonates with normal people.
For me, the whole system is way too SL club-centric with a strange sense of ownership and competition. I mean, the proposal of a draft for graduates of the COHA - that didn’t seem weird to people? Or some of the reaction when somebody like George Lawler chooses to seek professional opportunities elsewhere, or the hype around Harry Tyson-Wilson, Reece Dean, Callum Lancaster, Jack Logan et al. before they’d really reached adulthood (for balance, I recall seeing Steven Holker compared to one of Rovers’ all-time greats after a couple of games off the bench and Rovers were bigging up the youngsters in their system in the HDM ahead of this decision), or the quietness about the progress of Jez Litten and Joe Cator that I’m now anticipating in light of the panel’s scoring methods?
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