Quote: Riderofthepalehorse " but nevertheless, investment in youth is the way forward.'"
Why do you feel so sure it is [ithe[/i way forward?
There’s less value in the NRL market than 10 years ago, for sure. Cherrypicked exceptions like SKD, aside.
But there are multiple ways to mitigate that. Championship players entering their prime, SL veterans with maybe 1 or 2 decent years left, a squad player at another club who in a different position and/or environment could bloom, Fijians in the Army. And, yes, bringing through academy players.
Golden generations stick in the memory but are rare and unpredictable. You can rarely rely on your academy as a major source of first team talent, in the modern era. People will point to St Helens, but I don’t think their circumstances are broadly applicable. If you look at their first GF-winning team, Cunningham is at 9 and Wellens on the bench - but it is clear they had initially to buy their place at the top table. [iMoney[/i is the one way… is that too sad a truth to say loudly?
The other problem is that the current pathway is club- not player-orientated but isn’t even very effective on those terms. Clubs’ desperate (if understandable) desire to own talent likely prevents it from developing in many cases. Let kids come up through the community game (investing [ithere[/i), to league 1, then the Championship and then SL… wherever they find their level. The big SL clubs harvesting 15 year olds then sieving them out over the next 4 years to choose a couple to send for a few games at Rochdale or Dewsbury as prep for a debut in an injury-ravaged SL team… I wonder why that doesn’t work very often! I wonder more why people think it should.