That's what we do, we write them off early. Like Jez Litten and Dean Hadley, who'll both be playing in the showpiece game this Saturday.

Apparently we need some Australian who can't get a game down under, instead.

Was reading about the Melbourne side in the run up to the NRL grand final last week, would make his head spin. They have a deliberate policy of looking for and giving players a chance who’ve been dumped/rejected elsewhere and even worse do the unthinkable of trying those players in different positions to what they are supposed to be specialist in.

No better example than halfback Jahrome Hughes. NRL player of the year halfback was dumped by the Cowboys and Gold Coast playing only two NRL games until he was 23, Played all his junior career at fullback and didn’t play as a halfback until he was 25.

It’s absolutely mental that looking for a long term Billy Slater replacement Melbourne decided to target players who could play a bit of halfback as well as fullback and had been rejected by other clubs. They signed Jahrome Hughes, Cam Munster, Papenhuyzen, Nicho Hynes and Scott Drinkwater.

I’ve never been a ‘play the youngsters at all cost’ type of fan, but there’s absolutely no argument that the most successful sides on both sides of the world have the most faith and patience with young players.

Absolutely spot on, the internet expert is not always right give these kids a chance.

I think the key is finding the right balance and agree that the most successful clubs manage that balance. For me, we struggle to do that. This year for example we have overexposed a lot of our youngsters but in the past we've done the exact opposite and blocked youngsters pathways. As has been pointed out, two of our ex youngsters are now about to feature in the Grand Final and both left us when they did because they couldn't get game time with us. If you look at someone like Saints for example, they had to make a decision a few seasons back regarding sticking with Coote or backing Welsby. I guarantee FC would have stuck with Coote and Welsby would have ended up moving on.

I like the approach the club seem to be taking now. They recognise that the youngsters are our imminent future but not our immediate present and are bringing in players to help mentor and guide them over that period. Time will tell if the club gets it right but it does feel that they have a balanced plan in place.

Some of the youngsters will get some game time again next season due to the new player welfare minutes played ruling coming into effect for 2025 .