Rovers academy playing, cant even bothered to post teams or regularly updates on social media.

Hello.

I think there are two sides of the process that can be looked at.

Firstly the analysis and the performance/selection criteria. Were these established in advance of the analysis and at least checked by a qualified statistician? The panel consisted of an Air Commodore, Sport England’s strategic lead for talent and performance and four RFL representatives. I’ve just stalked the second of those, Duncan Truswell, on LinkedIn and he has a BS in Economics and Politics, so it isn’t implausible that it was done properly and both he Dean Andrew said they believed the process was robust and rigorous. From the bits and pieces I’ve seen, I’d have some questions I’d like to ask - but maybe it is kinder and a better use of everybody’s time if we move on. My point really is if it was done well, then the second ‘political’ element is easier to support. And it was always going to be a political decision to some degree, inevitably. If they didn’t precisely predefine their criteria or consider weighting across the follow-up period etc., then having a Hull fan chair a panel that denies Rovers a licence (especially when two remained open) [ilooks[/i bad. Which doesn’t necessarily mean it is bad - I’m not questioning anybody’s integrity. I think the panel as a whole was… naive, perhaps? Maybe in not publishing their methods, results and full interpretation, if it was robust, or at least in the somewhat crass messaging and communication.

Weirdly, Rovers academy might ultimately have been saved by shortcomings in the process. It’s not like better analysis would have made our numbers look much better and we may not have met properly defined criteria. Despite the outrage, if the RFL had a proper defence they should have mounted it before resorting to Rimmer’s Random Word Salad in that Sky interview.



I initially wrote a sarcastic ‘I hope you do’ type of response to this.

What I really hope is that all clubs reflect a bit more about what is and is not working for them and young local players, then maybe conduct some robust and rigorous analyses of their own with a view to considering some different approaches and testing new ideas. It’s an expensive do running an academy and neither Rovers nor Hull have had fantastic vfm in recent years. Both clubs need to do better - they shouldn’t just be a feel-good thing. I get the symbolism of Rovers’ academy beating Hull’s in these circumstances - but that isn’t the point of it. The success of those groups, as groups, should be judged in 5 to 10 years from now.

We'll always get the best youngsters been the biggest club

But our academy has been average last few years

Fash, bowden, Lane are average really

Lineham and crooks are the best we've brought through in last 10 years and even they're nowhere near the Horne yeaman Cooke etc level

Shaul is better than Lineham and crooks but is he classed as academy? Given he was signed about 19 from skirlaugh

I would say Lane is average, also Lineham was signed from York.

We made a big mistake having the joint academy (Rovers could maybe argue the same) which will have put our academy behind others.

It certainly needs to improve, hopefully we are saying it now with Brown, Wynne and McNamara.

Brown and Wynne are 20 and McNamara is 19. I don't know much about their routes to your first team squad - but a chunk of their formative development years will of been when when the CoH academy was running, 2016–2019. Same with Mikey Lewis and Will Tate at Rovers.

It is difficult to judge the current performance of an academy because you don't really begin to see the results for 3–5 years. Also, given the small numbers involved and year-to-year variations in talent it is difficult to judge how much is down to systems and how much to random fluctuation.

Looking at the famous teams based around batches of homegrown players, across different sports, their success isn't typically sustained by relying heavily just on that model beyond one generation. A lot of the time it is just a temporary confluence of circumstance and talent.

https://twitter.com/hullfcofficial/stat ... 23841?s=19

https://twitter.com/hullfcofficial/stat ... 23841?s=19

https://twitter.com/hullfcofficial/stat ... 00449?s=19 MADE IN HULL Nine of last night's match day seventeen came through the Black & Whites' academy system! #COYH https://t.co/puuFMJ8Gni

https://twitter.com/hullfcofficial/stat ... 00449?s=19 MADE IN HULL Nine of last night's match day seventeen came through the Black & Whites' academy system! #COYH https://t.co/puuFMJ8Gni

Maybe they are including Lane as "Matchday"

I make it 7, Wynne, Logan, Fash plus the 4 on the bench.

Maybe they are counting Cator and Scott.

Scott should count, shouldn’t he?

I appreciate i am participating in something I have previously criticisized as unhealthy. But I didn’t start it

Both played in the City of Hull Academy.

Looks like we're losing one of the coaching staff to Cas .

Lovely work. And Shaul, Bowden, Houghton, Matongo and Lane to add to that number as homegrown. Great stuff.