Wow. Yes, that's all that matters Even by my standards, that's weird thinking. Now that Pete Grayburn is planning to deliver Wigan/Leeds style success imminently, you may have to rethink your positioning of youth development as a "nice to have" though.

Back to Turgut. Obviously behind Ellis, Mini, Thompson and Hadley. Hope Radford chooses to get him some gametime this year but at least we know if he's playing well enough he'll likely get the chance.

I don't think radford is bothered about winning the u19's beyond the benefits of developing a winning culture at the club. I'm sure he's sensible like everyone else and sees that the youth structures at any club is about developing first team players, not winning meaningless comps.

I've not really seen much of the rovers team at u19's. Who do you rate in there and what positions do they play? It would be good to see local talent finally coming through no matter which side of the river it's on

You've been saying this for years. In 2011 you said in 3 years time Beharrell and co would be climbing the steps at Wembley or something like it. Maybe you meant selling programmes. When you're doing a jig celebrating rlCampese'srl arrival as a 13th new blocker of homegrown talent that strikes me as partial acceptance of actual, rather than fictional/claimed, order of priorities. That sounded a bit like Zod, sorry. Where is he BTW?

Look, I've no idea whether any of the current crop at FC will make it. But surely the latest international picks and Radford backing up words with action in selecting the likes of Logan and Lancaster are simply good things for Hull FC that deserve some small acknowledgement.. Quite why Rovers moderators feel the need to belittle it, saying it's either meaningless or "our kids are better than yours" is unnecessary derailment.

Back on topc, which is England's U19s. Anyone know how Ash Golding of Leeds went? He looks top drawer.

To be fair blockers of homegrown talent (or fantastic pros with loads of experience they can pass on to the youngsters in the squad; whichever you prefer), can only be sensibly made as a nett measure. We've moved on roughly as many 'pathblockers' as we've signed. Not an ideal level of churn, but that's a different issue.
It'd be as churlish not to acknowledge the achievement of Jansin Turgut, Jordan Abdull, Jack Logan and Callum Lancaster, as it would be to use them as bicker bait. And clearly neither you nor I are doing either of those things. It'd be a most unbecoming, for middle-aged folk who really should know better.
So well done to them, genuinely.

Mrs barista and mild rover having a spat how strange as I like both of them because they generally have good balanced arguments. come together you two

Abdul had a very good game, but both Lancaster and Turgut were poor. I hope it was just a one off as they are both players who I tipped to have big futures in the game. Toby King was Englands standout player.

With a name like Toby King he must be a future England Union player, I thought there was rule banning all Toby's from playing RL.

Thanks for the insight. Disappointing that Turgut and Lancaster were poor but pleased for Abdul. Hopefully in the medium term all three will benefit from the training and match experience.

The Relative Age Effect and how players mature into adulthood have a major bearing on this. You will find the majority who make the rep teams and Academy teams are quartile one but this doesnt always make them the SL stars of the future. i think the studies prove that the quartile 4 players are the ones who have more success at elite level.

Hull is a major hotbed of talent and we do produce many champion teams accross the age groups, the recent BARLA Yorkshire Cup proved this with a Hull finalist at every age group from U14 to U18 with 2 of them winning the trophies (2 finals stillto be played) on top of outstanding success in the National Cups this year with 3 teams all winning one at Youth level plus West Hull in the Conference.

The problem we have is FC and Rovers have to scrap over the same pool of talent and at this moment in time FC do seem to win the battle and secure the young players they want. Rovers then have to work with whats left but seem to produce good sides who have a point to prove. Having seen both clubs at work and how they go about things i will say they are improving in many ways and thye have some very good staff and coaches at each club, will be interesting to see how things change even more over the next couple of years with them working down the ETP pathways that the RFL have developed.

Seems like comments on the the club's website are rlsomewhat different.rl

Turgut described as "poor" or "arguably England's best player".

To be fair though thats Radford's assessment of performance, based on his team selections last year I'm not sure I would trust it!

Just seen one of the centres who played in the last game, Gildart from Wigan, is heading to Florida for pre-season with the Wigan first team squad this week. This might mean Jack Logan gets his chance in the centres. Not sure if there are any other centres in the squad or not.
Somebody on the VT saying Lancaster had a poor game and may be replaced by another winger in the squad, but if not then we could potentially have all 4 of our selected players on the pitch for the next match. Would be fantastic!