Quote: "First point is an interesting one as I imagine a HullFC starting salary is actually decent given that wages generally are very low in the city. So add in the kudos of as you say 'walking around with the club gear on' and it becomes a lazy career choice (albeit a short term one that could end when the contract ends)
I've not seen anything from Gardiner or Jebson to suggest they are worth sticking with, usually with a young player with a few games you see if they are up to it or not.'"
There's been an element of this with our young players for a number of years, possibly even decades!
We're actually reasonably decent in producing youngsters who end up in the first-team via our youth/academy/development set-ups, youngsters who initially look promising with everyone having high hopes for them.
The problem for us, and this is where we differ from Wigan/Saints/Leeds, is that all too often they never seem to quite kick-on to become genuine SL quality standard players and after a while they seem to lose their way and end up gradually drifting out of the picture. We have a number of young players going back many years who seem to fall into that category.
The key age for young promising sports people is around 18-22, which is the age when you have to make the full transition from junior sport to full-time professional. I think, in general, there tends to be a very large drop-off in juniors who make the grade across all sports. It's those organizations that get it right more often when dealing with promising 18-22 year-olds that tend to be the more successful within their sport, chiefly Wigan/Saints in RL.
I'd agree with other posters that success in developing any promising 18 year-old is likely to be key if we are to compete at the top end again on a regular consistent basis. The likes of Moy, Charles, Barron and, particularly, Lewis Martin look like they may possibly be the real deal, but the next two years are vital in their development if they are to become stand-out fully fledged SL players.
Fingers crossed, with the new regime and far more professional coaching set-up now in place, these young kids will come through, but it's far from a given as we have witnessed too many times in the past. Here's hoping for at least a couple of wins for us in this department in the coming two years or so.
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