I never said they all worked out, did I? Nor for that matter denied that Rovers have made some great signings like Dobson, Paea and Blake Green. My point was a relatively simple one. For all the manifold

emoticons by your honourable "friend", we hold all the bragging rights at present. All of them, as detailed in my post about 2013 results, points, players and academy. Expanding on the latter, it cannot be argued there is any evidence that Hudgell has prioritised, at any point in the last 10 years, the development of a robust academy to yield a consistent pipeline of players. Money's been spent on other things, for sure, but the harsh reality is that nearly a decade in, apart from Welham, who's what, 27?, there's only Cox who might get in the first choice 13. In the meantime, the choice continues to be the likes of Langley, Gleeson, Maki over investing enough to make a real step change in academy delivery. No doubt we'll get the jam tomorrow commentary, but 2 years ago, Bell and Heil were the next big things and here we are. Groundhog Day. It's nice for us to be in a position of relative strength in this area, particularly as Hudgell promised on promotion that "Soon all the good Hull lads will want to play for Rovers". If he'd elaborated with"all the good Hull lads called Krissy" he might have been right.

Everybody's favourite hedge-fund manager.



It was such a inept performance that were times I thought he must, counter-intuitively, be for real. Because if you're serving up testes for tea, you'd try to present them nicely at least, surely?

Ahh, but don't the years flick round quickly?

I know what you mean. It's less than a year though, since him and Mike Smith car-shared to Gateshead. Would have loved to have been on that road trip.

Glad you're so upbeat.



You live and learn.

Change can be hard to take, but often the biggest step is being brave enough to make the switch in the first place. You might have a plan to make a club a powerhouse in rugby league, but sometimes you have to rip up the script and start again, if you're to elevate something beyond (or above) mediocrity. Sometimes you've said things that have built expectations to a level that is near impossible to meet.

Rovers have restructured their academy set-up. We hope it brings improvements.

While the Kristian Bell hype snowballed slightly surreally, I don't recall Heil ever having been more than a 'maybe', at best.

I'm not that upbeat about the season coming, but merely clarifying that any suggestion[u right now[/u that bragging rights are anything other than west of the river is pure delusion. 2014 will be totally different, Mike Smith has pledged that himself, that's good enough for me.

RBA said that Heil would be an imminent Challenge Cup winner I remember, but his form in the overstatement of Rovers potential in the academy arena is world class.

I think both clubs have tried to take things in new directions, the last couple of seasons and they've been equivocally successful in that, at best. Some of the things that went well were slightly serendipitous. I'll avoid the L-word, but Lineham is 22 and Green turns 24 in a few days - much of the credit for them must go the system of the previous regime, that AP has castigated. While the players like Arundel and Crookes, bought to fill a perceived talent gap, for one reason or another, haven't been able to offer much. At Rovers, the 'transitional years' have looked little like I, or I suspect any fan, expected. But we seem to have somehow got on a more even keel.

Some harsh lessons have been learned, but I think both clubs have made appropriate adjustments.
Neither Hudgell or Pearson are stupid - but equally they're not infallible. Not everything will always work out exactly as they plan. But there's reason for optimism, I'd have thought.

I have a vision of Mike in a thirteen year old BMW 7 series full of empty bottles of Dr. Pepper, packets of Lambert and Butler and Frazzles.
Both of the them singing along to Johnny Cash and Mike getting his card declined at the motorway services.

This only been in SL for 7 years from Rovers fans is getting old, how many more years are they going to pedal this out. They will never improve if they keep signing players Like the PNG players in positions they have young players. One area that gas been vastly neglected by NH, no coincidence that Rovers and Salford are the only 2 teams in SL not to have one player in any of the England academy squads, even Cumbria academy and north east academy who neither are in SL have any players in it. www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/29 ... nd-academy

This only been in SL for 7 years from Rovers fans is getting old, how many more years are they going to pedal this out. They will never improve if they keep signing players Like the PNG players in positions they have young players. One area that gas been vastly neglected by NH, no coincidence that Rovers and Salford are the only 2 teams in SL not to have one player in any of the England academy squads, even Cumbria academy and north east academy who neither are in SL have any players in it. www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/29 ... nd-academy

Quote Dave K.="Dave K."This only been in SL for 7 years from Rovers fans is getting old, how many more years are they going to pedal this out. They will never improve if they keep signing players Like the PNG players in positions they have young players. One area that gas been vastly neglected by NH, no coincidence that Rovers and Salford are the only 2 teams in SL not to have one player in any of the England academy squads, even Cumbria academy and north east academy who neither are in SL have any players in it. www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/29 ... nd-academy'" The 2 PNG players will be playing for gateshead not rovers.Seems strange rovers joining forces with gateshead

Quote Dave K.="Dave K."This only been in SL for 7 years from Rovers fans is getting old, how many more years are they going to pedal this out. They will never improve if they keep signing players Like the PNG players in positions they have young players. One area that gas been vastly neglected by NH, no coincidence that Rovers and Salford are the only 2 teams in SL not to have one player in any of the England academy squads, even Cumbria academy and north east academy who neither are in SL have any players in it. www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/29 ... nd-academy'" The 2 PNG players will be playing for gateshead not rovers.Seems strange rovers joining forces with gateshead

You're right Des. It does seem strange. I thought Gateshead would have set their sights much higher.

Gateshead Thunder Robins just doesn't have the same ring to it