We missed out on 3.

As you say 1 of them because they are a massive Rovers fan.

1 because Rovers have made him the highest paid player at his age group in the city (if you listen to other players).

The other 1 because he is from the Wakefield area so he has signed for them due to the travelling, a lot like when Westerman left us at the same age.

£50 a week is rediculous, how many hours do they do, that strikes me as not even being minimum wage FFS!

He wanted more money as well as travelling expenses, which is unheard of for a junior.

Leeds pay half that

When I did my coaching badges I was taught that basically it takes 10 years to learn the game, however with boys there is a 4 yr development plan, so a kid may shine at 13 yrs and another 13 yr just looks average,so
Kid A at 13 yrs is great (get picked up by academy)
Kid B at 13yrs is average (not picked up)
However at 17 yrs kid B is by far the better player, and having been involved for the last 10yrs I am amazed the academies do not appear to recognise this, and even more amazed they do not engage with the coaches who coach the youngsters from 9-16 yrs old.
And do not get me started on size....loads of talent goes unnoticed due to a kid been classed as too small! FC are the worst for this, name me a player from Hull who came through Hull the size of Sam Obst!! (SL era)

My son makes roughly that much running tables at a local pub restaurant a couple of nights a week, and he's on minimum wage.

TBF they go to college and just lead normal teenage lives, they train like the lads in the amateur set up who probably get Saturday jobs to earn that..Not too bad imo, if they work hard and do well I am sure they will get a decent salary in time....remember very few will make it.

My lad works partime at a dept store and only gets a 16yr minimum wage..about £3.50 an hour, he does 8 hrs a week around college hours.

Cant agree with that as Mel Harman would ring up asking how certain players are getting on and if there are any new players who they should keep their eye on.

I hope this thread opens people eyes to how little these kids earn as they try to make their way in the game. This goes right up to the fringe players in both of our sides Super League squads.

that's what I mean, what the RFL should do is allow clubs to increase their salary cap by half the (proven) amount invested in their youth setup, up to a maximum figure (say £250k), then they might start investing.

We coached that age group for 8 yrs and the only person who ever spoke to us was Steve Crooks when he did it, I can also name 4 other clubs who never got contacted once

Danny Houghton is only about 5'8 - 5'9 which is well below the SL average.

Obst is just a dwarf