Remember when we got mullered by Wigans youth earlier in the season? Now compare it to our lovely homegrown lot

It is an encouraging article and Radford deserves some credit for creating the environment where this is happening. Same with AP who has clearly stated his aim and belief for the direction in which he wants to take the club he owns. What is imperative is that the players brought in to the club are of the right high quality and pedigree to allow it all to flourish. We've recruited two good halves which is a start but we can't afford the same mistakes in recruitment that have wasted so much of AP's money since he took over. Radford needs to demonstrate that he can take this model and make it work - jury still out on that one for me but the judge will be asking for a majority decision if we make a poor start next season. It will be too important to allow results and performances to continue at their current levels for long.

Sounds like Smailes as been brain washed by Pearson and Radford!How embarrassing. Sounds like Shauls written this Friday of already ha
"they're probably one of the toughest teams around to face on their own ground and their own fans get behind them too. We've just got to get over this defeat quickly" ha

Two good halves for next year?
Which two are those? I do hope he's not including Pryce in there.
He's coasted through two years at Catalans and is playing better this year, the last of his current contract.
He was great in Catalans 42-0 demolition of Saints but went missing in action last weekend v Wigan.
Most certainly not a good buy in my books.
Sneyd yes most certainly, Pryce most certainly not!
Time to bring through a good 6 from your youth system.

Sometimes feel like I must live in a parallel universe to some fc fans. Radford being given credit for the academy players being introduced to first team yet crooks, lineham, green all appear to have gone backwards under his leadership. Abdul has played less than a handful of first team games and only once miller had been put on naughty step and Rankin allowed home for personal reasons. The introduction of Lancaster has also been a positive but let's not forget Radford initially preferred to sign the wing wizard that is Colbon rather than give him a start!

Sneyd has had one good season. Was not seen as good enough for Salford after last season's performances so went to Cas who have a coach who can get the best out of players. Only time will tell if he can repeat it next year and be worth the reputed £100,000 FC have paid for him or will be another one season wonder.

What we have to remember is that Leeds/Wigan have got rid of a lot of e youngsters to other sides to get to their current crop. We still don't have the numbers coming through that those sides do and I would be amazed if they are all of a sufficient standard to get us competing at the top

Exactly

Jordan Adbull was one who was disragrded by Leeds. In fact he came to us via HKR aswell

I for one am very pleased that we're giving home grown players/youngsters a chance and certainly encourage the club to continue to do so. There's some potential coming through in our youth ranks and we're already seeing evidence of this. We need to keep giving these players an opportunity to break through.

The two key things for me involve getting the balance right. First, we should build a squad full of these players coming through the ranks but make sure they're backed up by quality additions from outside the club. Second, we need to know where the line is regarding giving players an opportunity to reach their potential and when to say enough is enough.

If we can get these things right then I think the future looks very bright for us.

What exactly do they mean by "the future"?

When will be the dawn of this brave new world?

Next year? In 3 years? 5 years?

We also need coaches with the right ability to develop young players. The wigan and leeds youth development structures don't happen by chance

Tomorrow. So you got to hang on till tomorrow come what may.

exactly right, and we go back to the common denominator that our current coaching staff have yet to demonstrate that they can get the best out of players, encourage their development and iron out any faults they find, and this applies to all players not just the young ones. if we have promising young players who are not being developed to bring out their best they will soon be picked off by other clubs

This ^^

Good post. One of the things that I have found both pleasing and frustrating this season has been the amount of games we've lost narrowly. The pleasing aspect is that we are running teams close such as Warrington recently. The frustrating aspect is that we've been doing it all season and it's the same mistakes/faults costing us. The coaches should have been working on correcting this and we should have been seeing some improvement as the season progressed.