Indeed.
We were nailed on to win the 'Hair Bear Bunch' lookalike comp.

Probably our best chance of silverware up in smoke.

You beat me to it, i was going to say the same or something similar.
Dave Peterson looked a good player in the making imo and ive watched him for a couple of years now, its ridicolous to suggest a player is not any good just because he has been loaned out to a lower division club.
As you have already mentioned, there have been quite a few super league players over the years who have been loaned out to lower divisions, they gain the experience which they often need and its all part of the learning curve for them, James Green is one example of one of our young players who has done the same thing and lookes a better player for the experience, Watts was another but i wont say to much about him at he moment.
I dont know what Rovers offered Peterson but it leaves me thinking to myself, what is the point in investing money in young players and nurturing them only to see them bugger off somewhere else, i hope Rovers have some kind of option on the situation otherwise i dont see it as particularly good business imo.

Frst point, you can't blame any young lad wanting to travel & see the world (Bondi or Branshome you pick).
Second point, if the club is confident in our youth programe they should all be signed on for long contracts 10 years with pay deals reflecting thier progress.I did think that for any player who is under 24 the club can demand a fee?( but I expect that only applies if they are under contract)
Third point, The club & the game as a whole needs to look at youth development, My own view is that the development of juniors should be left to local amature clubs & super league & semi pro clubs should should pick them up at 18 years & upwards. All clubs loose a lot of cash trying to develop youngsters a lot who just walk away from the game on a whim, I have seen very good kids who may have had a great future but were just not prepared to put up with the self discapline needed to succeed. These kids wont be first & not the last to do this & not think in the long term but that is youth & always has been.

Clearly you've not seen/heard about Rhys Lovegrove...

I agree he'll make it, seen him a few times. Bit harsh on the club though, if his minds made up and he wants to do it for personal development as well as professional then there's little you can do except offer him ridiculous money to stay, which wouldn't be prudent.

Unless of course he's not OOC and you're releasing him, which would be a mistake. (I have no idea of his contract status)

And yet Gleeson and Brown are on their way. For a club who want to develop young talent, you're going to struggle to attract it.

Also, mid-table is an improvement on 2012.

Can't believe a good young player like Petersen on the verge of your first team has left.

And yor point is?
Why should we have trouble attracting young talent?
What is the problem with Gleeson or Brown? if we were paying top whack wages for Brown I would question the move but if the club see potential then good enough for me. As for Gleeson he is better value at centre than Webster IMO.

The club seem to be bringing on a few local lads who may or may not make the grade our problem is we seem to be good at producing prop's as FC seem to produce hookers neither club seem to be able to produce half back's, its a shame that we loose a couple of promising lads but I am sure most on here would swap Hull for Australia (or anywhere).

You choose Hull or Australia with the chance of making it into the NRL who pay better than here. The lad is young & I suppose belives in his ability, good luck to him.

He's got a far better chance of making it in S/L than he has in the NRL.

he is out of contract and had a similar deal to what he was on offered by rovers again i was told which is not a huge amount (though he has only made a couple of first team appearances!). The kid has made a lifestyle choice and good luck to him.

I suspect both himself and louis sherriff will reappear at a championship club in a couple of years like ewan dowes has but you can't hold it against them for giving it a go. If it hadn't left us short of cover in a pretty thin squad already I'm sure this wouldn't even have made any news tbh

You may be correct but that is not the point, he is a young lad with little experiance of life, he might just think he is good enough, right or wrong its his choice. You try telling an adolecent teenager what is right or wrong.

I have been to oz and i do not blame any young lad for going their its a chance of a lifetime which might not come again so if you are a young rovers or fc player or any other team i say take the chance you will regret it if you don't

Yer I get what your saying, and what an experience hell hopefully have whilst out there