The Rovers One Stop Rumour Thread

Quote: Wytchfynder General "I wouldn't expect that any CEO would take such a huge risk as bank all on building a young, local/english squad from scratch, particularly in the franchise system, however, given that both Rovers and Hull have stated publically that they see the future being youth and English, I wonder just how this can be achieved for a range of reasons/concerns.

1). Both clubs are way behind the likes of Wigan, Leeds, Warrington, St Helens and even to some extent Huddersfield, in respect to their youth structure, although I would consider that Rovers are slightly ahead of Hull at the present moment, in terms of the overall quality of its youth squad.

2). Without investing considerably in experienced players, including Antipodeans, how do they maintain the competitive process and as pointed out by MR, confidence is a keystone to developing high quality players, getting battered every week is not going to produce 'confident' players

3). With a struggling team/squad, how do you entice and retain the 'right kind of experienced player' who it is hoped will make the team competitive and nurture the younger players

4). How long will fans stick with such an ethos in the face of indifferent results

5). For how long could the club(s) maintain such an ethos if crowds dwindle and finances continue to be a driving issue

For my part I want to see a highly successful Hull FC, being competitve and winning trophies as I'm sure that Rovers fans want to see the same for their club, quite how long we/they would stand for the development phase to materialise is open to conjecture, at a guess I would say that the troops would become extremely restless if the process didn't produce within 3 seasons. In terms of development, I suspect that that is quite a short period of time, particularly if you are already 2 or 3 steps behind your major competitors. I would like to think it is attainable for both clubs, but I have my doubts, in the same way that I don't think that the salary cap is working as it should or was envisaged that it would.'"

That's the challenge and it applies to a lot of clubs, whoever does it best will flourish. I think fans will stick with it, as long as today isn't too bad and there's a realistic prospect of things getting better in the forseeable. Cas fans still turn up decent numbers despite their problems retaining players and no immediate prospect of it getting better.
Leeds, Wigan, maybe Saints now? - They're the de facto big clubs have structural advantages. The rest of us just have to try to come up with that elusive formula, hoping for a golden generation, or a wealthy benefactor to oil the wheels.

RLFANS.COM MERCHANDISE

RLFANS.COM SPONSORS & HELP

RLFANS.COM MERCHANDISE

RLFANS.COM SPONSORS & HELP