Re: So who would you sign? : Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:58 am  

marillion man wrote:

Why would we want to sign anyone new ? Most of this squad, the current coach brought to this club, it's his job and his back up team to make them play how he wants to beat sides. Part of Karl's team is a chap called Dave Robinson, head of recruitment. In all the years I've been watching amateur & junior RL in & around this district i've seen very little or nothing of him at all. If i were him i'd be into the local clubs, we've got kids travelling from this district to represent Sheffield Eagles scholarship at the moment, that cannot be right for our club. How Sheffield & Featherstone were permitted to continue with scholarships when we & other clubs had to disband ours is beyond me, unless i don't know the full facts, but other than an U20's ( which i understand may be subject to change again soon ) team, how are we supposed to bring kids through ?
Siddal turned three open age teams out yesterday and several other clubs turned two teams out, are we saying that apart from the lads who are too old for the reserves, the rest aren't good enough to have a go at reserves RL ? Get out there scouting mr. Robinson.

Colin, pm'd you

Re: So who would you sign? : Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:29 pm  

marillion man wrote:

Why would we want to sign anyone new ? Most of this squad, the current coach brought to this club, it's his job and his back up team to make them play how he wants to beat sides. Part of Karl's team is a chap called Dave Robinson, head of recruitment. In all the years I've been watching amateur & junior RL in & around this district i've seen very little or nothing of him at all. If i were him i'd be into the local clubs, we've got kids travelling from this district to represent Sheffield Eagles scholarship at the moment, that cannot be right for our club. How Sheffield & Featherstone were permitted to continue with scholarships when we & other clubs had to disband ours is beyond me, unless i don't know the full facts, but other than an U20's ( which i understand may be subject to change again soon ) team, how are we supposed to bring kids through ?
Siddal turned three open age teams out yesterday and several other clubs turned two teams out, are we saying that apart from the lads who are too old for the reserves, the rest aren't good enough to have a go at reserves RL ? Get out there scouting mr. Robinson.

Seen that guy strutting all over the Shay ground on match days, also reserve games. Makes an impressive figure at 4' 2. I agree with you MM, maybe he is filled with too much of his own importance to fetch any good talent to the club.

Re: So who would you sign? : Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:33 pm  

Isn't he based over in Wigan, hence why we sign so many players from over there?

Re: So who would you sign? : Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:41 pm  

I do believe that dave Robinson lives in Harrogate, and is a close pal of KH

Re: So who would you sign? : Sun Sep 29, 2013 5:42 pm  

Malfax wrote:

I do believe that dave Robinson lives in Harrogate, and is a close pal of KH

To be fair to KH he used Robinson at Salford when he was head coach there & i reckon he will have signed Luke Ambler at that time.
Many people might see it as a bitter post by myself after my previous position as scholarship co-ordinator, i had a hand in recomending junior players to Halifax RLFC & I wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing now & in the future if i saw a kid who i thought had potential in all honesty. Half the lads in the current U20's i directed towards the club & obviously i'll watch their progress with interest in the future.

Re: So who would you sign? : Sun Sep 29, 2013 5:54 pm  

Brew wrote:

Isn't he based over in Wigan, hence why we sign so many players from over there?

Recently, I watched England colleges v Scotland at Spotland, Rochdale. There were scouts from several clubs in attendance that i know, or recognised but not our Mr Robinson. Brian Noble was one of the match commentators as it went out live on premier sports channel, that guy doesn't walk around with his eyes & ears closed.....
After the match I went straight over to watch our U20's final match of the season at the Shay, missed the first 20 mins or so & I sat with one of our board of directors who had watched the game on tv. He mentioned one player in particular who'd stood out on the tv game earlier that evening so i told him the lad in question had been released the day before from a pay as you play contract with Wigan. Not exactly my job to go telling club officials such detail ( especially as he plays a similar position to my own son, who at the time was on the books at Halifax ) but i trust the info i passed on will have reached the correct people ie: scout & coach.
In the warm up game for the students, they played a regional squad coached by Steve Crookes former Hull & Hull KR at Cas panthers ground. A certain John Bastian approached myself & Brendan Hill & asked how our sons are doing & which clubs they're now playing at, I first met Mr Bastian while he was head of youth development at Warrington. He recognised me that day at Cas panthers & did the necessary networking that makes him such a reputable figure in that field. Leeds, Bradford & Huddersfield scouts along with Lee Crooks whoever he was working for at that point were also in attendance that afternoon, not Halifax.
Not good enough in my opinion.

Re: So who would you sign? : Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:14 am  

I sometimes wonder if it's worth the effort for Championship clubs? If we did harvest someone like Zak Hardaker how long do you think he'd be at the club for? All that effort and rearing just for Leeds Rhinos to slap a fat contract down.

Re: So who would you sign? : Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:11 am  

littlerich wrote:

I sometimes wonder if it's worth the effort for Championship clubs? If we did harvest someone like Zak Hardaker how long do you think he'd be at the club for? All that effort and rearing just for Leeds Rhinos to slap a fat contract down.

My thoughts as well, it quite simply isnt worth the time, effort and money

A realistic turnover of SL players per year is around 10% , thats around 35 in total, knock of the overseas part of that and its nearer 25

The SL clubs alone will have over 200 ( and these will be the cream of the crop ) in their senior - junior squads, and then another 200 in the junior-junior squad, not even looking at the scholarships

So a turnover of around 150 per year at least, so even from their point of view it is expensive, Championship clubs, having to work with what is left will have a very small % success rate, all to catch the occaisional late developer or one that slipped through the net

A better system would be partnerships with local amatuers

Re: So who would you sign? : Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:01 am  

littlerich wrote:

I sometimes wonder if it's worth the effort for Championship clubs? If we did harvest someone like Zak Hardaker how long do you think he'd be at the club for? All that effort and rearing just for Leeds Rhinos to slap a fat contract down.

Frustrating though it is on the other hand though Rich at least Rovers got some return on their investment with a fair bit of cash for him.

You will never stop the bigger clubs picking off better players from clubs below them or the players in question wanting to try their hand at the highlest level.

We have done it plenty of times at Fax.

InZaks case he has improved massively so good on him and others that get the chance.

Don't forget the players as well as the clubs are putting in just as much effort and deserve the chance.

The same amount of effort would have been put in anyway and it would be even more of a waste if the player or players didn't make the grade so it's just part of the game, just make sure that the better young players have a decent contract so you will get something if they move on.

Re: So who would you sign? : Thu Oct 03, 2013 12:00 pm  

Seems like we (York City Knights) have signed Iain Morrison only
a few months after he packed in with you lot due to injury, no more
info yet, but any thoughts on Iain??