[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Youth Development : Thu Nov 01, 2012 5:02 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

As you know I have been one of the most vociferous protesters over these changes. I managed to speak to IL at the clubs awards dinner a couple of weeks back and from his comments I don't believe he backed the new system. I don't believe he was happy with the existing academy system either.

You have indeed done more than most people on here to both make people aware of the new system and to point out all the flaws. I would be very surprised if IL had supported it, particularly since the partnering with Leigh is hardly going particularly well. I suspect there will be an awful lot of Wigan youth looking for a birth with a Championship / Champ 1 side next year.

I think Il's criticism of the existing system is that the U20 competition is not sufficiently competitive to nurse the lads into SL - which is fair enough in my book.

Re: Youth Development : Thu Nov 01, 2012 5:11 pm  

Winslade's Offload wrote:

You have indeed done more than most people on here to both make people aware of the new system and to point out all the flaws. I would be very surprised if IL had supported it, particularly since the partnering with Leigh is hardly going particularly well. I suspect there will be an awful lot of Wigan youth looking for a birth with a Championship / Champ 1 side next year.

Believe what you will about which clubs supported these proposals and pushed them through. Rogues didn't have a clue about what was being discussed when the decisions were being made, he thought clubs were being forced to merge their academies.

Perhaps Rogues will be good enough to confirm who first posted what was actually going to happen?

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Youth Development : Thu Nov 01, 2012 5:56 pm  

Paul Youane wrote:

Believe what you will about which clubs supported these proposals and pushed them through. Rogues didn't have a clue about what was being discussed when the decisions were being made, he thought clubs were being forced to merge their academies.

Perhaps Rogues will be good enough to confirm who first posted what was actually going to happen?

I am quite happy to have my suppositions corrected in the name of clarity. So reading between the lines Wigan supported the system, which is much to their discredit if true. But as I said in an earlier post, it hardly matters now anyway as we will have to endure the new system for at least the next season.

Re: Youth Development : Thu Nov 01, 2012 6:06 pm  

I heard directly from the Youth Development team that only Warrington and St Helens opposed the changes. This was at the launch of what was supposed to be the U15s scholarship whom my son has just signed with; however due to the changes he will now be playing U16s at 14 years old. Worse still once the U16s finishes he will then have to take the big jump up to U19s.

The root cause of these changes is for clubs to save money. Take about short sighted.

It doesn't give the players enough time or opportunity to develop. Crazy when there are not enough quality players to support Super League as is.

Re: Youth Development : Thu Nov 01, 2012 6:55 pm  

Paul Youane wrote:

Believe what you will about which clubs supported these proposals and pushed them through. Rogues didn't have a clue about what was being discussed when the decisions were being made, he thought clubs were being forced to merge their academies.

Perhaps Rogues will be good enough to confirm who first posted what was actually going to happen?

Paul, I honestly can't remember who posted the proposals as are. If it was you then fair play although in reality that's not important. You're correct in that I had heard a rumour about merging academies, but that was only Hull and Hull K.R.

Can you confirm if there were any more proposals put forward and if so what they were?

Re: Youth Development : Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:33 am  

Hull and Hull KR did indeed propose merging their academies. Not sure if that has now happened post the new structure.

So much for being a rugby league hotbed.

Re: Youth Development : Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:19 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Can you point me to one of these "widely publicised articles" (not some random internet post)?

As one who is totally against these changes, and have stated so since they were first rumoured, I would like to see those said articles.

I'm afraid I can't remember where I have read it in electronic form, however it was in League Express a few weeks back. The only Super League figures to criticise the new system have been Bastian and Rush.

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Youth Development : Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:04 pm  

mark_m wrote:

Hull and Hull KR did indeed propose merging their academies. Not sure if that has now happened post the new structure.

So much for being a rugby league hotbed.

I think the problem was that HKR thought that all the youngsters in the merged pool would be available for either club to sign. Then they found out that Hull had contracted the best of their crop (not surprisingly !), so HKR pulled out of the agreement.

Re: Youth Development : Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:42 pm  

Ganson's Optician wrote:

I'm afraid I can't remember where I have read it in electronic form, however it was in League Express a few weeks back. The only Super League figures to criticise the new system have been Bastian and Rush.

But in that article it didn't say that Leeds and Wigan had voted for the proposals, which is what OP stated.
I'm still waiting for PY's reply as the whether there were any other proposals put forward.

Re: Youth Development : Fri Nov 02, 2012 4:49 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Leeds and Wigan had voted for the proposals, which is what OP stated.

Correct, as I was told directly by John Bastian.