nadera78 wrote:
Londoners are always going to develop at a different rate to northerners simply because RL is so new to people down here, our kids just don't have the "RL immersion" that a kid in Wigan or Leeds enjoys. Up there the game is discussed all the time, parents have played or at least watched the game themselves, all of that impacts upon the game awareness of young players
Yep, agree. I see it here. It's in the blood more of NSW and QLD people than other states. So I totally get where you're coming from.
But, the RL dev people at London over the years have done a great job in spreading it around the schools of the South. If our kids are playing mini or mods from 5 years old, then there should be no difference to the North or Oz really. We have great people spreading the word and many volunteers coaching their hearts out. Maybe the RL itself should look at coaching qualifications and teach more as opposed to simply spreading the game? We're about 20 years on from SL starting and we have produced a handful of players who went on and played first grade. Mostly for London, but a few of us Suvverners, have now moved to the northern clubs. Which is positive.
nadera78 wrote:
I'd also suggest that some coaches find it easier to work with older players than youngsters who may be more unpredictable and in need of different things. One of the criticisms I held of Tony Rea in his previous spell was his treatment of younger players. Darrell Griffin has had a good career in SL, James Brooks likewise in union, Iain Morrison would have been a very good squad player for us, even Joe Mbu was treated poorly, and there were others too, but none of them lasted long at London. I always got the feeling Rea found it difficult to work with them and didn't have the patience needed. I think we're seeing the same right now with Mike Bishay who was dumped to the Skolars a week after winning MofM. Drinkwater has been dire and Farrar is never a stand off, but both of them seem locked into the team.
Yeah, the coach is the one that has to make the hard calls about who they and only they deem is good enough to have a chance of playing. Not sure about the working with kids comment as Tony Rea was a school teacher when he played footy here. You will unfortunately always see a youngster being told they're not required to then go somewhere else and then kick on. A good example of that is James Maloney at the Roosters. He played one season in Jersey Flegg (U20s) for the bottom club, the North Sydney Bears in 2006 as no-one wanted him! He then was called up into reserve grade. Other clubs saw him and wanted him after that. He won a premiership and played Origin last year. So it makes you think about all the coaches that didn't want him before.