Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:02 pm  

Hedgehog King wrote:

None.

That's not to say that no professional RL players will ever be signed up by M62 sides though.

Rob Purdham works for Wigan and scouts Cumbrian RL on their behalf.

I'd suggest that this will probably happen in London if Broncos don't bounce back.

At the moment it doesn't pay to scout London RL as Broncos will have first call of any promising players but as they can't keep those players, it's easier to let Broncos do the scouting and even blood the players for you.

so the Pathway is now a lot longer and more difficult if a youngster wants to step up to the top tier, now that the top london side aren't in that top tier?

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:11 pm  

gutterfax wrote:

so the Pathway is now a lot longer and more difficult if a youngster wants to step up to the top tier, now that the top london side aren't in that top tier?

True but I would expect to see at least some Londoners making it through the system. The "big problem" that you already talked about is that London amateur clubs aren't particularly stable. The nature of London I'd say.

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:16 pm  

I believe the idea of doing some development work down south may have crossed Warrington's mind. I've heard from a few sources that they thought about keeping Phil Jones down south. Obviously Wigan are working in South Wales so there is a precedent for such a move. It's not impossible the pathway to professionalism could survive in a rather unexpected manner.

Edited to say I see the 2014 gradings for Superleague academies are out. London have slipped from a 3 in 2013 to the bottom rating of 4. Possibly not too surprising given the destabilising effect of losing Phil Jones.

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:39 pm  

Hedgehog King wrote:

None.

That's not to say that no professional RL players will ever be signed up by M62 sides though.

Rob Purdham works for Wigan and scouts Cumbrian RL on their behalf.

I'd suggest that this will probably happen in London if Broncos don't bounce back.

At the moment it doesn't pay to scout London RL as Broncos will have first call of any promising players but as they can't keep those players, it's easier to let Broncos do the scouting and even blood the players for you.

And Rob in his interview on RLDS said that the number of kids playing in Cumbria was on a downward trend and he reckoned it was because there is no SL team at the top of the pyriamid, exactly my fear for the south.

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:57 pm  

Paddock Punter wrote:

And Rob in his interview on RLDS said that the number of kids playing in Cumbria was on a downward trend and he reckoned it was because there is no SL team at the top of the pyriamid, exactly my fear for the south.

He's not wrong and neither are either of us!

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:59 pm  

Paddock Punter wrote:

And Rob in his interview on RLDS said that the number of kids playing in Cumbria was on a downward trend and he reckoned it was because there is no SL team at the top of the pyriamid, exactly my fear for the south.

In the South, the issue is a lack of development officers. I imagine if you checked the figures you'd find the London numbers are down as well e.g. very many players came through Greenwich Admirals but the Admirals are defunct. Now that's not down to the Broncos.

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Wed Jul 16, 2014 4:00 pm  

Halfdan of t'wide embrace wrote:

I believe the idea of doing some development work down south may have crossed Warrington's mind. I've heard from a few sources that they thought about keeping Phil Jones down south. Obviously Wigan are working in South Wales so there is a precedent for such a move. It's not impossible the pathway to professionalism could survive in a rather unexpected manner.

Edited to say I see the 2014 gradings for Superleague academies are out. London have slipped from a 3 in 2013 to the bottom rating of 4. Possibly not too surprising given the destabilising effect of losing Phil Jones.

No longer. The Scorpions cut the dual-registration link.

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Wed Jul 16, 2014 4:14 pm  

Hedgehog King wrote:

No longer. The Scorpions cut the dual-registration link.

The dual reg agreement has indeed ended but I believe Wigan still have strong links with the South Wales academy set up. This was separate to their deal with the Scorpions.

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Sun Jul 20, 2014 7:08 pm  

Been away for a week so just read this thread, some good posts but I'm more positive than most.

Hull FC for example appear to be garbage at the moment, I don't think it's out the realm of possibility for a team that has has a good season to not beat them.

We'll see though!

Re: Anyone believe we can come back? : Wed Jul 23, 2014 11:43 am  

TaRL PaRL wrote:

On a venue, London Welsh have signed up for a 3 year deal for the Kassam stadium in Oxford. This leaves them paying the Council for the Old Deer Park in Richmond. Advantages, Zone 4 underground/overground/fast trains, great club house and facilities. Disadvantage one poor 1,000 seater stand, but you can stand another 1,000 people round the outside of a rugby field do we need more?

The reason "London" Welsh are playing their games 50 miles away is that they aren't allowed to do any development at Old Deer Park. So the poor 1000 seater stand is all there will ever be.