I think the real flaws with DR and one that never seems to get addressed is this. When, certainly as a young player, you play in Wakefield's A team for example you are still very much playing for YOUR club.
Some of the players you are playing with you already know and trust, others may be first team stars you have respected for a number of years but you are all still part of the club.
In the past some players have spent years playing mainly reserve football only to have a golden summer where they finally break through. Those players tend to show more pride and commitment than most others. They have proved a real asset for clubs like ours in the past.
Also, especially at a club like ours, the clubs ethos is a big thing, in all honesty how many Championship clubs are there that can replicate this, especially at a part time level? I know reserve grade players will generally be part time, but it's part time within a professional full time environment - virtually no Championship or NL1 club can offer that.
To me DR is the ultimate example of treating players like pieces of meat. What exactly does DR offer a young player? Generally they still train in the closed season with there home clubs so other than match day and a few training sessions a week what bond do hey have with there DR club and there fellow players? Not much I'd suggest. How does that motivate a player to perform? Great in theory rubbish in practice.
So other than them being taken out of a SL environment and playing in a relatively poor competition I just don't see what they gain. What I do see is the chance of them picking up bad habits - it's not a slur on the lower division clubs it's just reality as they can't possible offer the same levels of training and playing and team mates as a full time club.
Worse still as a player gets older and gets shipped about it dilutes their commitment to making it at their parent club, which is akin to flushing years of development down the bog. How long before most players think 'if I play well at Dewsbury I might get a new deal here, it's not SL or Trinity but at least I'll get regular footy, a bit of a wage and the chance shine'. Most people by a certain age reach a point where they feel they have gone as far as they can and the thought of playing before a thousand fans at Dewsbury sounds ok, hell it's more than most get and it's still quite an achievement.
Perhaps not straight away but eventually DR will rob most young players of their desire to succeed at the very club they really want to succeed at, it's built into it's DNA and thus it's counter productive imho. With the reserve system the player has a choice, battle for your chance or go find it elsewhere and to me that's a far better scenario.
