Ellam wrote:
More money into the academy and infrastructure and training facilities
I happened across an article about improvements to Hull FC’s academy today. Here are a few excerpts.
The academy set-up has dramatically improved, the introduction of the half-back school and bringing in the junior players to train with the first team will all contribute to a brighter future.
It’s an ambitious plan which Pearson appears to be putting in place, and a brave one, but one which could recapture the imagination of a fan base who have become, to some extent, disenfranchised with the club after a lean few years.
There is a real hope Hull can emulate the likes of Wigan and boast a team of almost all local players in the years to come. For that to happen, change is needed, and that change is on the way.If you haven’t guessed yet, it isn’t a recent article - it’s from September 2013. I’m not having a pop specifically at Hull FC. Rovers have been singing that same song for more than 10 years with even more meagre returns. Maybe the investment didn’t go in to the degrees implied or the facilities at Bishop Burton weren’t all they were cracked up to be. However, it feels a bit groundhog decade and I think there’d be value in pondering whether there’s something about the circumstances of our clubs vs Leeds-Saints-Wigan that might mean another approach might be more optimal.