I know many people on here actually attend games, so might have missed Jon Wells announcing on Sky that Rovers will be running an under-23s/reserve team next year.

I expect it'll be widely welcomed, though I admit to remaining sceptical about some of the arguments advanced in it's favour.

What I did think was interesting is that Wells said he'd spoken to people in the know, and the cost is lower than you might expect - £30-40k. Bit of a no-brainier in that case. Surely though, that must just be the cost of travel and kit and referees? We've sometimes struggled to field 17 this year, never mind 34, so we'll need a bigger squad next year, which even if we make up numbers with part-timers on a few grand each, soon tots up. If it is just amateurs, I'm not sure that is much of a stepping stone.

And what he said makes sense when you look at the top 5 teams all have a reserve teem we will be playing catch up again but it has got to be better it was good when we had a A teem when i was a lad went to loads of them so lots of good plays before they got to play first team G Miller played is first game their for rovers and meany more so a good thing i think

Aye, but Saints, Wigan and Warrington were up there anyway. Hull's excellent season and Leeds's rubbish don't seem to have an awful lot to do with running (or not) a reserve team, IMO. That's not to say it might not pay off in years to come, but I think people are looking for a benefit, because they want to see one, when it is still too early to tell.

All of these claims about a reserve team are off the mark IMO. How many of our first team have played reserves before coming back from injury? How many established 1st teamers have turned out for the reserves? We have a big squad and it's useful for the youngsters coming through to play at a better level than academy but it won't suddenly transform rovers, particularly if you use a stack of amateurs in there

Thats dead true about amateurs but can we not use it to play a n other thats what they used to call it with the A team of old

A N other, and the other one was s o else if I remember

I actually think this should be an opportunity to play a n other.

So many talented kids fall out of the game at around eighteen nineteen if they're not picked up by a pro club.

I also think we should look at kids who don't make the grade at football clubs.

Association Football starts harvesting promising athlete's at around nine years of age, if they don't make the grade in that multi million pound sport industry,(and the vast majority don't) who's to say that they couldn't be converted into a successful RL player?

The current Great Britain women's hockey goal keeper was first noticed playing Rounders.

If you're athletic, have good hand eye coordination and physical strength, you can be coached to excel at RL.

I believe the country is a hot bed of talent at the moment, very similar to how Australia was in the late eighties and early nineties was through The Australian Institute Of Sport, we could or any RL team, do a lot worse than try and tap into that.

Easier said than done, we would need the correct MD in place to attempt that though...

My main argument for an A team is getting a higher level of play (against grown men) for the likes of Marsh & Cator. I feel we loose to many kids at the end of thier under 19s when they are not good enough for the first team especially big forwards who do not realy mature untill thier mid twenties or even later. Many of the young men are lost to the amateur game as they just chuck it, but if we had a way back from the amateur game back to super league it would benefit not only Rovers but local amateur clubs. It would also allow us to give extended trials to fringe union players who may find our game suits thier game, as union rejects lots of good young players just because they don't grow to a size they require (especially in the forwards). I watched back chat on TV today & Wakey's chairman was expressing his support for the idea but said it would cost him around £100K to run. The halifax chairman said he had offered to run a reserve side for a super league club if they wanted as long as they could use 8 or so places for thier own fringe players. I think there is a lot of support for reserves instead of dual reg.

But couldn't the existing second tier/semi-pro game offer that potential stepping stone? Indeed, isn't it, to the likes of Guzdek, Hallett and Robinson, who played for Dewsbury, Swinton and Halifax today?

If it is about giving players like them longer in a professional environment, then great. But if it is a non-competitive pro-am mish-mash, then I don't see much value. The old A-team mainly bridged a gap to semi-pro senior rugby, not the modern full-time environment.

The 'problem' IMO, is that SL clubs invest in players for themselves, but run out of cash before the crop is ready for harvest and then fret that the money is 'wasted'. That is why I'm not keen on SL clubs 'owning' player development.

I get the point of just packing the reserves with local amateurs being a waste of cash, I played A team when it was a drinking club for fringe players but then they were not allowed back in the amateur game. Now we could use a few who want a second go at making the grade along with some squad players & youngsters. The championship clubs will soon be able to spend more & will not want to bring on our lads, infact they will be signing our fringe players. The game as a whole needs more lads playing at all levels so encouraging players to return to amateur clubs to gain experiance knowing if they develope well there is a way back. There will always be the Shaun Edwards of this world who will be good enough at 17 but there is a need for foot soldiers to make up the teams around the stars.

I agree.

But I think championship clubs signing our fringe players is/would be generally a good thing for the sport, and those players. Better than the reserves concept, which feels like a way of keeping them as 'ours' rather than letting fly the nest to grow.

Now it might be asked 'If SL clubs don't see a direct benefit, why would they invest at all?', but then the money could be taken from them and redirected to the grassroots and/or RFL-run academies.

Reserve grade allows you to bring on your 19+ year olds that aren't ready in a quality environment you control. When you farm players out to other clubs they often don't get the best coaching and facilities, they feel unwanted, it breeds resentment in the dressing room of whichever club they're sent to. The fans of the championship club feel like they're just a feeder team and get disillusioned.

Duel reg to me is just a money saving exercise. A reserve grade will in the long term have great benefit for young players - especially forwards - not many props are mature at 19. In the short term it's a good way to ease injured players back so they're not going straight into the front line and a way for out of form players to regain confidence.

It's a win win. The only stumbling block is that it costs a few quid. Not huge amounts, maybe about £100k a year. I think it's pay for itself given time.