But are the young players able to make the Quantum Leap to Superleague standards

So...Widnes decided to spend most of there cap on better quality players? Which ones are they then?

Some will, most probably won’t. We won’t be able to play as many of them in SL as we have in the Chp though. The aim would be to create the spine of the team from our academies, but this will take time. We’ve done it before and I’ve no doubt we can do it again.

The ones that aren’t 30 and over!

So because they arent over 30...that means that they are better quality?

We've even managed to start a discussion on the VT forums about it

Experienced SL players who are still young enough to have a possible future back in SL, may cost a little more.

So who are these potential SL players you signed last year?

Thacks, Kav, Pickers, Netherton, Allen... All have time on their side still! Come 2012 how many Fax boys be good enough for 4/5 seasons in SL?

Oh and youth going well against future opponents in case we forgot to mention

Im sure that some of them were already there before the start of this season werent they?

Bit by bit... How's that Stanley fellow getting on... The future !

Youth means nothing. Very few will ever be able to step up and be good quality super league players. Otherwise all the teams in super league would be full of them.

As for us

Gleeson, Penky, Branighan, Royston, Goddard, Beswick, Black, Nash and Worrincy for speed. They could all step up and play super league to a good level. So give it a rest, where are you in the table again with your Super League ready team?

Ex SL players young enough to have another go.

Haggerty
Pickersgill
Smith
Thackeray
Netherton


We were also limited to how much we could originally spend, due to having James Webster in the squad, who was taking up a substantial part of the cap. The club have also stated, even before Webster left, that we still had room under the cap for further recruitment. So it’s likely that we are still under the cap.

Our recruitment would have been very different should we have not won the NRC and we would certainly have had to push the cap to its limit. As it is, we have had the luxury of blooding lots of our own academy lads and using the new Dual-Reg system to pad out the squad and cover our injury crisis. I doubt any of this would have happened should we have failed to win the NRC.

How would your recruitment have been any different? If you have been signing ex SL players with SL potential anyway?

It does when the licence assessment starts, Billy.



All very good players, but also backed up with a lot of very tough experienced players. That’s where we are different.

Because we would have also added more seasoned old pros to that squad and run to the full cap from the start.

I don't think we need to worry about Super League Licences. I can't see us getting one, unfortunately.

I see, does make sense SOC not putting any more money into the first team now you had the box ticked. Dont think its fair on the fans who pay there money though. Im sure a lot would want to watch a strong first team, as well as having the youth structure in place.

Probably not, but we were marked down for youth development in the last round of licences and have used this season to put that right. This is something we couldn’t have done had we not won the NRC and why we have a very different squad than we otherwise would have had as a result.

To a certain extent you’re right, and this probably explains the drop in attendances this season. What we’d all like to see is SL. The club is going about things the right way and giving the RFL very little wiggle-room this time around.

We’ll make the play-offs and the season ain’t over yet. Let’s just wait and see what the rest of the season holds.

This is all Ben Blacks fault. I've never know one incident to change the fate of an entire club



Bloody butter-fingers





(not a sly dig at anyone's club btw, just find it funny)

I thought it was all supposed to be Ronnie Laughton's fault?

Cant see what Widnes offer that Fax dont, why's everyone bleating on about them on here and Sky, it's only cos they spat their dummy out when declined the last round of franchising and kicked up a big fuss.

They feel they have a god given right to get in this time round, why, I for one can't see what makes them red hot to go up.

Aye, him aswell. They were all out to get us that day.

No-one thinks we have “a God given right” to SL. But we can rightly say that we are likely to have the best all-round bid.

If you don't agree with that, then please tell me who else from the Championship would be likely to put in a better bid and claim that guarranteed licence for Championship club?


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