New scholarship intake announced and im very happy with the new u15s we'v managed to land, its a really good group led by an outstanding half prospect from West Bowling called Harry Smith, he's an excellent young player.
Harley Thomas from Dewsbury Celtic is another excellent talent at fullback....Wonder if its coincidence the club interviewed these 2 for the launch night video.

George Brown is a quality half, also from Dewsbury Celtic, who, along with Smith, gives us the best half due recruited in one intake, that i can remember.

Lore Jones Buchanan is a tall centre who runs straight and hard but has good footwork and hands when he decides to use them, he's a good player, his younger brother, who's also a centre and will more than likely be in next years intake, is slightly better imo.

Marcus QareQare from Lock Lane is an exciting back with excellent footwork and a gliding style thats good to watch.

There were 4 forwards that i really hoped we'd sign and we got 3...Joe Butterfield from Lock Lane, Presley Cassell from Siddal and Jayemm Oladipupu, who takes some stopping, from west Bowling are all very good, Noah Broadbent from Stanningley was the 4th but he went to Warrington . Jacob Stead from West Bowling is another impressive forward who we signed, he hits hard and plays with plenty of aggression.

Theres other good players aswel, but these are the ones that have really impressed me so far. Really good group imo.

The 16's are much the same group as last year when they were 15's, think one players left and no incomings, this again is a good group.

Players to watch imo are

Kai Taylor Smith at fullback, Bit of a Jack Walker clone, excellent step off both feet.

Lloyd Mcewan Peters at centre, big centre with good hands

Sonny Pattison at centre, the more elegant of a good centre duo

Mark Nelson at backrow, big, fast and powerful, really hard to handle

Mason Corbett at hooker, very intelligent and skillful 9, can run a game with good composure and decision making.

Joe Phillips at prop, plays how id imagine JP would play at 16, he's an enforcer, hits like a tank, plays with a calm confidence, tall and still fairly thin, when he fills out his frame, he'l be some player imo.

These are just some of my thoughts on 2022's scholarship squad, very impressive set of players. Looking forward to seeing them improve even further under Mark Butterill

A young Diskin joining as well as a Jones Buchanan with Sinfield jnr it’s deja vu time.

Mattster I love your breakdown of the young talent mate, you really know your stuff.

Is the young Diskin another chip of an old Leeds block too then?

Young Diskin plays half for Dewsbury Moor and currently sports a mullet...So probably not a chip off the Diskin block in that sense.

He's a good player though and i wouldnt be suprised if we see him as a 9, he jumps into dummy half a fair bit and his game seems suited to it from the little iv seen.

Dewsbury Moor play in the 2nd division so hard to judge players sometimes, but he played well in the Heavy Woolen cup final against 1st division Dewsbury Celtic last week, even though his team were well outgunned overall.

A really good insight there Matt

Great scouting report.

Hopefully we’re over the worst of the COVID disruption now, and these lads can get into a proper development routine.

It is so weird (and ageing) to see a Sinfield, Jones-Buchanan, Diskin in the system. I can clearly remember watching their dads coming through the academy as skinny 16 year olds…

Add Jamie Fields lad who has been given a squad number.

Nice one Matt.
Look forward to seeing how they develop.

Good post Matty.

Be interesting to see how they go.

Mark Nelson will be a middle for Leeds tho even tho East Leeds play him wider

Id imagine a few players will play different positions for us going forward, im just listing them as where iv mostly seen them play for there community clubs.

On Nelson...He plays much better wider out imo, East leeds, like us, have played him closer to the ruck a few times this season and it dosnt get the best out of him, he's much better wider out for me.

Bit of positivity among the gloom

Just to add to this post i made when we announced our new u15's intake,after watching a few more players, its an even better group than i initially thought.

2 lads id add to the ones i mentioned are:

Dylan Hutchinson, a 6 from Lock Lane, really silky runner, excellent player, gives us 3 very good halfbacks in this group, though Wouldn't suprise me to see Dylan play a bit of fullback

Callum Webster, a backrow/centre from Oulton, MOM and Hattrick in the recent Leeds district school cup final, powerful runner with excellent agility.

Really is a very good group, hope we get there development right over the next 5/6 years.

Saints away Wed night for the scholarship.

Yeah looking forward to it, interesting season, iv mentioned the 15's as being a quality group, the 16's are harder to judge for me, not a very big group in terms of numbers and iv a couple of question marks over how they're developing.

We'v got 5 from Guisley who have barley played a game in 12 month and are terribly coached when they do. They've been hammered in the 2 games they'v played this season, one in the national cup and against east leeds a couple of week ago. Lloyd Mcewan Peters seems to have stagnated a bit, he looked a frightening prospect at one point, hopefully he gets back to that once he gets back into a well coached team, he recently got a call up to the Wales union u18's aswel, which is a worry.

Our best prop, Joe Phillips, hasnt played for Siddal for a few week, not sure how long he's out for.

Looking forward to watching Kai Taylor Smith, exciting player.

We could be relying on a lot of u15's this season, Butterill will have to work his magic if thats the case, the extra year at that age makes a big difference.

You going to the game Marty?

Think so mate. U?

No pal, working unfortunately.

Il be relying on you for the updates

Saints 24 Leeds 0 HT.

I will say no more than that.

Well thats poor to say the least, whats going so badly wrong?

24-10 now weve started onto the ball. McEwan-Peters and Harry Taylor tries.

Failed to complete 13 sets in 1st half.

Saints have three lads signed from Wigan St. Judes playing for them tonight, most strange!!!

Lost 28-20. Much better 2nd half

Any stand outs Marty?

Not too dissapointed with that scoreline in the end, we had a couple of forwards starting that are nowhere near good enough imo, the 13, stephens, iv never heard of until seeing his name on the teamsheet, how did he get on?

McEwan-Peters was our best. He looks a lot bigger. Scored from a high kick. Hes raw but powerful. Butterfield had a go number 10. Nelson moved into middle 2nd half and was more effective. Taylor-Smith looks slippery but very small.

The 1st half was an embarrassment. We couldnt hold the ball and looked soft in defence. Rabbits in headlights. 2nd half they got stuck in and held the ball but Saints took players off. Once it got to 24-20 on they came and we never crossed half way in final 10.

Think Stephens went off early with a hand injury.

18s are our only hope i think. Theyve got quality backs but no front row.

Phillips is our best u16 front row prospect imo, he wasnt playing last night, then the u15's have a couple of good ones, Butterfield being one of them. Hopfully a couple of them can kick on over the next few years. Warrington will be a hard game in a couple of week, they have a couple of the best u16s from yorkshire in their ranks, their fullback, kai taylor ray, from east leeds, is absolute quality.

Longstaff is highly rated isn’t he ?