I don't do excuses but try to give a reasoned approach.
You should try it some time.

It was indeed, Wakefield couldn't field a team for that fixture and as a result the U18 fixture has suffered.

Could you play u16's at u18 level?

It would never happen at Super League level regardless of injury situations you'd have to loan Paul Highton and Dave Whittle and get slapped!! It is reasonable of us to rearrange and you should of course let saints win as a matter of course

Are you sure you are not making this up?
I know some of the things the RFL are strange but this sounds a bit unbelievable.

I heard that when we allow a duel reg player to play on a Thursday night in the championship they can't play for us that weekend. Yet they allow young lads to play two under 20's games in the same week when they are under 18.

It's true Bradford did it last season. I think it was Donaldson.

welcome to the wonderful world of the RFL

If you look at the rules, the RFL say they cannot play in both Academy competitions in the same week.

I suspect the logic behind this is to ensure clubs have sufficent players to field two sides without them having to double up across 18 and 20.

Wigan are not the only club with injuries across their three teams some are in a worse position nor are they the only loaning out players.

It is down to the club to manage their players and if Wigan choose to loan out some of them then they should ensure they can fulfill their own commitments first.

Speaking off injuries and not being able to field a team...our 18s and 20s(saints) have a lot of lads missing who are usually in the starting line ups...speaking to one of the dads at thatto last nite and he sed at least 10 Lads are injured and cannot play!!! Saying this tho, I dont c us cancelling games...... just out of intrest how did our lads go on against the pies earlier in the season never watched any of our acadamy games againsy them.

The solution is simple and clear, stop ALL clubs, not just Wigan,, from farming out their players to other teams for experience.
All clubs should develope their own talent, It does benefit the players in question, but it must be a sickener for the player who loses his place to accommodate the loanee, We will never catch up the Aussies without all teams having a developement programme instead of just 2/3 teams having a progressive policy.
The Under 20s and 18s leagues, as you have previously indicated Rogues, are a joke, with very little real competition for that particular age group with overage and underage playing in the same team. Rant over

If ALL teams were producing strong academy teams John I would agree.
Sadly it's not happening. I really don't see the point in a team winning by 50 or 60 points. It does no good to either team.

I don't know what the solution is, unless you allow to better U20 sides to play in NL1 or NL2, but that would cause major problems. My friends and myself have discussed this topic for many hours without resolution.

BTW Wigan U20's beat Hull 14 - 8 at Hull yesterday.

It would be penalising the successful clubs to keep them in a competition they cannot further develop in and the step up as a result would see talented players struggle to adapt where a couple of months in the Championship Leagues would undoubtedly help, but then too many loanees doesn't give the championship long term benefits with consistent massive squad turnover and experienced semi pro's being shoved out to fit another promising junior.

However judging by how long its taken the top teams to get to this stage (Wigan, Saints and I believe Warrington are seeing the first fruits from theirs) a fully competitive competition is going to be 10+ years off and that is if every team ploughs money into it now and do we think that will happen? We still haven't got to a fully competitive Super League...

Times must be hard if they have taken to having ago at our 18s!!

It directly affected the Saints club, that's why it was posted here!!!!!

It would have been posted had it not been Wigan too!

Paranoid much?

And you were given the reason why we couldnt play and still werent happy!! Not to mention a comment about us only playing over age players in the 18s and 20s which had nothing to do with the saints!! So paranoid no!

rfl should show some balls and fine them but they love wigan so they wont

Very good!!
Your right they have let us break the rules all season sign far to many Aussies and always let our players off from suspensions. They also allow us to have a referee from our own town each week to make sure we win!

They shouldnt allow us to continue developing players to the standard we are, so they arent good enough to play super league/championship rugby and make sure we have players to play 18s and 20s!!

As I said twelve u18's played v Hull in the U20's on Saturday. The rules don't allow U18's to play in both the U20 and U18's on the same weekend.
I also believe that they don't allow U16's to play in the U18's competition.

If Wigan had done either of the above they would have been fined.

What's your solution?
One of the reasons all this came about is that Wakefield postponed their home U20 game v Wigan earlier in the season because they could not raise a team, so the match was played last Wednesday.

Given that players and coaches complain about two games in four days over Easter, does the same logic not apply here?

U16's are allowed to play for the U18's.

Greg Wilde, Danny Yates and Domonic Speakman where all in the U18's vs Wigan yet all qualify for the u16's.

Apologies, I thought that they were not allowed, but the point still stands that with twelve U18's playing at Hull, they couldn't have played over the weekend.

I'm not sure if the U16's are still in training as their season has now finished.

Are the Saints U16 lads still in training for their Aussie tour?

Rogues dont let facts get in the way of their fun

That is the first post I made.

Playing over age players, regardless of the club is as much to do with Saints as anyone else.

In fact the last time I raised this on the Wigan forum I was banned, which incidentally was in breach of the AUP.

So Wigan fans in general fit the description of paranoid very well IMO.

I don't understand your post.
Fozzard played in the U20's over the weekend (no problem, you are allowed to play three players)
No team is allowed to play over age players in the U18's.

The rules don't allow players to play in the U18 and U20 over the same weekend, yet stupidly they can play Superleage and / or U18/U20 over the same weekend.

They only go on tour next October but yes they're back in training from U15 level.

The rules do not allow players to play in both age groups as it is to ensure clubs have sufficent players to field two teams

Also just to correct who actually called off the Under 20 game it was Wigan as they had 4 players on Under 18 Academy duty that weekend on the 12th June
So that weekend neither their 20 or 18 played (Scource Wigan staff)