Interesting that Leeds have chosen to take a punt on young props Jay Pitts and Kyle Amor for next season. I'm not suggesting they'll be anything spectacular, but when you consider the likes of Burgess and company already coming through, their pack could be nothing short of immense.

Meanwhile, ours seems stuck in reverse.

Do we ever look to the Championship for potential?

Luke Burgess, Jay Pitts and Kyle Amor result in a pack that "could be nothing short of immense"?

Who's "Burgess and company coming through" anyway? I can't think of anyone particularly handy coming through in the forwards at Leeds and their academy/reserves are poor.

There's little to suggest Pitts and Amor will be any better than what Saints have in reserve.

Wilkin, Gardner, Higham . . .

Worrall is a cracking kid. Plenty of size and mobility. And if reports are correct there's money in the pot to strengthen. Academy results aren't a reliable indicator of quality, anyhow. I've seen championship winning academies produce few first team players and mediocre ones sending up two or three belters.



A chance of a good player is better than no chance at all. And it's not like we're producing great props at this moment. We aren't.

Kyl;e Amor played for Wigan reserves last season (it may have been the season before) and looked very good playing centre.

How has he managed to "grow" into a prop forward in such a short space of time?

I wonder why we are not. Why have we grown some talented halfbacks, too many of them it would seem, but can't grow a prop? (That is probably a rhetorical question but someone may be able to answer it!)

We've produced one more recently than any other team has to be fair.

Maybe its to tough for the lazy youth of today, they would much prefer the glamour of being a ball handler instead of grunting the ball up and getting smashed around time N time again... this youth isnt like the youth in the days when winter was winter, and summer was still winter.

LAZY YOUTH

Yes, I thought someone would have the answer.

Our young forwards are top class.

Frodsham captained England academy against Aussies and people like Ashurst and Dixon were also in the squad.
There are some very big and capable young forwards in our academy/reserves

Where? Frodsham isn't up to it unless he gets a lot bigger. He gets smashed about all over the place in Super League. Emmitt is better but doesn't look to have much other than his size.

He's young with a big frame, of course he'll get bigger.

Yeah, i mean Paul Clough and James Graham really are sh*te!

Andy Platt is his personal trainer.

Nah Paul Forber.

And it took us the best part of twenty odd years to get to him. We're not talking theoretical physics here. Prop is the one position you cannot afford to underman. If you do - you lose. It's as simple as that.

So far for next season we can rely on Graham and an aging Maurie. Bryn has always been a fringe player. Certainly not front line material. Puletua is more of a back row player and Cayless looks to be finished. There can be no confidence about next season on the strength of that line up. It's just not strong enough. Not to mention the strain put on Graham carrying that pack. We certainly don't want another Fielden on our hands.

Ashurst and Dixon are back rowers. The jury's out on Frodsham.

Perhaps it did, but that has no relevance as to whether the current crop will be any good.



I know, I did it at Uni





Not sure I agree, Bryn has been a starting prop for a couple of years and does as good a job as the likes of Worrall, Amor, Bibb or any of the potentially "immense" Leeds pack. We then have Clough who can prop (that will be his position in time IMO), Cayless will re-sign or be replaced.

Next year we will have (assuming we don't sign a second prop):

Graham
KC
Cayless or replacement
Soliola
Wilkin
Flannery

with these forwards in reserve to pick a bench from

Maurie
Puletua
Clough
Roby
Hargreaves
+ youngsters (Ashurst, Dixon, Frodsham, Emmitt, Lucas)

4 props in Graham, JC or replacement, Maurie, Hargreaves with Clough and Puletua capable of filling in, plus any youngsters.

I wouldn't say that is as disasterous a position as some would like to make out. In fact, I would be very comfortable with that.

Moore and Roby may even play 9 with KC adding some prop like grunt off the bench?

We don't know that Cunningham's staying on. If he does it'll certainly throw a spanner in the works of playing Moore. Soliola is a centre who can play back row as cover. Not the other way around. Hargreaves is a solid defender, but he offers very little yardage against the better packs. Cayless is farked and we don't know if the chairman has any intentions of buying a replacement. None of our academy props look particularly promising at this moment (although time may come to our rescue there). I'm certainly not comfortable with this situation.

I suppose since you have your hand slapped on image rights, we are shedding the older player, and we are just plain better than you, you have to come up with scurrilous suggestions.

Didn't your chairman admit on Radio Manchester that Saints were using image rite contracts?


There's nothing scurrilous about the suggestion at all. I just can't remember any player moving from centre to prop in such a short space of time.
Can you?

The last one I can actually remember doing it was Harvey Howard, and it took a few years.

Of late you've been out on a vendetta, I guess I read that wrong... Unless I didn't.

Ruban wiki started as a winger/centre then moved into prop and was a world class prop.

Harvey Howard was always the size of a forwRd when he was a winger at saints.

I mean when he was winger at widnes. He never played for saints.

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