I still keep coming back to the fact that lots of us didn't rate Big Lesley first season but gradually he turned into the winger they all wanted. I just wonder if Herbert has the basic skill to improve. Trouble is he keeps showing glimpses but not consistently. Robbie reckons Potter will turn it round, another big forward, a quality half back and a decent centre could make all the difference. Lulia may be a start, but I wonder also if Lynchy is the best leader

at what stage do we expect southernwood to break into the 1st team? id expect if we sign a hb any later than this offseason then this will block cains route.

id expect never.

based on???? and i am honestly curious, hes supposed to be one of the best halfs at his age?

He's still only recently turned 19 don't forget. Realistically I would expect him to be closer to 21 before he is ready.
Judging by the highlights of some of the reserve games, his defence is an absolute mile off being SL standard.

Er...so is that of many of the senior squad...

Its getting a bit worrying that we keep hearing "xyz's defence is not up to scratch yet" about various different youngsters.

Maybe there is some common denominator here? Hmm...

Yep. I'd say some of the results from our under 20s games have been even more worrying then those of the first team.
With the new salary cap over in Aus, SL teams will be forced to rely more heavily on their own production line of talent. And right now ours is getting an absolute battering almost every week.

Ohh their is.

Hmmm wonder why that is.

Penny for them, Red?

Did you ever here about the youth system in place before Macca was here getting walloped everyweek?

So much for his so called legacy, IMO the Bulls are now recruiting lesser quality youngstersand training methods are worse since this system change that Macca and his crew put into place.

The poor results and tiny trickle of of youngsters a long way short of a good SL quality moving into the 1st team kind of back this up.

I think we are just going to have to accept that change takes time Michael.

I think a clearout is what we need, some players are not pulling their weight. That just showed on sunday we are so lazy in defence. getting rid of lee st hilaire has to be a must.

i think bradford need to let a fair few of the average squad players go and bring in some real quality to go alongside the good players you already have and the really good youngsters you have.
possible team for next year
1.kearney
2.ah van
3.pomeroy?
4.Lulia
5.raynor
6.briggs
7.
8.scruton
9.lestrange
10.lynch
11.elima
12.whitehead
13.langley
subs
14.burgess
15.diskin
16.kopczak
17.donaldson
a top halfback and 2 good centres needed and that side could be a top 6 without doubt

Make that a top halfback (who does not suck his thumb and cry for mummykins at night and hold his willy for comfort in bed), another good centre (you have ignored our already -announced signing) and a mean nasty hardcase niggling barsteward of a forward.

yeh sorry forgot about keith im not to sure on your quota but pomeroy could be a good signing him and keith in the centres and ah van and raynor as wingers looks good to me

Something is drastically wrong, either the kids we're recruiting just arn't good enough or the way they are being coached isn't. IMO its a mixture of both. We can wait as long as we want but as far as im concerned the longer we wait for the current system to work the longer we'll be waiting for change for the better.

Something has got to give because Medley and Barrow certainley arn't producing a good enough quality player from the academy to make a impact in this squad.

The problem with Raynor IMO is that he is a winger who does not score very many tries!

mainly because he rarely gets any service. only time he gets ball generally is when he comes in field looking for it.

Most of the games Bradford have won might have been exciting, tense affairs but hardly a feast of flowing rugby. They just don't have the centres to enable them to do that.

As a bit of a diversion from the collective wrist-slitting, and bemoaning the performance of the academy sides, this is interesting:



My highlighting.

Would seem that it is far from being all doom and gloom for the future?

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Raynorhis past record is quite good[/url but he definitely hasn't had the service at Bradford. I like the try he scored against Catalans and he has been one of our more enthusiastic players this year (remembering him chasing down a player after a 80 meter break).

The centres haven't had a pass in space all season. Raynor has done his best with next to nothing. I can't remember a chance he's bombed and his taking of Briggs kick and instant pass inside against Salford was one of the (very) few moments of backline skill all year.

Which 2 years have they been unbeaten, then? Does this overlap the last year of McNamara/Medley and the current setup? Obviously proves that the alleged emphasis on getting the cream of the crop very young was just so much hot air.

Of course, yet another major failing was not recruiting Mystic Meg to tell them which of these lads would be internationals in 5 years and which would be rubbish.

I imagine that Huddersfield and Warrington are rubbing their hands already.