On the back of the slightly cringe-worthy piece by Phil Clarke on Sky just now, I am interested to know of the last 10 years of Super League (2003 onwards), how many Grand Final winners played for Wigan amateur clubs or Wigan Youth as juniors. Also how does this compare to other areas of the country?

Clarke's point for those who missed it was that Wigan produce more talented players than anywhere else.

I will start with the easy one, the Wigan side who won the 2010 Grand Final, I make that one 8:

S Tomkins
J Tomkins
D Goulding
P Deacon
M McIlorum
S O'Loughlin
P Prescott
L Farrell

From a Wigan fan, that segment was unbelievably cringey.

Isn't Mcllorum a Leeds lad? And S Tompkins played for Crosfields in Warrington before going to Wigan St Patricks for a year before being signed up.

Right you are, McIlorum is from Leeds, I think they signed him from Stanningley. I remember S Tomkins being at the Pats first but he didn't get a game as that was a very strong side at that age group, so it is possible that he then went over to Crosfields but I'm not sure on that one.

Not quite a pointless thread but the answer is pretty obvious...why. Well it always has been thus.
The Wigan area (not just the town but the Metroplitain area circa 300k pop) has always been the biggest hotbed for rugby players, I think socio-historic reasons is the main determining factor along with economic & geographic location in that order.
It is extremely deep rooted in the surroundings and culturally has been very important to the area far more than soccer, deffo more so than anywhere else, certainly factors as to why RL hasn't/won't take off in London.
Leeds/West Yorkshire is probably not far shy numerically however with Leeds(& Bradford) having a far greater condensed (& generally bigger ) population that skews it somewhat.

Sean long
Martin gleeson

Mike forshaw

Chris joynt

Harrison Hanson

Signed from Folly Lane (Salford) at 17
Years old played town team rugby for Salford too.

Oldham chris joint isn't he

And yet the OP said who played for Wigan youths, Hansen clearly did! Played at least 2 seasons in the academy.

Went Pro with Oldham but is a Wigan lad.

What are we even talking about?
Wigan born?
Wigan Amateur?
Wigan Youth teams?
Or some mix? So far it just seems like picking and choosing to find a reason people aren't part of the Wigan production line

. But in terms of just grand finals, nah probably not that great - add in CC, LLS, longer time periods, or just plain number of professionals then all of the above do pretty well.

19 players on the pitch tonight produced by the Wigan setup. Name another fixture this season that has had the same number of players on the pitch produced by 1 team.

Have you imagined this? Or just made it up?

Sam is a wigan lad and didnt play for crossfields. Iv played against him at amateur level from the age of 9

Sam Tomkins played for Chorley Panthers before moving to St Pats.

I'm sure plenty of posters will attempt to contrive an argument that proves this statement wrong, but Clarkey is absolutely right.

There's no other club in the SL that could have 10 first team regulars missing and still win away from home, our youth development is lightyears ahead of everyone else's.

Which is pretty much bang on the money really.

See Leeds vs Castleford a couple of seasons ago. HTH


And wow, a thread of Wigan fans furiously w@nking themselves off. Not seen this before...

Leeds will be the ones who can compete, and it depends on the guidelines - is not amateur, or is it academy? Just off the top of my head and from Leeds area, there are plenty...

Sonny Nickle
James Lowes
Karl Pratt
Gareth Carvell
Richie Mathers
Mark Calderwood
Chev Walker
Danny McGuire
Ryan Bailey
Nick Scruton
JJB
Jamie Peacock
Michael Mcillorum
Ryan Hal
Bjb
Carl Abblett
Stevie Ward
Ryan Atkins
Chris Clarkson
Lee Smith

I'm sure there are plenty more, and that's without even starting to name those who played academy but aren't officially from Leeds (Burrow, Sinfield, Diskin, Ward, Watkins etc).... Maybe Clarke was right, or maybe he was talking utter nonsense!

Castleford won at Leeds with 10 first teamers missing?

And wow, Leeds fans getting teary over a thread about Wigan

"My parents come from Warrington and they used to support the Wolves.

As a young lad, I even had a Warrington shirt with Alfie Langer’s name on the back – he was my hero but family loyalties now lie firmly with Wigan." Sam tomkins