was not Jordan Thompson, Joe arundel, both signed in last 4 years do apologise if i am mistaken, did not shaul sing from elsewhere (may be a hull lad though). i would still say hull are behind Cas in this mater and way behind Leeds, but only Wigan really match Leeds in this department, although Leeds have had a bit of a Lull last for 2-4 years ago, but have a great new crop coming through.

To be honest I didn't really mean that, it was in response to Vasty who said Hull should hang there heads in Shane for not having a reserve team, when in reality we tried but few others did and that ruined it

Both about 5/6 years ago. Shaul came from the amateur game, when he was a young lad after been released by Rovers.

We are behind Wigan, Saints and Leeds no doubt, but there have had there structures in place for years, ours only really started when Pearson bought the club.

I think we are above Cas in terms of youth as it stands, haven't they just sold one of their best youngsters and another gone to Union? There best youngster was signed from Bradford.

Probably a bit unfair to say that Wakey should hang their heads in shame for not running 1 a couple of years ago. It costs around £50,000 to run a reserve team and two years ago Wakey were on the brink of relegation, administration and going to part-time after having to sell off 14 players and fielding 15 fit players in the MPG . To go from that to being able to push the top 4 to the end of the season, run a fairly successful academy and now start a reserve grade is quite a turn around

I picked on Hull because they are a well run and successful club with outstanding facilities - they are also an extremely wealthy club. None of the above was applicable to Wakefield two years ago and some still isn't.

If you weren't so prickly you'd take it as a back handed compliment. So yes Hull should hang there heads in shame because they should be leading from the front and could imo afford to do so.

I'm proud of Wakey because despite being the worst funded club in SL they have managed it - two years late I accept but we have still done it, why can't/won't you?

Tbf NO Super League club is "extremely wealthy" and even the ones who are in a better position financially than others still have to be smart and sensible about how they spend money and if they don't think it's something that justifies the cost (even if you or others have a opposite opinion) then they do right.

They are compared to Wakefield, trust me.

We aren't a rich club, the cost of having a reserves isn't worth it when you only get a few friendlies and games get called off regularly due to injuries, I'm sure you will see this next year. It isn't worth running until there is a proper reserve league structure

You are a wealthy club in RL terms and clearly Michael Carter feels it's worth it. So instead of making excuses why don't fans of clubs like Hull and Leeds make it clear that they want A team RL?

Hell you can now use Wakefield to beat them with, if we can do it then anyone can - I mean surely you don't want Shakey Wakey to have something you havn't

How many games have Wakefield's reserves played so far exactly? Just curious because the way it's being talked about you'd think they've made a raging success of it and made it work,

Yes I'm really jealous of Wakefields reserve side.

Right im going to write to Pearson and demand that he makes us have a reserve team as suddenly according to Wakey fans (don't remember you lot demanding a reserve team the last two years) it is needed, just because the likes of Pearson, Radford, McDermott and Hetherington don't think it is worth it at the current time, what do these know about rugby anyway?

They invented it

Blimey you are a precious soul and a humorless one to boot. Sorry for mildly criticising the mighty FC.

Correct, we are quite mighty.
Going for back to back, to back, Wembley victories in the new year.

To right you are that was inferred all along it's just that Dave is to dim or to over sensitive to realise it. Hull are a leading club so lead I say.

Can you please define ‘extremely wealthy’ to me. Do we get more funding than you?
We probably get roughly double your home attendances. But i’m quite confident that our ground rent is more than double what you pay. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if our rent is somewhere near to what you where quoted to pay at your new ground, which according to many of your fans, would cripple the club.

Come on Vastman, Iv'e been on this forum as long as you and I have never seen you give a compliment to another club, you won't have your club mentioned in any bad light and you have the nerve to call me touchy. I'm sure you were moaning earlier this week as Cas fans slagged off your fish and chip van sponsorship from last year

Let's just see how succesful your resrve team will be, unless all other sides join i'd bet Wakey scarp it in the near future.

Merry Christmas to you, Wakey and all other RL fans, think you will go well again this year, not as good as the mighty and rich Hull FC though

They are one of the leaders, just because they aren't doing something that you THINK is a good idea and is largely born out of nostalgia of old A teams in most people who want to see it return doesn't change that.

The likes of Pearson and Hetherington have done pretty good jobs at their clubs (picked up 6 of the last 9 domestic trophies handed out between their clubs) and maybe their decision as much as you don't agree with shouldn't be met with such dismissive criticism. Maybe it isn't the great idea you think it is.

2013 was the last time we gave a debut to a home grown player that now plays in our starting XVII when everyone is fit. Brad Fash is the only one of late that is looking anything like good SL standard. Since 2013 we've released/shunned loads of youngsters in favour of overseas players or players from other clubs, as I keep saying either our kids aren't good enough or the junior coaching/talent development isn't good enough.

Radford has burned/scapegoated certain players and let them go, he's brought no-one through in his 4 year tenure that plays in the starting XVII. Lancaster and Logan were outstanding in their few games several years ago but Lancaster was left out in the cold and Radford continued to sign Talanoa who whilst ok at times is defensively weak and slow as anything (so Lancaster left) Logan before his injury was doing just great and again shunned/scapegoated for poor defence inside of him. We haven't developed a half since the early 2000s, we got rid of our decent understudy to Houghton (Cunningham who went to London) because we insist on flogging Houghton for 80 minutes every game and playing washbrook as a back up when he's been injured.

Yes we have some very good and in some cases international level Hull born players but of the last 4 years we have been an absolute shambles at bringing home grown talent through at any decent standard. Turgut isn't up to much, started 3 times and off the bench 11 but isn't much cop and has an undisciplined streak in him. Jack Downs might make it but at 22 got 4 games off the bench last year and 2 before that, he's essentially only going to get a game if we are down to bare bones, Motongo is okay, he's a big lump and could come good but needs regular game time however we signed Paea so unlikely to get much action, Fash is the pick of the younger crop and is solid but no game breaker.
I really worry about where the next crop of youngsters are coming from, it's all well and good signing other clubs youngsters which we've done a lot of lately, Connor, Rawsthorne being two of the latest and Connor is a real find but we have precisely no-one coming through in the halves or backs and will be signing from outside the club in that area for the foreseeable future.

Bumpy still full of bitterness after Radford & Pearson made a kunt out of him. https://www.change.org/p/adam-pearson-h ... e_petition

Bumpy still full of bitterness after Radford & Pearson made a kunt out of him. https://www.change.org/p/adam-pearson-h ... e_petition

I don't know whether it was true without looking myself but a poster had said he looked at previous accounts in the thread about the supposed redevelopment of Belle Vue and the numbers mentioned were that Wigan paid under £400k and Hull paid £350k P/A if I remember right.
I also think you'll be surprised how much this guy who now owns Belle Vue is wanting in rent, especially considering what we get for the money and it's probably the reason why things are taking so long to finalise. When the Bank of Ireland owned it I believe we were paying around £250k.
Also, it wasn't just the crazy £500k for a tarted up Belle Vue that would cripple us, but the fact they wanted a Capital investment from us to help them redevelop it which would have been the killer, especially when we still wouldn't have owned a bit of it and would have only got income from home games.

Wakefield already cancelling reserve games at the last minute less than half a season into running one. After much chest beating over starting a reserve team they can't even fulfill a fixture even when they're spread out, what chance do teams stand trying to do it on a more regular almost weekly basis?

Reserve fixtures are a nightmare, and if Fax can run a reserve squad using funds mainly generated from their supporters club, then why can't other clubs do the same? It's taken 2 or 3 years, but Fax have several ex-reserve team players in their 1st team squad now, with some of them definitely looking like they have the potential to go on to bigger and better things.

There are multiple threads about the demise of the game in the UK and how we don't have enough quality players to sustain a strong competition, but SL clubs just aren't doing enough to provide the platform for players to develop into the stars of tomorrow. It's not a quick fix, but a medium term investment, and one that shouldn't be too onerous for SL teams at around the £25k mark to run a reserve squad for 12 months.

No chance at all if most don’t even try.

Our reserves seem to be going ok. Game coming up vs Fax. Shame that as we started others jacked it in. It's had its benefits for us in keeping fringe players fit.

It's a useful stepping stone for those players not ready for 1st team that have come up from 19s.