I didn't jump on him. I just pointed out the example he used didn't prove what he suggested. I'm sorry you can't cope with someone not writing a hagiography of your club.

Every year we read press releases from clubs saying this. It does not mean that a club has an excellent youth system unless they go on to become regular first team players. In the report about Quins' licence application their academy system was criticised by the RFL despite having produced two England internationals from it in the previous 12 months. As such it would appear for licence applications the RFL are setting a high threshold and I suspect one first team regular and four guys with a handful of games between them is unlikely to get over it. Clearly you think standards should be lower.

Fwiw I think Welham is an excellent player and Rovers fans should be proud of him. I hope some of the other players you mention are equally successful.

btw you have mentioned Liam Watts

It's probably not as bad as it was across the league, but I would like the RFL to be firmer with moving towards a stricter quota. Otherwise the temptation of the quick fix is always there.

the game is dying. this bullsh it has ruined everything

What bull$hit?

Indeed I have do you also think we should get no credit for him?
Also after 3 1/2 years of SL having players filtering through is that such a bad thing?
Do you expect us to have a SL production line up and running in a short space of time?
I personally dont think us starting from scratch to where we are today in that time is that bad actually.
If we were producing no players I would be worried but we are now starting to see them.

You should have been around these boards when we were fielding aussies and UK journeymen....some on here expected us to have 17 players from Mile End by 2001

On that I cannot say although I still state I have a point.
You cannot expect a club that has been outside the top league for over a decade to suddenly produce SL players at a drop of a hat.
Plus there is also the point that someone else mentions that to many kids at the same time will lead to a situation of massive amounts of losses (inexperience) then boom and bust instead of a constant flow of players.
It needs a blend in the long term you would have older (nearly retiring) players showing the new kids how it is done just like Tommy Martin is doing at Widnes but that would happen all in-club with the old head and new lads being homegrown but that will take ages to happen.

15 years would seem to be the time it takes.
Quins have fielded 9 cockneys for a few games this season.......average age of these lads was 8yrs when SL Started......and London had a High profile RL team.

haha, because we never had a 1st div full of foreign players pre SL did we? Anyone remember the Fax side of 13 Australian/Kiwis? How about the all conquering Wigan side of the 90's, how many foreign players were in that squad?

As a supporter of a club I really don't care, give me 9 foreigners and a top 4 finish over 4 foreigners and a bottom 3 finish any day of the week! Of course I'd love to see England/GB beat Australia regularly but I'm not stupid enough to think HKR having 2 or 3 extra Australians in the side is going to make a blind bit of difference. The gap between the money and systems for jnr player development in Australia and GB is immense, absolutely huge. That is why they are better than us, not because HKR or any other SL team has 9 overseas players instead of 6.

And yet, everyone on this board expects the only welsh side to have a massive influx of welsh players in their second season of superleague. This is what I find really funny, some teams have no right whatsoever to question our "aussie" team. At least we do have a youth and junior system, that is currently kicking ass. It wont be long before our youth teams are as good as your Wigan/saints/leeds, because we have a catchment area of the whole of wales.

Last year Leeds finished 10th out of 13 teams in the junior academy. You couldn't really do much worse! As for Wigan and Saints? Good luck with that

. Maybe you should aim to beat youth teams like Salford and Widnes on a rugular basis first.

No we dont , but we also dont expect posters to suggest they are doing anything ' wonderful ' on the playing front , they are what they are , a team of aussies playing in Wales , much like Gateshead were a team of aussies playing in Gateshead , if they survive then they will start to get real Welsh lads coming through as there is in Wales a large number of young players with the required skills

Speaking about grounds, here is what our ground will look like when its totally finished.



New video screen scoreboard
New 7.4k south stand with bars and catering facilities
new pitch and drainage system
Improved north stand facilities

will cost in region of £10million.

Except it wasn't full of Aussies, but had a majority of British player.

What is with these flat 'box' designs? Every RL ground in the country is going to be the same.

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to move to Elland Road.

You did see the bit that said , cost 10 million

When it suits

Out of curiosity, what's the problem about developing the western end of the ground?

Houses directly behind the stand, and will block the sunlight from them FWIH.

Is this a special Leeds sun, that comes down the pitch from the east, staying low, then? Because the normal one would rise in the east and circle round the back of the South Stand shining on the back of these houses as normal.

By this argument, the owners of these houses should demolish them, because their own houses are blocking their own light to their own front gardens half the day.

Still, lucky that the proposed new big screen scoreboard is completely transparent and won't block anyone's light, then.

Ta. Sounds like there's what's known as an Ancient Lights Order floating around.

no what it shows is that we are developing young players and giving them a chance to make it at 1st grade by offering them FT contracts. Isn't that the point of the argument?

from our chairman:

from our chairman:

Quote"I also know how they love to see home-grown talent representing the club.

"As Chairman, one of my goals has been to improve our youth system. We have to produce our own stars of the future.

=#FF0000"That’s why, year-on-year, we are investing a six-figure sum in our youth structure.

"Gone are the days, I hope, when some of our top young players move across the river or down the M62. We now have an established set up in place. It is early days but already, we have seen home-grown talent coming into the first team on a regular basis.

"Other young players are on the verge of the senior squad. Our U18’s side has secured a place in the top group of their competition this season and this is credit to the hard work both on and off the field.

"We recently announced the signing of nine promising youngsters – a record number for the club. That highlights our commitment to bring top English talent to Hull KR.

I’m sure you would agree that it would be tremendous to see these players progress and challenge for a first team place."

The price of one Aussie on a pension seeking holiday?



Don't get me wrong regarding youth development the sentiment is noble, the idea is great but £100,000 is a minimum sum. If the club is spending £500,000 on development then that's a good point to start. Sadly we will never know the actual figure

Hope it really pays off because in the long term it has to be of benefit to everyone involved with the game in this country.