You may be pleasantly surprised with that statement

FACT

we have strength in depth we have a great academy and young players coming through

I agree

Although in saying that so do leeds, wigan, saints etc..

Wigan had a great season last year after a number of rubbish ones. Warrington have won 2 successive CC's and nowt else for donkeys years. Saints and Leeds are still the teams to beat next season. They have proved to be the top teams for a number of years (even when they were predicted to be on the slide)

1st/2nd Saints/Leeds
3rd/4th Wire/Wigan.

Don't get me wrong, I want the balance of power to shift but any pretenders will need to do more than both Warrington and Wigan have done to date for that to happen.

1. Wire
2. Wigan
3. Leeds
4. Saints

Think your totally wrong, how can they be the teams to beat when they won nothing last season?
Wigan and Warrington hold both major honours, therefore teams, coaches and fans will see us as teams to beat as they want those trophies, it's not rocket science.

I'll let the rocket science comment go.

Anyway I've lost count of the times that Saints and Leeds have been teams in decline. 1 strong season from Wigan and Warrington is a good start but that's all it is. Again as I stated earlier, I want, and I think SL needs, a change from Saints/Leeds domination. If both our teams take over that position then brilliant.

I never said they are teams in decline, I just disagreed that you stated that they were the teams to beat, if you ask most Rugby League fans who are the teams to beat in 2011 ... I think the majority would come back with Wigan and Warrington.

Don't quite get this??.....Why would Wigan/Wire dominating be any better for the game than Leeds/Saints??.....I think for the true good of the game, we need 2 new names on the trophies, Huddersfield and Hull maybe?....or Hull KR and Salford?.....or Crusaders?.....You get my drift??...



What I think you mean is that we need an open competition where all 14 sides are in with a shout of the honours (or at least half of them), unlike now, where most pundits would admit the trophies will probably go to either Wire, Wigan, Leeds or Saints.

Wigan have won the U20/ reserve comp for the last 3 seasons.
Warrington have yet to make the final.

Stupid comment to make. That's why the majority of rlfans think Wigan fans are utter tools.

Doesn't mean we don't have good players coming through does it? But don't let that get in the way of a dick measuring contest. Wigan have always had a very good youth set-up due to the great rugby roots in the town. How many players in SL come from Wigan? I bet it's a few.

Only time will tell.

Yes you have.
If you read my posts I was praising Rhys Evans back in 2009, when the majority on here had never heard of him.

However it's a big step up from U18 to Superleague and that means that winning the U20/reserve league is the next step.

I expect that Warrington may do that this year, but Wigan will be their biggest threat, but it wil all depend on who goes out on loan.

Loads on here had heard of him. I don't know of many regulars who hadn't? Clever lad as well.

I'd be interested to see which team has promoted more academy kids to the full time squad this year us or wigan...?

last years stars appear to be next years Widnes players....we were doing that years ago....

[urlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/feb/04/wigan-warriors-widnes[/url

Wigan have promoted six
[urlhttp://www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.aspx?id=5380&type=news[/url

And that is added to Marsh, Charnley, Tuson, Farrell, Walker and Mellor last year.

With the players you have signed, how many of them have a realistic chance of 1st team rugby?

Which is what I said.

Sorry Rogues misread it.I have edited it now.

That's a difficult question to answer.
Charnley will IMO be a top class player, he was the most improved player at Wigan in the 2009 season.
Marsh, possibly.
Farrell, certainly, should be in contention for young player of the year this year (any of you on here who like a bet, it's worth a shot)
Tuson, not sure, unless he converts to the hooker position.
Walker, good lower division player.

On the others who have been promoted this year.
Crosby, I like him, a late developer.
Logan Tomkins, has a lot to live up to because of his two brothers, but I haven't seen anything yet to convince me that he will make it.

Powell, surprised me in the U18's v Australia because I didn't think he had the pace for a scrum half, but then again neither has Deacon, and he's done well out of the game.

Both Russel and King are very quick and should make good Superleague backs.

Jack Hughes is an excellent back rower but may find his way blocked to the first team as it's probably the Wigans strongest position, in fact I believe the best strength in depth on Superleage.

You can't judge a team's academy by how many they bring through to first team, its how good the ones they bring through are that counts. It should be fairly obvious that if you bring through say 3 good young players in a couple of seasons, then those players are going to be in that team for a decade, so you aren't going to have a big turnover in those positions, like you would if they weren't good enough.

At Wigan they are going to find now that a lot of good Academy players who would have been given a shot in the Noble era, now won't be able to get in the Wigan side so they will have to leave to get first team rugby. Leeds went through this a few years ago. It has also happened to Saints in some positions as well.

Back in the mid 1990s there was a lot of talk about Newcastle Knights youth system because not only did they have the Johns brothers coming through but also Brett Kimmorley and Scott Hill....what great strength in depth that would be. Kimmorley and Hill weren't planning on hanging around and being the Johns brothers back up though....

Correct
You then get the "Oh, there letting another Youngster Go" Quotes. And to be fair, you aren't going to let the right ones go all the time.

PS

It's nice to have the choice of which ones you'd like to sign though isn't it?