[urlhttp://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/09/22/RUGBYL_Column.html[/url


"I probably would have re-signed with Wigan if I had the chance but I wasn't getting a chance at the time and there wasn't much contact from them in terms of a new contract so I started to look elsewhere,"

Brilliant, we loose one of the best prospects in rugby because we couldn't be at$ed/loosen the purse strings to give him a decent contract, unbelievable

Sounds like he has a great attitude - all the best to him, hope he gets a shot at first grade out there.

Not fantastic news, however we have signed up a shed load of young talent on longer contracts including a dream team member and a very good prospect winger amongst others?
Flanagan has proved to be a very good young player whilst he has been in the first team, but am I not correct in thinking he was pretty average whilst in the reserves (I do not watch the academy games very often, so could someone who does confirm or deny it please).
Am I also correct that it was pretty much announced that he would be going to Oz after his big impact against saints, which was his first senior grade match for a long while.
We have abundance in talent coming through in the 2nd row department what with Farrell et al.
I would prefer to see him re-signed that Bailey though

FFS.

Something is clearly wrong at our club if someone didn't spot this guys talent before a few months ago.

We seemed to have an ideal replacement for Locky long term in Chris Gerrard, what has happened to him not heard anything from him in a while.

What an utter joke.

Well the truth is out in the open now.

All this "he wanted to be with his girlfriend" is true but not the real reason he left. The above explains it.

I think Wigan have wasted their money and missed an opportunity to sign up a very promising player. He has been at the club for three years and it is only until we're very short in players have we given him a chance. I can understand his frustration and if trends like this continue many more will grow impatient and leave.

What happened to the days when lads were given a chance at 18? 19?

The best RL player in the world at the moment is only 21. Jarryd Hayne.

Made his debut at 18 and played for Australia and New South Wales at 19.

Andy Farrell made his debut at 16 and was a full international at 18.

Sean Edwards made his debut at 17.

Sam Tomkins didn't make his super league debut till he was 20.

He certainly wasn't much to write home about until a few weeks ago, by which stage it already seemed to have been decided - presumably by him and his agent - that he was going to Aus.

He downplays the girlfriend factor, but my info is that she was a key reason for his decision. I don't suppose that's as good a news story though.

If he really wanted to stay, it's a pity that we've lost him.

He must have been playing well in the reserves to have been given an opportunity in the first team, so it's beyond me how he wasn't given a deal months ago.

I probably would have re-signed with Wigan if I had the chance but I wasn't getting a chance at the time and there wasn't much contact from them in terms of a new contract so I started to look elsewhere,"

By the looks of this his mind was made up before he played first team this year and possibly before Hock's head explosion.

If that isthe case who would you have dropped in order to accomadate him?.

On the list of young 2nd rows we may have had to release he was well down the pecking order behind Mossop, JT, Farrell and possibly even Tuson. If we knew then what we know now life would be easy, however we dont.

Correct

What did you think of his performances in the reserves?

Genuine question.

We lose a good young'un like Flanagan, yet some are keen that we sign Bailey for another year. I know who'd i'd rather keep. If Noble or Lenegan aren't speaking to him then what's the guy to do? Some things never change...

Perhaps.

He is the more senior of the young 2nd rows I have mentioned hence why he got his chance in the first team; however that is not to say that he has the most potential out of them.

At the time we needed to fill the gap left by our best 2nd rower being banned. It was not a time to blood a rookie, hence why Mossop was brought back from his loan and Flanagan was brought into the team.

He has done a job for us at the back end of the season and is a great prospect.
But be totally honest with yourself, would you have offered him a contract extension before his first team debut?

The few time I had watched him before he came into the first team he was playing very well, tackling hard and making good metres. I don't go to every reserve match, but someone must have seen his potential to give
him a chance in the first team.

How would you rate him against Chris Gerrard, he seems to be somewhat of the forgotten man after captaining England Academy a couple of years ago, has he failed to make the step up to reserves?

So we have no idea as a club how a player will adapt to 1st team rugby, keep him around the place / on loan for 2.5 years, and finally give him a chance against Saints, Leeds and in the semi final and he acquits himself well. We then proceed to pick him before other prospects even though he is leaving at the end of the season.

Why is anyone surprised?

Watched him play a couple of weeks back against saints, he's a great guy, but doesn't seem to be progresing aswell as I thought he would, but there's time he's only young so time will tell.

I made the same point a short time ago that young players could/should get a chance at this sort of age but apparently it is all different now and never happens according to some on here. Making débuts as Farrell and Edwards did at that age are a thing of the past apparently.

Richard Owen from Cas who impressed people at the game on Sunday in this thread [urlhttp://viewtopic.php?t=431221&start=15[/url is only 18.

Dave

Think what I and most other people who stated what you losely claim in your post above said it is the exception rather than the rule.

The point you made was that Myler and Westerman did not need to go out on loan prior to playing SL which was floored as both played NL1 prior to moving into SL.

Owen is 19.

I'd never deny that he's got talent, but I never really thought him big enough for the back row or fast enough for stand off, and this seems to have been the conventional wisdom among those I usually watch the reserves with.

He's been better in the last few weeks than I ever thought he would, but, though I'm not a fan of Nobby and am fairly cool about IL at present (mainly over the coaching thing), if I was to slag them off on the strength of this, I'd be being clever with hindsight.

When it was first announced that he was going to Aus, there wasn't much fuss, so I'm guessing that quite a few others felt the same way.

The fact of the matter is they were playing SL for their clubs as teenagers and Flanagan and Tomkins were not. That is the most pertinent point.

I have no idea if Owen at Cas has ever played at NL1 level for Cas but he made his first team début at 17 I think and was playing in a play off game at 18 on Sunday.

Who knows where Hayne played his RL before making his début and holding down a regular place as a teenager in 1st grade but he was a regular player as a teenager.

I am sure you can go to most SL teams and find other players who are regular 1st 17 players as teenagers.

Flanagan clearly thinks he had been overlooked and who can blame him at age 21 only getting games with the first team.

Dave

According to the ever reliable Wikipedia he is 18, birthday Nov 25 so he will be 19 this year. Doesn't matter he's still a teenager who has been given the opportunity of 1st team footy sooner than we have been doing so with our young players recently.

Dave