Basically yeah.

Only rugby league could keep producing these people who don't define themselves by who they support but by who they don't.

Sorry fellers...but I know Dave personally as he is the president of the team i play for...and i can honestly tell you he isnt anti wigan by any means..

Cheers

blackpool fan isn't he?

That's what I thought.

in fact, i'm certain of that, i'veread plenty of pieces, (inc a book passage) of him talking about the tangerines.

he does have a fondness ......but i have spoke in length with him about our current form etc noble etc and he does have a great passion for rugby league in general. hes a great bloke and has always been honest with me..always got time to talk no matter how busy.
if im honest he has helped my game tremendously.

Are you Dave Hadfield?

errrr.....no lad am not !!

What I did find interesting about the IL interview was the fact that he'd had meetings with Wayne Bennett and Graham Murray regarding our possible targets. He'd discussed a few players with them and been warned off for whatever reasons. It's good that we're tapping into 2 experienced and respected coaches knowledge base.

IL said he'd been advised against some players by these 2. Now this may be me putting 2+2 together and coming up with 5 but hasn't Carl Webb worked under both these coaches?

Now if that had been Mo he'd be being accused of being a part-time chairman.



Dave

I'm glad Lenagan is having meetings with those sorts of characters about players and not just going off his own eyes.

With all due respect he knows no more then the average poster on here about NRL players and i wouldn't like to think we'd let anybody off here go and sign our overseas players

The great thing for me was him trying to get the link with Australian clubs to send our better young players out there to gain experience.

I still can't fathom what the Aussie clubs gain from such an arrangement.

It's a bit like Wigan Athletic sending young players to Barcelona for a season. When you look at it like that why would the overseas club be interested in doing this?

Dave

because every now and again a club unearths a talented player? look at united with pique

You will have to explain to me what you mean. Who is doing the "unearthing"? Us and we then send them to Aus - so I still don't see what the Aus team gains from this.

Or we send a few kids and the Aussie side unearths one of them as a talented player, but given this player would still be our player I still don't see what the Aus club gains by doing so.

Dave

I agree, sounds a tough sell for the SL clubs IMO.

They'd be more open to our top academy teams touring, like Saints' kids have done a couple of times in the recent past.

Junior development is a very competetive landscape in Australia, they won't want to be wasting resources developing players for Wigan.

ill put it simply

wigan think they have a talented player so they send him to oz to gain experience in what many people regard as a superior comp. said player returns form his loan stint a better all round player (due to the oz clubs better training etc... - again, what 'people' claim)

the oz club gains a player who they can use to supplement they own home grown players in their reserve (and possibly first team) squad all for a relatively low fee

of course, all this depends on a club in oz that would be happy with the arrangement which im guessing is why it hasnt been arranged yet

To be honest, what the Aussie club gains from it is not my concern. If we end up with a couple of decent players and they end up improving a couple of ours then that'll do for me.

But he will just be taking the place of an Aussie kid wouldn't he?

I wouldn't want Saints' academy/reserves having Aussie kids in rather than our own lads, it defeats the object.

yes i guess he would but thats they're problem, not ours

Suppose it's one way to stop them coming up with any more Slaters!!

OK we benefit from that but given this:



...that would require the Aussie club to give a place to one of our players instead of one of their own juniors. Are they short of players? I don't think so.

So unless there is some sort of arrangement whereby any of our players going over there do not count on their salary cap or something I still don't see why they would do this. Even then if there was such a salary cap incentive they have still lost a place that would have been taken up by one of their own juniors.



I am struggling to see why any Aussie club would want to do this.

Dave

Well in my opinion if they don't gain anything, they won't do it.

Dave