www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... per-league It would of been 10 if we had Greg Bird on board And the four english boys Fielden, Mathers , Loughlin and Hock are nothing special.

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... per-league It would of been 10 if we had Greg Bird on board And the four english boys Fielden, Mathers , Loughlin and Hock are nothing special.

Correct we have too many foreigners but what is it with Saints? Their brilliant youth development is a myth IMO. They brought through Wello and KFC then had a 10 yr gap before getting Roby and Graham!!

They are now forced to look at their kids but who is to say they will make it?

No it wouldn't. For Bird to come to Wigan one of the other overseas players would have needed to be released.

I think there are not too many more English players better than Fielden, Lockers and Hock. I will give you mathers though

I don't for a second think they are being forced to bring through the kids, they have been very open in the fact they are making every effort to bring players up through from the academy system.

thats ok then.

indeed - Saints have taken a conscious decision to operate below the salary cap and promote the young players through the squad. We have space on the cap to spend - but have chosen not to.

1 out of four isnt bad

If so that is new for this season. You have never done it before. Your success has always been built on bringing players in from outside for years now. Players like Sculthorpe, Long, Iro, Lyon, Gilmour, Anderson, Wilkin, Gardner, Pryce, Fozzard, Gidley, Meli (the list goes on longer than that as well) have been the cornerstone of your success NOT home grown players. So don't be so smug and it will be interesting to see how you do go with home grown talent as opposed to the way your club has operated for the last 10 years.

Dave

How many "home grown" players were in Saints starting 13 v Leeds in last years Grand Final?

there is a clear distinction between bringing in 8 or 9 English players, and bringing in 9 foreigners.



as for the Grand Final last year, 9 out of the starting 13 were home grown, something which Wigan can only dream of.

Players like Gardner and Wilkin may have been brought in from outside the club - but where would they have been now, had Saints not taken a risk on them as teenagers?

maybe so - but where has anyone said otherwise. Saints have relied on a lot of imports in the past, but if the talent is there now to support a squad with minimal imported players then it can only be a good thing for the game as a whole.

I'd agree with that, our youth systems have been poor for years, however we're now seeing the benefits of investment in that area (starting with Millward and improved dramatically by Anderson) and hopefully we'll see a few a year being able to be brought into the first team squad.

Considering that people on here keep banging on about how good your youth set up is, and have been for years, what's your excuse?

Ouch theres a few home truths in that article...

Home grown as in local?
That's what this debate was about and you know it.

Who has been banging on about our youth set up?

There was a massive overhaul of the youth development last year so even the club have recognised it is struggling...

Got a feeling it would be much easier for Wigan to integrate the likes of Tomkins, Ainscough, Mossop, Thornley etc. into a confident and successful first team squad rather than the one we currently have. That said, surely they couldn't do worse than some of our "experienced first teamers" appear to be doing?

Nice spin.

Try 5 of the 17.

Only two local in the starting 13.

I'm fed up of reading this absolute rubbish.
Wigan brought through loads of youngsters but at the time there was the 20/20 in force which meant a club could only pay 20 players a living wage.
RFL/SL clubs also included the salaries of younger players in the salary cap so if you'd twice as many quality younger players as other clubs you couldn't pay them (SC) and couldn't have them in numbers (20/20)
Super League clubs and RFL have now abolished the 20/20/25 rule and amended the salary cap. Hence other clubs now are better able include their youngsters than they have been in years past, if they had any!
Andy should perhaps look at the fact that there are only half as many British players in SL now compared to when it started in 1996.
Also Saints are looking good with their younger players and Wigan's younger players are nowhere?
So which only other club competed with Saints in the U21 & U18s finals last season?
Clue, they are west of the Pennines and it wasn't Salford or Wire.

check your figures again.

Atleast they would relish the chance of a first team place and make the most of it

Roby and Cunningham.

Graham is from Liverpool.
Q.E.D.

And if it all goes belly up for you this year and you finish say 4th (dont think it will happen but IF) Do you think the club will still be taking this view?

You forgot wellens, hate to say that but he will only pull you up on it