I am sure I read on the Warrington board that, at the final whistle at the Grand Final, Warrington did not have any local born players on the pitch. Whether that was true or not I wouldn't know but I am sure that, in marked contrast, Wigan had quite a few. All of the many great teams that Wigan have produced over the years have had a large content of local lads and I am sure that has been a contributory factor in our unparalleled success.

not 100% sure but wigan junoir club produced players could look like this

1 ratchford
2 russell
3 gildart
4 hughes
5 tierney
6 o'loughlih
7 williams
8 crosby
9 powell
10 hill
11farrell
12 wilde
13 sutton
not too shabby!!

Wire had nearly as many Wiganers on the pitch as us during that Grand Final. That should provide the town with an enormous sense of pride that not only can we produce enough talent to take ourselves to a grand final, but we can also produce that many good young players that we can also provide one of the other top teams with more then a third of their side as well.

The junior coaches of the borough should have had a real sense of pride last Saturday.

This is something we should, as a sport be looking at. It isn't the case that kids from the Wigan area are somehow more talented, it's obviously the development. We have to ask the question as to why, whatever happens in the borough with youth development is not used as a blueprint in other areas.

Wigan have indeed got a great reputation for developing local talent, many teams, mine included have benefitted from this. However, is this now changing?
For the latest Academy tour down under, there were 7 youngsters from Wigan. These "Wigan" lads came from Dalton ARLFC, Dalton In Furness, Cumbria; Blackbrook ARL St Helens; Oulton Raiders, Leeds; Stanley Rangers, Wakefield; Seaton Rangers, Workington; Folly Lane, Swinton.
Nothing wrong with that, Wigan have the same right as all the other clubs to sign young players from anywhere they want, but does this reflect that the steady stream of local talent may not be as strong as it used to be?

Academy/age group rugby is a funny thing. Some years you get a lot of good local talent, others you have to rely on your scouting system finding talent from further afield. Same with the academic ability of kids entering schools; some years you have classes that are going to do well in exams, others it looks like a school will end up in special measures.

It will take several years to answer that question, could be changing, could be an anomaly.

My point still stands, whatever has been done in the wigan area for a number of years should be copied and introduced elsewhere as it has shown to work.

How does this compare to the year before when they went to France?

I don't know how this year compares with the year we played France. It is possible that this is just an ordinary year for juniors, these things do tend to go in cycles, it often happens that occasionally one year many members of the same team are high potential players. Good luck if Wigan has identified that locally it may be an ordinary year and gone out to sign some of the better prospects from elsewhere. However, is there a trend here and will Wigan be able to promote so many local born players in the future. As an earlier poster said, we won't know for several years. Hopefully Wigan will continue to develop good youngsters for other teams to benefit...

There's loads of talented lads coming through from the local area amateur clubs. Hanley's lad for one is at Wigan on scholarship, one to watch over the next 3-4 years see how he progresses.