Apparently Dean has had offers from Rovers, the new Canada venture and the Australian second grade ......Personally, if I were Dean, I would spend a couple of years playing under the Australian tutelage as the Australian set up is more likely to progress his game and his discipline and professionalism as a professional rugby league player .......Experiencing the NRL coaching techniques and culture whilst he physically and mentally matures will make him a better player when he eventually reaches his prime, much more than signing for Rovers or Toronto will ever do!

A good move IMO, get regularly game time against experienced players, good money, playing under good coaching staff and the chance to live in Canada for a good part of the year aswell as free travel back to the UK. I'd be tempted to loan them a couple of our young players for a year.

Just a few points for clarification: When a player signs an initial full time contract for the academy it is for 2 years, this is under the umbrella of the AASE program (advanced apprenticeship in sporting excellence). This is a formal apprenticeship administered by Loughborough University and as with any apprenticeship the government pays each player/apprentice £98.00 per week. Generally clubs do not broadcast this government funding and it is not mentioned to the players upon signing, neither is it mentioned in their contract of employment. If at 16 a club values a player they will then pay him extra on top of the apprentice wage. This is by far the exception rather than the norm.
After 2 years, AASE program completed, the government funding is no longer available, so if a club wants to retain a player they have to wholly fund his wages themselves. At this point the player is 18 and will be lucky if he is offered £6,000 PA. Again there are exceptions to this but now a player could be offered less or more again depending on how they are valued. However for an 18 year old young man to commit to such a low annual salary they are taking a significant risk. Also as part of their terms of employment these young men are also expected to go round schools in the afternoons undertaking club foundation work.
In my opinion we as a sport treat our young players appallingly, we rely on their dreams. We need to start paying them all a salary they can at least live off. They even have to buy their own boots for god’s sake, at least the company I work for supplies my workwear. If Mike Ashley employed rugby league under 19’s players he would be dragged before a parliamentary select committee being asked as to explain why he was paying less than national minimum wage.

Define a 'living wage' for an 18year old? I'm not saying I disagree with paying academy players a decent wage and clearly Hull as with any/many other clubs that want to keep hold of players that show talent/played for country etc will pay more for those in that bracket. However, I'd like to see any money over a certain amount put into a trust fund for them, young kids and money are often not a good mix, as I would expect the vast majority of these lads are still living at home and no family of their own to provide for and they don't 'need' a large sum to go out on the sozzle. If they do get let go by a club then at least that trust fund would help if they can't find a club elsewhere and are looking for a job outside of the sport.

Equipment for work should however be provided for by clubs, that to my mind is disgraceful If kids are having to pay for their own workwear.

In the interest of balance, how many hours do they "work"?

Sounds as though HTW had a decent debut for York yesterday - set up a few tries, scored one and 100% conversion rate