How's matongo developing?

Considering we set so much store in these kids coming through it's disappointing that there's no bio of the Academy players on the FC website. In fact there's very little info at all. It would be interesting to see more about where the players started their career , what position , how old they are , how they are developing etc etc. Just glanced at Wire's site and they have the full squads for the 19's and 16's listed with pictures etc. With more info we could at least then get some comparison with their peers at other clubs rather than having to just read that into a scoreline , which could , as alluded to , be skewed because one team has an average age much younger/older than another in any given game. In fact just had a look at a few more sites and most have pretty comprehensive coverage of their academy players. Widnes and Salford don't.

I know I'm probably talking rubbish, but there are strict rules about what can and what can't be published about under 18 minors.
Clearly it happens at lots of other clubs, but maybe that's because permission has been granted by all involved, or maybe they're just getting away with it.

U19s beat Hull KR 20-16. Fourth time in a row at this level apparently.

Back to the top of the table

Papering over the cracks in our youth development

Worst we've played all season probably. Dominated field position and on another day we'd have racked up 50.

Cheeky girl!!

I'm glad that's the case because that was my first game this season and tbh I thought our lot were ordinary.

well done lads

Really enjoyed the game and the contrast in styles. As expected Hulls bigger and more physically mature side marched Rovers down the pitch and had a big chunk of the territory but we defended our line well. Rovers really should have held out for the win but it was a quality play by Logan and HTW to score the late match winning try so I have no complaints.

How did Liam Harris go, presumably outplayed HTW and Dean based on your appraisal?

16s lost at Cas today.

Dean is a busy, industrious player but not in the same class as HTW or Harris. Harris outplayed HTW today and caused more problems with his kicking game which surprised me. Harry had the last laugh though.

Sounds excellent.

Didn't think much to Harris tbh, but I don't watch him regularly. HTW wasn't as involved as much as he could have been, but what he did do was in a different class to anything the Rovers halves managed. Two bits of class won us the game.
Not sure I agree with your physically more mature point either, your props looked fat & lazy. Your left winger & Centre were woeful and you scored your tries through two penalties and because Dean cramped up and couldn't make the tackle.
As I said earlier, on another day we'd have scored 50. Lucky for Rovers we were dire ourselves.

So how good is htw? Best half in the u19 comp? How far off the first team is he?

HTW on his day is by far the best in the comp, but he's only just turned 18 and I personally think he's at least 18 months off SL. Would like to see him go dual reg next year.

Who would you say out of our current u19's have the best chance of making it. Into our first team and staying there

I'd say there's 4 I expect to make it - Lancaster, Logan, HTW & Turgut and about 3 or 4 others that could - Fash, Matongo, Dean and possibly Downs.

Edit: Can't believe I forgot Abdull! So that's 5 I expect to make it.

If 5 of the current crop of U19s make the step up to becoming established SL players that would be an excellent return and something we have not seen for decades. It would really augur well for the future. Fingers crossed.

Don't want to be too negative but it's hard to judge with young players. many end up in the championship or drifting to the amateur game. they could also go the other way too - poached by other SL sides if they break through. but yes, 4 or 5 becoming established would be an excellent initial return on the academy investments

Lancaster abdull think will be best bet. Logan looks to small and doesn't have enough pace but cert could fill out more so who knows. Same with turget needs to fill out more but cert runs hard enough

If the 5 I mentioned are not established SL players in 3-5 years I think we'll have failed them.