Think he came as a prop, and for just a few minutes he would be dynamite, but he didn’t have the stamina, I can’t remember who the coach was at the time, perhaps DDD, moved him into the centres as an experiment, hence the London lad at centre link post.

Another Bloody Sunday was a fantastic piece of television and I suppose art, Tony had moved to Donnie then, and featured prominently in the film, a big character of the game, R.I.P. Tony Banham.

Played snooker with Tony. Lovely lad.

Brilliant hull2524, I also played a game with Tony, cricket, a friend brought him along to Melton and he guested for us, after the game in the old Melton sporting club we were having a few beers, and I asked him about his stamina problem, “fak off” was his short reply, I didn’t ask again

great character.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IUw0I5oVN0M&feature=share How it used to be.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IUw0I5oVN0M&feature=share How it used to be.

https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/play ... mmary.html This'll be him. Had a stint with Sheffield and Toulouse. Guess we've got him on trial

https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/play ... mmary.html This'll be him. Had a stint with Sheffield and Toulouse. Guess we've got him on trial

Just watched the trys from the Huddersfield game, Hookem scored two trys and set one up from hooker and Barron scored a great try from inside his own half.

No reports of the academy origin which featured 5 of our players.

Lancashire won 34-14 to complete a 3-0 series win.

Lewis Martin scored a try and Sully Medforth kicked one goal.

https://twitter.com/OfficialHavenRl/sta ... Q7Y_A&s=19

https://twitter.com/OfficialHavenRl/sta ... Q7Y_A&s=19

Long night at the office for the scholarship side last night, lost 8-68 to Saints. It looked like an under 18s team against an under 16s team, in all honesty, just physically dominated.

That's one thing I've noticed in the academy games I've attended, the other sides look must bigger in most areas.

I know last night there were a few under 15's in the team, Saints may also have a few in though.

Won 5/8, although results aren't the end goal.

100% and a game like this will tell the coaching staff a lot about the players they have.

Academy lost 34-16 to St Helens.
Understable considering a couple injured and a few away in France

Bit off topic but does anyone else follow Pete Riding on Twitter?

I've noticed him liking a few tweets from disgruntled wire fans. Mainly about Powell not trusting the youth players.

Maybe reading too much into it but get the feeling he's not a big fan of Powell.

Not one of Powells strengths, hardly brought a player through while at Cas.

He's thrown a few young players under the bus this season in the press

I wonder if there’s some sort of hidden lesson in that, for Rugby League’s Davids about how best to challenge its Goliaths?

noticed the a team are away at bradford bulls at odsal.nice when you can actually play at your home ground,instead of another location half way across town.the sooner our young ones our playing at the mkm the better.

Not many sides play at their home stadium. The youngsters play at the base for our new training facility. Makes sense to me

Don’t think the lesson was ever hidden M.R. In our competition we are split and hampered by the threat of relegation, or the chase for silverware, whichever camp we fall in, all clubs choose quick fixes to strengthen either cause, while youth, the only sustainable way forward was overlooked rather than forgotten.

Let’s hope with the emergence of young talent coming through, indeed we ourselves are loaning some of these starlets, the penny has finally dropped, and this overhyped madness of bringing no longer hungry, or physically able ex NRL players is long gone.

Personally this Sky overrated jeopardy regarding the demise of Wakey or Toulouse in a fabulous battle at the bottom, with the added spice of dragging Warrington in, is absolute nonsense, the quality is poor, we need to freshen it all up.

Plus it's an extra motivation for them - playing at the MKM Stadium for the first team.

Doesn’t the fact that Cas used to get loads of praise for bringing through players (Westerman, Shenton, Richard Owen, Joe Arundel and the like) while fighting relegation and generally being cack, but then improved significantly without much input from young academy products suggest that there isn’t just only one sustainable way forward? Opening with a passive-aggressive rhetorical question… might have to change my username at this rate.

A productive academy is obviously better than an unproductive academy. But I really don’t get why it being seen as such a key differentiator is so ingrained in the RL psyche. I don’t think the evidence remotely supports it (unless you go cherrypicking), so it seems like an emotional thing of people wanting it to be true or just one of those ‘conventional wisdom’ things.

At least if you fail in a conventional way there’s no criticism and if you lose games, year after year, while trying to do things ‘the right way’, your eulogies will be full of patronising praise. I wonder which period Cas fans preferred and which was better for long-term sustainability of their club.

The chase for silverware and the threat of relegation and generally trying to win aren’t distractions. They’re meant to be the whole point. Developing players is meant to be just a means to that end, not the main goal in itself.

Ahhhhhh, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I think Cas fans will remember 1986 when they lifted the cup as one of their most memorable moments, surely that team was an array of Cas and Wakey lads, apart from Dave Plange who I believe without checking was from Hull

But I do take your point, without analysis, the best times are probably when our teams were brimming with overseas, or home bought talent, but nevertheless, investment in youth is the way forward.

Why do you feel so sure it is [ithe[/i way forward?

There’s less value in the NRL market than 10 years ago, for sure. Cherrypicked exceptions like SKD, aside.

But there are multiple ways to mitigate that. Championship players entering their prime, SL veterans with maybe 1 or 2 decent years left, a squad player at another club who in a different position and/or environment could bloom, Fijians in the Army. And, yes, bringing through academy players.

Golden generations stick in the memory but are rare and unpredictable. You can rarely rely on your academy as a major source of first team talent, in the modern era. People will point to St Helens, but I don’t think their circumstances are broadly applicable. If you look at their first GF-winning team, Cunningham is at 9 and Wellens on the bench - but it is clear they had initially to buy their place at the top table. [iMoney[/i is the one way… is that too sad a truth to say loudly?

The other problem is that the current pathway is club- not player-orientated but isn’t even very effective on those terms. Clubs’ desperate (if understandable) desire to own talent likely prevents it from developing in many cases. Let kids come up through the community game (investing [ithere[/i), to league 1, then the Championship and then SL… wherever they find their level. The big SL clubs harvesting 15 year olds then sieving them out over the next 4 years to choose a couple to send for a few games at Rochdale or Dewsbury as prep for a debut in an injury-ravaged SL team… I wonder why that doesn’t work very often! I wonder more why people think it should.

Beat Bradford 38-12 tonight

But your not used to having a harvest of locally grown players, you ripped off half of your team from Bradford.
The way forward is to produce your own players, something that Adam under Hodgson’s guidance will bear fruition. Hudgell tried to grab onto Pearsons’s coat tails with the much vaunted combined junior team but because he didn’t put his money where his mouth is, it failed. Sometimes I read your long winded posts and think there is substance then the trance ends and I realise your just wind and pish. =#FF0000Just stay on your own forum, I’m sure they’ll be more interested.
=#FF0000No need, anyone is welcome here if they post within the AUP which just recently, you aren't. Karen.