What is your take on it?

Acadamy is all about player development and there hasn't been enough players of the right calibre for quite some time so to suggest that because Rovers are in SL this will somehow change is over simplistic imho.

I saw the U-20's last Sunday and they were absolutely terrible. Matt Cook was head and shoulders above anything on the field and even he cant get first team action at the moment. Now don't get me wrong i didn't know all the players in the Rovers side (except a few) but if the better U-18's were playing i'd be worried and if they weren't i would want to know why.

I think these things do work as supply and demand. The assumption has been that providing youngsters with more opportunities will improve things, but if the underlying problem is a lack of raw material you'll just end up lowering standards.
I read an article about Russian football the other day, where they have introduced quotas for Russian players. This has, according to the article, had mixed effects - young Russian players have got complacent as their places are much safer and Brazilians and Africans are simply applying for Russian passports.
It is a tough one for the RFL - there is only so much you can do with rules and quotas, they've done as much as they can, IMO.

That's 1 thing that has confused me whenever I have seen your 18's and 20's play, the better 18's are not getting the chance to play for the 20's even though they seem far superior players.

The cynic in me thinks its more to do with how it looks from the outside looking in as this practice has lead to your 18's been in the 'elite' group.

My point is that it creates more chances.
If the raw talent isn't there then that is a diffrent situation.

I take Roverswall's point though. There is a fair chance one of the clubs could reject a reasonably promising youngster if they felt they already had better options. The presence of two clubs would at least provide a possible second chance. Not many 12-16 year olds are in a position to move towns.

Good lad this one....played alongside Reece Lyne...will be surprised it they don't both go onto gain good SL careers.

If you get chance to look at the Rovers 20s team sheets over the past couple of months you will see that the likes of Hardcastle, Salter, Pullen, Bell, Joe Gay, Taylor, Ollett and Cox have had plenty of action. Peterson and Sherriff would have also if not for injury.

any chance the coaching is better with the 18s, i.e Drew Webster as opposed to Chris Chester with the 20s?