2022 | Academy & Reserve News : Sun Apr 11, 2021 3:34 pm
With the fixtures now announced and the lads back in training, we can start looking forward to our next crop getting back on the field, we start at London on 16th may, be very interesting to see the physical progress the players have made over the last 14 month or so since there last game. We'l be going with a young squad like most of the bigger clubs academys id expect, with a lot of teams releasing very good 3rd year players, like us releasing joe Burton for example, he'l be one of the best centres in Academy rugby this season with Bradford, with so many 3rd years all across the game going to other clubs, it should hopefully result in a more competitive competition.
My take on what we have to look forward to...
For us, from the first years... the obvious 2 to look out for are Gannon and Edwards as first years going up against lads a year or 2 older than them, described by Agar as generational talents. Alfie Edgell is a very good fullback/6 who, in a lot of age groups, would be the star. Max Simpson, for me, is a better Centre prospect than Stewart or Nichol in the age group above, Kai Morgan is a very highly rated half and Will Gatus is a powerful winger whos been getting hype in the other code since he was 11...Forwards Ethan Spear and Billy Davis were our best 2 players against the NSW touring side imo... Very good group
Our group of 2nd years has a few good forwards, Luca Atkinson, AJ Wallace, Joe Gibbons and Tom N Watten are all England youth players, Ben Mayhew and Nathan Snee are well thought of aswel. Oli field moving from 6 to backrow will be interesting, big lad and lots of skill. Jonah Parsons, i hope, will be used as a 9 and he's a very good one. centres Nichol and Stewart are solid, both had England youth callups, im a big fan of fullback Sam Little another England youth player,he's got excellent footwork and wing/fullback Mackenzie Turner is blazing fast, he's one who hasnt had much hype coming through the system, no national callups etc, but he's got the height to add much needed weight and someone who could very easily overtake his peers. Not the star power of the first years imo, but a very solid group.
The few 3rd years eligible are Corey Hall, Liam Tindall, hooker-Oli Burton and i think Halfback- Jack Mallison is still with us.
Any other info, thoughts on who people rate/are looking out for?
