Magic Superbeetle wrote:
When was the last time Saints or Wigan signed a highly rated young player from another SL team? Certainly in recent years all of Saints signings have been either from the NRL, or the lower divisions. We went through a phase of signing established SL journeymen during the Cunningham era, but I can’t really think of anything similar to Jake Truman for example. Agitating and disrupting highly talented juniors tend to be a Warrington trait (see Matty Nicholson, they were pushing for Truman last year etc). On the specific Lewis example, Saints have Dodd and Wigan Smith, so I think it’s unlikely there’s a risk of poaching.
Part of the reason Saints and Wigan have been successful is they tend to be able to pay less than market value for the players coming through their academy, giving them deeper squads, and pick and choose the opportunities they give. They also tend to be more patient. Ben Davies had to wait until 23 for his chance this year with Saints, same with Sam Royle whom HKR have just
You can also pay less than us (for example) for pretty much any player; we have to pay a relative premium because we don’t offer trophies… which then feels a bit self-fulfilling. Even if we do outbid you, we’re getting somebody more motivated by money than by winning.
The number of academy products in Saints team is genuinely impressive. I don’t want to underestimate all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. But it doesn’t feel like you’re reliant on it. If you had a few fallow years, you could pay fees to fill the gap and that provides confidence even if you don’t have to do it.
The academy is a good place to invest extra cash, once you’re already spending up to the cap. Diverting money away from the first team makes less sense if you’re not and when your day-to-day SL existence is dreary in a good year and excruciating in a bad year, and those kids whose confidence isn’t ruined will likely leave to compete higher up the table. Fwiw, our club CEO completely disagrees with me and is fully bought in to the Saints model, so I get to be right or happy… if we stay in SL long enough to test the theory. The Rovers fans nearly all seem to be on board with it too. If Rovers can generate enough revenue to field and maintain a strong first team, then a strong academy would be a very valuable complement. Maybe with the ground purchase and potential development,
maybe it’ll become possible. I don’t think ‘academy first’ is likely to work. We need it all together and for that we’d need an initial and substantial injection of capital that will never see a financial return. On top of what the current owner already puts in.
I would be curious to know how much more Saints have spent on their academy over the last 10 years and compare it with Rovers’ spend. Have we spent much less than you (I assume so, but would like to know the difference) or just spent it much, much less effectively… or both?!
I am the hash browns of rlfans 
