[Mild Rover]

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:53 pm  

SmokeyTA wrote:

it would have been better than what you have done, not quite as good as what you could have done

Do you mean 'good' in a noble self-sacrificing way? Or 'good' as in 'would have established you in SL'? I'll admit it is selfish, but I prefer the latter.

Going forward, I think you have the right idea. When you try to apply it retrospectively, I can't agree.

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:57 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

or maybe now we can offer the kids the same pay and conditions as leeds we are able to attract them?

Look I am not in favour of our "dispensation" I would love to see SL restrict imports to 4 per club and have a criteria that they have to had played at rep standard but I am also very realistic that it takes years for a good jnr programme to bare fruit. Signing kids at 14-16 means a good 4-5 years min to see them develop into the first team squad.

which is fine, in the meantime, for the next 2 or 3 years when you should start producing them,why cant you use british players? maybe pick up a gem or two?

You could level the same argument re "average" overseas players at most clubs. Why with Hull's amazing jnr development did they sign Byrne and Dykes? Why after 12 years of Sky money does Bradford go out and sign a 35 year old player? Why with all Wigans success have they signed a has been like Roberts? Rovers have more average pleyers than some clubs but again that is indicative of being a club that has only had 2 years in SL. We have strengthened with decent English players year on year and we will continue to do so. Hopefully some will be our own developed Hull lads, we've done it before and we'll do it again.

because there are no punishments for doing so. Hull dont need Byrne or Dykes, we can find british players to fill that gap, Wigan dont need Roberts, they have Ainscough and Goulding who need gametime, not to mention pryce,

At Leeds we should have promoted Hall/Broughton/Gibson/Ratu and let Donald go, im sure there is a british prop we can find to take over from Kylie

but then you look at it the other way, and think why should they! the difference between Donald and Hall maybe the difference between us winning and losing the GF.

which is why we need to punish clubs who dont invest in youth and who need overseas players, it should be a struggle to build a decent team of 10 overseas players, it should be more of a struggle than to go out and find a rough diamond in the amateur and semi-pro leagues, thats how we make it more attractive to develop youth, and thats how we make the game more even

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:59 pm  

Mild Rover wrote:

Do you mean 'good' in a noble self-sacrificing way? Or 'good' as in 'would have established you in SL'? I'll admit it is selfish, but I prefer the latter.

Going forward, I think you have the right idea. When you try to apply it retrospectively, I can't agree.

i think both, i think you would be better off giving Ben Kaye a chance to prove he is up to it than watching Gene go downhill, and i think the national team would benefit from clubs taking this approach too

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:08 pm  

SmokeyTA wrote:

At Leeds we should have promoted Hall/Broughton/Gibson/Ratu and let Donald go, im sure there is a british prop we can find to take over from Kylie

but then you look at it the other way, and think why should they! the difference between Donald and Hall maybe the difference between us winning and losing the GF.

it could be argued that letting Kylie go would have let us hold onto Scruton and that if we let Donald go we could play Smith and Hall on the wings and have Gibson / Watkins in the centre. Some may even argue that wouldnt weakness us too much overall.

overall though, being a Leeds fan, i am quite proud of our junior development record, especially when compared to some.


edit; just thought i would explain why i posted the above, was simply to illustrate that even a club like Leeds who have done so much in terms of junior development could do more if they really wanted to.

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:13 pm  

RossRhino wrote:

it could be argued that letting Kylie go would have let us hold onto Scruton and that if we let Donald go we could play Smith and Hall on the wings and have Gibson / Watkins in the centre. Some may even argue that wouldnt weakness us too much overall.

overall though, being a Leeds fan, i am quite proud of our junior development record, especially when compared to some.


edit; just thought i would explain why i posted the above, was simply to illustrate that even a club like Leeds who have done so much in terms of junior development could do more if they really wanted to.

True, and i would rather we were forced to do it along with every other club

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:16 pm  

SmokeyTA wrote:

True, and i would rather we were forced to do it along with every other club

it needs to start at the top though, the RFL need to close all the stupid loopholes that allow clubs to get away with having so many none GB qualified players that dont count on any sort of quota.

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:18 pm  

RossRhino wrote:

it needs to start at the top though, the RFL need to close all the stupid loopholes that allow clubs to get away with having so many none GB qualified players that dont count on any sort of quota.

or they bring the cap right down, leave players developed at that club off it, have other GB players count half, and overseas players count full on a very small cap

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:20 pm  

Though of course it benefits GB not one iota when the selectors still refuse to look at clubs outside a select 3 or 4.

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:35 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

I think its interesting to note the rough correlation between junior development and league position.

The teams with the most juniors are those that tend to be at the top of the table and challenging for honours, while those with few youngsters are generally found to be cellar dwelling.

Hull KR therefore need to get their junior development sorted, otherwise they are unlikely to make more than the odd fleeting appearance in the upper reaches of SL in the years ahead.

Hope it is that simple, Cas for playoffs this year then

: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:37 pm  

Code13 wrote:

Though of course it benefits GB not one iota when the selectors still refuse to look at clubs outside a select 3 or 4.

who hasnt had a shot that obviously deserves one?