Re: New coach : Sun Oct 25, 2020 1:49 pm
Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:
Tbf decent props are like young decent halfbacks, rare on the market.
Its been a complaint at Wigan for a while now, saints have had to bring Graham back.
Leeds have struggled to replace peacock and have held onto cuthbertson past his best.
Its been a complaint at Wigan for a while now, saints have had to bring Graham back.
Leeds have struggled to replace peacock and have held onto cuthbertson past his best.
This is what I find utterly bizarre.
We are always hearing from clubs how much investment there is in junior development these days. Clubs will do press interviews explaining their great infrastructure now, how they take young lads, ensure they get good coaching, alongside schooling, coached in the same patterns that the first team are, to create a seamless experience and so on. Surely a million miles better than anything we had in the 1980s or 1990s in terms of formal infrastructure for developing young players.
Yet back then we had far more talented playmakers coming through than we have in the past decade or so. The argument was always that the modern era of professionalism has forced clubs to focus on guys with great physical attributes and just building athletes rather than talent. Fair enough I can accept that, so why the shortage of front rowers? Why aren't clubs churning out Stuart Fielden style battering ram props?
It feels like there is something obvious missing here. We don't produce the playmakers like Woods, Gregory, Schofield; we don't have exceptional athletes like Robinson, Offiah, Hanley and we don't even have strong front rowers any more. And the worst thing is....it seems to be getting worse! The standard of player coming through today is lower than it was in the 2000s. And yet the infrastructure for coaching and development seems to be so much deeper than it used to be.
I don't think the calibre of player in Australia is quite as good as it used to be either, although still far ahead of us.