Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 25, 2020 9:26 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

St. Peters have done very well at school levels with many of their players going on to do well at pro level. The other school who always feature is Cas academy.

You are indeed correct about St Peters, but can yourself or anyone explain why the St John Fisher School is no longer as dominant in the schools game as it has been in the past, especially during the period when Sean Edwards was a pupil there.

As for Castleford Academy, it appears that they are doing far better than any school in Wigan judging by the number of teams they have had at each age group and both sexes at the Schools Finals in recent seasons.

Which surely proves my point that the game in Wigan is not as strong in Wigan schools as it has been in the past and the Amateur game has also suffered as a result with less quality players being produced and Wigan Warriors having to sign better young players from outside Wigan including it would appear Leigh amateur clubs.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 25, 2020 11:41 am  

Ruddy Duck wrote:

You are indeed correct about St Peters, but can yourself or anyone explain why the St John Fisher School is no longer as dominant in the schools game as it has been in the past, especially during the period when Sean Edwards was a pupil there.

As for Castleford Academy, it appears that they are doing far better than any school in Wigan judging by the number of teams they have had at each age group and both sexes at the Schools Finals in recent seasons.

Which surely proves my point that the game in Wigan is not as strong in Wigan schools as it has been in the past and the Amateur game has also suffered as a result with less quality players being produced and Wigan Warriors having to sign better young players from outside Wigan including it would appear Leigh amateur clubs.

Castleford academy was a dedicated sports college so attracted pupils with sporting tendencies.However ,their "normal" exam results don't compare with St Peters.
S Peters have have an excellent P.E. department and I think this is what is probably puts them ahead of the other Wigan schools.
If you go back to the John Fisher school of excellence that produced so many players it was led by a couple of excellent teachers who had strong RL backgrounds.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 25, 2020 4:40 pm  

Rumour is Ian Watson has signed a deal with Hull FC

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 25, 2020 5:30 pm  

MattyB wrote:

Rumour is Ian Watson has signed a deal with Hull FC

Gareth Walker says the interest is there but no deal has been signed. It’s a huge blow for Salford if he does go

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:07 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Castleford academy was a dedicated sports college so attracted pupils with sporting tendencies.However ,their "normal" exam results don't compare with St Peters.
S Peters have have an excellent P.E. department and I think this is what is probably puts them ahead of the other Wigan schools.
If you go back to the John Fisher school of excellence that produced so many players it was led by a couple of excellent teachers who had strong RL backgrounds.

I am more inclined to believe that Castleford Academy are so strong at Rugby League as they and Airedale Academy are the only two high schools in the Castleford part of the City of Wakefield.

Is the St Peters PE Department better than the rebuilt Deanery High School or is it a case of more pupils at St Peters being interested in the game than what they are at Deanery and other schools like Rose Bridge etc.

As for St John Fisher High School, you may be right about the teachers as they did indeed have some outstanding sports teachers around the time that Edwards was a pupil at the school. Along with Mark Dodson, Edwards formed a outstanding pair of school half backs both at Rugby League and Union until leaving school when Edwards went on to glory while Dobson faded into obscurity.

Got to admit that you are very well up on the amateur and schools game which makes me ask in what capacity?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:14 am  

The strength of a school's RL team must surely be dependent on their PE department. If you have a committed RL fan as part of the PE team, that's going to make a huge difference. If you have been strong as a school for a period but then results seem to fade, my first thought would be that a member of their PE department had moved on or retired. If they are then replaced by somebody with little to no experience or interest of RL, it's bound to have an effect

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:34 am  

TonyM19 wrote:

The strength of a school's RL team must surely be dependent on their PE department. If you have a committed RL fan as part of the PE team, that's going to make a huge difference. If you have been strong as a school for a period but then results seem to fade, my first thought would be that a member of their PE department had moved on or retired. If they are then replaced by somebody with little to no experience or interest of RL, it's bound to have an effect

I genuinely don't know the answer to this one, but could it be parents are now "smarter" when comes to their children's education?

I doubt many parents pick the school of choice based off the standard of the sporting facilities, or the schools RL program. Fisher might (again I have no idea) have ploughed more money into other departments and cut back on sport. Having an all concurring sports side is great, but does it holds much weight with offsted?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:49 am  

sergeant pepper wrote:

I genuinely don't know the answer to this one, but could it be parents are now "smarter" when comes to their children's education?

I doubt many parents pick the school of choice based off the standard of the sporting facilities, or the schools RL program. Fisher might (again I have no idea) have ploughed more money into other departments and cut back on sport. Having an all concurring sports side is great, but does it holds much weight with offsted?

How much money does any school plough into a rugby team anyway? Maybe I'm being naive but I'm sure they have a field, rugby balls, kit and funds for a minibus. Once you have that then surely it's all down to numbers/attitude/quality of kids interested and how good the coach is. I doubt it's like college/uni when some teams might have the advantage of access to weight training, supplements, video review etc.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:05 am  

Grimmy wrote:

How much money does any school plough into a rugby team anyway? Maybe I'm being naive but I'm sure they have a field, rugby balls, kit and funds for a minibus. Once you have that then surely it's all down to numbers/attitude/quality of kids interested and how good the coach is. I doubt it's like college/uni when some teams might have the advantage of access to weight training, supplements, video review etc.

I genuinely don't know. It's been a long time since I was at school and I don't have kids.

I know some schools went down the sports academy route, so more money must have been put into sporting projects? Was that done as a selling point?

Is Fisher still a popular school, or do more parents try and get into a St Peters, or Standish as it's tagged to an "more affluent" area?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:43 am  

It's all about the amateur club to scholarship pathway these days. The school team is pretty much secondary. You may have a successful team of 14 year olds at... let's say Judes but that team of kids are split over 5-6 schools in the Borough (and sometimes outside).

In the old days Judes kids would be local, majority went to Judes primary, then Fisher which is the feeder high school.

My lads played at Judes, one lad in the team travelled from Wrexham from aged 12 to 16 four times a week. Another three lads came in from Formby area.

So in relation to Fisher you'd have 9-10 lads who played for their local amateur teams bulked up woth a few others who either had a passing interest in the game but didn't play or football lads giving rugby a go in their spare time.

I do agree about the PE teachers and their preferences to football and Rugby having an effect.