Re: Academy : Fri Sep 24, 2021 11:55 am
imwakefieldtillidie wrote:
I’ve just had a watch and he does look a very good player, so I agree wouldn’t be just down to his playing ability. However, I am just guessing and we may be looking to sign him long term. Mark Applegarth seems to be doing a good job with the academy so I trust him either way.
The truth is that no matter how good an academy team is, and these lads seem to be the best we’ve had for a while, if we just bring two through to be first team regulars then we’ve done very well. I feel a lot of clubs use the Leeds golden generation as the yardstick but that was an absolute one off. If we keep producing two per year then we’ll always be looking at having half a side which is homegrown. I think we’d all be happy with that.
The truth is that no matter how good an academy team is, and these lads seem to be the best we’ve had for a while, if we just bring two through to be first team regulars then we’ve done very well. I feel a lot of clubs use the Leeds golden generation as the yardstick but that was an absolute one off. If we keep producing two per year then we’ll always be looking at having half a side which is homegrown. I think we’d all be happy with that.
Alex Ferguson managed it once in 25 years and he was a coaching genius. You’re right it’s an absolute fluke.
Even if we do have such a team we couldn’t do it anyway, we couldn’t afford to pay them and pay or pay off the existing players, Leeds Rhinos and United could, it’s a real catch 22.