Next season, out of the 11 so far confirmed SL clubs, 9 will have at least 1 Widnes developed player either through the club or our amateur scene.
4 at Saints
3 at Leeds
2 at Warrington
Just to name a few. Our value to the game should never be underestimated.
The struggles of what us Bradford and London have faced with our academies will certainly impact the game especially when you think next season there is a strong chance of 2 french sides plus Salford who don’t run an academy in the super league
sadly it’s only going to be made worse the way the game is I reckon there is only about 6 clubs tops who could be relegated and still sustain a full time team and full time academy whilst remaining competitive
Next season, out of the 11 so far confirmed SL clubs, 9 will have at least 1 Widnes developed player either through the club or our amateur scene. 4 at Saints 3 at Leeds 2 at Warrington Just to name a few. Our value to the game should never be underestimated.
Thats nothing in comparison to the Oldham born players who litter the superleague, some world class players amongst them over the last 15 years or so and look at Oldham as club side...
Thats where i fear we may be heading ourselves unless we make the club appealing to those good local lads in one form or another
Take your point Another poster, add the Cumbrians to that!
The problem is that to attract the best young local players a club would need to be FT and high in the SL to offer a chance to play at the top. Our youngsters, for instance, were originally signed up on that basis.
The whole academy fiasco is just that. There are loads of youngsters who enlist and play at academy level. They will all go so far, some quickly exhibiting clear top level potential, others fall a bit lower, some decide against it except purely as a leisure activity. The top clubs all scout around for the top talent, but they always miss some!
SL clubs, like Saints or Wire won't double their academy squads to replace the loss of Widnes and others, so the initial 'capture' is potentially halved. What you can't do is spot all the talented ones immediately and discard the rest at an early age. Many only mature slowly.
So potential stars will inevitably be missed and quite possibly lost to our game, maybe switching codes!!
Old hot beds, like us or Oldham etc, won't be able to afford the academy
and the game will be much poorer over time.
Never been a fan of the academy system , personally think it's detrimental to the game as a whole whilst allowing the bigger clubs to maintain a monopoly
Briers has said had it been around when he was younger he would never had played pro as people said he was too small and Walmsley couldn't get any interest from SL clubs as he had not come through an academy only Batley would give him a trial
I’d say we were the most underrated hotbed for developing players in the 90% of the country that don’t play the game and don’t have any interest in it.
I’d say we were the most underrated hotbed for developing players in the 90% of the country that don’t play the game and don’t have any interest in it.
Tell that to the expansionists.