8 of our under 16s have been named in the England youth performance squad for this season, some real good talent yet again. Sometimes cant get my head round some national age group selections but with regards to Leeds i think theyv got it spot on this time.

Forwards-

Tom Nicholson-Wattern
Ajahni Wallace
Luca Atkinson
Joe Gibbons

Backs-

Oliver Field
Sam Little
Andrew Stewart
Coby Nichol

From this group i really like the look of..

Stewart (hunslet warriors) big fast with good feet
Wallace (siddal) won our 15s player of the year last season
Nicholson-Wattern (stanningley) a big prop or 13 with good hands
Field (wetherby bulldogs) a tall, very classy stand off
Little (wetherby bulldogs) a fullback with exceptional footwork

All 8 of the lads selected played a little bit of scholorship last season as u15s

Does anyone know about Robson McGowan, he played for Rhinos as a 15yo last year from Siddal but isn't named in the under 16's Scholarship this year ?
Just wondering if he has signed elsewhere.

I noticed he was missing from the profiles on the club page,theres also jonah parsons from batley boys who was with us last season as a 15 but isnt on ths clubs page, any info anyone?

Also i noticed a new 15 for this season called will gatus, does anyone know if it is same will gatus that has had youtube videos touting him as a future england union international since he was 11? From wakefield or close to, i beleive

Wills from Doncaster and played for shaw cross he’s now at Siddal, Mcgowan left Leeds, not sure on parsons

Cheers. Did will also play for sandal ru?

Yeah and quegs school, Parsons still with scholarship so not sure why he’s off the website

Spot on. Cheers

U16's beat wigan last night. Did anyone watch the game? got any info on try scorers, who performed well etc?

Highlights are up on the Rhinos YT channel now, try scorers were:

Coby Nichol.
Sam Little, with a cracker, another quality fullback coming through.
Morgan Gannon
Levi Edwards

Gannon and Edwards are both very talented u15's backrowers from Siddal, Edwards has moved there from Batley Boys this season, he's an exceptional prospect imo.

Yeah I went to watch. The team played very well 1st half and scored some nice tries especially a beauty from the full back. Thought the 6 looked classy in the 1st half but the 2nd half was very scrappy.

A sub called Levi Edwards did well off the bench 1st half.

Game was marred by a long injury to Wigan full back who was down for a very long time and had to be taken off on a stretcher.

Cheers marty. Hope ths wigan lads ok.

The 6 was Oliver Field, son of our ex prop Jamie.

Yeah metioned Levi Edwards above, only an u15, Brilliant prospect imo

The guy known as GRM (grassroots media) posted a video of Siddal u15 earlier this week and Levi Edwards was unstoppable, it seems he has speed strength & skill. Exciting prospect.

Theres a few full games on YT of him playing for batley boys u14s last season, he's another level, even against lads signed up to super league scholarships. The siddal u15s this season are loaded, best team in the country, we'v got 7 of them in our scholorship, Harvey Oldroyd, a , is another thats a wonderful talent.

Edwards does look very good, strong all-round game already. It's fantastic seeing all this talent at Leeds. And, in no small part at all thanks to the great development work Siddal and some others have been doing.

Siddal have done a lot of superteam building which isn’t supposed to be allowed. Edwards has been poached from Batley Boys and joins a team which is already head & shoulders better than anyone else.
It’s not good for the wider development of talent in the age group

I was just going to post the same thing. They are almost professional in how they operate at junior level, and it all started with the same team Holroyd and Smithies were in. That team was the first unbeatable, and was again built with poaching other clubs.

When you say poaching; are they paying the lads, or just offering better coaching/facilities etc? It probably doesn’t do much for other clubs if the talent is getting pooled. Maybe doesn’t do the talented players much good winning every week either? The Siddal team this year look pretty much untouchable.

If Siddal are genuinely offering better coaching etc then you can’t blame lads and their parents wanting the best environment.

They build a strong team from the under 11's groups, then each year they invite the best players from other teams to come and join them, to make them stronger and stronger, and weaken the oppossition. Of course not payments, but since the link ups with Leeds and Wigan, they have something to offer. Coaches there are on the Leeds coaching and the Wigan coaching, so they get preference for scholarships. Some players are not as good as they look in that side though, and the fact the team is so strong hides that. For example, we have Will Scrimshaw in our academy, who's dad happens to have been the Siddal coach of his age group, and on the Rhinos coaching. Scrimshaw IMO will not even make any professional rugby team, but he still got a contract and looked after in the same way as top players.

Thanks, that's interesting.

To be fair it would be extremely difficult to design and implement a real development structure which was fair to young lads and to the non-glamour clubs too. I don't know if the RFL would have the mandate even if it had the vision, and I gather player numbers are an ongoing concern.

Long-term though, it sounds like the whole system could do with some evolution. Personally I'd favour really young players being developed in regional centres of excellence, with the local SL side at the head. Siddal for example would currently fall into Huddersfield's orbit, and Leeds and Wigan would keep their beaks out.
You wouldn't want to necessarily restrict player's freedom of choice to play for who they want to in the end, but for the good of developing excellence and equal opportunity across the board, sounds like it's not quite there at the moment.

I don't know enough about it to be honest, all changed a lot since I was a lad!

U16s beat Newcastle Thunder 40 - 20 last night, pretty young team with 7 u15s in the squad and a few of the England lads missing.

Any standouts ?

Highlights are up now. I do like Levi Edwards, another beauty of a half break and offload for try assist. Great individual try from the fullback too.

Skirlaugh beat them today I believe.

Castleford 42 - Leeds 12.

I thought that Cas would win the game but didn't see that scoreline coming. Great advert for scholarship rugby.

Yes I agree a good game . Disappointed with the Leeds team selection though where were Gibbons Watton Turner Edwards and Gannon surely you play your best players in a big game like this?