Regan Grace is an absolute flyer, he is in the same age group as my nephew and was part of the Ospreys Academy. He has played both union and league for the last few years, surprised no union side down here have snapped him up, comes across as a decent lad to.

That's what someone from Redvee said, so maybe he just missed out on a contract. He could become excellent though, just have to see how he develops.

Yes a local team for local players. Dawson, Turner and the Welsh Boys out, just like Eastmond.

I'm talking about local kids playing in st Helen's who have signed for Wigan and Salford recently. No mentioning names but we've missed out on some good kids

Salford are making big inroads into what was traditionally the Wigan/Saints/Wire junior recruitment areas.

They are mate. They really putting the effort into getting the kids. Wooing their parents with meals when talking about their kids in operation.

Warrington are also everywhere scouting at the min.

That shows there is some good work going on in St. Helens and that other clubs are taking note. Salford and Wigan are willing to look outside their own areas and if Saints don't they will be left behind. You can't sign every junior with potential in St. Helens some will fall through the cracks and some will just want to sign with different clubs.

There is nothing wrong with Saints broadening the clubs and sports horizons. Most academy players will never get a shot at the first team so the odds are against these lads. However if this is the case it is still worth while giving them a chance and as it was with the Irish lads.

I agree it's good we are looking further afield but some of these kids that have slipped thru are players we was looking at but left it to late and Salford and Wigan pounced.

Call me biased but I'm a st Helen's lad, I want as many saints lads playing as possible (I know it's highly unlikely) and we need to get our local talent signed up first.

I know of a kid from Widnes that saints, Wigan, Salford, Warrington and some union clubs have spoke to. He's very very good and he's a saints fan and season ticket holder.

He and his family have not yet decided where he will go but let's just day that Wigan, Warrington and Widnes are front runners by a mile because we not really made a great deal of effort.

Not to cause trouble but aren't those two things contrary?



The production line has been fantastic recently so I see no reason to stress about it just yet. I dont care where the kids come from, so long as they have the potential to develop, and these kids seem to have that ... So it seems good news ... If they don't, then I'm sure others will!

I agree that we need to get the best talent signed up. I don't think getting local talent signed up and casting a wide net have to be done at the expense of each other. If they are then we need more/better scouts on our books.

If you look at resent history we have done a good job at finding talent outside the town limits. Eastmond (Oldham), Makinson (Wigan), Chris Dean (Orrell), Percival (Widnes) off the top of my head.

Looking at other teams Jason Robinson (Leeds), Kevin Sinfield (Oldham) and Michael McIlorum (Leeds) come to mind as great junior pickups from teams looking outside their county.

Pushing the example outside of Rugby League the highest profile English footballer David Beckham (North London) was scouted from the other side of the country and the best in the world Lionel Messi (Argentina) the other side of the world.

I am all for being positive about St. Helens lads but a lot of what I hear (and read on here) sounds more like being negative about non-St. Heleners, which is sad to see.

My point is Widnes is 7 mile down road and Wales is much further

I was playing in the Cumbrian masters yesterday and got talking to a few of the Cumbrian lads after the game. Mentioned I was a saints fan and one of them said "hey what about those 2 Welsh lads you've signed". He said he coached down in Wales. Can't remember who for, but he said pretty much every super league team wanted them and a host of Union clubs too! The winger especially was one to look out for

Regards

King james

But why does it matter if they're 7 miles down the road, 70, or 700 miles down the road? The only question that matters is do they have the potential to become a professional or not.

The local area is so saturated with so many clubs fighting over the best, it makes sense if we can pick up a few others from elsewhere whose equal ability then why not?

Just a little hunch I have that proper rugby towns like st Helen's, Wigan, Warrington etc will produce more and better players than Wales will do.

More, sure I'd agree, but would A St.helens select u16 would definitely beat a Wales select u16? Pretty bold statement, given England u16s struggle to beat France u16s (I don't know about any Wales games but still illustrates the point that outside the heartlands can compete at that age)... if were going to lose 5-10 good kids due to ever increasing competition from our nearest and dearest then we need a plan b, even if that's shipping them in from Wales!

Our production line has served us well in recent years, and I'm sure it will continue to do so...

I just feel we starting to fall behind the likes of Wigan, Warrington and Salford recently.

I'm curious which youngsters you believe Saints have missed out on. I can't think of any who weren't at Saints to start with.

I'm talking u15s and u16s mate

Adam Swift did not get signed by any club's until he went on tour with Barla GB age 17/18?

Than Saints snapped him up, so even kids who don't shine when young can be developed later.

I'm quite sure John Stankevitch got signed later in his teens from playing for Parkside Golbourne.

Are these kids that were completely missed at those age groups and went elsewhere. If so, is it due to a failure in the system or did kids just want to play elsewhere. I do know that the terms generally offered by Saints to academy players is less than Wigan, Warrington and now Salford.

Saints have always used their biannual Australian academy tour as a big incentive for young players to join them, and it's a very good ploy. The difference in contracts at those younger age groups is not a lot of money.

I think Pete is referring to players that the club knew about, but due to a lack of effort recruiting them they opted to go to other clubs. A couple of very good ones too, Wigan signed one to their scholarship not long ago who was a St Helens lad and a very good player.

It's a complex decision for a youngster and their parents. An Australian tour would play a part but also the quality of back room staff and training facilities along with the percentage chances of one day having a crack at a first team place.

I remember not that long ago that a certain team would only recruit from another team that had the words "Pats" and "St" in their title. If you had a youngster in the town with aspirations you had one objective and one alone and that was to play for that amateur youth team. Lazy recruiters in them days. Now they drive all the way over that massive mountain that is 'the lump' to look at 'fureners'.

Did Jason Robinson, Luke Robinson, Kev Brown, Andy Farrell, Micky McIlorum, Dennis Betts, Harrison Hansen, Mike Ford, Lewis Tierney, Ryan Hampshire etc, etc, etc all play for that team?

I hope he was right regarding the winger lebron, we surely need one.