Saints sent an under 16 side to Australia in 2006 and played three tough games, remaining unbeaten.

Amazingly six of that team have already played Super League, Frodsham, Wheeler, Lomax, Ashurst, Armstrong and Dixon.

Foster has is on the fringes and McGennis probably would've played SL but for injury.

Well done to the club, that is a fantastic investment which will pay big dividends in the future.

Its about time that the youngsters in this country were given a proper go anyway, far too often the clubs are short sighted. Saints and Leeds deserve huge credit for leading the way. It can be no coincidence that the 2 sides who are far and away the best are the 2 who give the youth their chance.

The reality is that in the coming years the likes of Wheeler, Eastmond, Lomax, Frodsham, Armstrong and Ashurst are going to be in the 17 on match days, combining with Clough, Graham, Moore, Roby etc. Giving them some game time now will make it much easier for them. Some of them also look the genuine article and not just decent.

ive already mentioned your kids and this season on the pies board. your squad looks a little light if you take a few injuries but it means blooding kids. it doesnt give you the chance to maybe blood them a bit at a time but they are getting blooded non the less. i think its a win win for your club long term, as its not as if you are really in danger of getting hammered, you have too many good senior players. you may lose a few if you have key injuries but there's no shame in that. there are some really good kids coming through at a lot of clubs

"you can't win anything with kids!"

we'll see

Great to see if most of the rest of the league get their finger's out the future will be brighter!!
I have to mention wakey and the giant's aswell they showed during the 9's last year they have some quality young un's coming through.
And before rogue's step's in the pie's are looking like producing quality aswell

We are in a lucky position to be able to "take a risk" by playing young players, and it seems to be paying off and as you said in the long term for the club that can only be a positive thing.

Thankfully a lot of clubs now seem to really be kicking into action with getting the young players through the ranks - and hopefully in a few years we will be seeing the benefit of this not only at club level for those clubs but also at international level.

Are we 'taking a risk' though ?

These kids have been successful at every level prior to SL and deserve the chance to show their ability.

The problem in this country is we consider strength in depth to be a foreigner aged over 26 with 30 NRL appearances in about 6/7 years. The reality is that it isn't.

To an extent yes it is taking a risk, just because a player performs at reserves level doesn't mean they are ready to make the step up to the first team. Its up to the coaching staff to make sure the time is right for them to make the move and even then it doesn't always work for whatever reason so yes there is a risk there.

I go the other way, if they are good enough then theyre old enough and deserve a go.

The likes of Folau would still be playing reserve level rugby over here, we'd still be making sure he is 'ready'. Its single handedly the biggest load of BS in British RL. At least now the attitude seems to be changing a little.

Thats the point though, they have to be good enough and until the risk is taken to take that step up you don't know if they are.

Exactly and you're never going to find out either if you don't put them in until they are 'ready'.

I think this will be the benefit of the franchise and new playoff system. As Brian Noble said, the league isnt won in march. Any team who wins 15 games will be well in the playoffs, probably 12 and we're half way there already. We can play the young lads as has been shown for 3 out of the last 4 years, top of the league means very little come grand final time.
If we loose a few games but discover we have the next scully, keiron, long etc. its well worth it

The future certainly looks bright for Saints with all the youngsters coming through.

There is a quote from Wayne Bennett about developing juniors. "You have a 20-year-old who is not as good as your 30-year-old pro but you know that he is going to be, he has got all the right attributes, so you take a short-term loss for a long-term gain," Full article here www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#067664 Its common sense, but its surprising how few clubs can achieve it.

There is a quote from Wayne Bennett about developing juniors. "You have a 20-year-old who is not as good as your 30-year-old pro but you know that he is going to be, he has got all the right attributes, so you take a short-term loss for a long-term gain," Full article here www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#067664 Its common sense, but its surprising how few clubs can achieve it.

Quote ="The Chair Maker"There is a quote from Wayne Bennett about developing juniors. "You have a 20-year-old who is not as good as your 30-year-old pro but you know that he is going to be, he has got all the right attributes, so you take a short-term loss for a long-term gain," Full article here www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#067664 Its common sense, but its surprising how few clubs can achieve it.'" FAO WIGAN

Quote ="The Chair Maker"There is a quote from Wayne Bennett about developing juniors. "You have a 20-year-old who is not as good as your 30-year-old pro but you know that he is going to be, he has got all the right attributes, so you take a short-term loss for a long-term gain," Full article here www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#067664 Its common sense, but its surprising how few clubs can achieve it.'" FAO WIGAN

I'd agree with this approach. At academy/reserve level what you have essentially is potential, for first grade level playing. If, as Bennett says in that rather good article, the young person has the attributes - which is, the potential - then that young person should be given the opportunity to discover whether he and the coach can turn the potential into a successful professional career. At the moment, our guys Lomax, Wheeler, Ashurst, etc are mainly potential. They are each showing individual moments of, quite frankly, gifted play but they are only moments because the potential has yet to be converted into actual play at that standard. That will take a long time and once the initial adjustment to first grade has been made, they will continue to develop for years afterwards. In fact, professionals no matter what they do never stop learning, adjusting and developing their skills IMO.

Very good points made there SaintsFan, and I would suggest maybe we see this happening to Scott Moore at the moment. Brought into the Saints team at 16 and touted as potentially the next big thing he has seen himself dropped back down to academy and reserve level and then shipped out on loan first to a struggling Cas team and now to a growing Hudds side.

The initial opportunity given to him by Saints in the first team was very brief but showed great potential then i'm told this was in danger of stagnating once he was dropped back down to reserve grade. Though he seemed to struggle at Cas it was clearly a good learning experience for him in many ways and an essential part of his learning curve. Now he is gettting the opportunity to play regular first grade in a side that is playing some great rugby and perhaps most importantly seems to have a winning mentality his potential and hard work is clearly paying dividends.

I agree. It is a positive for Moore too that clearly Nathan Brown has taken him on board, which is a significant investment in a loan player (perhaps to entice him to stay?). Given Brown was a hooker and that's the position Moore plays then maybe he is now getting the kind of attention he needs to really kick on in his game.

Meanwhile back home I hope that Potter doesn't just leave the development of our new young players to injury time (although this season there appears to be plenty of it to go around!) but throughout the season provides opportunities for those players with the most potential to play, maybe resting the more experienced players now and again to facilitate this. I'm sure he's got a plan, I don't mean to suggest he would be negligent of what after all is his remit, but still I do hope that is what we will see, especially since a number of players are coming up to retirement/end of contract at the end of this season.