We have seen last year, that buying players who are the wrong side of 30 gets you know were. Looking at the latest signings all the players seem to be early 20s which is what you need.

Get the academy set up, promote from within & get some decent signings when needed, I think that's the way forward.

It is but you do need a decent mix of experience with the youth

If your not experienced come 25/26 it's time to give up.

Ffs do one lol

We had Tommy Makinson ,Burguess from Wigan on our academy but when the big club come they go aka Chris hill too
So having a reserve side is great but the best get picked off

Then maybe academy/reserve rules need to be amended so the main club supporting their developement get first dibs.

Agreed. I'm sure we will see some experience added to the squad, but preferably not as much as in 2017!

Cheers mate

Doubt the rules will change unfortunately

the reserve / academy side cost about £90.000 to run .would imagine a minimum of £5.00 per match to watch, we used to charge 2.00 and most people complained,that's if they didn't sneak in without payment. To have stewards would put the expense up. LSV have to abide with rules so is really out of reach ( unless its some sort of knockout game)

quick run down on cost

Doctor £250. per match
Food for officials and both set of Players £100 per match
Kit and training kit unknown possibly sponsors required
coach for away game £5oo to £700 per match depending on where game is played
any wages for players unknown depends on status of players
physio unknown depends on who is available

doctor , food , physio , RFL rules compulsary
getting sponsors for kit could possibly work but needs lots of hard work selling the academy to businesses

this is only from my experience with under 18's under 21's and reserve team over the years
hope to god they are resurrerected in the near future as i FEEL THEY ARE NEEDED IN RUGBY LEAGUE for the future at all divisions

Won't most of that be in the budget

It should be if the club decides to run with reserves and/or Academy. It's the funding of that budget that would be the issue - i.e. who will stump up the cash?

thats extra to last years I did say sponsorship which obviously does not affect budget

Very expensive as figures suggest but rewards could or should be great

Academy is currently running...(play stains next week) reserves prep is on track for 2018

If that's so,why no media attention being shown.

Atomic:

Sorry can’t give u an answer on that..... got info from retweets etc...

Ask them.....

Would have thought enrolment at college would be first.

My mates lad is in the academy.... and the college started few weeks ago....
They drew with Salford RD couple week ago with 12 men ( red card)
They got some really good lads....

Are they paying the better players in the academy?

As far as I am aware they are running it in conjunction with WigLeigh college so I would suggest not...
I would envisage it the first step to selecting players for reserves??

If that’s the case it’s a pointless process don’t want to sound negative but if your not in a established academy by the age of 16/17 then your chances of playing pro rugby are going to be slim. We should not be messing around with it we should be going all in or nothing it’s our clubs future we need an established academy to bring the youth through

You may be right Monty but where are they going to find 20 16-18 year olds who have the potential to play in SL and havn't been picked up already by teams with more established academies?
Having anything is better than they had last year. Also, 1 of the players, has just been released from Wigan academy I think. Tiny acorns and mighty oaks spring to mind.

It all sounds positive. Bonus here is getting the first team players back into the schools and using the academy as leverage. Must have been quite difficult promoting something with no clear pathway as such.

One player has played in the Wigan ETP and was at Salford academy... I know that as it’s my mates lad ... a tough grafting 13....plus others from Salford academy from last Yr....