That could well be true I know of 2 youngsters who were offered scholarships well before the date by Bradford -both subsequently signed for giants.

Clubs do I all time so begs question why have these rules if only one or two clubs adhere to it

Can someone tell me what Leeming did wrong last week, l thought he would be sure to get another game against the Bulls.
l hope this is not another acadamy starlet that is doomed to get bit parts, before the likes of KR, or Wakey takes him off our hands to show us what he can do.
Good prospect deserves better.

Not much but when your captain and best player is fit to return then he is always going to play.

Bailey had a good game at cas playing hooker and again went very well v the bulls, that coupled with the return of Brough and you have him relegated from the team... wood and robinson also favoured ahead of leeming, just how anderson see's it im afraid.

maybe if he scored a hat trick and missed no tackles then he would of kept his place! bailey got 2 tries though!

but Brough wasn,t fit was he,. l remember reading in the past that if players play well they will keep their place, strong squad, fighting for positions, no guarentees etc. etc. what does that say to the young Leeming, "l get my chance, l play well. and then a half fit player comes in, and l,m out" nice one.

a 90% fit brough is better than most players in Super League, man of steel, captain and the heart beat of our team

Leeming will get another chance if hes good enough, shame hes not as good as clark at castleford, would have been playing week in week out by now

not quite sure of your comparison. Clarke is 21 Leeming is 18.

A good point.

Even a superb performance from an 18 year old might get him dropped the following week. The fact is a more experienced player might be a better choice against different opposition.

Also, despite what your average 18 year old thinks, they are kids and develop physically at different rates. If you want a world class 28 year old hooker, you might find that some rest at age 18 is the best idea.

You can't flog kids until they are exhausted. They'll burn out and drift out of the game.

was clarke playing sl at 18? seems to have been around a while!

is they are good enough then age no barrier, look at wigan

not knocking leeming just bailey is playing well at hooker right now and robbo is better at hooker too right now..maybe when robbo moves on next season leeming will come up the order

That's more or less my point on how we never give the youngster a proper chance, they get one or two games 'filling in' if they're lucky enough to have their position become available during the season !!

As for Clark, according to the Cas website he made his debut (against us ironically) just over a week after his 17th Birthday, he became a regular the next, aged 18 !!!!

The club shouldn't have to "give them a proper chance" this is professional sport not a kick-a-bout in the park. If the young players wanna get picked they are going to have make themselves undroppable.

Leeming did nothing against Cas to make himself undroppable. He tackled well but was anonymous on attack. It was him Wood or Bailey. Wood and Bailey are better players at this moment in time. If he wants to get picked he's gonna have to play a hell of a lot better.

Again, my argument is how are they supposed to get better if they are dropped back to the u19's if they don't produce miracles in one of their rare outings for the 1st team? James Roby/Daryl Clark/Rob Burrow etc probably didn't have undroppable performances in their 1st 4 or 5 games either !!!!

No comment

No- but they were the best Cas had-Leeming is not- neither is he as good as roby/Clarke..... Yet. I agree no point flogging 18 yr olds especially those playing in the middle of the park against 30 yr old prime prop forwards! I seem to remember roby needing resting as he had been "overused"

I don't expect miracles but they have to show that they are the best option. Leeming did nothing against Cas that shows he is a better option than Wood or even Bailey in the hooking role. Comparing him to other players is irrelevant as everybody matures at different rates. ATEOTD the only people who know how ready he is for the first team, mentally and physically, are the coaching staff. He will either make it as a player or he won't but not playing him against Bradford will have no bearing on that whatsoever (and if it does then it shows the coaching staff were right).

As for getting better he will do that by training hard, listening to his coaches, getting advice from senior players, eating the right food, cutting bad habits ie junk food, alcohol, going out with his mates etc etc and knuckling down and being patient, not by throwing a strop cos he ain't picked two games in a row. Again whether he does all this only he and the coaching staff will know.

maybe if our under 19's were topping the league in their respective league they might be thought of as good enough..

currently 6th

usual suspects at the top, wire, leeds, saints, wigan.... funnly enough they seem to be the ones giving the youngsters a go..maybe because they are good enough to do so

Lots o god points in there Jack

But playing devils advocate

[i but they have to show that they are the best option.[/i
The enthusiasm and fire that some of the squad have indicated --Id suggest that they havent given outright evidence that they arent "droppable"
You may be correct in saying that they cant prove their "worth" without a decent run of a few games --and can we risk that ?
Similarly "name players" have been persistently played when their forms been "off" -and what that contributes to results is apparent
We Beat the better teams --and get defeats agains those below us
Great
I cant go along with picking a side based on players salary
If someone has a dip in form (it happens)- its OK saying "hes got to play through it"
And whilst we do -results suffer
If the youngsters try their best and cant keep their places- whats their goal ?

Oh yeah
Be patient be a good lad - sit in the wings and watch
Lets look at it from that angle
If it were you --had promise --were amongst the fringe players --but faced the "only to be used in an emergency" -Then is that any enthisiasm encouragement
If it were YOU - and you want to move on - and up - to the highest level --then I suggest if its not "happening" - you try find somewhere it can
We lose them -and the search for future replacements starts all over again with the identical scenario

If we trust the caoches -and we have to cos all the argiments on here wont change things- then -if the starlets" arent good enough in their eyes - let em go and ply their trade at THEIR LEVEL

They might have a higher opinion of themselves than is merited!
Or
It might be a sign of their confidence in their ability and a desire "not to be held back"

As has been said - players peak at various stages in their career

But a lad whose experience is at a lower level and on the "coaching pitch" can stagnate at the very period in his advancement where he`d blossom

We dont need hypothetical decisions
Give em a REASONABLE run of games and an opportunity to show what they can or cant do and the decision will stand out who are the ones who CAN and the ones who Cant and wont

Spot on again Rod. Problem is some of our fans arent happy unless they see a name on the teamsheet that they recognise. Me I'm happy to see a n other as long as he's giving it 100% for the shirt, Something some of the recognised names seem to be strughling to do this season.

Grix will be back in for connor today.. has connor done enough to keep his place?

First game perhaps, second game no. But on the plus side that's another 2 sl games under his belt.

Leeming got plenty of minutes under his belt today, went ok without being spectacular

One or two mistakes but by and large a good team performance.No slow start and all contributed in an 80 minutes performance,Well done lads.

anderson said on radio leeds today that he is "drip feeding" connor and leeming and the other young lads as they still have a lot to learn, i thought leeming did well today, nothing fancy but got involved a lot and got some more valuable game time under his belt

U19's play tonight up at ymca and Richard silverwood is reffing with James child! According to silverwood's twitter its a trial of two refs!