Traditionally Wakefield have always had a strong youth set up, identifying players with potential, at an early age and moulding them into good players. We seem to be good at that.
The problem is that, whilst most other clubs are able to hold onto their homegrown players, ours either fail at the last hurdle to make it or go elsewhere to seek their fortune, why is that?
I feel that until we correct this then we are going to amble along as we are signing other club's cast off's or overseas players, not all of whom have WT at heart.
Why are players like Annakin, Wildie, Davey etc finding themselves in the wilderness, are they not up to it or are we failing to recognise their talent and bring it on further?
I appreciate there is a world of difference between youth rugby and stepping up to senior rugby but at best our record for keeping homegrown players is pretty abysmal! What a waste of talent and money!
By the way I have only one ID and am not being negative!

It's easy for teams that win more often to blood their young players, and them being in a less individually pressured environment may also add to their development or perhaps speed it up.
Richer clubs either by success or benefactor are also in a stronger position to take away what promising youngsters we have also.
Clueless coaches don't help either!!!
There's three reasons for you, I don't think you have to look far beyond them.

Well I accept those reasons but even Cas and Fev hold onto more of their own players than we do!

We are happier bringing in players from the other side of the world and trying to develop them rather than our home grown youngsters.

Cas have always spent more on attracting youngsters and seem to give them a good crack at first team rugby, that's for certain.

Only talking with a work mate and same as he said been brought up on watching local lads such as Thompson and Bell give it everything when pulling the shirt on.The one stand out thing with local lads is the pride when they pull on that shirt.As for leadership the ones that are trying the most are Kirmond and Cockayne and the only one talking is Smith.We need someone who can say watch this now its your turn and dont dare let anyone down as we are the best and only the best will do.Someone who can motivate when the backs are against the wall alas we are short of a homegrown to do that at the moment.

The unfortunate thing is Agar only wants to preserve his CV. As at Hull the under 20's only get a shout when desperation really sets in.

No relegation & no realistic chance of top 8: So, why not build a squad over next 2 years, by blooding our youngsters, at BV ? 1 or 2 at a time, initially.
Hopefully, over that time, some, if not many, will establish themselves as first team regulars. 2015 could then usher in a new era with ( hopefully) NM open & our team built on OUR young players foundations. This would cement WTW as truly representative of the City & inspire wider fan-base through loyalty factor. Clearly its a gamble (but what isn't?) as we all know & only a successful team will pull in significantly more regular fans. but isnt it worth a try ?

That was the supposed idea of no relegation so teams could blood youngsters with out fear of the drop.

For me more of the youngsters should be going out on loan for a short period of time to get used to playing against bigger opposition, then at the backend of the season let these lads have a crack at sl and see how they get on, the club could atleast try to backup the 3 year plan theyve got on the field.

If we want to see a succession of home grown players, and kids given a chance, we may have to trade in our season tickets and get down to Cas, me I would rather do it their way, the likes of Clarke, Milner, Huby, Owen, Arundel, and Walker are not only home grown, but far better than some of the overseas bags of crap we are paying.

These are just the ones we know of, there are some belters coming through, that Beefy's kid Brad he looks like a good un,fair play to Cas IMHO.

Also worth baring in mind though, this hasnt happened over night.
Matterson had played these kids regularly and a few more, and while this tree has born many fruit, many of those who are lauding the Cas approach, were none too happy when they were getting smashed week in week out with a team full of kids.
Its a brave decision, and one IMO that SL was made for, however coaches know they are in a results game and they rarely are in a position to look too far beyond the next match.
I 100% agree with the last sentence of your first paragraph BTW.

Also worth baring in mind is the extra money it costs to keep these players playing for CT. A club that realistically are'nt going to win anything soon. Shenton to Saints, Westerman to Hull FC - they seek winners medals and winning pay - simple as that.

Unfortunately both CT and WT are not tempting enough for some players to stay. In the case of WT this has been the case for donkeys years. It will remain the same until there is hope. There have been exceptions at WT, and I applaud such as Johny Thompson and Nigel Bell who for me are up there above the Gareth Ellis' and Ben Westwood's of this world.

Why do you need to go to Cas, we have those kind of players in our own youth teams - ours just don't get a game.

Your right they don't. Really makes you wander if there's any point in having a good youth set up.

I have a feeling that they will, if not towards the end of this season, then from next season onwards.

By that time, the new systems and processes will have had a chance to bed in and the relationship between the youth and first teams will make more sense; we should also have more of the types of players in the 1st team squad who can protect and nurture younger players as they develop.

As my favourite college lecturer often said - change is a process, not an event.

Unfortunately, I feel that some of you are missing the point. The club has sent some of them out on loan to lower league clubs to play whilst also training full time still, such as Jimmy Davey, Danny Cowling, Russ Spiers and Keiran Hyde. The only ones that havent been sent out, or spent any time playing first team this year are Chris Annakin, Adam Slater and Dale Morton. Adam Slater is playing every Reserves game and now Annakin and Morton are starting to feature at that level more due to the age restrictions changes. Liam Kay has played first team this year, as has Matty Wildie, and both are featuring heavily in the Reserve grade too.

Walshaw is starting to get first team opportunities when not injured, and kyle trout is also starting to play a part this season.

The real issue though regarding younger players is that, whilst its alright saying send them out to lower league clubs, there needs to be a lower league clubs who needs another player, and also they need a player that will be better than their current available players. So whilst sending them out on loan/ dual reg is the ideal situation, it is not always the most realistic of options.

To be fair to the club, if you manage to get two or even three players a year that are able and starting to make the step up to playing first grade then you will be doing well. This year so far we have seen Lucas Walshaw, Kyle Trout, Matty Wildie, Liam Kay all play a part, 3 of which I expect to see again this year at some point.

There are also some good prospects currently playing in the reserves that are part time, players such as Tom Lillycrop, Jordan Grayson, Sam Fletcher, Josh Hardcastle, Ryan Wright and Adam Gledhill which could all potentially end up going full time at some point. And then there is Sam Doherty who is playing for England at u18's level too. The reserves/ u20s are also playing really well at the moment which bodes well for the club.

My point is that the club are making steps in the right direction which is all you can ask for. It takes time to implement changes, it will be years rather than months before we see a team with Wakefield produced talent throughout the squad. Have patience and faith. It will happen.

I completely agree with you, but I have a feeling I'll be in a minority...

The club took a bit of a kicking over the last few years losing Pete Riding to Huddersfield and then Richard Tunningley to Castleford.

Youth development needs a longterm plan and losing the people that are put in place to oversee that will really cause the philosophy of the club to change.

Wakefield wrongly in my opinion held too many players back in the 18's under Kear, mainly I think with a view to ticking a few franchise boxes by picking up an Academy title rather than thinking about the correct development for the players.

The key now is that the staff overseeing development are retained and Wakefield really make the effort to retain the best Scholarship players, something they do not have a good record at doing. I appreciate you may not be able to compete in terms of money but opportunities must be made available for pathways through to first team level.

With the greatest respect it should be easier for young players to break into first team level with Trinity at the moment than it is the likes of Leeds for example.

Duel reg is also a must in my opinion, forget about winning jr trophies and start thinking about developing players ready for first team.

The ethos of the conditioning team was also in my opinion not condusive to producing first team players from within the club, I suspect under Martin Clawson this attitude will have changed significantly from what it was under Colin Sanctuary.

You are at the early stages of your development in relation to this, nearly back to square one, but it is vital that the club learn from the errors made in the past and build a strong philosophy and clear pathways to first team rugby from the grass routes.

As I understand it this is happening but it will take years now to get right, but at least you seem to be moving in the right direction in relation to this for the first time in years.

In the minority on here, but not in the real world.

I accept what you are saying to a degree and I am pleased that it is at last being viewed long term. As I have put earlier, WT have traditionally produced top class players only for other clubs to get the benefit of them once they have made the grade. If what you say comes to fruition then there will surely be less need to rely on imports many of whom disappoint!

I can live with the waiting time it takes to set up a positive youth structure, it will take time and i don't think you are in a minority. I think most know the lads in the past have struggled for various reasons.

I am also a big fan of whats been done at Cas over the years with younger players.

My one small gripe is the lack of info coming from the club with regards to the set up and the plans for the future, only a small gripe but i feel we should be making noises about this.

Especially as we are directly paying for it

Yes i suppose so, i just think the club could make more of it but i am trying to be positive.