when a club makes an offer to a player its what the club think the player is valued at, if the club thought adam gledhill was worth say 50 grand and he was going to play regular first team then that would be the offer. i personally think adam is the best of the gledhills without doubt but hes 18 and you have got to dangle a carrot and say here you progress and you get more. most of the players that came through the academy and won the comp were left too long and not blooded and havnt kicked on, so at some point the club has to look and think they have got to go not nice but its sport im afraid.
the big clubs do not throw mass amounts of money at young kids anymore yes they will be be competitive with money but wont break the bank. that tells me the players they think they will be better coached at other clubs or they need to play with better players to kick on.
for what its worth my lad was offered alot of money by wakefield at 16 to go there, jimmy came to normy to talk to me but he had has heart set on going to wigan which i advised him to do for the sake of his career. they moved him over and he loves it but wakefield offered himn the best deal and they offered liam suttcliffe the best deal but he wanted to play for leeds.
id love to see my lad play for trin but wakefield have got to get their mentality right and think 2nd best wont do anymore.
belly your better than the comment you come out with the problem is there to be solved and it can be.

the thing is that maybe 1 out of ten kids make it through, higher at some clubs, we have got to say that every player that signs for our club will walk away a better player if theyve made it at wakefield or not, this is done by endless work with the players and not by throwing too much cah too early.

i understand your lad plays for wigan you must be proud ,but over the years not many have made it through with the odd exeption , why should we pay money so hudds and other clubs come along and take them ,we all want the best for our kids but when money is tight is it worth it.and scapping the u20 hasnt helped we could do the same as shudds do and get them from other clubs

Dodgy ground there, we have just signed Shudds 19's hooker, Dan Maskill

Quote ="TheLinkMan"i understand your lad plays for wigan you must be proud ,=#FF0000but over the years not many have made it through with the odd exeption , why should we pay money so hudds and other clubs come along and take them ,we all want the best for our kids but when money is tight is it worth it.and scapping the u20 hasnt helped we could do the same as shudds do and get them from other clubs'" At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666

Quote ="TheLinkMan"i understand your lad plays for wigan you must be proud ,=#FF0000but over the years not many have made it through with the odd exeption , why should we pay money so hudds and other clubs come along and take them ,we all want the best for our kids but when money is tight is it worth it.and scapping the u20 hasnt helped we could do the same as shudds do and get them from other clubs'" At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666'" I want us to be that club! The overseas players are the icing on the cake and nothing more!

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666'" I want us to be that club! The overseas players are the icing on the cake and nothing more!

Quote ="TRB" Quote ="Rogues Gallery"At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666'" I want us to be that club! The overseas players are the icing on the cake and nothing more! '" Completely agree. No point signing overseas players who offer nothing more than what an British player could.

Quote ="TRB" Quote ="Rogues Gallery"At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666'" I want us to be that club! The overseas players are the icing on the cake and nothing more! '" Completely agree. No point signing overseas players who offer nothing more than what an British player could.

Quote ="TRB" Quote ="Rogues Gallery"At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666'" I want us to be that club! The overseas players are the icing on the cake and nothing more! '" Completely agree. No point signing overseas players who offer nothing more than what an British player could.

Quote ="TRB" Quote ="Rogues Gallery"At Wigan this season just gone there was never less than 8 ex academy players in any game, and in some games as many as 12. Of the top 16 appearance makers 11 had come through the academy. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... ge_id=1666'" I want us to be that club! The overseas players are the icing on the cake and nothing more! '" Completely agree. No point signing overseas players who offer nothing more than what an British player could.

I think we'll be a lot closer to being 'that' club when the systems and processes that were put in place throughout the season just gone start to bear fruit; as Mr G said right at the start, the rehabilitation of WTW is a 10 year project and it's only just started - we have to be patient.

In the meantime, Richard Agar will attempt to balance the need to win games and be competitive with the need to put a proper succession plan in place; if that means putting up with the likes of Paul Aiton and Tim Smith whilst he grows his own, I can very definitely live with that.

Don't get me wrong - we need the Smiths and Aitons and Lauatitis - they are class players with pedigree. But as KK has been suggesting for a long time, I hope we don't exploit every nook and cranny of the rule book to end up with 12 overseas players and 5 English in our side. Wigan / Leeds / Saints have always invested big in their academies, others are now doing so (esp Wire), then there's Cas and Hudds, and then we lag somewhere behind, but we've still managed to produce some good players but somehow miss out on the best ones overall. At some point you have to say - right, now is the time to invest - perhaps that is when the Stadium is complete and our SL future assured for several years??

It will certainly help - not only the security of a SL berth, but the facilities and infrastructure will be more attractive to young players; equally, if the stadium plan works and revenue to the club increases, we could start to catch up in terms of rewards and benefits - I'm certain that some of the bigger clubs are providing nice houses, cars and jobs for the WAGs as part of the package for their players for example, all of which cost money, within or outwith the salary cap.

As I say - ten years.

The problem is when they offer about the same but cost less. What do you do then?

Fair point, but as TRB suggested the non-fed players should be the icing on the cake so naturally should be amongst the higher earners in the squad.

This is not possible Clan, the rule at the RFL is all agents have to deposit £20K before they can act on or for any player as a registered agent, and to go to that length for players from just one club would be OTT, unless you intend to become an agent for all players ?

Unless we partner and negotiate a unique agreement with an Agent who has already lodged his deposit and is registered with the RFL.

That is true, but players cant be represented by an agent until they are 17, and at that point most will have been signed on if they are good enough at 16, and away from their amateur clubs a full year.

Having a parent who is your agent plus an ex Trin player is the best way forward, or so im told