Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Mon Apr 01, 2024 6:22 pm  

Barrie’s Glass Eye wrote:

I’d say we have depth in the back row, the issue is that they’re nearly all the same type of high work rate player. Which is then compounded by the lack of true punch in the front row.

Exactly. If it was me (obvs it isn’t), I’d have Martin, McDonnell, and one big horrible thing that can bend the line and whack in D. Goudemand and Bentley are good players but neither is massively better than Donaldson and all three offer very little going forward.

This is a criticism I do have of RS, he’s too keen on signing nice guy players and takes his eye off the best team composition sometimes.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Mon Apr 01, 2024 9:26 pm  

Simmo71 wrote:

Just look at the back row options Saints have got:
Sironen
Matautia
Knowles
Batchelor
Bell
Whitley
And a few young lads behind them.
Great mix of impact and workrate.
We're miles off that level of depth.

Their prop options aren't bad either....

And look at Wigan's depth in the pack, particularly props.

We're spending up to the cap, but don't really seem to have decent depth anywhere across the squad.

I honestly don’t think their fans would be happy with any of our players to slot into their match day squad. They could actually realistically argue that too!

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Mon Apr 01, 2024 10:09 pm  

Simmo71 wrote:

Just look at the back row options Saints have got:
Sironen
Matautia
Knowles
Batchelor
Bell
Whitley
And a few young lads behind them.
Great mix of impact and workrate.
We're miles off that level of depth.

Their prop options aren't bad either....

And look at Wigan's depth in the pack, particularly props.

We're spending up to the cap, but don't really seem to have decent depth anywhere across the squad.

Fully agree. I think one of the issues we have is that we lack homegrown talent down the spine and in the back row which is where you have to spend big. Saints have some top homegrown talent there so they can spend big in the pack.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Tue Apr 02, 2024 9:07 am  

Trebor1 wrote:

Fully agree. I think one of the issues we have is that we lack homegrown talent down the spine and in the back row which is where you have to spend big. Saints have some top homegrown talent there so they can spend big in the pack.

Their academy is very good so produces some real quality on a consistent basis.
We really took our eye off the ball for a few years academy wise hence the slow down of talent coming through and finding ourselves having to buy in talent rather than producing it.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Tue Apr 02, 2024 11:28 am  

Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino wrote:

Their academy is very good so produces some real quality on a consistent basis.
We really took our eye off the ball for a few years academy wise hence the slow down of talent coming through and finding ourselves having to buy in talent rather than producing it.

I think another hard truth is that youth talent isn’t reliable, it comes in waves sometimes. Also the NW just seems to have a deeper pool to draw from than we do in Yorkshire. The hotter beds around Halifax / Dewsbury are contested and then we seem to draw a lot from Kippax region.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Tue Apr 02, 2024 6:40 pm  

Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino wrote:

Their academy is very good so produces some real quality on a consistent basis.
We really took our eye off the ball for a few years academy wise hence the slow down of talent coming through and finding ourselves having to buy in talent rather than producing it.

Yep

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Tue Apr 02, 2024 10:08 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

I think another hard truth is that youth talent isn’t reliable, it comes in waves sometimes. Also the NW just seems to have a deeper pool to draw from than we do in Yorkshire. The hotter beds around Halifax / Dewsbury are contested and then we seem to draw a lot from Kippax region.

We go wherever the talent is Jim

Lock Lane had the biggest representation in our recent Academy intake, followed by West Bowling, they were the best 2 teams in the country, with West Bowling winning the national cup

Our 2nd year Scholarship are pretty evenly spread between Community clubs We've took from, with stanningley the biggest representation with 5, 3 from birstall Victoria, 3 from kings cross, 3 from Siddal etc, again, 3 of the 4 semifinalists in the National cup are Yorkshire teams....So the talent is certainly there in Yorkshire

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Wed Apr 03, 2024 7:45 am  

mattsrhinos1978 wrote:

We go wherever the talent is Jim

Lock Lane had the biggest representation in our recent Academy intake, followed by West Bowling, they were the best 2 teams in the country, with West Bowling winning the national cup

Our 2nd year Scholarship are pretty evenly spread between Community clubs We've took from, with stanningley the biggest representation with 5, 3 from birstall Victoria, 3 from kings cross, 3 from Siddal etc, again, 3 of the 4 semifinalists in the National cup are Yorkshire teams....So the talent is certainly there in Yorkshire

Thanks Matts - let's hope it is coming through now. I do think there is a natural fall-off of players who look great as juniors but just don't kick on, and I don't think it's all down to coaching (although obviously coaching is massively important). Personally I think with all the facilities and expertise at Leeds, players themselves have plenty of opportunity to develop their game, and that's the kind of attitude you want for a first grade player.

It is a tough old business making Leeds first grade. People sometimes don't appreciate how good some of these lads are, to make it at Leeds it's probably a 1/1000 player. Even with the goldens I'm not sure we had more than 3/4 players graduate from one academy peer group at a time.

We seem to have a handful of decent prospects now - I know you feel the coaching after scholarship isn't up to it. Is Lewis Peacock still at Leeds mate?

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Wed Apr 03, 2024 12:10 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

Thanks Matts - let's hope it is coming through now. I do think there is a natural fall-off of players who look great as juniors but just don't kick on, and I don't think it's all down to coaching (although obviously coaching is massively important). Personally I think with all the facilities and expertise at Leeds, players themselves have plenty of opportunity to develop their game, and that's the kind of attitude you want for a first grade player.

It is a tough old business making Leeds first grade. People sometimes don't appreciate how good some of these lads are, to make it at Leeds it's probably a 1/1000 player. Even with the goldens I'm not sure we had more than 3/4 players graduate from one academy peer group at a time.

We seem to have a handful of decent prospects now - I know you feel the coaching after scholarship isn't up to it. Is Lewis Peacock still at Leeds mate?

We’ve been talking about great Junior talent for years. Some good players come through, others waiting. No great players for long while though and that’s held us back. Great players are not the product of coaches. Probably quite the opposite!

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:18 pm  

Looks like Warrington have got the jump on us with the Bradford Academy prop probably the Sam Burgess effect.