The Hudders U19s beat ours recently I think. They have some decent players. I think the issue is that if we produce someone of real quality they have the money to offer a far bigger contract. Our U19s will be on much lower money than SL U19s.
We generally don’t attract the very best prospects at scholarship level due to our lack of money and the fact that we’re not in SL and have had a chequered history recently (though hopefully this is a thing of the past now).
What we do offer is excellent coaching and a genuine pathway to the 1st team. We have a track record too of producing players that play at the highest level. Most young lads have ambitions to play in the NRL and we can say that we have produced more English NRL players than other clubs. This means we can offer things that some SL clubs cannot.
The problem is that as soon as our kids make names for themselves we can’t compete financially with the clubs that come looking and waving big chequebooks.
We instead have to make the point that unless they’re going to walk into a SL starting line-up then they’ll be sent on dual reg. That’s not the best way to develop a player as Jordan Lilley and others can testify. As has been said James Bentley hasn’t kicked on since he left and has been part of a Sheffield team that was getting beaten regularly and now he’s at Leigh. He’s no further forward than he was in 2017.
Time will tell how Wilson progresses. I can’t see him starting in SL soon so he’ll be up at Workington or somewhere like that. Good luck to him.
