Having spoken to John Bastian on many occasions I know the importance of having a decent quality U16s and U19s setup.
He was part of the setup at Leeds that has got them where they are now and did the same at Warrington. What he doesn’t know about youth development isn’t worth knowing.
He says the key for a successful first team is to keep adding layers of homegrown players who have come through the system. They identify with the club and usually always are more committed and give that extra 1% than a player that is bought in.
He’s said that having and keeping the likes of Addy, Mellor, Olbison, O’Brien etc is key to keeping the younger lads coming through as they see something to aspire to and can identify with those lads. A team that is bought lacks an identity and will fall short when that extra 1% is needed.
Luckily the club have bought into John’s ethos when it could be easier to just use all that money and buy some players. In the long run that long term vision will pay off.
In the meantime we remain vulnerable to raids from clubs waving chequebooks but perhaps not as vulnerable as when we were flirting with administration between 2011-14. I daresay we’d hang onto the likes of Jared Simpson and Ollie Roberts nowadays.
We have some excellent U16s and some of last year’s U16s that have moved up to the U19s are very promising too
