Academy - where now ? : Tue May 17, 2022 8:06 am  

I think one point that a few might have missed in amongst all the other LB non sense, is the conveyor belt of 'talent' coming through at the Broncos is down for maintenance.

Over the years, the LB as the primary FT club in London/SE, has put very very little effort into youth recruitment and relied heavily on community clubs 1) to find the players 2) to retain the players 3) make LB aware of the players. With the exception of maybe Elmbridge and Brixton - as Monkey signed them up to the lottery - I am not convinced ANY engagement takes place across the region, contrary to what Loubser states.

The news for the Broncos is the wheels have fallen off the pathway - u18s only 7 entrants in 2022, and before the season started Hemel Stags and Medway Dragons pulled out, soon to be followed by Invicta Panthers and Bromley Bengals, leaving 3 - suffice to say the age group has been canned for 2022. (note 2 teams from Kent)

u16s is still running but the initial 9 team entry reduced to 7 when Invicta and North Herts pulled out, and first hand experience tells me that most of the 7 are struggling big time to get the numbers to play even 9 a side. And that will get worse as we are in GCSE season.

Add to this the attractiveness to play for LB must be at an all time low combined with their seeming desire to push players through the ranks, I see a serious problem on the horizon.

Re: Academy - where now ? : Tue May 17, 2022 8:25 am  

The timing of Rob Powell's exit was probably not great but the Broncos U18 Academy has stuggled this season losing all its games heavily. Did we previously run an U16 side, seen no evidence of one this year ?

Re: Academy - where now ? : Tue May 17, 2022 10:26 am  

jbuzza wrote:

The timing of Rob Powell's exit was probably not great but the Broncos U18 Academy has stuggled this season losing all its games heavily. Did we previously run an U16 side, seen no evidence of one this year ?

Stand to be corrected: u16 = Scholarship

Re: Academy - where now ? : Tue May 17, 2022 12:41 pm  

Reboot wrote:

Stand to be corrected: u16 = Scholarship

Yep, I think that is right.

Looking at RFL match centre others club seem to have played 3 games already at this level whereas we haven't played any. From the Wigan website I can see we were originally supposed to play them at home in the opening round on 23-Mar but then this fixture was replaced by a game where Wigan played Salford instead.

We do still have some fixtures listed from mid June so I guess it remains to be seen if we are actually running a team.

Re: Academy - where now ? : Tue May 17, 2022 2:33 pm  

jbuzza wrote:

Yep, I think that is right.

Looking at RFL match centre others club seem to have played 3 games already at this level whereas we haven't played any. From the Wigan website I can see we were originally supposed to play them at home in the opening round on 23-Mar but then this fixture was replaced by a game where Wigan played Salford instead.

We do still have some fixtures listed from mid June so I guess it remains to be seen if we are actually running a team.

I think this year we'll be 'ok' as the lads are already in the system. My concern is more around current 15/16yo not playing fixtures, etc and being lost to the game / not finding their way into whatever pathway Broncos have in place. They say that whilst there is little to discern between the athletic ability of north / south lads, grounding the south lads on cancelled fixtures or 9 and 11 a side is hardly preparation for proper rugby league.

The failure of the u17/18 age group to be viable is a reflection I feel on the reducing number of volunteers and a general lack of interest in the game.