Ok then let me ask you this question. If you were to choose only one, which one would it be?



1. Have a good youth setup which looks after the kids but languish in the bottom of SL

2. Have a successful first team, with a poor to average youth setup



Not all teams can have what the likes of Leeds and Wigan have. They have many income streams which allow for both which aren't available to all clubs.

if you have 1, you will earn 2.



Its no coincidence that the clubs with the best youth development are the most successful

And vice versa.



Chicken. Egg. Money.

The two shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

Struggling to see how Wakefield have earned the same score as Castleford.

That is not necessarily the case. If you are languishing in the bottom of SL, any decent player you try and bring through will be tempted by the big bucks and success of a top team. Rovers and Cas have seen this happen to them recently. In theory it would work but SL isn't theory is it? The only way it will work is if you have the money to invest in your youth structures as well as money to keep you competitive and challenging for honours until the youth structures bare fruit.

Which players from HKR or Cas are now real game changers, real difference makers at a big club? Which players have come through the youth development structures at HKR or Cas and are now in the top 5/6/7 players at a big club? Which players have they lost who would take them from where they are now, to the next level?



Its silly to say that HKR and Cas are losing these players, they just aren’t producing them. Those two clubs keep all of their products, they aren’t putting together a squad challenging for trophies.

This ^^



Cas Tigers have and still invest heavily in our youth development. It hurts us when players like Jordan Thompson leave us. He will sign for Hull FC in November when he turns 23 and CT will not receive one penny for him. It sometimes makes me wonder why we bother.

But we are not talking about game changers and top class players are we? We are talking about good players who would create a good competitive squad in SL.



Recently Scott Taylor has moved to Wigan from Hull KR. Cas have a lot more. They have had quite a few of their youngsters leave to clubs like Hull FC. We will never know until a few years time whether these players would be top class. How many sides have developed a player who has become a top player straight away? It takes time for players to become top players at their clubs baring a few exceptions (Sam Tomkins etc). The problem Cas have had is that their promising talent have left as soon as the lure of a better pay day has arisen.





Its no good having a good academy if you just sign the best from other clubs.

But that is the point, Leeds, St’s, Wigan etc aren’t building squads on players they are signing from elsewhere, there success is based on the players they are bringing through at Leeds its Mcguire, Sinfield, Burrow, Watkins, Hall, at Wigan its Tomkins, Farrell, MciLorum, Hansen, O’loughlin, at Saints its Roby, Lomax, Wellens, etc.



At the ‘big 3’ there is a grand total of 1 HKR or Cas developed players. Scott Taylor.



Players aren’t being picked off by the bigger clubs, HKR (especially) and Cas aren’t producing top class players and nowhere near the level of other clubs. The reason HKR and Cas can’t invest in their youngsters and grow to challenge isn’t because these youngsters are being bought off by the bigger clubs, its because they aren’t producing sufficient numbers, of sufficient quality. In fact there are more Leeds/Saints/Wigan youngsters playing for HKR/Cas than the other way around.

Your first reply was one of the thickest I've read on here in a long while and that's saying something. Your latest response doesn't even make sense. Good all round contribution well done.

The problem we have at Cas is the fact we have the constant poaching of players from Hull FC & Huddersfield, our team is manly made up of players from our academy, so it cant be that bad we have a player in Thompson brought through the system, only to be poached away by Hull FC, it wont be announced yet there waiting for his 23rd birthday, as it will be cheaper, just like they did with Arundel, last season.



We have a young player in Milner, who captain the academy against the Aussies, then we have Clark, a player who is constantly being linked with Warrington, Leeds, & other clubs, our pack is made up with other players from the academy , the forwards Hubby, Boyle, Holmes, Thompson, Massey, Walker, then Fleming, & Martin, just breaking through, Milner & Clark at hooker, in the backs we have Clare, Owen & Shenton, that's 13 players who have broke into the first team.



We have other youth players making there money at new clubs, there is more Cas lads in the Hull FC team, than there is Hull players, but there given a 2, it's rubbish.



This new document is nothing more than a twisted look at the RL's academy system, there isn't many clubs who provide RL with more players than Cas, we wont be that fare behind Leeds, Wigan, & Saints, when it comes to what counts, & that's bringing young local players through your academy to play in the SL, or the Championship, but looking at this document it seems to suit the RFL purpose better, when it comes to choosing the next 12 teams to feature in the 2015 SL, it makes you wonder who they use to comply all these great ideas, & why the top 12 wouldn't be the right way to go????.