Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Wed May 22, 2019 8:03 pm  

Both signed extended deals with the club. I can assure you all these 2 young men are destined for big things in the game.

Get down and support the u19s, good standard of rugby and chance see our next generation of 1st team players develop

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 8:36 am  

Unless my memory is playing up again, I think it is quite unusual for a first year (Connor Wrench) to sign a 3 year contract.

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 8:42 am  

It's great signing these young gems to keep them at the club ,but how many actually get to sparkle at the Wire. The lads would probably be better released to clubs that are happy to play their young lads in order to develop them. There is every chance they will become just the next intake of Dec & Harvey as we continue to go after names from abroad to try & bring success.

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 8:57 am  

Winslade's Offload wrote:

Unless my memory is playing up again, I think it is quite unusual for a first year (Connor Wrench) to sign a 3 year contract.

Agreed, he was picked for an England u18s trip to France last year at just 16.

Both seem a good prospect, however I agree we don’t seem to give our youngsters the same first team oppprtunities that a lot of our rivals do.

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 9:19 am  

ninearches wrote:

It's great signing these young gems to keep them at the club ,but how many actually get to sparkle at the Wire. The lads would probably be better released to clubs that are happy to play their young lads in order to develop them. There is every chance they will become just the next intake of Dec & Harvey as we continue to go after names from abroad to try & bring success.

Joe Philbin, Ben Currie & Toby King have been given plenty of gametime having come through the Academy. I agree we need to improve the number of Academy products coming through to first team, but I think that is more to do with development between the ages of 16 - 19 and talent identification, rather than being given the opportunity to progress to first team.

I think if they are good enough they will be played.

I also think efforts need to be made (and they seem to be, to be fair) to improve the relationship between Warrington and the amateur clubs in the town, as well as encouraging more kids to pick up the sport. The more Warrington lads we have playing, the bigger the pyramid, the more likely we are to have greather numbers of Warrington lads wanting to play for the town team.

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 9:38 am  

I am a great believer in bringing through & playing our young & enthusiastic talent ,more so than spending mega bucks on antipodeans who may or may not want to be here ,& who soon seem to get itchy feet once they sniff a new contract back home. The commitment shown by our youngsters will not be equalled by many of today's imported players.

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 9:48 am  

ninearches wrote:

I am a great believer in bringing through & playing our young & enthusiastic talent ,more so than spending mega bucks on antipodeans who may or may not want to be here ,& who soon seem to get itchy feet once they sniff a new contract back home. The commitment shown by our youngsters will not be equalled by many of today's imported players.

No but equally, Steve Price has the job of putting together the best squad he can on the budget he is given. If I walk out of Old Trafford this year with us having won the Grand Final I wont be thinking, 'If only we had more academy players in that side'.

Developing and bringing through young players obviously plays a big part in any teams success, but the players need to be good enough to earn a place in that squad. If they are, play them, if they are not, bring someone in who can do a better job.

The club always makes a big thing around youth development, and seem to spend plenty of money in that area without seeing the results. They seem to have invested heavily again bringing in a recognised coach in Paul Anderson to take the reins, hopefully the renewed focus along with the reserve side will help us produce more players who are ready to challenge for a first team place in the future.

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 10:06 am  

ninearches wrote:

It's great signing these young gems to keep them at the club ,but how many actually get to sparkle at the Wire. The lads would probably be better released to clubs that are happy to play their young lads in order to develop them. There is every chance they will become just the next intake of Dec & Harvey as we continue to go after names from abroad to try & bring success.

What does being the next intake of Dec and Harvey mean? That they will be given extensive opportunities to prove themselves in the first team like those two?

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 12:29 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

What does being the next intake of Dec and Harvey mean? That they will be given extensive opportunities to prove themselves in the first team like those two?

Beat me to it.

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Riley Dean and Connor Wrench : Thu May 23, 2019 1:27 pm  

ninearches wrote:

It's great signing these young gems to keep them at the club ,but how many actually get to sparkle at the Wire. The lads would probably be better released to clubs that are happy to play their young lads in order to develop them. There is every chance they will become just the next intake of Dec & Harvey as we continue to go after names from abroad to try & bring success.

Since 2004 we have had 34 players from our Academy that have made a SL debut. Only 13 are currently still playing at SL level, 7 of which are still with the club (Cooper, Currie, Philbin, King, Patton, Jack Johnson, Livett). The rest have retired or are playing in lower divisions. So I think you can say that we have certainly given the Academy prospects a chance to shine, but we simply haven't produced sufficient quality for a top 4 side.