So looking at those statistics a pool of 12 SL clubs will be lucky to find 24 half decent players within their ranks.Hardly enough for a decent squad at one club & with the lack of overseas quality i think our game will have to lower its sights ,or at least us fans will.

If a player's career is from 19 to 31 that gives 12 squads of 24 academy produced players. That would be brilliant but unlikely.

I'm looking forward to seeing Savelio... reckon he could have a cracking season.

Outsiders view. I think Patton is plenty ahead of where GOB was at Warrington however GOB is now a very good player now he has been first choice at Salford and got that much needed experience. He is vital to them. Problem Warrington could have is that Patton could keep being stagnated and never progress and end up in the championship where GOB will have had a better career which would be a shame as i think Patton is better. We have kind of done the same thing with Hampshire. We have held him back and held him back and now he is 22 and just been moved onto Leigh. He had bags of potential but if it goes wrong at Leigh there will be no Super League lifeline for him when he could have been an international player if given the chance. His problem is 'Ratchford Syndrome' though. Nobody seems to know where to use him.

Very good post and I'm sure I'm not the only one with the same concerns that your raise. Patton needs high pressure game time, he needs to make the mistakes and learn from them. Rather than be dipped in and out for games against lesser opponents. I think sometimes with GOB everyone was waiting for him to take control of the lesser games, whereas regardless of who the half back is, when the pack are making meters at will (like they were at times in 2011/12, tries often score themselves.



GOB's better games were against better teams, the Wigan game in the play offs, Leeds (in the MND shirt) and St George spring to mind, but he just didn't have enough time to learn from his mistakes and put them right on the big stage.



Saving grace is that neither Gidley or Brown will play 25 games this year, so he will get minutes.

I made no comment on the approach of academy coaches or how to motivate and inspire young people. Just commenting on the likelihood of players breaking though to be top SL players from the current Warrington setup to counter the hyperbole. More than likely we will rely on signing young players from other clubs again like we did this year .

I would hope that Patton t king Savelio Johnson can start to see some significant game time.



Expecting every player from the academy to break into the first team is unrealistic, not just in our own case but in other teams also. So we along with other teams will look to sign talent from other teams to imply we rely on it is unfair.



My concern is that at a club we are reluctant to give a youngster a chance to have a good run of games, unless forced by injury, if sandow/gidley were fit Patton wouldn't have got the run he had and would have lost another year. A question worth pondering is if Williams had come thru our own academy would he be in our first team now, I feel the answer would be no, he was given the hb spot by wane and was given the opportunity to sink or swim and it has paid off. He has a lot more SL experience than Patton and at a young age that's crucial. Their fans had patience and understood he was not the finished article and allowed him time to develop and improve. On the flip side reading thru our forum many people would have a fit if Patton was going to be our starting hb this season.

Quote Dezzies_right_hook="Dezzies_right_hook"I would hope that Patton t king Savelio Johnson can start to see some significant game time. Expecting every player from the academy to break into the first team is unrealistic, not just in our own case but in other teams also. So we along with other teams will look to sign talent from other teams to imply we rely on it is unfair. My concern is that at a club we are reluctant to give a youngster a chance to have a good run of games, unless forced by injury, if sandow/gidley were fit Patton wouldn't have got the run he had and would have lost another year. A question worth pondering is if Williams had come thru our own academy would he be in our first team now, I feel the answer would be no, he was given the hb spot by wane and was given the opportunity to sink or swim and it has paid off. He has a lot more SL experience than Patton and at a young age that's crucial. Their fans had patience and understood he was not the finished article and allowed him time to develop and improve. On the flip side reading thru our forum many people would have a fit if Patton was going to be our starting hb this season.'" For good or bad we do rely on it. As for "chance to have a good run of games" 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Warr ... ves_season O'Brien - 19 games Philbin - 16 George King - 19 Patton - 9 Wilde - 7 Hardly starved of the chance to sink or swim.

Quote Dezzies_right_hook="Dezzies_right_hook"I would hope that Patton t king Savelio Johnson can start to see some significant game time. Expecting every player from the academy to break into the first team is unrealistic, not just in our own case but in other teams also. So we along with other teams will look to sign talent from other teams to imply we rely on it is unfair. My concern is that at a club we are reluctant to give a youngster a chance to have a good run of games, unless forced by injury, if sandow/gidley were fit Patton wouldn't have got the run he had and would have lost another year. A question worth pondering is if Williams had come thru our own academy would he be in our first team now, I feel the answer would be no, he was given the hb spot by wane and was given the opportunity to sink or swim and it has paid off. He has a lot more SL experience than Patton and at a young age that's crucial. Their fans had patience and understood he was not the finished article and allowed him time to develop and improve. On the flip side reading thru our forum many people would have a fit if Patton was going to be our starting hb this season.'" For good or bad we do rely on it. As for "chance to have a good run of games" 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Warr ... ves_season O'Brien - 19 games Philbin - 16 George King - 19 Patton - 9 Wilde - 7 Hardly starved of the chance to sink or swim.

Quote Wires71="Wires71"For good or bad we do rely on it. As for "chance to have a good run of games" 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Warr ... ves_season O'Brien - 19 games Philbin - 16 George King - 19 Patton - 9 Wilde - 7 Hardly starved of the chance to sink or swim.'" For one reason or another, we probably over relied on these lads in 2015 and whilst we had a disappointing season and although O'Brien was moved on to sink or swim elsewhere, I don't think that it can be laid at their collective doors. I would think that in 2016 they were a year older, we recruited better and had their game time balance a bit better, maybe Philbin and Wilde were under exposed in comparison to what might deemed to be a 'normal' assessment year as far as the fans are concerned? 2017 should be a more accurate year as to who's sinking, or swimming I wish it would hurry up!!

Quote Wires71="Wires71"For good or bad we do rely on it. As for "chance to have a good run of games" 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Warr ... ves_season O'Brien - 19 games Philbin - 16 George King - 19 Patton - 9 Wilde - 7 Hardly starved of the chance to sink or swim.'" For one reason or another, we probably over relied on these lads in 2015 and whilst we had a disappointing season and although O'Brien was moved on to sink or swim elsewhere, I don't think that it can be laid at their collective doors. I would think that in 2016 they were a year older, we recruited better and had their game time balance a bit better, maybe Philbin and Wilde were under exposed in comparison to what might deemed to be a 'normal' assessment year as far as the fans are concerned? 2017 should be a more accurate year as to who's sinking, or swimming I wish it would hurry up!!

But again, why? I showed an article which had six local players from a dominant local amateur side with five international standard players from two years ago. None of which have been offered full time terms whilst players have been brought in from other clubs above them and typically on far better terms.



I can guarantee that some of them should have progressed as the ability was/is there.



The whole idea of working in the community is to provide a pathway for local players.

It's a good question.

Its probably quite simple really, the players brought in are better than the ones let go. The comments form us fans are biased towards our home grown players. Can you imagine how difficult it is to assess a player at 17/18 and decide which one is going to make it to Super League. We are just fans, friends, family etc we are not professionals at this otherwise we would all be employed by the club. Its tough when it gets to Academy >Super League and I would assume that location of player goes out of the window as its also a business.