24 hours after our best performance of the season. A performance that owed much to our faith in our youngsters and homegrown British talent. I, like most people do get excited for the team when we sign an oversees player but we achieved the performance yesterday minus our 2 “big” name signings of Woolfords , Frawley and Uate from the off season. Woodford also chose to omit Ikahihifo. What’s more, youth in the team have more than made up for the losses of Brough, Hinchcliffe, Rankin, Smith and Mamo which is impressive. Given that Frawley and Uate have not been integral, only Joe Wardle from our new signings in the off season has made a noticeable impact, and what an impact it has been!
I love seeing Ikihihifo on the pitch and I feel that Frawley and Uate need time, could seriously add to our team going forward and need our support but perhaps the success of the team without them could signal a change in the way we recruit, if it not has done so already. Perhaps spending money on less oversees recruits but making sure the quality is higher and using the rest on youth development and retention is the way a club like ours can survive and compete?
I am doing my best not to be carried away by a one off high scoring win but it seems we have made a start down this road now and we have some serious talent in the academy to continue with should we choose.

Thoughts?

COYG!

A mix of homegrown and experienced imports is needed.

yes things take time... we had our good patch around 2013 and now youngsters are coming through, will be a few more years yet but we can get back to where we were just takes time its cycle thing...we are due a change as past 4 /5 years have been really poor but sticking with it like loyal fans do

Problem is we have Frawley who is no better than Russell or Holmes and probably on 4/5 x more. If we could lose Frawley and gain a decent prop wed be far better off.

Our signings in general have been poor for some time overseas. Seb turned out to be a good signing initially but has been dire this year and last. Has 2 more years after this on a big contract too.

For me, we could lose Frawley, Seb and Uate and wouldn't be any worse off on the pitch but would be around 500k of cap space better off. Think what we could do with that?

I think the time has come now to start phasing the overseas signings out as and when contracts expire and stick with our own, unless it a marquee. Our academy is booming at the moment and will likely see more products over the next couple of years in Dom Young, Ross Whitemore & Jack Flynn coming through.

we cant just lose frawley, ikahihifo and uate

nor would they want to leave on the deals they are on.

get ikahihifo and uate firing on all cylinders would be the best option!

woolford seems dead set on upsetting ikahihifo though

uate could be a different player after the recent op

Our youngsters are still raw and learning but show a great deal of promise. What I see:
Innes- strong ball carrier, fearless, smart. To work on- aerial. Remember how bad Jerry used to be under the high ball- he worked and worked in that aspect of his game and eventually he cracked it- now he rarely misses- Innes has height in his favour too.
Mackintosh- fearless, confident, smart, good under the high ball and a good ball returner for his size, seems to be organising the defence well and the rest are willing to work for him- to work on- passing which can be erratic.
Wardle- skilful, quick, decent defensively, smart, good hands and feet, to work on- stay fit!
Leeming- outsmarts opposition, sees opportunities, excellent defender- to work on- discipline (already improving)
English - strong, fearless, hardworking, to work on-he can put himself in a position to get injured (see fearless)
Russell - fearless, not afraid to take on the big guys, good kicker, good hands, to work on- some aspects of game management (this is improving)

Waiting in the wings
Jon Luke Kirby- solid player, good hands, hard worker- needs to gain some experience, his time at Fax will help and also reserves next year
Ross Whitmore- as above- would benefit from a loan spell next year
Dom Young - athletic, exciting when he gets the ball, quick, strong needs to be a bit smarter.
Jack Flynn- good ball distributer, smart, can play at hooker or halves, terrier like in defence, needs to grow a bit!

I think Frawley will come good under Simon`s coaching. Remember, Hinchcliff was disappointing in his first year but proved his worth after that.

Who recruited those players? Andy kelly?

The club have a number of volunteers who act as scouts for spotting talented scholarship age players, these scouts bring youngsters to the attention of the club.
Sean Folan, currently head of talent, has been involved with talent spotting at giants for a long time- not sure how long- but must be about a decade! Steve Hardisty also had some involvement in that area although his role has changed over the years- he’s been with the club a similarly long length of time. Andy Kelly is head of youth so would imagine he has the final say.

yeh sure did but hinchy was being played out of position at hooker then when they played him at loose a different player

frawley is playing in his position already.

dom young could be anything coming through.... a real giant for his age!

What about Louis? I wonder why Innes is the one at the moment? Did he just get lucky because of his position.

Hasn't Uate turned up for yous?

Always thought he was a good one.