
I was delighted to see Olly Ashall-Bott playing so well for Toulouse Olympique on Saturday in their home defeat to Warrington Wolves.
If you read his coach’s comments about his performance, you’ll see how impressive Ashall-Bott was and I’m pleased to see that he at last now has his chance for regular appearances in Super League.
Despite his obvious ability, he had only played 19 Super League matches in the last four seasons for four different clubs, never being able to claim a regular place until his latest move.
And I wonder whether some of our leading coaches contribute to lack of progress of talented young players by not giving them opportunities to play regularly, instead using them to fill in when other players are injured.
I know that Ashall-Bott has suffered some injuries in the last four years, so his limited number of appearances isn’t solely down to being not selected by his coaches.
But, as I point out in my comments about Friday’s clash between Hull KR and Castleford on page 16 of this week’s issue of League Express, Castleford Tigers are one club that seems to be going overboard on mature players at the expense of some of the younger players at the club.
I can understand why that would be, however.
When you have the danger of relegation, you will select your teams extremely conservatively.
Tony Smith, the Hull KR coach who is probably the best in Super League for giving opportunities to young players, made it clear in 2020, when there was no relegation, that it freed him to give chances to players who might otherwise have not figured in his squad.
The result is that we are now seeing players like Mikey Lewis, who was given his chance in that season, scoring great tries and providing wonderful entertainment.
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