Pre season/ Trials

[DavidM]

6 hours ago, havenhater said:

Is there any word on another friendly?

Surly Keighley will be needing one

At the launch Leon said another one would be good so maybe they’re working on it . It’s a pretty big gap to the start 

[havenhater]

Even a select Cumbria team the week before.

No excuses with the first game being the biggest Oldham away.

[DavidM]

Just now, havenhater said:

Even a select Cumbria team the week before.

No excuses with the first game being the biggest Oldham away.

Indeed . First game but an absolutely pivotal game . This season will come down to a few big games against the other contenders 

[Gonch]

On 1/25/2019 at 2:52 PM, oldrake9 said:

If that's the case lads will probably never sign cos the seems to be a tour to the southern hemisphere every year.... The reason lads don't sign from the top NCL teams is cos most of them think they are better than they are and see signing as a backward step, either that or they ask for rediculous amounts of money to sign when they aren't even a "tested" product at this level. They would find it harder than they think. 

What a load of gash, the main reason is that the lads are happy with what they are doing, they know it's a step up and a big commitment, they give up their sat nights, holidays with their mates, festivals tours etc etc and don't want to do that unless the rewards are big. It's down to personal choice, the bull about them thinking they are better than they are is rubbish.

 

It's not every young mans dream to play for a local semi pro club

[townie88]

1 hour ago, Gonch said:

What a load of gash, the main reason is that the lads are happy with what they are doing, they know it's a step up and a big commitment, they give up their sat nights, holidays with their mates, festivals tours etc etc and don't want to do that unless the rewards are big. It's down to personal choice, the bull about them thinking they are better than they are is rubbish.

 

It's not every young mans dream to play for a local semi pro club

Totally agree. Is it a step up in quality? Yes. Do they think they're better than they are? No. It's a bigger step up in commitment, time, weekends etc etc. However, I do think we are making strides in connecting with amateur clubs

[Timmy Streets scrumcap]

I think that the arguments made here regarding top amateur lads not wanting to turn semi-pro are interesting but we tend to lose sight of some of the major factors at play here.

With a certain percentage of players,they do certainly have the belief that the "local" semi-pro teams are not of a sufficient standard to merit the investment in time,commitment ect

Also for a young local player, guaranteed playing time for his amateur club will always appeal over sitting on the bench at semi-pro level

Money is not the biggest factor for most and i would point to some possible negative voices surrounding the idea of signing for town or haven - coming not from the lads themselves but from some older more embittered heads hanging around their amateur clubs.

Also when they see some decent (but far from brilliant) local lads being able to strut their wigan tracksuits around the town....then why on earth would they not think "if he's good enough for wigan,then i aint settling for town" of course overlooking the fact that 80% of those parading around in the wigan gear today will be ironically looking to sign for a town or a haven 2 years down the line when it dawns on them that they are no closer to making wigan's first grade than they are to setting foot on the moon.

The blame for this lies squarely with the demise of the routes of natural progression through the ranks.

That progress should look like this:

Junior rugby - amateur open age or u18s at least -representative honours-onto being signed pro then working through reserve grades into first team.

Only the cream of the crop should be good enough to skip more than one of those stages

In reality too many young players arrive near to the end of that process without having gone through any of the earlier steps.And as a result are savagely ill equipped for the level at which they suddenly find themselves at. Then not surprisingly having to backpedal down to the steps which they should have taken in the first place!

As for the supply of players from certain clubs, my personal opinion is that the old Derwent park rangers should be revived as a stepping stone/feeder to the town sides for the future...but this is only a personal thought.

Sorry to be so long winded but it's a very solvable issue this one.

[Brookie]

Excellent comments. Especially the Derwent Rangers bit. Barrow have the Furness Raiders as a feeders, with some good signings

[Route66]

1 hour ago, Brookie said:

Excellent comments. Especially the Derwent Rangers bit. Barrow have the Furness Raiders as a feeders, with some good signings

Derwent park rangers are a real blast from the past,would think town could do a lot worse than look at the reds RITC schemes and see at all age groups kids playing and training at a decent standard as well as turning out for their own junior clubs

[Timmy Streets scrumcap]

56 minutes ago, Route66 said:

Derwent park rangers are a real blast from the past,would think town could do a lot worse than look at the reds RITC schemes and see at all age groups kids playing and training at a decent standard as well as turning out for their own junior clubs

When i suggest "revive derwent park rangers"...i was thinking more of a rebooted version!

I was not envisaging seeing vince running up and down the touchline in his two stripe tracksuit!! :))