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Should Huddersfield's academy get more praise?


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More acknowledgement for Giants academy?

Have to agree with Jon Luke,  Huddersfield very rarely get credit for anything, but are deemed fair game for a good bashing from most within RL circles, The likes of Jack Welsby, Harry Newman, Morgan Smithies, Jack Walker etc get praise lavished on them, and quite right as they are fine young players, but Huddersfield have some young lads who are just as good, if not better than some of those and they get very little praise in comparison.

But he is right in what he says, at the moment, we have a very good set up and have produced some quality players over the years, our budget is less than half of what Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, Warrington and I believe Castleford, and also the joint City of Hull side, but we are more than holding our own and even made the semi finals in 2018 where were blown away by Wigan in the end, but a fantastic achievement nonetheless considering we rent most of the facilities and a lot of the finance comes from monies raised by the Supporters Association.

A lot of that 2018 squad are now first teamers,  Innes and Louis Senior, Jake Wardle, Ollie Russell, Sam Hewitt, Jon Luke himself and Dom Young, whilst Ronan Michael, Robson Stevens and Aidan McGowan have since signed first team contracts, Ben Bamber and Ross Whitmore left to go to rugby union, Josh Pinder was on the brink of a first team spot and Jack Flynn left to take up a career and also signed part time with Dewsbury I believe?

Oliver Wilson signed from Bradford's academy for 2019 and has now become a massive part of the first team pack, along with Matty English

Before them,  Kruise Leeming (although left for Leeds)Jake Connor (left for Hull)  Darnell McIntosh, Matty English and Sam Wood have all become integral to our first team and all have received international call ups.

And of course before them there are the senior players, Paul Reilly,  McGillvary,  Cudjoe, Lawrence, Crabtree,, again, club legends, and all vital to our first team and all with international recognition.

Although not through our scholarship, the likes of Larne Patrick, Joe Wardle, Keal Carlile, Kyle Wood, all spent time in our academy/reserve grades before becoming first graders.

Matty Dawson, Josh Johnson, Nathan Mason, Jacob Fairbank, are also through our academy system who never let us down when they played first grade.

All clubs should be striving to produce their own good, young players rather than splash the cash on star players or overseas players, all clubs should be made to develop their own, some clubs don't do nearly as well as they should be doing, for me all clubs should be made to have so many homegrown players in their matchday squads, but that's for another debate!

We don't do too bad for a rubbish little club with no fans though.

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I think what "bigger" team fans also fail to recognise is the pull the teams like Leeds and Wigan have over youngsters. For Huddersfield to produce a regular supply of home grown talent (that no doubt some will sneer at as 2nd tier) is to be applauded.

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Huddersfield's academy do really well. They're the model to follow for the clubs that aren't Leeds, Saints and Wigan or have super lavish budgets.

They are definitely in the top echelon of clubs, the crowd point is a misnomer.

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15 hours ago, meast said:

More acknowledgement for Giants academy?

Have to agree with Jon Luke,  Huddersfield very rarely get credit for anything, but are deemed fair game for a good bashing from most within RL circles, The likes of Jack Welsby, Harry Newman, Morgan Smithies, Jack Walker etc get praise lavished on them, and quite right as they are fine young players, but Huddersfield have some young lads who are just as good, if not better than some of those and they get very little praise in comparison.

But he is right in what he says, at the moment, we have a very good set up and have produced some quality players over the years, our budget is less than half of what Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, Warrington and I believe Castleford, and also the joint City of Hull side, but we are more than holding our own and even made the semi finals in 2018 where were blown away by Wigan in the end, but a fantastic achievement nonetheless considering we rent most of the facilities and a lot of the finance comes from monies raised by the Supporters Association.

Do you rent most of your facilities? I thought Ken Davy bought a new training ground setup for you 

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Yeah they should get credit for running a decent academy without the budget that other clubs have. I hope it pays off for them in the future and we see Huddersfield win some trophies in years to come... How Super League can allow teams to participate in the competition without having an academy side is madness. The very minimum should be a joint or shared academy along the lines of what the Hull sides have. So Salford & Toronto as they a based out of Roachdale could partner up for joint greater Manchester Academy!

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Out of curiosity, where do the London Broncos Academy players mostly come come from ?  Are they mostly kids from the north or does London have a decent pathway for local youngsters to come through ?

The Rugby League Fan's Mantra for helping the game grow internationally is ten two-letter words - IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME.

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39 minutes ago, The Partisan said:

Out of curiosity, where do the London Broncos Academy players mostly come come from ?  Are they mostly kids from the north or does London have a decent pathway for local youngsters to come through ?

Can’t claim expertise but I think I’m right in saying they come from a mix of local-ish schools and Southern junior clubs under their development ‘umbrella’ https://londonbroncosrl.com/london-junior-clubs/

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41 minutes ago, The Partisan said:

Out of curiosity, where do the London Broncos Academy players mostly come come from ?  Are they mostly kids from the north or does London have a decent pathway for local youngsters to come through ?

London and South East (and for a short period a few years ago a couple from the midlands when the RFL still employed development officers there). 

None of them come from the north England.

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."

Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

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1 hour ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

Yeah they should get credit for running a decent academy without the budget that other clubs have. I hope it pays off for them in the future and we see Huddersfield win some trophies in years to come... How Super League can allow teams to participate in the competition without having an academy side is madness. The very minimum should be a joint or shared academy along the lines of what the Hull sides have. So Salford & Toronto as they a based out of Roachdale could partner up for joint greater Manchester Academy!

I don't think the Hull clubs share an academy any more. I think they separated and went back to having individual club systems again.

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3 hours ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

Yeah they should get credit for running a decent academy without the budget that other clubs have. I hope it pays off for them in the future and we see Huddersfield win some trophies in years to come... How Super League can allow teams to participate in the competition without having an academy side is madness. The very minimum should be a joint or shared academy along the lines of what the Hull sides have. So Salford & Toronto as they a based out of Roachdale could partner up for joint greater Manchester Academy!

The Hull sides abolished that and now go their own way.  I was never a fan if it to start with, but that was based on the information I had.

the key word is 'dedication'.  There is a very big difference between a developments officer/coach/emerging coach and dedicated development officer etc etc.  One person can do a hell of a lot of good if they set their mind to it.

 

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On 22/05/2020 at 12:17, meast said:

More acknowledgement for Giants academy?

Have to agree with Jon Luke,  Huddersfield very rarely get credit for anything, but are deemed fair game for a good bashing from most within RL circles, The likes of Jack Welsby, Harry Newman, Morgan Smithies, Jack Walker etc get praise lavished on them, and quite right as they are fine young players, but Huddersfield have some young lads who are just as good, if not better than some of those and they get very little praise in comparison.

But he is right in what he says, at the moment, we have a very good set up and have produced some quality players over the years, our budget is less than half of what Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, Warrington and I believe Castleford, and also the joint City of Hull side, but we are more than holding our own and even made the semi finals in 2018 where were blown away by Wigan in the end, but a fantastic achievement nonetheless considering we rent most of the facilities and a lot of the finance comes from monies raised by the Supporters Association.

A lot of that 2018 squad are now first teamers,  Innes and Louis Senior, Jake Wardle, Ollie Russell, Sam Hewitt, Jon Luke himself and Dom Young, whilst Ronan Michael, Robson Stevens and Aidan McGowan have since signed first team contracts, Ben Bamber and Ross Whitmore left to go to rugby union, Josh Pinder was on the brink of a first team spot and Jack Flynn left to take up a career and also signed part time with Dewsbury I believe?

Oliver Wilson signed from Bradford's academy for 2019 and has now become a massive part of the first team pack, along with Matty English

Before them,  Kruise Leeming (although left for Leeds)Jake Connor (left for Hull)  Darnell McIntosh, Matty English and Sam Wood have all become integral to our first team and all have received international call ups.

And of course before them there are the senior players, Paul Reilly,  McGillvary,  Cudjoe, Lawrence, Crabtree,, again, club legends, and all vital to our first team and all with international recognition.

Although not through our scholarship, the likes of Larne Patrick, Joe Wardle, Keal Carlile, Kyle Wood, all spent time in our academy/reserve grades before becoming first graders.

Matty Dawson, Josh Johnson, Nathan Mason, Jacob Fairbank, are also through our academy system who never let us down when they played first grade.

All clubs should be striving to produce their own good, young players rather than splash the cash on star players or overseas players, all clubs should be made to develop their own, some clubs don't do nearly as well as they should be doing, for me all clubs should be made to have so many homegrown players in their matchday squads, but that's for another debate!

We don't do too bad for a rubbish little club with no fans though.

Out of interest, Is H still involved at Huddersfield Academy at all?  (Harold Box)

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Dom Young was supposed to go to Melbourne Storm for a Summer training camp where they could have a close look at him unfortunately for Dom he broke his foot and had to miss the opportunity.

Everything under the sun is in tune

But the sun is eclipsed by the moon

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22 hours ago, DoubleD said:

Do you rent most of your facilities? I thought Ken Davy bought a new training ground setup for you 

There's a training centre, but it's just a base and a gym etc, no training fields

There has been a bid for a disused facility but would need a lot of work doing on it, it would be a community facility that the Giants could use as a training base.

We pay rent on the facilities at Lockwood Park where our reserves, academy and scholarship play, and we pay rent on various training fields around the area.

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15 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Huddersfield’s production line is really churning them out now. Good to see.

Do these players all come from within the Kirklees district or do Huddersfield recruit from further afield?

Most from the Huddersfield area, but some from the wider Kirklees area, Halifax, Oldham and other areas of West Yorkshire mainly, although we've got a lad from Hull and an Irish international with us at the moment

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On one hand its a real shame for Halifax that so many players from the area go to Huddersfield and other teams but they really stand no chance of competing with the SL clubs. On the other hand its great to see so many players from the area having a chance in SL as it just shows the talent that the area still produces. At Siddal at the moment it almost feels like Wigan and Leeds get first choice and then Huddersfield take the rest.

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On 23/05/2020 at 08:05, The Partisan said:

Out of curiosity, where do the London Broncos Academy players mostly come come from ?  Are they mostly kids from the north or does London have a decent pathway for local youngsters to come through ?

Anywhere south of Coventry... Including Coventry actually

Hemel has a decent school league and the links are strong so plenty from there

I was there at the start of the season when they did over the Saints.... Unbelievable game and far better than the 'main' event that day

If we got to SL we would have more home grown players than most within 2 years

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23 hours ago, meast said:

Most from the Huddersfield area, but some from the wider Kirklees area, Halifax, Oldham and other areas of West Yorkshire mainly, although we've got a lad from Hull and an Irish international with us at the moment

Think I saw an interview withe irish lad... What's his name? 

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On 23/05/2020 at 23:38, meast said:

Most from the Huddersfield area, but some from the wider Kirklees area, Halifax, Oldham and other areas of West Yorkshire mainly, although we've got a lad from Hull and an Irish international with us at the moment

How many from batley and dewsbury? 

Huddersfield is not a strong rugby league area certainly in jnr rugby 

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On 23/05/2020 at 14:52, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

How many current England internationals have come through Huddersfield’s academy?

Not quite so straightforward as that is it!

Leeds, because they’re a bigger club in terms of profile & are seen as a glamour club, attract players from other areas. Leeds often get the first pick of the best talent from Wakefield, Cas, Featherstone, Oldham, Halifax & indeed Huddersfield. Those players are the ones identified as having the best chance of making it all the way through to the pinnacle of the game. It could be argued that Leeds should do better at producing players than they do.

Huddersfield Giants Academy under Andy Kelly has been hugely improved over the last 5 or 6 years and is now rated as ‘Outstanding’ alongside Leeds, Wigan, St Helens & Hull JA.

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