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According to Sir Kev Leeds provide the SL with all its talent, others say its Saints, whist other push fantasy areas like London.


Yet although there wasn't an official U19's league this year Trinity were by far the best team overall in the many friendlies played. However, that's not what interests me, every dog has its day and Trinity do this every ten years on average.


The interesting bit is where the talent comes from, and it is talent, as an unprecedented 4 players have been promoted from that team and they are not makeweights either.

Trinity has a lot of local armature clubs to pick from and most players come from them, sadly though the best are generally picked over by the bigger clubs.

So, Trinity decided about five years ago that they needed an alternative supply. They did this by setting up a genuine College team with Wakefield college. One that is well funded and run fulltime. Currently this team is unbeaten. There was a team before that but this was when it got serious.


Of the players promoted to first team in the last two years all but two I think came via the College. Of those at least three were relatively new to the game with little or no armature experience.

This is being achieved by taking the thing seriously. Willie Poching, Mark Applegarth and the CEO Michael Carter attend most games, that's how much it means. It's proving a great success and needs mentioning.


This of course would not be happening if Wakefield College were not 100% committed. What they offer the young players in terms of both academic and sporting support is second to none.


Other clubs need to look at this model. As the age limit game continues to shrink then this is where the talent will come from and it’s a good thing. For some reason the college players seem less jaded and more open minded, especially those to whom its all relatively new. The excitement of an 8-year-old in an 18-year-olds body, potent stuff.


Trinity is my club and in all the years I've supported them this is the best thing they have ever done. Not difficult you may say, and you have a point but that doesn't diminish this achievement.


These are the players who’ve come through and IMO this is just the vanguard.


James Batchelor
Yusuf Aydin
Lee Kershaw
Lewis Murphy
Pat O’Donovan
Sam Eseh
Harry Bowes

Isaac Shaw

Note: Some of these players were Scholarship or did have junior clubs, but all were signed thanks to the Wakefield Trinity Rugby Development Programme in association with Wakefield College, giving them the chance of a future both inside and outside the game.

Up the Trin.

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Trinity seem to be doing a few things right. I suspect a lot comes from Carter. There is a long way to go but I genuinely hope it all works out for them. Wakefield is a fairly major city and growing, with relatively little competition, other than Leeds Utd. I believe its still the Administrative centre for West Yorks.

If they could get the ground right, bring in some much needed non match day income, improve things a little on the pitch, then I suspect they could attract some strong local and national sponsors.

I believe they have more potential than a number of the bottom six.

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1 minute ago, Kirmonds pouch said:

According to Sir Kev Leeds provide the SL with all its talent, others say its Saints, whist other push fantasy areas like London.

 


These are the players who’ve come through and IMO this is just the vanguard.


James Batchelor
Yusuf Aydin
Lee Kershaw
Lewis Murphy
Pat O’Donovan
Sam Eseh
Harry Bowes

Up the Trin.

Can you provide a quote for point 1 please? 
 

As for the names you have there, compare that to the young players coming through at Leeds, we have 23 year olds Mikolaj Oledzki and Cam Smith who are now established first team players along with 21 year old Harry Newman and 20 year old Tom Holroyd.

Other young players at Leeds who will become Super League players either at Leeds or other clubs are Jack Broadbent, Jack Walker, Morgan Gannon, Muizz Mustapha, Sam Walters, Corey Johnson, Jarrod O’Connor, Liam Tindall, Levi Edwards, Oli Field and a name you may recognise in Jack Sinfield. 

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4 minutes ago, Damien said:

By far the best team? Wigan beat Wakefield 18-12 in one game and lost the other 16-18 whilst winning all their other games. I'm not sure how that equates to wakefield being by far the best team.

I never said unbeaten, jeez, but most observers thought them the best team over all. Wigan can't have everything.

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1 minute ago, Kirmonds pouch said:

I never said unbeaten, jeez, but most observers thought them the best team over all. Wigan can't have everything.

No but you did say by far the best team which plainly isn't true.

Who are these most observers? You?

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Interesting read but could you explain how the system works using the college instead of amateur clubs? Are these college players completely new to the game? If not then did they not play for amateur clubs as well/before and so get spotted by scouts of pro clubs as well? Or did they make the choice not to sign up to an academy and continue their education at college whilst playing a high level of college rugby? 

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28 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

So Wakefield finally get their finger out and take youth development seriously,good news but I’m not sure it warrants the OP love in.

Don't worry I'm sure someone will be along soon to switch to a less positive subject matter. 🙄

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as me.
 
 
Wakefield Trinity RLFC
2012 - 2014 "The wasted years"

2013, 2014 & 2015 Official Magic Weekend "Whipping Boys"

2017 - The year the dream disappeared under Grix's left foot.

2018 - The FinniChezz Bromance 

2019 - The Return of the Prodigal Son

 

 

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Well done to Trinity and Wakefield College.  Great to see young Rugby League talent being developed while also giving them opportunities to continue their education.

I don't care who does what better than anyone else, this stands alone as a good thing as far as I am concerned. 

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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4 hours ago, Damien said:

By far the best team? Wigan beat Wakefield 18-12 in one game and lost the other 16-18 whilst winning all their other games. I'm not sure how that equates to wakefield being by far the best team.

I'm pretty sure that Wakefield College are a Cat  3 academy outlet playing in the wednesday afternoon colleges league.

Good to see but I expect most of the lads will be turning out for their local amateur sides as well at weekends.

They are certainly not playing against the fully pro  Academy SL juggernauts of Wigan Warrington Leeds St Helens etc. most of whom  run not just cat 1 Academies but Cat 3 ones as well.........

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Halifax went the college route as well after the farce of the reserves. We have no chance of signing players from local amateur clubs but this route does give us a chance of picking up players who can get cast aside from SL clubs. Only time will tell though as its very early days. Its frustrating that we don't get a shot at more local players but when the likes of Wigan, Leeds, and Hudds come in and tell parents their kids are going to be the next big thing we really have no chance even though it is clear to most coaches that most of those players will not make it in SL.

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Predictable, hilarious and slightly tragic that the first response to this thread is to question whether Wakefield were actually the best academy team! 

The Wakefield College initiative has been a massive success; getting the game embedded into further education settings is a great thing. 

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40 minutes ago, Curly perm said:

Predictable, hilarious and slightly tragic that the first response to this thread is to question whether Wakefield were actually the best academy team! 

The Wakefield College initiative has been a massive success; getting the game embedded into further education settings is a great thing. 

Completely agree. This is a positive story. I've said before that outside of Elite Academies the Cat 3 academies need a massive push as this is where clubs outside of the big 4 or 5 and Championship/League 1 clubs can pick up players that might have been missed or are late developers/newcomers. 

A strong college league could help provide players to the lower leagues and SL and also be used in areas where there aren't any professional clubs. The SL clubs and RFL should be investing in the college league and setting up college teams all around the country to help spread the game and also unearth talent for the pro game

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1 hour ago, Curly perm said:

Predictable, hilarious and slightly tragic that the first response to this thread is to question whether Wakefield were actually the best academy team! 

The Wakefield College initiative has been a massive success; getting the game embedded into further education settings is a great thing. 

This is a forum. When the basic premise of how great Wakefield is doing is being backed up by a ludicrous and false claim you cant expect that to be unchallenged.

Yes Wakefield seem to be doing a fine job but there is no need for the hyperbole.

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5 hours ago, del capo said:

I'm pretty sure that Wakefield College are a Cat  3 academy outlet playing in the wednesday afternoon colleges league.

Good to see but I expect most of the lads will be turning out for their local amateur sides as well at weekends.

They are certainly not playing against the fully pro  Academy SL juggernauts of Wigan Warrington Leeds St Helens etc. most of whom  run not just cat 1 Academies but Cat 3 ones as well.........

College RL is maximum Cat 3.

Wigan, Leeds et al DO run Cat 3.

Many Cat 1 players are in the Cat 3 teams, as they are on educational courses as part of their development.

The non-pro aligned players will still play amateur as well.

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‘Category 3’ England Talent Pathway,is for-15 and under-16s players  FEV have run one with Pontefract New College since 2017 coached by Paul March

They also run coaching sessions every monday for 

Percy’s Pals – Ages 3-5 –

Junior Rovers – Ages 6-8 

Rovers Academy – Ages 9-11 

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15 hours ago, Kirmonds pouch said:

According to Sir Kev Leeds provide the SL with all its talent, others say its Saints, whist other push fantasy areas like London.


Yet although there wasn't an official U19's league this year Trinity were by far the best team overall in the many friendlies played. However, that's not what interests me, every dog has its day and Trinity do this every ten years on average.


The interesting bit is where the talent comes from, and it is talent, as an unprecedented 4 players have been promoted from that team and they are not makeweights either.

Trinity has a lot of local armature clubs to pick from and most players come from them, sadly though the best are generally picked over by the bigger clubs.

So, Trinity decided about five years ago that they needed an alternative supply. They did this by setting up a genuine College team with Wakefield college. One that is well funded and run fulltime. Currently this team is unbeaten. There was a team before that but this was when it got serious.


Of the players promoted to first team in the last two years all but two I think came via the College. Of those at least three were relatively new to the game with little or no armature experience.

This is being achieved by taking the thing seriously. Willie Poching, Mark Applegarth and the CEO Michael Carter attend most games, that's how much it means. It's proving a great success and needs mentioning.


This of course would not be happening if Wakefield College were not 100% committed. What they offer the young players in terms of both academic and sporting support is second to none.


Other clubs need to look at this model. As the age limit game continues to shrink then this is where the talent will come from and it’s a good thing. For some reason the college players seem less jaded and more open minded, especially those to whom its all relatively new. The excitement of an 8-year-old in an 18-year-olds body, potent stuff.


Trinity is my club and in all the years I've supported them this is the best thing they have ever done. Not difficult you may say, and you have a point but that doesn't diminish this achievement.


These are the players who’ve come through and IMO this is just the vanguard.


James Batchelor
Yusuf Aydin
Lee Kershaw
Lewis Murphy
Pat O’Donovan
Sam Eseh
Harry Bowes

Isaac Shaw

Note: Some of these players were Scholarship or did have junior clubs, but all were signed thanks to the Wakefield Trinity Rugby Development Programme in association with Wakefield College, giving them the chance of a future both inside and outside the game.

Up the Trin.

It's good to know Wakefield have been the best team and that players are being developed.

The most successful sides do seem to have a spine of players coming through youth sides. Combined with shrewd additions, this can contribute to a very formidable team. 

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I'm not sure what makes London a "fantasy area" in the OPs mind. Probably the only thing the club does well is produce players - northern SL and Championship  clubs are very keen to sign them.

"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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3 hours ago, nadera78 said:

I'm not sure what makes London a "fantasy area" 

It'll be monumental ignorance, half baked assumptions and not being bothered to find things out - all backed up by misplaced arrogance.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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