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Blake Ferguson


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23 minutes ago, binosh said:

I’m sure Derek would love the chance to create a production line of homegrown talent, until the RFL see sense and allow that he’ll just have to kick and scream, Wear what he wants and find a way he sees best to try and get the club to SL and sustainable.

In the meantime the game is being led into oblivion and commercially dismantled by the dinosaur that “for now” bankrolls Huddersfield Giants the second worst supported team in SL and the home of the commercially genius £99 season ticket.

I'm not sure there were any restrictions on running an academy during DB's first 5 years as Leigh owner? He just chose not to.

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1 hour ago, Scubby said:

I'm not sure there were any restrictions on running an academy during DB's first 5 years as Leigh owner? He just chose not to.

We had an academy , where do you think Chris Hill came from ? 

You really need to brush up on your past ' Facts ' 

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12 hours ago, Scubby said:

Huddersfield got relegated in 2000 and promoted in 2001 just like Leigh did in 2004, 2017 and 2020. The only difference is that Huddersfield were building organically and long term. It is no surprise that within 8 years they had reached 2 Challenge Cup finals. People can fire shots at Huddersfield but they believed in building a club and creating home grown talent. That has allowed them to sit comfortably in SL.

Still waiting for confirmation of Huddersfield's relegation in 2000 ? 😉

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27 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

We had an academy , where do you think Chris Hill came from ? 

You really need to brush up on your past ' Facts ' 

DB has only been owner from 2014ish? I didn't know Leigh had an academy 2014-2019? Apologies if I am wrong 

Chris Hill is 35. He would have been in the academy in 2004/5

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2 minutes ago, Scubby said:

DB has only been owner from 2014. I didn't know Leigh had an academy 2014-2019? Apologies if I am wrong 

Chris Hill is 35. He would have been in the academy in 2004/5

Dereck was part of the consortium ( with myself ) that ran the club from 2002 , he left mid season in 2005 , returning ( after buying my shares ) in 2014 , we tried to run an academy from then on , but ended up with hardly any games as other clubs couldn't put teams together , us and Fev I think it was asked to join the top tier academy league to guarantee matches , but we're refused 

So just what do you expect us to do ? , If we have nobody to play ? 

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6 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Yep, 12 months out amazing 

They finished bottom 3 years running but due to both Hunslet and Dewsbury being refused entry to SL only got relegated in 2001 , they then remained full time under Tony Smith and won immediate promotion by beating Leigh in the 2002 GF replacing Salford , who them emulated them the year after , incidentally in 2003 all the NL1 ( as was then ) had to operate under a £ 250 K salary cap , and yet Salford managed to remain full time , some good accountants at Salford 

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3 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Dereck was part of the consortium ( with myself ) that ran the club from 2002 , he left mid season in 2005 , returning ( after buying my shares ) in 2014 , we tried to run an academy from then on , but ended up with hardly any games as other clubs couldn't put teams together , us and Fev I think it was asked to join the top tier academy league to guarantee matches , but we're refused 

So just what do you expect us to do ? , If we have nobody to play ? 

Featherstone carried on running an academy even in the Championship I think. Leigh were in SL in 2017 I don't remember them having one. I could be wrong.

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5 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Featherstone carried on running an academy even in the Championship I think. Leigh were in SL in 2017 I don't remember them having one. I could be wrong.

Yes they tried , but had the same issues as us , nobody to play ( other than friendlies and college teams ) as I understand it ,I might be wrong on the timing 

What any of this has to do with Blake Ferguson , who knows 

Edited by GUBRATS
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6 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Featherstone carried on running an academy even in the Championship I think. Leigh were in SL in 2017 I don't remember them having one. I could be wrong.

You do realise you can't just start and stop running an academy year on year , it's long term , basically 6 year minimum to start to see any results , we continued with the scholarship proggrame and indeed had Tommy  Makinson and Joe Burgess on our books , but once you've not got a top tier academy to follow on you lose them , even Matty Peet came through our academy 20 years ago 

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16 hours ago, Scubby said:

Featherstone carried on running an academy even in the Championship I think. Leigh were in SL in 2017 I don't remember them having one. I could be wrong.

You’ve been wrong twice already in this thread so It wouldn’t surprise me.

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55 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Chris Hill turns 35 this year, is he the last Super League player Leigh produced 

But not the only one the town of Leigh nor Fev from their junior amatuer ranks has produced Kev, if both clubs had been allowed to join the academy league those years ago, who knows how the future could have turned out.

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3 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Chris Hill turns 35 this year, is he the last Super League player Leigh produced 

Funnily enough yet another young leigh prospect has just signed for Leeds, the young son of former Leigh player & coach Kieron Purtill, that’s on top of the 4 that played for saints 2 weeks ago and the 7 that joined Wigan Warriors at the beginning of the season. 
 

Leigh as a pro Rugby League club may have a mouthy owner that spends his money how he sees fit and he my have questionable fashion sense but reality is we have the largest amateur RL club in the UK in Leigh Miners and a Leigh East club over the canal with a great youth setup, each weekend there are nearly 1000 Leigh kids playing rugby at different age groups so let’s put all the homegrown nonsense to bed once and for all. 

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On 06/05/2022 at 23:09, Scubby said:

DB has only been owner from 2014ish? I didn't know Leigh had an academy 2014-2019? Apologies if I am wrong 

Chris Hill is 35. He would have been in the academy in 2004/5

Leigh had an under 20's team in 2013, 2014 and 2015, it was scrapped for the 2016 season because 1. Most other championship teams had already scrapped theirs and 2. Championship teams weren't allowed to run an under 19's which was the proper academy sturcture in SL. The club tried to turn the under 20's into a reserves team to ty and save it but meaningful fixtures became harder and harder to come by. It certainly wasn't through lack of trying.

Leighs last under 20's squad contained the likes of Joe Bullock(Wire), Chris Hankinson(Toulouse), Ben Reynolds(Leigh), Frankie Halton(Hull KR), Mitch Cox(Swinton), Jack Hansen(Swinton) and more.

 

 

https://www.leighjournal.co.uk/sport/10310635.comfortable-for-centurions/ 

https://daveparkinson.tumblr.com/post/45370640089/leigh-under-20s-continue-unbeaten-start-to-league

 

 

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4 hours ago, LeytherRob said:

Leigh had an under 20's team in 2013, 2014 and 2015, it was scrapped for the 2016 season because 1. Most other championship teams had already scrapped theirs and 2. Championship teams weren't allowed to run an under 19's which was the proper academy sturcture in SL. The club tried to turn the under 20's into a reserves team to ty and save it but meaningful fixtures became harder and harder to come by. It certainly wasn't through lack of trying.

Leighs last under 20's squad contained the likes of Joe Bullock(Wire), Chris Hankinson(Toulouse), Ben Reynolds(Leigh), Frankie Halton(Hull KR), Mitch Cox(Swinton), Jack Hansen(Swinton) and more.

https://www.leighjournal.co.uk/sport/10310635.comfortable-for-centurions/ 

https://daveparkinson.tumblr.com/post/45370640089/leigh-under-20s-continue-unbeaten-start-to-league

 

 

That sounds a different story than what Beaumont said where its clear that for 2016 they put all their eggs firmly into the getting into Super League basket:

Centurions scrap reserve team to concentrate on Super League push

LEIGH Centurions have scrapped their reserve side for 2016 as the club looks to nail promotion back to Super League.

The news was broken to players on Tuesday night by reserves head coach Paul Anderson, who will retain a role on the first-team coaching staff.

“Sometimes in life and business you have to take tough decisions that won’t always be popular,” admitted head of rugby Derek Beaumont.

“But what is important is that you make the right one for the business at that time, removing all emotion and that I believe is what we have done on this occasion.

“We discussed this as a group, myself, Rolls (Paul Rowley), Jukesy (Neil Juke), Finny (Simon Finnigan) and Ando (Anderson) and all agreed it was best to take a year out whilst we focus our energies on getting to Super League where we can build a platform to set up some solid structures to bring players through,” added Beaumont.

“I am fully aware of the need to build a club from the bottom up with academies and scholarships and internally we are assessing the viability of the three RFL academy structures moving forward.

“As an aspiring Championship club knocking on the door of Super League we need to assess the best medium to long-term pathway, rather than ticking a short-term box, which has often been proven to limit the development of our younger players while also hindering the local community game, which is so important to us.

“The reserves area is currently in transition with some of the Super League clubs looking to run with the old-style reserve-team structure.

“We have been involved in discussions relating to this and were honoured to be invited to compete within that format.

"However, that will be an extremely tough competition and one that at this present time we couldn’t do justice.”

......

Leigh have invested heavily in their Super League dream and continue to do so after confirming the arrivals for 2016 from Salford of Harrison Hansen, Cory Paterson and Rene Maitua. Former England star Rangi Chase also seems set to join them.

“I believe the energy towards the first grade and the signings that we have made will pay dividends in enabling us to then build a reserves team to compete in the higher league,” added Beaumont.

https://www.leighjournal.co.uk/sport/13848928.centurions-scrap-reserve-team-to-concentrate-on-super-league-push/

 

Edited by Damien
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5 hours ago, Damien said:

That sounds a different story than what Beaumont said where its clear that for 2016 they put all their eggs firmly into the getting into Super League basket:

Centurions scrap reserve team to concentrate on Super League push

LEIGH Centurions have scrapped their reserve side for 2016 as the club looks to nail promotion back to Super League.

The news was broken to players on Tuesday night by reserves head coach Paul Anderson, who will retain a role on the first-team coaching staff.

“Sometimes in life and business you have to take tough decisions that won’t always be popular,” admitted head of rugby Derek Beaumont.

“But what is important is that you make the right one for the business at that time, removing all emotion and that I believe is what we have done on this occasion.

“We discussed this as a group, myself, Rolls (Paul Rowley), Jukesy (Neil Juke), Finny (Simon Finnigan) and Ando (Anderson) and all agreed it was best to take a year out whilst we focus our energies on getting to Super League where we can build a platform to set up some solid structures to bring players through,” added Beaumont.

“I am fully aware of the need to build a club from the bottom up with academies and scholarships and internally we are assessing the viability of the three RFL academy structures moving forward.

“As an aspiring Championship club knocking on the door of Super League we need to assess the best medium to long-term pathway, rather than ticking a short-term box, which has often been proven to limit the development of our younger players while also hindering the local community game, which is so important to us.

“The reserves area is currently in transition with some of the Super League clubs looking to run with the old-style reserve-team structure.

“We have been involved in discussions relating to this and were honoured to be invited to compete within that format.

"However, that will be an extremely tough competition and one that at this present time we couldn’t do justice.”

......

Leigh have invested heavily in their Super League dream and continue to do so after confirming the arrivals for 2016 from Salford of Harrison Hansen, Cory Paterson and Rene Maitua. Former England star Rangi Chase also seems set to join them.

“I believe the energy towards the first grade and the signings that we have made will pay dividends in enabling us to then build a reserves team to compete in the higher league,” added Beaumont.

https://www.leighjournal.co.uk/sport/13848928.centurions-scrap-reserve-team-to-concentrate-on-super-league-push/

 

And just like that, the Leigh fans disappeared....like magic...

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6 hours ago, Damien said:

That sounds a different story than what Beaumont said where its clear that for 2016 they put all their eggs firmly into the getting into Super League basket:

Centurions scrap reserve team to concentrate on Super League push

LEIGH Centurions have scrapped their reserve side for 2016 as the club looks to nail promotion back to Super League.

The news was broken to players on Tuesday night by reserves head coach Paul Anderson, who will retain a role on the first-team coaching staff.

“Sometimes in life and business you have to take tough decisions that won’t always be popular,” admitted head of rugby Derek Beaumont.

“But what is important is that you make the right one for the business at that time, removing all emotion and that I believe is what we have done on this occasion.

“We discussed this as a group, myself, Rolls (Paul Rowley), Jukesy (Neil Juke), Finny (Simon Finnigan) and Ando (Anderson) and all agreed it was best to take a year out whilst we focus our energies on getting to Super League where we can build a platform to set up some solid structures to bring players through,” added Beaumont.

“I am fully aware of the need to build a club from the bottom up with academies and scholarships and internally we are assessing the viability of the three RFL academy structures moving forward.

“As an aspiring Championship club knocking on the door of Super League we need to assess the best medium to long-term pathway, rather than ticking a short-term box, which has often been proven to limit the development of our younger players while also hindering the local community game, which is so important to us.

“The reserves area is currently in transition with some of the Super League clubs looking to run with the old-style reserve-team structure.

“We have been involved in discussions relating to this and were honoured to be invited to compete within that format.

"However, that will be an extremely tough competition and one that at this present time we couldn’t do justice.”

......

Leigh have invested heavily in their Super League dream and continue to do so after confirming the arrivals for 2016 from Salford of Harrison Hansen, Cory Paterson and Rene Maitua. Former England star Rangi Chase also seems set to join them.

“I believe the energy towards the first grade and the signings that we have made will pay dividends in enabling us to then build a reserves team to compete in the higher league,” added Beaumont.

https://www.leighjournal.co.uk/sport/13848928.centurions-scrap-reserve-team-to-concentrate-on-super-league-push/

 

Not really, the u20's competition didn't run in 2016 and was replaced by a multi-divisional reserves structure. From what I recall, only around 8/9 teams ended up entering this and several dropped out during the course of the season. Yes you can say Leigh could have joined this new reserve structure, but since it was ran pretty farcically and ended up pretty quickly disbanding DB probably made the right decision.

 

 

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1 hour ago, clogdance said:

Back on topic, wonder if Blake will make his debut at Batley next Monday (on Premier Sports) that should be an unusual experience for him. 

Not heard anything official about him. Bet he wasn't involved because he only arrived on Wednesday.

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22 hours ago, binosh said:

Funnily enough yet another young leigh prospect has just signed for Leeds, the young son of former Leigh player & coach Kieron Purtill, that’s on top of the 4 that played for saints 2 weeks ago and the 7 that joined Wigan Warriors at the beginning of the season. 
 

Leigh as a pro Rugby League club may have a mouthy owner that spends his money how he sees fit and he my have questionable fashion sense but reality is we have the largest amateur RL club in the UK in Leigh Miners and a Leigh East club over the canal with a great youth setup, each weekend there are nearly 1000 Leigh kids playing rugby at different age groups so let’s put all the homegrown nonsense to bed once and for all. 

So only 2 amateur clubs in this hotbed of a rugby league town? 🧐

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