Players of the future?

[RunningRugbyRL]

Could someone with a big more knowledge than me on the current Thunder academy give any insights into which players look exciting coming through and which, if any, could make the grade in the championship next season?

In the last couple of seasons, Thunder have talked a good game on bringing kids through for the first team, but none of them have really gotten a look in, playing no more than a handful of games between them. Josh McDermott, Jake Anderson and Nathan Clemmitt were all promoted this season and none of them have really gotten a chance, with Betts and O'Carroll favouring bringing players in on loan from other clubs than giving these lads much of a chance.

The same could be said of Alex Donaghy, who has been shifted around from fullback to wing, despite neither being his natural position. Donaghy played at stand off all throughout his youth career and represented England and Yorkshire in the 6 shirt. I would like to see him given a good run at 6 in the championship, as he has all the skills needed to flourish there, he just needs to be given that shot.

Isaac Nokes is the only player of recent times that has been given a shot at the first team and has established himself as first choice centre. Granted, if Tom Minns didn't leave early and Jesse Dee wasn't injured as much, it may have been a different story, but he has taken the bull by the horns and for me, should be given the number 3 or 4 shirt next season.

Going forward, I would like to see Thunder put more emphasis on bringing young players through into starting first team positions.

Thunder need to start walking the walk when it comes to their youth development and give youngsters a shot to establish themselves as first team players. This would both save the club money on players and would help to forge an identity that the club has been lacking since Betts and O'Carroll came in.

Edited September 14, 2022 by RunningRugbyRL

[Phil W]

On 14/09/2022 at 15:14, RunningRugbyRL said:

Could someone with a big more knowledge than me on the current Thunder academy give any insights into which players look exciting coming through and which, if any, could make the grade in the championship next season?

In the last couple of seasons, Thunder have talked a good game on bringing kids through for the first team, but none of them have really gotten a look in, playing no more than a handful of games between them. Josh McDermott, Jake Anderson and Nathan Clemmitt were all promoted this season and none of them have really gotten a chance, with Betts and O'Carroll favouring bringing players in on loan from other clubs than giving these lads much of a chance.

The same could be said of Alex Donaghy, who has been shifted around from fullback to wing, despite neither being his natural position. Donaghy played at stand off all throughout his youth career and represented England and Yorkshire in the 6 shirt. I would like to see him given a good run at 6 in the championship, as he has all the skills needed to flourish there, he just needs to be given that shot.

Isaac Nokes is the only player of recent times that has been given a shot at the first team and has established himself as first choice centre. Granted, if Tom Minns didn't leave early and Jesse Dee wasn't injured as much, it may have been a different story, but he has taken the bull by the horns and for me, should be given the number 3 or 4 shirt next season.

Going forward, I would like to see Thunder put more emphasis on bringing young players through into starting first team positions.

Thunder need to start walking the walk when it comes to their youth development and give youngsters a shot to establish themselves as first team players. This would both save the club money on players and would help to forge an identity that the club has been lacking since Betts and O'Carroll came in.

The difficulty is the step up to The Championship is a big step. It would be useful to have a club in League One to dual reg with.

I don't think the reserves works particularly well for player development. Ideally north east clubs in the conferences would be great but travel etc is a big commitment.

[NETIGER]

It would be fair to say that 3 of the names mentioned play in the forwards and it could be argued that this is a bigger step to make physically than the backs and particularly outside backs. The club will need some experienced forwards to help nurture these 3 into regular players without an excessive workload.

Similarly and inexperienced half back would need a helping hand in the halves and a centre in my view requires a back row that can really help in defence.

Its all a bit of a juggle really between getting experience and risk the result and I appreciate the constraints that Freddy must have been work with. What though has been difficult to understand in that we have loaned players of similar stature and ability from SL clubs seemingly at the expense of local talent. Subconcious M62 bias perhaps?