SAM BURGESS says Warrington Wolves’ youth programme has been delivering the goods in one bright spot of a difficult year.

The club finished a very disappointing eighth in Super League but their youngsters won the Academy competition and were runners-up in the reserves league.

Burgess took the opportunity to blood into the first team many of the players involved, including debuts to club products Ewan Irwin, Zack Gardner, James Duffy, Ewan Smith and Tom McKinney,

Indeed, a total of 20 homegrown players represented the club at senior level during the season.

And the next generation are currently showing their capabilities on a tour of Australia, thrashing Penrith Panthers’ academy side 50-10 in their opening game and then drawing 30-30 with a New South Wales representative outfit.

They will complete their tour with a match against the Gold Coast Titans Academy side this Saturday.

“We’re now starting to see a few of the younger players be ready and available to play in the first team,” said Burgess.

“I’ve got enough belief to give them a go when they’re ready. Hopefully we’ll see that keep progressing. 

“We’ve had younger players come into our group and you’ve seen them develop. The system here is really working well in that aspect. 

“Our reserve and Academy teams both made the Grand Finals so they’re doing a lot of good things. 

“It may be two years before we see the absolute fruition of that, but we’ve seen a little taste of it. 

“In that Hull KR game (in the final round) we had six players under 22 and they’ve all come through our Academy system, so we’ll see more coming through and they’ll carry the culture of the club forward.”