I don’t think 21 is too old for a first team debut for a forward. In the NRL some players are making first team debuts in their mid 20’s.
It’s my issue with the u19’s system. Some players won’t be ready until 21/22/23 so how many are being lost to the game? In football we’ve seen two players in Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy not only come through late but come through and excel and go in to be top international players. That is in a less physically demanding sport where size/strength won’t be as much of an issue. In rugby league a big kid like Kibula would get dominated in the first team now but with a good grounding in the lower leagues for 2-3 seasons he’ll be far more ready and far more likely to be able to cope.
You only get the one freak in about every ten years who can do it at 18/19 in the forwards (S Burgess, Farrell etc).
DaveO wrote:Of another SL club? Seems very well informed! That would make him 21 before a first team debut.
Yes, another SL club, and yes well informed, he's watched Kibula from his scholarship days. If you read my original post I said that the odd first team game wouldn't do him any harm. Personally I doubt he will play more than two or three, and the same for the others I mentioned. He doesn't turn 19 until August.
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I saw him in three games at the back end of last season and I would say anybody who saw those games who thinks he is anywhere near Superleague level is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Singing Warrior wrote:I saw him in three games at the back end of last season and I would say anybody who saw those games who thinks he is anywhere near Superleague level is living in cloud cuckoo land.
I saw a few more than that but agree with your general gist.
Sammy, as pointed out, needs to improve his stamina, defence and how hard he hits. You see the latter occasionally when he gets angry but he should be hitting harder given his size. A couple of seasons on dual registration would do him good. Saying that he has a good pair of hands, good step and a decent turn of pace for a lad of his size but he will not get a first team spot if his tackling doesn't improve.
dr_feelgood wrote:Sammy, as pointed out, needs to improve his stamina, defence and how hard he hits. You see the latter occasionally when he gets angry but he should be hitting harder given his size. A couple of seasons on dual registration would do him good. Saying that he has a good pair of hands, good step and a decent turn of pace for a lad of his size but he will not get a first team spot if his tackling doesn't improve.
Happens quite a bit with the very biggest players doesn't it? You see these lads ploughing through smaller players in their age group, with coaches preferring to keep it that way so they win games, rather than offering them to the next age up. Then later on the advantage disppears when the other lads develop skills to deal with it and catch up a bit physically. Not saying that's necessarily what has happened in this case, but it does happen a lot
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The_Enforcer wrote:Most idiotic post ever goes to Grimmy..... The way to restart should be an arm wrestle between a designated player from each side.
It is nice to be able to speculate about the future of a talented individual but we all know that junior potential rarely equates to future success. We have recently let several junior ex internationals go. When the reality of having to earn a living or the problems of coming back from an extended lay off become apparent lots of lads are lost to the game. We do not have a structure designed to keep players in the club's that develop them. As soon as young forwards make their debuts they know that the clock is ticking and may run out before they mature enough. Our reserves system is a joke and the best a late developer can hope for is to be picked up by a lower level club where the coaching may not be good enough to bring them through.
Last edited by Levrier on Wed Jan 03, 2018 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We desperately need to introduce a proper U23s/reserve team competition that all SL teams should be required to compete in, besides fielding U19 and scholarship teams.
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