http://www.rugby-league.com/superleague ... rench-test Living in Aus I wonder have I missed something. There are no Hull Academy players

http://www.rugby-league.com/superleague ... rench-test Living in Aus I wonder have I missed something. There are no Hull Academy players

There was an interview with Netherton on the HDM website a couple of weeks ago where he basically says that they didn't have any kids good enough.
Tried to find it but think it's been taken down.

I don't know the finer details but on the face of it this combined academy doesn't exactly look a roaring success.

The only success of the joint academy is the fact it has saved money in running two academies.
Sooner it's got rid of the better .

I mentioned on here that the kids aged 14 should be looking at 6 - 10 sessions a week working on skills and conditioning.

Only when that happens will we see incredible youngsters come through in the numbers we hope for.

5 Leeds players and 3 Wigan but not one from Hull ! Need to change the way we think about development.

Train 3 mornings a week from 6.30am to 8.15am then 4 nights a week from 6.30 to 8.15pm. Then a Sat morning session and a game just once a fortnight.

Work on every little piece of the game until they are highly skilled. Blend in gym/yoga/wrestling/conditioning and we will get there.

There will be kids willing to do this I promise you. About 25 kids in Hull now do this level of training at that age in swimming !!!!! and have done for 50 years

I understand to an extent why they thought the joint academy was necessary from a player pool perspective (obviously saving money was a key driver too).

But it's a reaction to the shallow player pool in Hull, and doesn't address or help fix the situation.

Both clubs (& the RFL) need to be proactive in figuring out a solution as to how to get more youngsters in Hull playing RL. They haven't and this is the result, and in 5-10 years our first team will be suffering too.

I guarantee you that you won't find a single 14 year old or their parents willing to buy in to that schedule. I certainly wouldn't, and I've got a lad that age. It's totally unrealistic.

Should also be noted that the squad highlighted is the England's under 16s schools squad, not the under 18s Academy squad.

Agree 100%, but remember he's talking about Australia weather, not cold, wet mornings. A schedule like that would drive young players, and their parents, away from the game.

... no he's not.