I know it has been mentioned in passing before, but confirmation in the Bradford match Rovers Review that the city's two pro RL teams are in consultation with the RFL about possibly sharing an under-18s set-up, with a draft system for players turning pro. Interesting concept, kind of makes sense but would be bound to be a bit controversial. Possible case for restraint of trade if one club drafts a player and they want to play for the other? Works in the free-market USofA, mind you. Always potential for trades, I guess.

Not if the said junior had agreed to it and signed or had parent/guarden(Sp) sign it.
Also I belive in the NFL/AFL it is lowest league position gets first pick.

sounds good but will it work and what would other teams think or do

So we'd halving the amount of juniors playing at that standard?

What about players like Welham who weren't the best at that age but developed at a older age?

Welham didn't play rugby at that age.

It could work, however, what's stopping other clubs coming in for the players?

I thought he was released from Hull's juniors??

Anyway, I don't think it would work. The Afl clubs are continually accused of losing games to get the better pick.

That's the downside. But I've seen it said that a lot of the kids are just making up the numbers. And by forming a - what's a polite euphemism for 'cartel'? - it removes an inflationary pressure and means more can be spent on infrastructure and facilities. As does having fewer players in the system.
The RFL might wonder if there isn't enough talent to support two academies, is there enough for two clubs, given the extent to which they see the clubs as player-production for England. At the end of the day though, as long as we get enough through the gates to be able to make up numbers with players from places like Featherstone Lions, there'll be no threat of a merger.

It wouldn't be a lower place gets first pick system. More likely alternating year by year.
I think, to even it out further, the team that gets second pick should get third too. So:
A:1
B: 2 & 3
A: 4 & 5
B: 6 & 7

and so on.
Or maybe Hudgell and Pearson could play egg-bacon live on Look North - that'd be ace.

What if the the stand out player from the age group was head and above the rest? What's the point of the 2 and 3 choice then?

And what about the players who gain a semi pro career from the training? Losing players from that age group may have a knock on effect for championship clubs.

The first point - just the luck of the draw then, innit? Across enough years it should even out. 2 & 3 represent the best consolation. Equally, what if there are 3 equally fantastic players coming through - 2nd choice is arguably better. The clubs would have to accept such vagaries of fortune.

The second - only a fraction get into SL or even the Championships. The wastage is significant. Most who do go to semi-pro have done a year or two at under-20s, I'd reckon.

Whether we'd be judging players to early and discarding late-developers is a fair point. But if they're tearing it up for West Hull or Dockers, they could be brought in later. It doesn't have to be a closed system.

Can see this working ok.

Let's face it up until Rovers gained promotion to Superleague this is effectively what we had. All the decent players joined hulls academy. Hall and Cooke are two players who probably never would have signed for Hull if Rovers were top flight. Since Rovers have been in superleague they have produced far more decent youngsters than they did prior to promotion.