nick hkr wrote:The structures across the whole of the UK are to blame for lack of talent. In Aus they have sports schools that partake in at least 1 hour of sport a day and half a day of pure sport on one day per week. A badly written letter from mummy saying they can't do PE is not accepted and a school dr is the one who makes the decision.
Likewise schools offering burgers and chips for lunch rarely happens and pupils are not allowed off site to go and get fast fatty foods. They are lifting weights from younger ages than here and their school comps are the main comps not an amateur league where players only turn up if the weather is nice and training consists of a whole squad not 5 or 6 that want to play touch and pass as happens at many amateur clubs here.
If the talent is going to improve throughout the country then more needs to be done at school level and that comes from a lot higher than just the two Hull clubs or even the RFL. As the sport is not a class A sport it will never be on the priority list for schools to include it but sport as a whole needs to be. If pupils had to do sports every day we'd have less weight problems, they'd be fitter and even if their training was in Rugby Union, the transferable skills would be easy for RL teams to spot.
As for the combining of younger age groups, it is a good idea IMO, the talent is spread too thinly at the moment and watching Sirius academy wipe the floor with most teams they play against across the country shows their dominance and the beauty of having such good training facilities at their disposal. I'd probably say up to U18 level could be much better with the clubs having an even pick of the talent.
It is certainly something to keep our eyes on to see if it works plus a real money saver for both clubs as these teams are not cheap to run.
Good points here Nick - we are all subject to how our teachers and in that I include parents and team coaches approach 'competitive nature'.
There has been a genreal malaise to competitive sport in education for many years - however I feel this is about to change for the better - after all if we are competitive in sport we will be competitive in life and that includes business and work environments.
