Problem is you've got Wigan and the like trawling the whole of the League areas picking up far too many players to fully develop right through. The ones they jettison have then missed the boat with their local club.

Indeed that has to be considered.

if my son were Sean Edwards or Sam Tomkins who were so clearly head and shoulders above the rest he'd be going to Wigan, Sts or Leeds
If he is Danny Brough he may well be playing for Wakefield (if he isn't grounded for acting like Danny Brough!)

The hard part as a parent is deciding which end of the scale your kid is. You need to rely on the local coaches to help with that but you need to find a good one you can trust with that decision. It's tough. And not a decision a supporter is always going to understand.

If you're talking purely money or prestige then yes I suppose so.

However if your talking a long term career then I'm far from convinced. At a club like Wakefield, HKR or Cas you get the chance to grow up a bit and get stuff out of your system - safe in the knowledge that you will get far more chances. Then when ready burts onto the scene, make great deals and have a long career AKA Gareth Ellis and many more.

Of course it depends on the kids personality but many a great young players career have been ruined at clubs where expectation are to high in a greenhouse environment. Not many men are fully formed emotionally or physically at 17 so there plenty of time and if you are good enough you will make it - even if the Coaches aren't as good and the gym has a leaky roof, if anything it will make a man of you - as for any initial cash loss you'll get that back eventually.

Not an easy choice I concede but there is an alternative.

Neil! it had nothing to do with money, Cas were the best club available to him, Wakefield were in very good company regarding the clubs, six in total that he was not allowed to deal with assuming of course they were interested, of the other five two weren't interested apparently two others wanted him both wanting him to play full back, he is well in front of Tierney at Wigan so with Tompkins out for three month he could have stayed where he was, the bottom line is he's desperate to play in his prefered position in the backs, and only Cas wanted him but could not offer him any guarantees and he would have to take any chances he got, that just about sums up his situation.

I agree totally. You have to weigh up what kind of career your kid is heading for, before he really knows himself.
Tough choices.

Clearly the kid has a choice too. If he wants to play for Cas or Wakefield above all other clubs then of course he should do it. Enjoying your job is an important thing in life.

But with that example in mind, in my mind Billy Conway was a better player than Martin Dermott when they played under 19s. They each went to their home town clubs. Would Billy have played for England if he'd been able to go to Wigan? Who knows. I'm sure he enjoyed playing at Wakefield and was paid to do so but the money I assume would have been better at Wigan and more importantly he'd have been running out at Wembley and the possibly Sydney Cricket Ground.
It's impossible to say and many factors change your career trajectory after 19 but when you have a direct comparison like that it makes you wonder.

Of course you could also ask did Ellis learn the skills that took him to the top at Leeds or in Oz or actually at Wakefield. He clearly wasn't the finished article at Wakefield but he got a chance to learn his game at Wakefield and develop skills that he may not have had chance to do had he gone to Leeds as a young kid. He played multiple roles at Wakefield which widened his skill set and probably as you say, improved his character and made him a man.

Not the best example to use vasty Ellis was no standout player at academy level ,with due respect to Kevin he was certainly behind king as centres went so don't think it was ever on the cards for him to join the top clubs but as we know the rest is history

The whole loan system is outdated and needs to be altered. As it is, it just allows the so called bigger clubs to monopolise talent. If clubs like Cas and wakey stopped taking young lads on season long loans from other clubs then their parent club has to play them or lose them. It's a joke.

If it's right that we tried to get him but for reasons outside our control we couldn't have him, then fair enough I can live with that.
I will now blank him out and concentrate on the players we have got, who I have to say I am pretty pleased with.
He's not the first Wakefield lad to play elsewhere for whatever reason but the club is bigger than any of them so we move on positively with the players who are at the club!

Pop Tart,I know one player who chose Wakey over ,Wigan,Leeds and Cas and gone on to play Super league and represented England at two age groups.We try to keep our young kids then on here we say,don't blame em for choosing else where, talk about upside down

When I said he could play for wakefield if he wanted, I wasn't refering to his loan spell. The fact remains he signed for wigan and not wakefield, his choice. I am not critizing him, frankly I don't care who he plays for if he hasn't chose wakefield.I wish every youngster in our game goodluck, what between agents and parents they often don't know which way to turn for the best. And no I do not know what I would do in his position, however I did turn down a job offer that would have paid me substantially more, but then again I am far older and hopefully wiser.