I suppose if we are having a reserve team next year it might explain some of the signings we may make. Davies on a part time deal may not be the most exciting of signings (if it happens) but he would serve as a squad member/back up.

You would hope that guys like him would be making up the reserve team alongside the more promising young players such as Wilson to help them develop at a tougher level than the academy. They will then be match fit/sharp and ready to step in when injuries inevitably bite.

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Am I the only one seriously missing the point. Talk of Academies and Reserve Teams? 10 years ago we were world champions, 100% of resources should be piled into a first team that gets us promoted. Can anybody tell me what shape Toronto's Academy and Reserve team are in?

To be fair, 10 years ago is irrelevant now and we as fans need to remember the good days with fondness, but also a lot of fans (not aimed at you, but people I know personally) keep bringing it up and we have no right to be anywhere now regardless of what we did 10 years ago.

I agree the first team needs funding. But at the same time if Franchising does come back into play (all signs point to this) then what will the Bulls or Franchise be marked on?

First Team Performances? - been declining hugely. Mirrored by the relegation from Super League and finishing last this season.
Crowds? - Yes we have decent crowds still and get more than Salford so we could potentially have this in our favour for a franchise, however these have been declining too. There is potential for it to grow though unlike Wakey, Salford and Hudds.
Stadium - In the previous franchise I think Odsal was graded as a B or C due to half of it being uncovered. Whereas I believe 8 were graded A/B with only London and Wakefield graded lower than us I think. I could be wrong (probably am). This would be a positive.
Finances - we have no money, so can't be anywhere near an operating income which would put us in a franchise place?
New Club? - Technically we are a new club, however you feel like the past 5 years will go against us in terms of Admin and Liquidation, you know what the RFL are like. New club could also be in our favour due to not having links with previous versions of the club.

The final criteria would be Academy. Now as we already know our academy set up is good and have produced some quality players, along with some 'good' players who have made it into our first team. Having a reserve grade would give us bonus points as we are creating a clear pathway for players, and also it lowers the drop off level for players after they finish at the 18's.

Also if I am lead to believe is correct, the RFL are introducing a 'rewards' system. So every club who has an academy will receive some central funding, the likes of Leigh won't get this. Whoever runs an academy will get 'reward' funding for every player they produce. However the amount will differ based on the level they play at (SL, Champ etc), who they play for (more for your own team, slightly less if they play for others) and also what kind of contract they are on. So for this season (if it was in play) we'd have received more for Bentley, Ryan, Kirk than for Rickett, Butterworth, Storton etc. So in essence running an academy and reserve grade will produce money, and also the women's team isn't to be ignored. There is a lot of funding pots available for women's sports!!

I'm with Rugbyreddog on this one; whilst I can see BB2011's point about franchising and why we'd get extra rewards/funds that is all based around IF franchasing actually gets brought back in - so that would be future planning. But how can our club be planning that far in the future, when we cant even plan 6 months in the future because we dont yet know which league we're playing in next season

I know first hand they are wanting a reserve side, which would mainly be u23's. They want to play the games at our place like they do with the u16s and u19s at the moment. The club has helped get a couple of things set up at our place as the cost factor of opening Odsal for the games is very high. Like I say they want the reserve games on, whether there will be a side is anyones guess

Who has a reserve side we could play?

Our best players the last couple of seasons have been players we've brought through the academy. Ryan last year. Bentley this year. And i'd happily put money on Butterworth being one of the best next year. So we scrap the academy and pile money into the first team, name better players we could sign than Ryan, Oakes, Bentley (who were all likely on absolute peanuts ) You seen the headlines about Jake Trueman this week? If it wasn't for off-field meltdowns, he'd be playing in a Bulls shirt. Again, probably better than any senior player out there we could have got for the same price. As would Luke Hooley, Cameron Scott, Joe Brown. If Chalmers can pay wages and the taxman on time, John Bastian will provide the goods. Give me a Ryan, Oakes, Bentley over a Blythe, Mendeika & Cameron Smith any day. The former all probably on less than the latter. Also the most crucial point is if we've brought them through the academy, they will bleed for this club. Ryan, Oakes, Bentley give their all for the shirt, unlike the dross that showed up at Fev last year.

Who has a reserve side we could play?

Well put BullMania.

Off the top of my head, I think Halifax, St. Helens, Wigan & Warrington do. But I'm completely basing some of that on thinking I saw some tweets about their "reserve player of the year" recently. Maybe we can just play Halifax reserves every week.

I think Hull have one as well. Do Leeds not run a reserve side? Bit surprised at that.