Well over 50% of Wigan's first team squad are products of their academy, and there can't be too many other clubs in Super League who haven't got one or more Wigan academy products in their squads. Leaving aside some vague notion of a club never being able to spend enough on youth development, what more do you think they can realistically do?



By linking youth development to the marquee player, you're forcing those clubs that already invest in youth development to invest even more - in all likelihood taking them way past the point where they experience diminishing marginal returns - because other clubs don't invest enough. Penalising them for the failures of others, effectively.



In addition, by making the marquee player 50% more expensive, you're restricting it to even fewer clubs and driving an even bigger wedge between the haves and the have-nots.



Youth development is massively important to the sport, and yes, more should be spent on it, but linking it to the marquee player doesn't seem to be a fair and equitable way of achieving it.