Under 20s v Castleford - Saturday 2pm



And added in at short notice for Sunday 2pm has been Under 18s v Wakefield



Both at Orrell. The 18s fixture had previously been waterlogged off three weeks ago.

With the U18's having six players on tour in Australia, I wonder if any of the U16's will get a call up as they have completed their fixtures?

No. I'm told it's been banned.

Correct can't play until next March.

What's the point in having that rule? I thought the under 18's competition wasn't even a competitive tournament? What's the thinking behind it?

Not sure. But when asking our Under 18s coach on twitter, he said "I think its better to be honest" so......



Without Joe Burgess, Ryan Hampshire, George Williams, Lewis Tierney and Ryan Sutton, this will be a big test for those that remain. A test that is not often provided at Under 18s and probably better to guage players than if you upgrade the best of the Under 16s.

And what's changed? Last year the likes of Hampshire, Williams, Tierney, Burgess, Wright, Lever etc played in the 18's in July (straight out of the U16's team)

Has to tow the "party line" on behalf of the club I suspect.



Tony Smith at a fans' forum this week expressed his belief that the changes being proposed to academy and scholarship rugby would lead to a reduction in the number of young players being developed and a corresponding increase in the number of average Australians playing in Super league.

That's a bit rich coming from a the coach of a team with the oldest squad in Super League, and a coach who has used the full overseas quota at every team he has had.



He's still entitled to his opinion though, and as we all know, this is the RFL and things change constantly, and not always for the better.

The first thing to note on the under 16's is that this season the North west counties 16-18's changed to a summer season therefore the lads in question still have commitments at their amatuer clubs until October. Last seaosn the lads had finsihed their commitments as they came off the back of a winter based season. I think there would be uproar if this seasons under 16's didnt go back to complete the fixtures (although the season has been a disaster)



They dont have this problem in Yorkshire as they still play Winter.



Changes in the scholarship and acadamy are good for the game for development of the youth but the re structure of the middle section with kill superleague as we know it, there will be no room for half baked aussies as contracts will be of a premium, dare i say though this is being driven not by the RFL but by the men who pull the purse strings who 9 times out of 10 know naff all about rugby league

Warrington have a spare quota spot this season. HTH.

But not one of your five overseas players under the age of thirty.