That is VLV's preferred 17. I would counter that Craven, Owens & Gerrard will get more gametime this year on top the exposure they had last season (there is an argument that Paddy Flynn who has significant 1st team exposure could be classed as a youth product). Furthermore we have added Hulme, Gilmore & Lawton to the squad and I'd expect to see them feature when necessary this season.







^ see above re: Academy products. The club made it clear even before they gained a SL place that they would develop youth and we are seeing at least half a dozen who have the ability to play in the 1st team now - that was reflected in the performances on the field in the championship after SL status was granted.



What my point is though, regardless of what fiscal constraints each club find themselves tied by, the club (not just Wire, although you are perhaps more active in this area) should be giving youth its chance rather than throwing the cash at seasoned pro's. Granted it's bought you short term success but as a number of your players are getting a bit long in the tooth, my view is that the youth should be given more game time in order to prepare them to fill the older players boots rather than just throwing more cash at old pro's.







See above

To be fair you can't have it both ways. A couple of pages back when it was being suggested that the same players you are now claiming to be first teamers were first teamers it was yourself who was claiming they weren't (isn't Gerrard a product of Wigan's Academy anyway?).



Anyway I enjoyed the day out. I thought it was the most enjoyable Boxing Day fixture for some year. Probably helped by Warrington only going with a 17 man squad against Widnes' 19 man squad plus a game.



I hope the two Widnes players with non-contact related ankle injuries are ok obviously such injuries are in no way related to the i(njury)-pitch.

All this arguing about who is and who isn't in the first team squad, and yet nobody has mentioned anything about the fact that the Chemics played 6 overseas players in a friendly. that doesn't seem to me to be a club that has at least half a dozen young players who are ready for first team rugby.

Not sure I follow Paul. I've simply stated that we are giving youth more of a go than yourselves.....not sure on Gerrard, you could be right but as he's young and has been at Widnes for a few years I just assumed. The lads mentioned have earned the right to play 1st team and by and large they are youth products of Widnes.



Just checked, Gerrard came to Widnes from Hindley Giants. He's been with us since he was 16/17.



Glad you enjoyed the day





If you can be bothered looking back, you'll see there are a number of British players who were missing from our line up. Most of the young lads aren't just ready, they've already been there.

It was my preferred 17, maybe craven would make it over mellor. However would you seriously argue the case that in our current situation you'd prefer Owens and gerrard in your starting 17 instead of who I chose? I'd find it difficult.



Jack Owens has only played fullback. We have Shaun briscoe, if he is injured like last year 99% of the time phelps would cover that position.

Although gerrard is young and come through the academy, I would Definately currently favour Davies, cross, pickersgill and ocarroll

What I'm saying is we are giving our academy products their chance as they are good enough to be given a go rather than signing experienced players en masse. We saw on Boxing Day that Wire have some excellent young lads so I guess I'm a little mystified as to why they need so many 'old' stagers



I'd find a place for Craven every week and Gerrard is good enough to do the job when called upon. I'd go with Phelps at centre and Owens to cover Briscoe WHEN he's out injured

.

So if they're ready, why play the journeymen overseas players?

Going round in circles here. You can't (as you probably well know) throw kids in en masse as they would get physically hammered without the aid of older pro's. This is why I can't understand why your young lads aren't given more of a go. You have the perfect opportunity as your kids appear good enough to be blended in to such an experienced team.

How much cash have Wire ' [ithrown at old pros[/i' in recent years? We've extended a few contracts, mostly for players like Morley and Westwood who've been at the club for years already, but with the exception of Trent Waterhouse we have signed no-one new over 30 for a long time. Riley, Williams, Evans, Dwyer, O'Brien, Currie, Cooper, and Blythe have all come through the youth development process and made genuine first-team starts in a team currently riding high, where competition for places is very tough. It's a good thing that Widnes are backing youth, but my point remains that it's easier for a young player to get into a mid-lower ranking team than into a top one with senior ( but by no means old ) players already well established.

I know where your coming from Red chemic. In my starting 17 I would include 1/2 homegrown players maximum. However we will have injuries and this will make way for the likes of gore, Gilmore, craven and mellor. It's hard also because at our halves we have hanbury and brown, two brilliant players.



Before we introduce the youngsters we need to be winning on a constant basis and not getting hammered every week. This is where it's easier for the likes of Warrington to bring youngsters in, they have a lot of talent throughout the team where we don't have as much.



This will be a defining Samson for widnes, if we pick up a few signings for next season and win lets say 10 games this season instead of 6 last year, we will then start to feature our homegrown players on a more regular basis.

7 pages for a friendly, impressed.

I thought Carvell was our stand out player. He looked to be a man playing with a bunch of school kids for most of the game. Obviously his knee op has gone well and he has come back with a bang. Look forward to seeing him this season. Our other stand out was Higham. He made a lot of good yardage and his solo try probably turned the game when Widnes were starting to get back in the game.



Paul Wood looked a bit tentative, but soon got into his stride, and Coops was not very prominent despite his try. Riley was very busy, but well marked most of the time.



I thought GOB had a few nice touches showing off his handling skills, and was 100% on his kicking duties.



In the forwards, Laithwaite and Currie got through a fair amount of work. Currie looked the more dangerous and accomplished player. He scored a decent try and showed some good handling skills.



I quite like Mendeika, he is developing quite nicely and is always on hand when someone makes a break. His try required a bit of finishing off (as opposed to a straight run in ).



I am afraid I was not too impressed with Williams, he seemed too quiet.



Although the back line was very disjointed, Rhys Evans looked very solid. I much prefer him at centre, I don't think he is a natural winger ( just as Riley is not a natural fullback). He is dangerous with ball in hand and of course has pace to burn. I hope we see him play a good number of first team games this year (at centre please TS).



Finally, the Widnes pack look far too small to me. I think they are really going to struggle against some of the bigger packs. However, they do seem to have some good backs.