NETIGER

Strangely enough, there appears to be the odd released player back. Not sure how Thunder can afford to let players with experience in England, Yorkshire and SL set-ups disappear into the ether.

What is difficult. The majority of these are last years academy. What has happened to all the academy players from previous seasons and honestly they haven't all signed for other clubs.

Only 1 or 2 of those names are ex-academy / scholarship from previous seasons. It's those players that I am refering to. They are neither in your list or any of the teams that Thunder have put out. It looks like 3 years of academy output are nonexistent.

Not questioning about the money. Once that was gone the inevitable happened. My question though what has happened to all their players with academy / reserves / championship experience from say last season and further into the past? having these meant they would have not had to start from scratch with last years academy graduates.

Dual reg over the past 3 seasons is probably the cause of Thunder having to start their team from scratch!

Just asking but why are you starting from scratch ? Surely with Thunder having scholarship, academy and reserves for the past few seasons where are these players now? Not sure all can have just signed for other clubs at the end of last year.

Does anyone know what happened to the players who managed to beat Castleford 38-28 on that day? Would have been good to have them on hand for the Championship season ahead. Surely we cant have lost them all?

I would say that the only dual reg player that made any sense was Mickey Lewis. He was obviously way above what we had coming through and his place was easy to justify. The rest were not and that's a long list. I just feel for the lads that Thunder have lost to the game and those coming through for which they see no point in continuing with RL. Like I said I think they grew sick of the same story year after year no matter who was in charge!

Not so sure what you mean by u15s as these are not first team ready. What I am referring to is local players either in academy or reserves. Some of these had repped their country at U16 and U18 and had been offered terms by SL clubs but Thunder chose to pick SL dual reg above them. These players were offered the role of match day mascot or water carrier and watched from the sideline as we slid to another defeat wondering what they had to do to get a place. I fear that Thunder have lost at least 3 years of their academy set up who have either been lost to the game or other clubs!

Could not agree more. The abuse of dual reg with SL players of rank poor quality has seen Thunder loose at least 3 years of academy talent as there is little point when your place gets taken week after week under the excuse " that they are in a full time environment". True but many lacking in basic skills and application as they can leave and return home next week. Cant believe that money hasn't changed hands for some of the players have been sent!

Ok i get where you're coming from. However it would take a lot of convincing by a lot of discarded talent to join again as they've probably been told "it won't be like that next season" by the Thunder management for the past 4 to 5 years. For some that is the time for their progression from academy to 1st team and this has been blocked at the last hurdle for the sake of some rank poor talent been foisted upon us from SL teams. Yes a club is better than none but would be happy with a team in the bottom half of NL1 made up of local players rather than be the offshoot of some SL club. I understand why the owner lost his patience as the complete abuse of his money and the self-entitlement of so many of the M62 lads particularly during the season when we were full time was there for all to see.

So how did the agents know the information first before the players and the formal statement? Somebody must be responsible for this. Also, how do you expect agents to behave other than in their own best interests and those of the player?

Would also add that our regional talent pathway works up to the point of first team at that point you can forget it for dual reg. Doesn't matter even if you repped England or turned down SL offers showing some loyalty to Thunder. For some reason the mgt though the accademy SL players were better with little or no explanation to those involved. I don't want Thunder to be a SL reserve team thanks.

There has been too much dual reg in the past. Very little in the way of resistance in fact so much so that we played players who were injured before they even started. Felt like we have been watching Wakefield, Wigan and Hull reserves over the past 3 seasons. A reverse talent pathway has been promised for the last few seasons but never materialised. To be honest would be quite happy to play with every local player we can get rather than rely on SL for what has been some bang average talent ( e.g a nine that could neither pass one way or tackle ). Thanks but no thanks!

It also needs to be noted that Thunder effectively blocked their academy pathway with dual reg players. IT wasn't uncommon to see representative players be 18th man or water carriers whilst the dual reg players turned up straight into the first team.