Salford and Broncos fail to make RFL academy grade
Friday 4 September 2015 14:34, UK
Salford and London Broncos failed to make the grade in the latest assessment by the Rugby Football League of clubs' academies.
Junior development at six Super League clubs - Hull, Leeds, St Helens, Warrington, Widnes and Wigan - was rated as outstanding while Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull KR, Wakefield and Catalans Dragons also received category 1 status after being rated as good.
Castleford were also accredited but told to improve, but London Broncos and Salford did not reach the required standards for category 1.
RFL director of performance and coaching Jon Roberts said: "This is the fifth year that we conducted an audit process and I am pleased to report that the trend continues to be one of improvement as clubs strive for excellence throughout their academy programmes.
"The standards of players emerging from our club academies increases year on year and that player supply is having a positive impact on both Super League and England.
"Whilst it is disappointing that two clubs do not meet category 1 standard, we will continue to work with Salford and London to help them address the issues they are having with their Academies. In the meantime both clubs have been advised to apply for category 2 status."
Salford chief executive Martin Vickers expressed his disappointment over the gradings.
"The club feel that it has clearly demonstrated its commitment to the youth programme over the past 18 months and this is shown by the appointments of top-class professionals in Martin Gleeson and Garreth Carvell to run the operation going forward," Vickers said.
"The performance of this season's U19s in winning the group 2 competition and the number of academy products that have appeared in this season's Super League side all point to the massive strides the club has taken.
"Going forward however the decision by the RFL to exclude the Red Devils from the 12 clubs with category 1 status will not affect our determination to improve our younger tier.
"Our youth development will continue to be a main focus of what we do next season and we expect our category 1 status to be reinstated after the next assessment period."
