With Super League clubs scrambling for the best stars for the 2023 season and beyond, it can be a very difficult time for players and coaches.
Those who are out of contract will want to nail down their futures as we go past the midway point in the season, but for one rugby league agent, one Super League club should change tactics.
Hull FC have been one of the big spenders in Super League in recent years, but with no Grand Final appearance to show for it since the mid-2000s, their fans have become frustrated.
For agent Craig Harrison – of Show Me The Money UK – however, the Airlie Birds need to go with youth and abandon their previous track record.
“I’m quite close to Hull FC, and I don’t think there will be wholesale changes (at the end of the year),” Harrison said on The Full Eighty Minutes podcast.
“I think they will go with youth and I think they should have gone down that route years ago.
“At the moment, they haven’t been beaten in the under-18s. Michael Shenton and Gaz Ellis have done a tremendous job there.”
Harrison believes that giving the youth players chances in incremental steps will benefit both player and club for years to come.
The fans have such a high expectation, but they should dare tell their fans and say ‘listen we’ve got nine or ten kids here that could play here for ten years and we need to put some experience with them.’
“There might be the initial pain, but they’ve got to break the back of putting players in pigeon holes.
“Give the kids a chance – five games this year and then ten or 20 next year then you will have a player there.”
