St Helens promoting their youth is something they should be praised for, but one club legend believes that the root causes behind their involvement need to be studied.
The Red Vee have handed debuts and opportunities to a heap of youngsters this year, with the likes of Chris Matagi, Jack Campbell, Matty Evans and Billy Keeley all making their first appearances in the Saints first team.
Oscar Knox became the latest player to be called up from the academy to the Super League side, featuring off the bench in Friday’s defeat to Leigh Leopards.
The club have been forced to hand out plenty of opportunities due to the major injury crisis, with interim boss Eamon O’Carroll stating that there were 17 players unavailable ahead of that game against Leigh.
Former Saints stalwart Jon Wilkin is pleased to see so many players getting a crack in the top flight, but ultimately the majority of those youngsters aren’t ready for week-to-week Super League, but that is through no fault of their own.
Instead, Wilkin believes the blame lies on recruitment, with some “shoddy” signings coming back to haunt them as the season has progressed.
In an honest yet brutal review of his former club, the ex-back rower said on Sky Sports on Friday: “I’ve said it a number of times, the recruitment’s been shocking. It’s been terrible.
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“They’ve made convenient recruitment choices, short-term recruitment choices. They’ve not replaced like for like, they’ve not improved the squad, and they need to rethink recruitment strategy and how they do that because they’ve blooded a lot of young players too soon.
“There are a lot of young guys who’ve got into Super League who aren’t ready.
Wilkin does see the positive side of the youngsters getting chances, but it is not the right way that the next generation should be being introduced to Super League.
He continued: “I’m loving the ‘wow, isn’t it great’ and there’s a great future for them, but the reason they’re out there is because you’ve had an old squad at the start of the year that wasn’t durable enough to get through a year.
“They signed shoddy replacements for guys who’ve moved on – that’s why young players are having to come out and put a Saints shirt on and get flogged by Leigh.
“I’m buying the message ‘it’s all positive, we’ve got a great youth system and some young lads have had a chance,’ but if you look at the underlying reason why they’re getting a chance, that’s the issue.
“It’s the root cause of their problem – sloppy recruitment over a period of three or four years.”
St Helens need to overhaul squad says pundit
Fellow pundit Jamie Jones-Buchanan said that a “clear-out” is needed at the Red Vee once Kevin Walters comes in to the club.
The Leeds CEO said: “Nothing’s given in sport. You certainly can’t copy and paste the culture from one generation to another because context is king, right?
“Everything’s different. They probably need a bit of a clear-out. I think there’s some wisdom in what [O’Carroll] says.
“Some of the blooded young people are coming through, exceptional talent, by the way, are probably [coming through] at the wrong time, not having the best experience. There are some older players in there that may be a year or two too long.”
