I mentioned Daine Laurie for us when French was rumoured to be leaving. He would be a decent option. The lad who made his debut for Newcastle last week was being touted for Leigh (Armstrong) and he looks another lively option from the highlights I've seen. Tristan Sailor is another they were looking at. Adrian Lam might not have worked miracles here but his eye for a player from Down Under is extremely impressive (Field, French, Ipape, Amone, Asiata) and copying his targets might not be the worst approach. Any of those 3 could go in at fullback and allow Welsby to move in to what I think would be his best position at 6.

That's often the problem when a player is stepping up from a level where they have obvious physical advantages. I suppose it depends to a large degree on attitude. I think Junior is showing that at the moment. I haven't seen Stephens play so can't comment on him individually but I think that goes for most young players regardless of size. Attitude is everything.

Quote: Zig "I am not sure that he is mobile enough or that his size will be a major asset when playing first team. He reminds me of Samy Kibula. Obviously, the lad may prove me wrong. Good luck to him.'" That’s interesting about his mobility because in this article Derek Traynor, who knows him better than anyone, talks about this speed being a strength of his. Admittedly I’ve only seen him at Castleford the other week but he certainly looked like he could move a bit for a big lad too. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ne ... -st-helens Now you’ve probably seen much more of him than I have but he doesn’t sound like there’s any concerns internally about his mobility.

Quote: Zig "I am not sure that he is mobile enough or that his size will be a major asset when playing first team. He reminds me of Samy Kibula. Obviously, the lad may prove me wrong. Good luck to him.'" That’s interesting about his mobility because in this article Derek Traynor, who knows him better than anyone, talks about this speed being a strength of his. Admittedly I’ve only seen him at Castleford the other week but he certainly looked like he could move a bit for a big lad too. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ne ... -st-helens Now you’ve probably seen much more of him than I have but he doesn’t sound like there’s any concerns internally about his mobility.

I’ve seen Stephen’s once against Wigans academy and we couldn’t deal with him tbh. Will that translate to the first team? Who knows but it’s not going to give him any less of a chance having that sort of physical presence.

What I will say though is that big lads have dominated at academy level before and not been able to translate it to first team rugby. The most devastating academy performances I can recall were from Ryan Bailey at Leeds and he never managed it. I’m not saying he had a bad career, far from it but he was killing teams at that level, going over, through or round players for fun but in the first team he ended up making a career more as a grafter and wind up merchant.

I found this interesting from the Academy coach in relation to what we've been discussing.

“Whether they all go on and reach that potential remains to be seen, But I believe this current crop of young players is as good as we’ve ever had.”

That seems a lot more nuanced and balanced than what Rush has said or what some fans seem to think is an almost foregone conclusion that they will come through and succeed at this level.