There was a post recently on either facebook or twitter from one of the guys who does a podcast i think

Wigan was 2nd only to the NRL for the production line of players, based on where that player made their original academy debut (i think it was from). that includes players still within the club and other SL teams, so we had Faz for example as an academy product

The challenge for Wigan is how do we retain the best of the production line, alongside smart recruitment of both UK and NRL trained players. At this moment in time it feels like that balance is about right as we are in a period where we are winning trophies, albeit we have lost a couple of promising 2nd rowers to Leeds and Wire, and then Smithies and KPP to the NRL last year.

I rate Nicholson extremely highly. He'd be a regular starter here now IMO and we may not have signed Walters had he stayed. He hasn't got the natural size of Nsemba and Walters but he's big enough and has a great engine. He's the sort of lad who would go great alongside a Walters or Nsemba and bring a nice balance. He could've replaced Smithies as well, so I do think he's been a loss to the club but we've done unbelievably well to get ourselves in the position we have at the same time as losing him, Smithies and KPP. It shows just how good the production line is at the club that we can not only support our own club but prop up others as well and still keep on competing at the top end.

In terms of Max Wood, he was just behind too many players by the looks of things. I'm glad he's got sorted out at Wire and looks to be doing well.

I think that Nicky’s summary hits the nail on the head. Just a couple of things I would add, I believe Nicholson will play for England and secondly Warrington will have to pay him big money if they wish to retain him. When he moved to Wire, Wigan could not compete with the salary he was offered. His agent is an astute guy.

I think this is where we differ. Whilst I'm not saying that he won't play for England, I very much doubt he'll be an England regular. That's no slight on his ability as the same could be said for Faz. I just think there's too much ahead of him and, again in a similar way to how Faz has found it hard to cement a place at international level, I feel Nicholson will face similar difficulties. There's already Bateman, Bachelor, Knowles, Radley, Smithies, KPP among others ahead of him and I don't think it will be long before the likes of Walters and Nsemba join them. With the limited number of international games I think it's a big ask to push himself ahead of so many.

As always with these things, it's just an opinion of course.

First time this season watching a Huddersfield game last night, and Rushton was very impressive. Nicholson has always been good and pretty steady when I've seen him but Rushton looks a real prospect.

In response to the OP, I’ve long thought the Academy system as a whole is broken. However, in a “don’t hate the player, hate the game” style, I think it is a systemic issue. The red flashing light is that the language around this is always about “clamping down” (or similar) on the clubs that produce few players - that eagerness to reach for the stick feels like a tacit admission that the carrot is pretty tiny for most clubs.

As unproductive as it has been in modern times, most Hull KR fans love our academy and continue to pin a lot of hope on it. So, I am speaking very much as a minority of one in wishing the club had seen the initial loss of our academy licence a few years ago as a chance to do something radically different… even allowing for the loss of funding.