calculating how many academy products any Super League team will use in 2024
The rugby league’s academies and the annual conveyor belt of talent that emerges in the Super League are among its strong qualities.
Every Super League team has some homegrown talent on their rosters; some have more, some have fewer, in terms of academy products.
Every Super League club and the homegrown players that make up its roster in 2024 have been examined by the Love Rugby League.
Based on the total number of academy players that each club has deployed this season—a ranking that will be updated weekly—we have ranked each club.
Prior to the team’s dissolution at the beginning of his professional career, the Irish international rugby was a member of Leigh’s reserves.
After that, Halton played for the Leigh Miners Rangers, a local community team, until he was given the opportunity to play professionally with the Swinton Lions.
After that, he played in the Super League for Hull KR before returning to his childhood club, Leigh, in the previous year.
Leigh has relaunched its reserves squad and has an academy team; thus, in the upcoming four to five years, we should expect to see more Leythers playing for their hometown team.
Mikey Lewis
The only academy product to have played for Willie Peters’ team in the early going of the season is the 22-year-old half-back, who made his England debut against Tonga last autumn.
However, don’t worry; the Robins have a ton of promising young players in and around the first-team squad who will undoubtedly make their mark later in the season.
Hankinson Chris and Sneyd, Marc
So far, Paul Rowley’s side has included two academy products: Hankinson and Sneyd. Before relocating to Leeds and making his debut for the first team, Red Devils captain Kallum Watkins was a junior at Salford Academy.
Joe Westerman, Liam Watts, Sam Hall, Luis Johnson, and Jason Qareqare
This season, Craig Lingard’s team has used five Academy products. With nearly 300 career CAs between them, Westerman and Watts are mainstays of the Tigers.
Olly Wilson, Matty English, Leroy Cudjoe, Jake Connor, Olly Russell, and Sam Hewitt
The Giants have now played six of the academy products that they brought through in 2024. Before moving to Huddersfield and playing for the Giants academy before making his Super League debut, young prop Olly Wilson came up via the Bradford system.
Ben Garcia, Alrix Da Costa, Jordan Dezaria, Fouad Yaha, Arthur Mourgue, Arthur Romano, Paul Seguier, and Jordan Dezaria
In the brief history of the club, the Dragons have produced a wealth of talent, especially in recent years. After just three rounds, Steve McNamara has already faced seven academy graduates in 2024.
Alfie Edgell, Tom Holroyd, Jarrod O’Connor, Cam Smith, Ash Handley, Mikolaj Oledzki, and Harry Newman
Leeds is known for giving young players an opportunity; this season, Rohan Smith’s team has already used seven homegrown players, including Handley, one of the league’s top players.
Liam Byrne, Liam Farrell, Harvie Hill, Tom Forber, Liam Marshall, Harry Smith, and Brad O’Neill
Similar to Leeds, Wigan is another team that has a reputation for having a conveyor belt of young players eager to get into the starting lineup.
This season, Matt Peet, who was once the youth director at his home club, has already made seven appearances for academy graduates.
Arron Lindop, Leon Hayes, Adam Holroyd, Toby King, Connor Wrench, Ben Currie, Joe Philbin, and Josh Thewlis
At Warrington, the Sam Burgess era has begun. In the first three Super League rounds, the Wire manager has used eight academy players, including 17-year-old Arron Lindop, who made his Super League debut against the Catalans.
Will Lovell, Jordan Williams, Matt Davies, Oli Leyland, Iliess Macani, James Meadows, Rob Butler, Sam Davis, and Sadiq Adebiyi
Because of their geographic location—that is, their distance from the “heartlands”—the Broncos have had to sort of pull through on their own, and they have. On their comeback to the Super League, Mike Eccles’ team has so far included nine homegrown players.
Jack Welsby, Jon Bennison, Morgan Knowles, Lewis Dodd, Matty Lees, Jake Wingfield, George Delaney, Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax, and Ben Davies
Given their reputation for having an excellent academy, it’s not surprising to see the Saints among the teams that have played the most academy graduates to date. The conveyer belt in red V keeps going.
Jack Brown, Harvey Barron, Nick Staveley, Will Gardiner, Charlie Severs, Denive Balmforth, Jack Charles, Lewis Martin, Davy Litten, Cam Scott, Danny Houghton, Jordan Lane, and Jack Brown
After playing 12 Academy products in the first three rounds, Tony Smith’s team is at the top of the leaderboard. Given their history of injuries and suspensions, it’s definitely fair to claim that they’ve played a lot.
However, let’s not undervalue the Black and Whites, who undoubtedly have some bright young players on the horizon.
