Future prospects

Brilliant news, 11.67 is rapid and if you look at him when he fills out could be quite a handful.

Oreofe Animashavu coming from Gorton backs up something I've shouted long and hard that Salford should be in those types of area where with the greatest respect there are less affluent communities where the children are ripe to have an affordable sport to follow and in many cases huge natural athletes with very little sporting opportunities waiting to be discovered, the RU boys do it, if RL doesn't try and stop it we'll find kids like this from the RL heartland slip through our fingers.

Great move by the club. As MK pointed out during his Q&A the limitations of the Salary Cap mean that its essential to be scouting your local talent and investing in the Academy.

That is fast, particularly for his age.

An interesting thing I was reading about a while back was how speed requirements over the years haven’t changed much, if anything today’s backs are slower – not a great surprise considering they are much heavier.

In 1909 Lance Todd, speaking about his playing stint at Wigan, said that any back that could not run 100 yards in under 11 seconds wasn’t much use. At a constant pace, that equates to around 11.8 seconds for 100 metres. Jodie was clocked at 11.2 at 90m (almost 100y) on grass, in full kit, when he won the fastest man in RL race.

For comparison, Ken Irvine, the great Australian winger, ran the 100 yard dash in 9.3 seconds in 1961.

I don't think Chico was saying that MR. I think he was bringing up a point about how speed is still an important factor and how the fact that speed requirement hasn't changed even though the game has massively. You go back twenty years and the backs that played the game were wiry, quick, and agile. With a few notable exceptions. Modern backs still require that speed but have also had to become bigger, stronger, and more powerful while retaining their speed. There's a lot at play as to why. From better nutrition, training, and scientific understanding to environment, genetics, and how the game has evolved because of these factors.

We all hold players and teams from yesteryear close to our hearts. Especially when they hold a significance or were the first to do something. The reality is, that a fairly average modern team would probably steamroller those teams due to how the players and the game has evolved. That's not to belittle those teams of yesteryear. They were the best, with the best players in their day.