The importance of the pathway

With a free weekend for Newcastle Thunder and a lot of talk around the Championship this week, I thought I’d throw my thoughts out there on how things are for Newcastle Thunder with the performance pathway with York Knights and Penrith.

Those who know me, know I’m fully invested into the performance pathway. I’m thoroughly enjoying watching this group week-in-week-out. They’ve been a credit to themselves this season.

Purpose

Arguably, Newcastle Thunder are one of the few clubs in the Championship that knows what the purpose is. We’re in a performance pathway giving players who want to play Super League rugby a chance to do that. 

The benefit for Thunder fans is we get to see some outstanding young talent who are hungry to perform and earn their chance at York Knights. Thunder fans who have been watching a lot longer than me say this is the best rugby they’ve seen, that’s a glowing compliment.

In Richie Metcalfe we have someone heading us up who is desperate for rugby league in the north east to be a success and leads the club by example, assisted by Steve Watkinson. 

The players are hungry

I’ll admit, when I first heard about the pathway my concern was will these players want to play for Newcastle? 

After being at nearly every game this season, I see it every week and know how hungry this group is. The carrot of Super League is there for those who perform well. It’s not easy for this young group as they’re on the road every weekend but the spirit in camp is outstanding. Graham Steadman has to take a lot of credit for this, his experience and guidance in my mind makes him the perfect man for getting the best out of this group. Steady is one of those blokes, when he speaks, you listen. 

This week has seen Brad Ward the latest of the group to be named in a York squad this season. This follows the likes of Andy Djeukessi, Harvey Reynolds, Cody Hunter, Tom Inman, Sam Cook, Myles Harrison and King Vuniyayawa who have been involved with York as Newcastle contracted players. We’ve also had York players Will Roberts, Nikau Williams, Jack Smith, Justin Sangare, Kieran Hudson, Will Dagger and Mitch Clark be involved with Thunder and York. Nikau’s form with Thunder earnt him a recall to York.

We’ve also got to see York players, Ryan Jackson, John Sagaga, Taylor Pemberton and Jordan Lipp who have been regulars with Thunder this season and have added so much to this group.

The players get to play and learn

To me, players playing regular Championship rugby is a lot better than reserve fixtures for development. The likes of Noah Whittingham and Harvey Reynolds will have learnt a lot this season going to the likes of Barrow, Batley, Rochdale, Workington and Whitehaven. We’ve seen it at Thunder where some weeks we’d have someone and then they wouldn’t be seen again. The consistency in players is much better for the player and the club. A player learning their trade being dropped in for a game or two doesn’t get to know playing patterns or anything. How can a young player expect to perform? In this high performance environment, the players train together and they improve, they’re not just turning up on a match day or a Thursday night. This is what high performance is about.

They also get to learn from experience, having the likes of Ukuma Ta’ai, Brenden Santi and Bailey Antrobus to learn from is invaluable. These guys are great role models for the younger players, these guys have been crucial to the success.

The fans are happy

As I’ve touched on, the longstanding supporters are saying this is the best rugby they’ve seen. The Thunder fans take a fair bit of stick in person and online as other fans seem to think we’ve chosen a more favourable fixture list. But we all know that the play-offs will sort things and from a performance pathway perspective if this format stays the same next season then it will only be better. Tough regular season games against the likes of Doncaster, Oldham, Sheffield and Widnes will only benefit young developing players.

The Thunder fans who stuck by the club are enjoying watching entertaining rugby. Yes, there’s frustrations around how to grow things but we understand the pathway and hopefully the club can grow.

From what I see and hear, the York fans are happy too. We’ve seen them turn up and support us as they cast their eyes on the next possible star players at York. Last Sunday at a hostile Batley they enjoyed it and hopefully we’ll continue to see some more of them this season.

The game has to look forward

Back to purpose in a way. We know that London want to be a Super League club and that is their purpose. Newcastle Thunder are about providing a performance pathway for players to develop for Super League. What about the rest? There’s only London who are arguably in a position to be promoted by IMG.

If you’re a Championship fan, I’d like to know what do you think the purpose of your club is?

The purpose of the Championship is something that needs to be understood as again it’s up in the air as to how it will look next season again. Is it a development competition? Fans want clarity.

One thing’s for sure in my mind. I have no problem with history and respect what clubs have done in the past. But the game has to look forward, there’s far too much decided by squabbling and clubs not wanting to work together as someone in a boardroom fell out with someone else years ago. We’re lucky at Thunder, we have people who want the game to look forward and not look back. The people who look back, hold the game back.

Yes, the Championship might not be perfect this season. But what was the other choice? League 1 was a disaster last season with not enough teams and there didn’t look to be other teams come forward. But what we can look forward to is a competitive play-off competition.

There’s now talk of two conferences of east and west next season. East could be Newcastle, Goole, Batley, Dewsbury, Keighley, Hunslet, Sheffield, Halifax, Doncaster and if London are promoted and no one comes down a new Featherstone outfit. Leaving the west conference as Workington, Whitehaven, Swinton, Rochdale, Oldham, Widnes, Midlands, Crusaders, Barrow and Salford. Then play-offs at the end of the season with the two conferences. 

It would reduce regular season travel in the east side but given Crusaders are going to play four or five games in Bridgend there’d be a fair bit of travel for the Cumbrian clubs still. 

Time to focus

For now though, it’s time to focus on the rest of the season and we all have a part to play!

As we reach the end of the regular season, we have two games to go including a home game against Midlands Hurricanes on Saturday 22nd August at 16:00. I’d urge fans to turn up and get behind the team. We need to show people that north east rugby league matters and that an atmosphere can be built. As we head towards the play-offs there’s going to be times in games when the team needs to feed off us and we need to give them that energy. The Midlands home game is a chance to get things ready for that, we’ll put some build up stuff out in the week and make sure we have a drummer to build things. Bring a friend along to the Midlands game and show them how good this team is.

The play-offs are an exciting ending to the season and it’s a huge opportunity for everyone, these players who are putting everything in on the pitch need everyone of us behind them. You all have a part to play as we show what rugby league in the north east is about!