The Huddersfield Giants are planning to continue their dual-registration partnership with Oldham, rather than join the proposed new Reserve competition.
Several leading Super League clubs are looking at forming second teams in 2016.
But Giants managing director Richard Thewlis believes that for the future development of the club’s rising stars, the current dual-registration system and Academy Under 19s competition should remain intact.
“We’re planning to sit down with Oldham next week and work our way through a new dual-registration agreement,” said Thewlis, whose club will discover later today when, where and who they’ll be facing in next season’s Super League Magic Weekend.
“It’s the path our club believes best suits the development of our players, and we have no better example than Jermaine McGillvary, who spent time in his early career at Barrow and Batley and now finds himself in the England squad.
“I think we were good for Oldham last year and they, too, were good for us, so I’m sure we’ll be able to build on our first year, and learn what worked and what didn’t.
“Oldham have just been promoted into the Championship, which will be a considerable step-up in intensity for our players who’ll compete with them, and we need to have a higher number of younger players ready to make whatever Super League opportunities they get count.
“The standard we want our younger professionals to be playing at with Oldham ill most definitely be higher than the rumoured reserves league which a handful of clubs are attempting to piece together.
“I just hope for the game’s sake that if the RFL do permit some clubs to do this, it will not be to the detriment of the Academy Under 19s competition where we have placed a lot of resource to meet criteria requested and which, in my opinion, is producing players for all levels of the game.”
