IT must be tempting for St Helens fans to see doom and gloom everywhere after they suffered their third consecutive Grand Final defeat to Leeds at Old Trafford on Saturday night. Some fans are predicting the end of the club’s era of greatness – like the recession, there is a game-within-a-game in calling the end of St Helens’ run of success. But it is already nine years since the first pundit declared the end was nigh and I think that the club and its fans still have many reasons to be cheerful and confident about the future. Rugby league is a sport managed through a salary cap. The net effect of that rule is that no club can pay more than another club and so attract players by giving them bigger wages than their rivals. So, it is not as if a group of the promising youngsters at Saints will be disillusioned by the club’s failure and decide to instruct their agents to move them on for greater rewards. In rugby league that is simply not possible, unless a club has sufficient headroom under its salary cap to accommodate a few hefty wage bills, and given the need to make long-term team planning a priority, that is extremely unlikely. I think that the next couple of seasons will see the Saints’ policy of recruiting though its excellent youth systems, as the key ingredient in British rugby league to building a successful team. The transfer market in rugby league is sluggish and the player pool is more limited than in any other professional sport in the country. At the same time the salary cap is being enforced with greater zeal every year and every loophole is being closed, so the only real option for long-term player acquisition is to focus on your youth policy and make sure that you recruit the very best youngsters you can. Saints have done that with energy and I see the future of the club immediately bound up with the strength and excellence of its youth team policy. It is no surprise that Saints and Leeds, the two clubs with more home-grown players in their teams than any others in Super League, have contested the last three Grand Finals. Because of the fierce parochial pride, I think that home-grown players feel a deeper commitment to their local club than anyone from outside every can feel. Just as Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard are seen to epitomise the spirit of their clubs, and by extension cities, Paul Wellens and Keiron Cunningham fill that role for St Helens. They have always felt a special pride whenever they pulled on the red V and have tried to defend the honour of their home-town team and strain every sinew to see the Saints home. They will be ready to do battle for the club again next season, when they will be joined by some outstanding home-grown youngsters, ready to rejuvenate the playing ranks of a great club. Clubs like Warrington, Wigan and Huddersfield will challenge for the trophies next year but Saints’ wise policy of investing for the future will be vindicated – and 2010 will see the Saints go marching on. | 
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