Ulster Team Talk Thread IV... Go On My Henderson...

Petre stated a change to selection policy next season and need to give academy players more exposure. Shame it's taking them so long to realise home grown talent is key to a improving squad.

Not a fan of jumping players about, let them lock down a position and then branch out.

That means MacFarland is being told who to pick? His days are numbered at Ulster, imo.

Hmmmm, the boss inferring different players may have done better! Yea, Dan Mc is safe.

Pretty tough.

Bath and Quins away would be good for me as can actually get to them easy enough. Also prefer our chances of beating the french teams at home... even if that's not historically true..

4 rounds

Play 2 teams at home, play the other 2 away, don't play the team in the same league as yourselves.

After that, R16.

Two more years for Hendy

That's great news for Ulster

As I've pointed out elsewhere, he's captained Ulster, Ireland and mid-week Lions. He's a smart, capable leader. People can write 8,000 page treatises on Player A's explosiveness or Player B's height, if we're playing against tough opposition and it's coming down to the wire, I want him onfield or on the bench.

Thank god honestly. We need him to be healthy but effectively getting him for free is a humungous deal.

Postlethwaite now onto full contract, Carson, Crothers, McCormick, Sheridan and McKee on development contracts, Madigan gone.

Going to be interesting seeing Ulster forced to develop players and more minutes being shared out.

Tom Brigg! Yikes! He's a fine player.

So, interesting intake for a number of reasons:

Tom Brigg - Played for Blackrock this year and from the matches available on youtube he's a very good player. Bit of a jack-of-all trades master of none type so I can see why he's moved north. He's a guy I could see narrowly missing out on a leinster academy place to players with more obvious elite traits after a year or two in the sub academy, so he's I reckon he's made a business decision here.

I honestly haven't seen much of Cameron Doak or Jack Boal but from the little I saw I wasn't overly impressed. Boal was involved with Ireland u19's this year but hasn't featured for the u20's this year Doak wasn't involved with Ireland u19's this year against Japan or France. They could have been injured, I don't know, but they both played for Queens last year who seemed to go well so hopefully they had a part to play in that.

Never seen Henry Walker play but the english put a lot of their u18 academy games on youtube so I'll maybe have a look if I'm bored.

Zac Soloman has been consistently involved with the Ireland age grade squads which is a great sign. Never really stood out to me but he's a decent player. Will face competition for game time for the u20's next year.

Great to see Charlie Irvine made it in, as there were rumours he hadn't. Isn't the most exciting player, but he has great size and matched the Australians physically for the u20's today. I was worried when he didn't make it in last year as we don't produce a lot of second row prospects.

Josh Stevens was incredible in last years schools cup. A little small for a modern backrow maybe, but he tackles very well and would be more physical than Crothers. Thought he played great for Ireland u19's and should be in contention to start for the u20s next year.

Great to see Ethan Graham made it, I thought he might not with two other standout back three prospects in his year. He's got great acceleration, although I was worried about his size when he was u18, but from the few Ballynahinch games I've seen he seems to have grown. From Monaghan I think, so hopefully this means our net is cast wider and we're developing in less traditional areas better.

Ben McFarlane is quite highly rated. Watched him play in the schools cup last year and he was exceptional - one of the best campaigns I've seen recently - but had a bit of a horror show in this years semi final. Heard that was his first game back that year after injury so gonna look past it. Not overly tall but built like a brick. Hits hard and is strong in the tackle.

Lukas Kenny is probably one of the most natural backline players I've seen in recent years. Seems to have loads of time on the ball and delays his passes perfectly. Isn't the quickest but has a tidy step and is strong in contact. McFarlane seemed to have more hype, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up the better player at all.

Jacob Boyd is another standout prospect and it's been a while since we produced a decent prop. Campbell couldn't deal with his ball carrying in the schools final this year he just seemed to always be involved. I think he's in line to start for Ireland u20's next year unless one of the big leinster tightheads make the switch over.

So a large intake, but a couple of noticeable names missing:

James McKillop was heavily involved with ireland u19's this year but missed out. I'm not opposed to lads spending a year earning their worth in the AIL, in fact I generally think he should do it more, but I'd be curious about the thought process here. Comes very highly rated although wasn't too sure on him myself, but I was rooting for him as he's from a 'smaller' school. Flynn Longstaff, a recent convert to TH from 8 so wasn't surprised to see him miss out this time and could do with a year getting used to the position. Played quite a bit for Ireland u19's this year but there will be strong competition in next years u20's. Bryn Ward is probably the last notable absentee. Hard carrying 8 who stood out in the schools cup and featured for the u19's this year. Not as highly rated as the likes of McCann or McNabney were but, again, I'd be curious about the coaches thought process here.

Any reason you think McKillop and Ward missed out this year?