Some squads have to be finalised but a number of our players are going to be taking part.

Lee Penny's played well enough to be in the frame for Scotland.

Toa Kohe-Love is still in the New Zealand squad but if he misses out I am sure he will play for New Zealand Maoris. Tawera Nikau is captain of the Maoris.

In the Ireland squad we have Rob Smyth, Mark Forster and Paul Noone. Ireland also wanted Danny Nutley but he won't be taking part. Danny has put a shoulder operation on the back burner until the end of the season so he will be concentrating on getting right for next year.

Lee Briers and Dean Busby are our Welsh connections and Clive Griffiths' men met at Wilderspool for a squad meeting this week.

Jerome Guisset will be competing for his home country, France.

Mark Hilton and Steve McCurrie are still pushing for the England side but it will be difficult for them because there are a lot of players competing for those positions.

With the Great Britain side diluted it does spread some of the cream about but I still think some of the nations will have good sides. Australia and New Zealand will still start as my favourites.

There will be disruptions to our pre-season training due to the World Cup but all clubs will be in the same situation.

Obviously the players who are going to be competing in the World Cup will need a break after they have finished so the pre-season is going to be a little disjointed.

We are also looking at an option of playing one of the international sides in a warm-up game to the World Cup which is something we are currently addressing with the Rugby Football League.

Our squad would be decimated by players being absent in their World Cup squads and so we would have to bring some of our young kids through for that one if it goes ahead.

All is looking bright with our young players. Paul Noone and Chris Campbell played in last year's Academy Grand Final and have come through to play at first grade level this year. Will Cowell has done so too.

From the current Academy team Paul Wood and Mark Gleeson are now right on the threshold of playing first grade rugby. David Alstead is also training with our Super League squad.

There are other young players who are going to make the step up. Steve Maden, Tom Kilgannon and Kris Tickle have this week been picked in Great Britain's train-on squad for the Academy World Cup which is to take place next year.

Players like Andy Barr and John Hill have a real opportunity next year, if they have a good off-season, to come through the ranks and put some pressure on our first team players and that is what we really need.

As players move up we will draft our Scholarship squad players into the Academy team and this is the conveyor belt of talent which this club needs in order to go forward.

The next two to three years will really come to the fore in showing all the depth that we have in the club.

And the good part is that the players moving up will have the philosophy that they need, which hasn't been the case before. They are now training in the gym and on the field with our first team players so that should rub off on them.

So the long term is bright and I have to give Paul Darbyshire a rap for this. Darby has done a great job with the Academy side, which has been riding second or third in the Championship table and has been playing some good football.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.