Quote Originally Posted by sapdad View Post
My point is that Weston team went from top 6 in Div A, to being put in Div 2 but not even making the semis in Div 2 despite being the highest ranked team after phase 1.If the main reason for that was because a couple of kids moved then how good a team were they and where do they deserve to be graded next year?If your team only succeeds because of a couple of players then every team is open to the same thing happening every year which makes grading by teams just as open to flaws as keeping clubs as one group.How the hell do you even begin to grade them fairly next year?
As others pointed out, the player departure started the moment they realised the cub would not hold onto a div.1 spot

So if course they didn't do well in phase 2

You'll find that the relative success of all youth teams comes down to the particular dynamism of just a few key players...supported by, hopefully for that team, a relatively "high" average standard of the rest of the squad

This suggestion helps to prevent clubs being wholly targeted for poaching across the board...those quality teams can then build upon their success and perhaps manage to lure other talented players