SAINTS coach Keiron Cunningham said the development of young players is “dying” due to the current junior structures.

Cunningham blasted the current set-up of no reserve grade, with the under 19s Academy being the final step before Super League.

He says it leaves coaches having to “roll a dice” on players too early in their careers.

“Junior development is the biggest part of the game, you’ve got to keep producing and if you’re not going to give your kids a chance to produce you are going to struggle,” said the Saints coach.

“Our game’s going to die and we’ve got to really address it and look at these reserves. The top and bottom line is a handful of clubs don’t want to do it because they can’t afford to do it so the whole game is suffering."

He explained: "You nurture players from being nine or ten and get to a point where you have them in your system and put three years into them and then you have to roll a dice, making decisions on kids’ futures after three years.

“What do you do with them?

"They’re not ready for Super League and you can’t go to Rochdale or someone and say we’ve got this junior who is potentially a good player but we’re not sure if they’re ready for that standard.

“The system is upside down, the cart is certainly in front of the horse. The game’s just dying in the juniors and then you’ve got to go overseas and get players."

Cunningham admitted Saints, even with their strength in junior development, have lost "kids" who then blossom late.

He said: "They could have still been at St Helens. The whole theory and concept behind it is ridiculous.”

Currently Super League teams are able to enter a partnership with Championship clubs allowing players too old for the Academy game time on a dual-registration basis.

Jon Roberts, RFL director of performance and coaching, said: “The RFL has always believed and consistently stated that having a reserve team structure in addition to the U19 Academy was in the best interest of player development and the game in general.

"The transition from the Academy to first team is critical and players need the appropriate game time to develop."

A new structure could be in place for 2016.

"Dual registration and loans work for some players but the ideal is to have a programme of competitive reserves games," said Roberts.

"However over recent years the significant majority of clubs have felt that there was insufficient return on investment from that structure and have made the decision to not take part in a reserve grade.

"As part of the recent policy review into player development and production we again raised the issue of a reserve grade as the optimum structure for player development, whilst appreciating the need to achieve the appropriate balance financially.

"The outcome of the policy review was that a reserve grade would be optional for 2015 for those clubs that wanted to use this structure to develop their players.

"Therefore, we are supporting the clubs who have shown commitment to the reserve grade competition and hope that with the increased interest that has been shown from other clubs we can find a solution to produce the optimum structure for reserve teams in 2016.”