HULL FC must be applauded for setting up a new half-back school at the club to develop promising youngsters in the key position.
The club's lack of quality in this position has been a long drawn out problem but, thankfully, coach Peter Gentle is doing something about it.
Without doubt, the two half-back roles are the most vital on the field and, at present, are still mostly taken by Aussies or Kiwis in our Super League.
Producing your own quality half-backs is a win-win situation for any club, especially if they are local kids.
They are firstly cheaper than any overseas half, and secondly if they are local they understand just what it means to play for their home-town club.
Brought up through their own systems, under coaches who they believe have helped them become a first-team regular, they can become an integral part of an organisation.
It is outstanding to see Hull selecting a group of promising players and giving them direct access to the first-team coach and first-team players of the stature of Daniel Holdsworth and Richard Horne.
I can say this was something youngsters never had the opportunity to do when I was looking to make my way in the game.
Unless you were in the first team, you dare not ask for help from such esteemed players.
Even though I know now that they would have gladly helped me, it was just too intimidating.
I have no idea why this area has been overlooked for so long, and I suspect it is because instant success has usually been all coaches have been prepared to think about.
After all, a coach knows if he doesn't bring immediate success, he'll lose his job no matter what he says about the systems he has put in place for the future.
Pressure on the here and now is huge, and I was very fortunate to find myself in the first team relatively early.
At just 18 I was a regular, along with Horne, who began in the first grade a year or so before me.
We grew up together, and had the opportunity to become part of the club's fabric, learning the systems with others like Paul King, Richard Fletcher and Kirk Yeaman.
I had the pleasure of training and playing alongside Jason Smith, who I learnt just about everything in my game from.
He taught me how to play slow, and how to fix and drag defenders to where he and I wanted them to be.
He passed on key advice on how to manage a game's tempo, how to manage and hold on to a winning position, and how to play catch up. Smith also taught me never to shirk the responsibility of coming up with special plays.
It was vital for my development to play alongside Smith, and I owe him a great deal.
It's also vital when a club does produce a match-winner or winners that they hang onto them.
Look at the lengths Wigan have gone to hold onto Sam Tomkins, Leeds with Kevin Sinfield, Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow, and Warrington with Lee Briers. Home-grown, local, British halves or match-winners simply don't grow on trees.
This issue has also been at the heart of the now very public spat between Garry Schofield and Adam Pearson, which has been quite funny to see unfold.
Pearson calls it bitterness on Schofield's part, but I don't agree with that.
Schofield has a knowledge of our game, he was one of the world's best players and in this key position which has been at the heart of Hull's problems for years. He can see that.
Schofield has opinions on every team, not just Hull FC, and the fact Pearson used his programme notes to reply to Schofield to me says that the former Great Britain captain hit a nerve.
After the derby loss, Schofield was critical of Hull FC, but we all were.
Even the most ardent Hull FC fan was hugely disappointed in that display, and, as I said last week, it all came back to not having the people required in the half-back roles.
I know Pearson is making huge strides when it comes to off-field development at Hull FC.
He has helped the club attract big-name players, and has been pushing the marketing and his business ambitions.
However, I can relate to the Schofield comments too.
The club's half-back signings have been atrocious, and that is why the half-back school is long overdue.
Initiatives like this will bring Pearson the long-term success he craves, and their next Horne, who still to this day is leading the way with his outstanding form for Hull at present.
