In the first part of our North West development report we looked at plans to introduce Regional Development Squads at under-age and ladies levels and this week we're turning our attention to the other half of the programme - the North West Warriors. In his report to last week's General Meeting, Head Coach Bobby Rao agreed that it had been a difficult year for his charges but he was quick to add that as a work in progress, the squad has come a long way in the space of six months.

He had a point too, because having looked some way off the pace early on in the series, the Warriors definitely go into 2014 with hopes high for an improved showing. The former Indian Test player said he was glad that the Warriors' selectors had stuck by their guns during the summer and continued to give their inexperienced squad every chance to grown into a team together. New skipper Andy McBrine is now reaping the rewards of his labours with full Ireland recognition and Craig Young looks certain to be on the plane to Australia very soon as part of the ongoing fast bowling programme.

While natural improvement can be expected next season the North West is already hard at work ensuring that a proper infrastructure is in place to provide support. Their first priority is a Warriors Academy where an "emerging squad" will be put through their paces over the winter, ready to compete for places in the coming months and years.

Speaking ahead of the recent General Meeting, President Andrew Fleming said that there would be little time for rest this winter given the work that needed to be done. "Our first priority is to put a completely independent Interprovincial committee together. This group needs to be made up of people with no current involvement with the Warriors and I would like them to oversee all the workings of the new academy. I have one or two individuals in mind and having spoken with them briefly I am hopeful they will come on board. Truth to tell I would probably need to be involved in this committee myself as would our treasurer, Peter McCartney".

The St Johnston man suggested that once the committee is established they would then look to go down the same route as the RDS set up. "Ideally I think the same person should be Director of both the RDS and the Warriors squads and while I wouldn't want to second guess any committee decision, there appears to be a stand-out candidate for the role. After that we will look to have a Manager and then a panel of coaches similar to the Regional squads".

While that is the general overview of the plan, the Warriors and "Emerging" squads look set to be given a fairly high profile from there, at least if the Head Coach gets his way. "The boys have already participated in strength and conditioning sessions but we will be asking the new committee to put a solid structure in place going forward. We are planning to bring in a nutritionist to help the players' with their routines and lifestyles and I am also keen to involve a sports psychologist. We will obviously look to develop the video analysis role and after last year I will be pressing for the North West to have access to our own physiotherapist as well" he said.

"Once we have our back-room team right we will work on structured one-to-one and squad coaching sessions. I have had brief conversations with one or two senior North West players with a view to getting them involved and I have been very heartened by their feedback so that is an area we will continue to look at. Once the season starts I will be very keen to develop the practice match idea that worked so well at Limavady this year. I would like both the Warriors team and maybe even an Emerging side to play against select sides around the region to give them experience of playing together and against quality opposition. We believe that it is imperative to have the support of all of our clubs and what better way to get everyone involved".

With all those plans will come one obvious barrier and that is of course the money required to fund them. The North West finance committee has already met several times in the past few weeks to try to unravel the issue of the cost of covering the development bill and treasurer Peter McCartney was forthright about the job in hand.

"We were quite fortunate this year that much of our youth development funding was met by the City of Culture committee and independent sponsors like McDonalds. Brian Dougherty worked tirelessly to help on that front and we would have struggled badly without his and their help. Obviously we won't have that avenue open from here on but the Board of Control are determined to raise the necessary monies to keep the coaches we already have and to provide as much of the additional assistance as we can".

"We plan to raise the finance on several fronts and one of the first will be to seek help from clubs and parents. The annual club fees have been stagnant for the past 4 years so this year the clubs' contribution will be increased by £150 for senior clubs and £100 for junior clubs. The parents contribution, which is by far the lowest of any of the Unions will be increased to £100, which considering the amount of gear, coaching and facilities provided is exceptional value for money. The actual average cost per child in the RDS is around £300 a year so the North West will still be subsidising two-thirds of that".

"As a finance committee we are looking at a number of initiatives within our own Union and we fully believe there are several things we can do much more cost effectively. There is also the option of additional sponsorship to be explored and we have set our sights on working hard this winter to ensure that these plans are given every assistance to succeed".

To be fair to them the President and Treasurer are very positive about what can be achieved and have made it clear that they intend to see the plans through. Tough decisions have to be made but the bottom line would appear to be that they fully intend to back both the RDS and the Warriors every step of the way. For obvious reasons they are unable to put an end date on all of the initiatives on the table but work has already begun on the priority areas and for that they should be commended.

Bobby Rao is convinced that his team will improve in 2014 and that by the end of the third season, the Warriors will be standing toe-to-toe with all comers. The North West seem intent on backing their Head Coach and his players and kudos to them for it. These could indeed be exciting times for cricket in the North West.