Doncaster Rovers' head of academy player development Brett Partner has praised recent first-team debuts by winger Ashton Swales and 15-year-old Dylan Hartley, saying they reflect the club's strategy of developing young players through to senior football.

Swales made his first-team debut after several appearances on the bench during the season. Partner said: "He's worked really, really hard to try to get in the first team. He's been on the bench a few times and he is such a good kid. I'm really pleased for him and his family. He's come back in his training, he's been really sharp and I just said to him, don't make that be the only time, make it another time."

Dylan Hartley's appearance as the club's youngest-ever player at 15 years old underlined the opportunities available to academy graduates. Partner said: "It's an amazing story, isn't it? For him, it will live for a long, long time. It's a compliment to the club really, we are here to develop players and we're here to develop them into the first team talents and we will give opportunities to players that do rightly deserve it. Regardless of age, if they're good enough, they will play."

Focus on Individual Development

Partner explained that the Under-18s group has been working on learning from previous performances and improving individual decision-making during recent training sessions. Players are being encouraged to take greater ownership of their own progress using analysis to identify areas for improvement.

Partner outlined the academy's approach to preparing players for senior football: "It's all well and good for us to go, 'Come on, I want to show you stuff', actually they have to take responsibility for themselves. Training is stressful, it's intense to put them under pressure where they must decide in those moments. I'm happy for them to make mistakes in training but make the mistakes there and put them errors right in the games."

Bradford Fixture Ahead

The Under-18s face Bradford on Saturday. Partner said: "I'm expecting a reaction, I'm expecting a lot of mistakes hopefully to be solved and players to make better decisions in the big moments. Once they step over that white line, there's not much more I can do for them. It's up to them what they've taken in training, their analysis, the individual stuff they do, can they make the right decision, and can they execute it to the highest quality which we want at Doncaster."