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Penrith's successes = our shortcomings?

Some posters missing the point.

Doesn’t matter if we recruit from Bourke to Timbucktoo. NZ or Sudan. Or if we have 100 failed prospects.

The only thing that matters is having highly talented and effective footballers make it FG in our colours through our pathways.

Karapani and Kalo Kalo are great examples. Club identified them, pumped development resources into them. Rated them highly, publicly at any rate. But ultimately they failed as prospects. The question is why?

I think the answer is plainly they weren’t that great. Same for a lot of the names in our pathways over recent years who have been victims of the club talking them up in member first emails.

Root cause of that? It’s either (I) poor talent identification (II) we can’t land the best talent we identify (III) combination of both.

Either way the outcome is the same.

Our best two earlier generation prospects, Murray and Keon, were handed to us through Mascot. With changing demographics we cannot continue to rely on that.

Also look at the body shape of our pathways kids verse other clubs. It’s stark the difference in conditioning.

Part of me thinks the Rabbitoh Way (read Richos Way) was very effective as long as Richo was running the show. No Richo, so we need a new game plan.
Maybe it's strength in our junior clubs that needs attention. St Marys in western Sydney is a powerhouse . Can the same be said of the clubs in our area. Should our owners and The Juniors be giving more funds to our junior clubs to entice more kids ?
 
Some names that have been gun juniors or pathways prospects

Australian Schoolboys Team:2018
Zac Cini,
Star To’a,
Jock Madden,
Ratu Nanovo,
Ryan Gray,
Jayden Tanner,
Juwan Compain,
Matt Doorey,
Max Altus,
Matthew Dragisic,
Jalaz Bazzaz,
Franklin Pele
 
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Some names that have been gun juniors or pathways protect

Australian Schoolboys Team:2018
Zac Cini,
Star To’a,
Jock Madden,
Ratu Nanovo,
Ryan Gray,
Jayden Tanner,
Juwan Compain,
Matt Doorey,
Max Altus,
Matthew Dragisic,
Jalaz Bazzaz,
Franklin Pele
Yes COVID seriously had an impact on the futures of these guys and there has certainly been a roll on effect leading to the present day.
 
Wow one of the most successful clubs of the last two decades has a strategy behind their recruitment. Who’d have thought

Particularly liked the way they recruited 3-4 players for Slaters impending retirement

We’ve signed a 5 foot tall ball runner to replace arguably the best ball player of the last decade

Still haven’t replaced Lote after 10 years and the same now applies to Cook and Tom

Can someone send that article to Ello to read for homework
 
What information did you actually read to draw these conclusions?
We just went out and recruited arguably the best coach in the NRL…posted another profit…. Top 3 for memberships and sponsorship…..
Were any of you guys supporting the club in the pre-privatisation era??

Im a rugby league junkie. I read, listen and watch most content.

I also try and do it without red and green glasses - which is hard I must admit.

The old adage of when rugby league is doing well, Souths are doing well is officially a myth.

Where did you read we are top 3 for memberships and sponsorships, as I dont believe this is the case any longer.
 
Im a rugby league junkie. I read, listen and watch most content.

I also try and do it without red and green glasses - which is hard I must admit.

The old adage of when rugby league is doing well, Souths are doing well is officially a myth.

Where did you read we are top 3 for memberships and sponsorships, as I dont believe this is the case any longer.
Well how about you actually cite some information you used to form your views…


“The NRL has benchmarked the commercial performance of all its franchises – bar the publicly listed Brisbane Broncos – and ranked them based on their overall revenue for the financial year. The benchmarking document, obtained by this masthead, shows the Dolphins have come out on top alongside the Rabbitohs, each generating $23.5 million in revenue.”

I’m sure you, like 99% of others, thought half way through last year when we were top of the ladder that were champions! We had transitioned from Wayne Bennet without a hiccup, great succession plan without any fuss. Unfortunately it just didn’t work out with JD, that’s been the biggest issue and sometimes that happens in sport.

Look at the Broncos, Manchester United, Chelsea…sporting clubs who basically have access to all the funding they could possibly need and but have not translated that into success on the field and that predominantly has been because the guy in charge of the team, manager/coach has been the wrong guy for the job. Importantly for us we have made the call and gotten the best replacement we can to get us back to where we need to be in the shortest possible time.

In our case we are a very well run club which is the reason we have managed to get WB twice. I also know that we are probably behind other clubs such as the Roosters in terms of talent pathways and recruitment which is a reflection of the fact they have had their shit together for the last 30 years compared with the last 15 for us.
 
is a clubs so called nursery the beginning and the end its supposed to be.if it was i would have thought a club like newcastle well and truly have the panthers and most other clubs covered. When it comes to junior league size producing talent
 
is a clubs so called nursery the beginning and the end its supposed to be.if it was i would have thought a club like newcastle well and truly have the panthers and most other clubs covered. When it comes to junior league size producing talent
Apparently not…..

Panthers Junior League is the largest Rugby League District in the world consisting of over 580 teamsacross all age groups, starting from as young as 4 years of age. Extending from Blacktown in the east to Katoomba in the west, from the Hawkesbury in the north to Wallacia in the south, the Penrith district junior rugby league consists of 24 sports clubs in the Western Sydney and Blue Mountains region. Panthers Juniors has seen constant growth over the last 10 years to a staggering 8500 players across both male and female competitions.

Edit:
Sounds like Newcastle have a big nursery also but it’s not as aligned with the Knights compared with Penrith


 
Well how about you actually cite some information you used to form your views…


“The NRL has benchmarked the commercial performance of all its franchises – bar the publicly listed Brisbane Broncos – and ranked them based on their overall revenue for the financial year. The benchmarking document, obtained by this masthead, shows the Dolphins have come out on top alongside the Rabbitohs, each generating $23.5 million in revenue.”

I’m sure you, like 99% of others, thought half way through last year when we were top of the ladder that were champions! We had transitioned from Wayne Bennet without a hiccup, great succession plan without any fuss. Unfortunately it just didn’t work out with JD, that’s been the biggest issue and sometimes that happens in sport.

Look at the Broncos, Manchester United, Chelsea…sporting clubs who basically have access to all the funding they could possibly need and but have not translated that into success on the field and that predominantly has been because the guy in charge of the team, manager/coach has been the wrong guy for the job. Importantly for us we have made the call and gotten the best replacement we can to get us back to where we need to be in the shortest possible time.

In our case we are a very well run club which is the reason we have managed to get WB twice. I also know that we are probably behind other clubs such as the Roosters in terms of talent pathways and recruitment which is a reflection of the fact they have had their shit together for the last 30 years compared with the last 15 for us.
Well how about you actually cite some information you used to form your views…


“The NRL has benchmarked the commercial performance of all its franchises – bar the publicly listed Brisbane Broncos – and ranked them based on their overall revenue for the financial year. The benchmarking document, obtained by this masthead, shows the Dolphins have come out on top alongside the Rabbitohs, each generating $23.5 million in revenue.”

I’m sure you, like 99% of others, thought half way through last year when we were top of the ladder that were champions! We had transitioned from Wayne Bennet without a hiccup, great succession plan without any fuss. Unfortunately it just didn’t work out with JD, that’s been the biggest issue and sometimes that happens in sport.

Look at the Broncos, Manchester United, Chelsea…sporting clubs who basically have access to all the funding they could possibly need and but have not translated that into success on the field and that predominantly has been because the guy in charge of the team, manager/coach has been the wrong guy for the job. Importantly for us we have made the call and gotten the best replacement we can to get us back to where we need to be in the shortest possible time.

In our case we are a very well run club which is the reason we have managed to get WB twice. I also know that we are probably behind other clubs such as the Roosters in terms of talent pathways and recruitment which is a reflection of the fact they have had their shit together for the last 30 years compared with the last 15 for us.

Fair shout.

But how much of that revenue is off the back of blindly loyal fans? Membership etc vs actual business nous and strategy.

Profit is the key.
 
I’ve only seen criticism of the football department - I think most, if not all fans are happy with how we run the financials/corporate side.
 
Fair shout.

But how much of that revenue is off the back of blindly loyal fans? Membership etc vs actual business nous and strategy.

Profit is the key.
Sigh - to save me the trouble of copying the financials from the last annual report go and read it yourself. (And the last 5 years)
Also have a look who sits on the board - there are no mugs there and there is more “business nous and strategy” capability than you could poke a stick at. The chook raffle days are a distant memory.
 
Sigh - to save me the trouble of copying the financials from the last annual report go and read it yourself. (And the last 5 years)
Also have a look who sits on the board - there are no mugs there and there is more “business nous and strategy” capability than you could poke a stick at. The chook raffle days are a distant memory.
True, but where’s the footy nous?

There used to be a criticism of Woolworths when it was underperforming that it lacked retailers on its board.

Again those running the football club continue to illustrate they just aren’t up to it.

Collingwood are going after Ponisi we should be in that conversation
 
Apparently not…..

Panthers Junior League is the largest Rugby League District in the world consisting of over 580 teamsacross all age groups, starting from as young as 4 years of age. Extending from Blacktown in the east to Katoomba in the west, from the Hawkesbury in the north to Wallacia in the south, the Penrith district junior rugby league consists of 24 sports clubs in the Western Sydney and Blue Mountains region. Panthers Juniors has seen constant growth over the last 10 years to a staggering 8500 players across both male and female competitions.

Edit:
Sounds like Newcastle have a big nursery also but it’s not as aligned with the Knights compared with Penrith
That was what Hook did for Penrith and why Gus bought him in. There were clubs outside the original Penrith catchment which weren’t aligned with NRL clubs.

Hook pointed out any teams in QLD not aligned with their competitors they claimed expanding the catchment. Penrith did the same
O’Suvillian will also ensure they identify and keep the best talent.
 
Maybe it's strength in our junior clubs that needs attention. St Marys in western Sydney is a powerhouse . Can the same be said of the clubs in our area. Should our owners and The Juniors be giving more funds to our junior clubs to entice more kids ?


Every kid who plays in the district gets free registration, insurance & uniform, if they need a pair of boots I dare say someone will come up with a pair also
Players are well looked after, perhaps we need better PR so players come & play in the juniors
 
I remember going to Aqua Golf at Penrith years and years ago which backed onto their development facility which was under construction at the time - this would have been around 10 years ago now. It wasn't an overnight thing in fairness so Heffron deserves a fair amount of time to start churning out results.

The idea is "build it and they will come" which was the impetus for the redevelopment of Redfern 15 years ago and the same reason Wests redeveloped Concord. No elite talent wants to train in a place with concrete cancer, old equipment and leaking windows and no potential talent wants to play for a club whose facilities look more decrepit than their own house.

Junior numbers are not the be all and end all I'm referring to, but the odds of finding the next GI, Joey Johns or JT drastically improve when you've a bigger pool to draw from. Let's say those players are truly 1 in a million - having a pool of 9000 junior players vs 5000, for example, gives you nearly twice the chance that the next superstar is in your junior pool than your opposition's.

The Panthers have shown that it is possible to become a dominant team in an era where one-and-done premiers have been the norm: Newcastle in 2001, Penrith in 2003, Bulldogs 2004, Wests Tigers 2005, St. George-Illawarra in 2010, etc. have all sort of "returned" to obscurity, with a few examples like the 2000-2004 Roosters, Storm and, to a lesser extent, Broncos showing you could float around the top end of town, but not stay on top necessarily.

We could very easily have been what the Panthers had become - I feel like they were the right club at the right time and that's not a knock on them. They put themselves in a position where if they made the 8 they could string 4 wins together for a Premiership. That was something we struggled with and we always hit a snag in one way or another.

The past decade and a half of South Sydney as an NRL club has been "almost" - 2012 and 2013 we probably could have made the GF if not for better luck. 2018 we had an opportunity, against all odds, followed by 2019 when the Raiders had a little bit of help. 2020's Prelim was an incredible football match along with the following Grand Final. 2022 we were always going to be up against it with Penrith having the belief and experience of the previous 2 GFs.

Penrith have found the formula, finally, after 60 odd years on how to dominate the competition like no other. We might not have been far off but now we need to look at how we find that for ourselves.
 

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