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Rumours and Stuff

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
151,008
All I see here is excuses as to why we can't be great. Good thing that you and Pou aren't in charge of recruitment. Hopefully MON is more like me and Hindy and can make things happen. The best clubs don't talk like you just did. In fact if their football manager came into a board room meeting and espoused that kind of dribble, he would be collecting his last pay cheque by the end of the day.

Losers say that sort of sh*t. Winners get the best players to their clubs.


easy to say

how would you implement it so that we had a high level roster ?
 

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
3,476
Here is the thing. What middles do we have? One rep in Jnr Paulo. That is followed by N.Brown,Papaĺi,RCG who id argue are every bit as good as the other middles who played Wedensday night. Atleast not far off.
You then have Niakuore and Lane who are a slight shade below these guys but still better then average on the bench along with Kafusi who might be one of the better young props in the game.
Middle forwards are not a weakness. They are our strength. If we where to get WOODS it wouldn't be out of desperation or need. It would be due to a very good deal. At 200k he would be that. But I reckon he would still demand 300k and will soon elsewhere.

What we need is to just keep our current squad together. And hope Penisini,Waqa,D.Brown all break out or into side. Moving forward to 2022 our squad is still in peak. Who will be worse due to age? Nobody tbh. So you then need to look at who can improve or is at an age where they haven't hit peak.

That leaves you Kafusi,Mahoney to add to the 3 I have mentioned. Others will depend on personal form. Some will have better seasons while some will have worse, but come finals all will put their best foot forward.

So how far behind are we? If Brown and Blake fired like we expected I reckon we are still a chance this season. But come next if Penisini exploded onto the scene and Kafusi and Mahoney went up another level again( remember both last year where just average NRL players) then we are in with a red hot shot.
Unless we can fix our defensive woes it doesn't matter who we have in our roster. Hopefully what we saw last week (admittedly against a very poor team) points to a fix in that area. Waqa had his second best performance for us and the right side looked solid in A & D. This week will either confirm or not if our defence is improving.
 

TheRam

Coach
Messages
13,480
easy to say

how would you implement it so that we had a high level roster ?

Implement Penrith's development program for starters. And before you say that we are a development club and we are doing a good job, I say we aren't on both fronts.

Why would I say that? Well Phil Gould about 6 weeks ago said on 100%Footy or his podcast I can't remember which, that Parramatta are not a development club. Now why would he say that? I don't know, but he would know, right? More so then you or I or anyone else here that wants to come to the clubs defense. I mean that's what the guy is great at doing and what the Warriors have now hired him to fix for NZ and only the other day I heard a NZ official wax lyrical of all the stuff that Gould is doing over there in restructuring their whole pathways e.t.c. and that in the not to distant future they expect major improvements and outcomes due to all his ideas and work that his is implementing.

Love him or hate him, he is brilliant at this type of stuff. Yeah sure he has a massive ego, but you aren't hiring him for his humility. You are getting him in there to do a job that he is probably the most qualified human being in the game today to sort out. Once done you move him on just like the Panthers did, before his ego and hands on meddling get in the way. He is a tinkerer and innovator so if you leave him in there long enough he start to get fancy and rearranging things because he likes to always update and try different things. So you get him out before he over cooks the pie so to speak.

But he is peerless when setting up and adding all the ingredients to bake the pie. That is why both the Dragons and just last week the Bulldogs also have tried to poach him but he stayed solid with the Warriors to complete the task he already signed up to do.

But getting back to Parra, if Gus reckons that we are not a developing club, he also named 2 or 3 other clubs that are doing a good job, but made a point of Parra not being a developing club and a wasted opportunity, then I will take his opinion over anyone here that that is probably true. I mean look at the results of our juniors coming through over the last decade or so. Hardly a list of stellar standout stars to be overly excited or impressed with.

Now I am sure that many here will jump up and down and refute his statement or mount a list of excuses as to why this or that caused our development to suffer, but the fact remains that we are still, in Gus's eyes NOT a development club. So again I ask why? What would make him say that? Sure some here would say maybe Gus has a hidden agenda? Really? Like what hidden agenda? Like what for? From what I see is that all he wants and has always advocated for is for all clubs to be well run and develop player pathways properly so ultimately the game thrives like never before and also starve off the AFL incursion. What isn't a hidden agenda is that our junior numbers have declined over the same period, by about 1000-1500. Now if we were really kicking goals in the pathways side of things I would expect our juniors to have grown not shrunk. The Panthers is so large that they don't really want anymore because they couldn't handle them properly.

We also have yet to see any significant influx of quality juniors coming out like the Panthers which I think is a tell-tale sign that he maybe right. Anyway what I would do is as soon as he has completed with his mission at the Warriors, is to beg him to come to Parra and do the exact thing for us, with obviously a Parra spin on it. This would in my opinion be the most significant signing our club has made since Jack Gibson. This is Gould's strong suit, he loves this stuff. He lives and breathes it. We could not do any better in regards to our long term future and success. Hell I would ask him now and try to get him on a handshake deal that when he finishes up with the Warriors, and he is ready to jump back in, he comes to us and does his thing.
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
151,008
Why would I say that? Well Phil Gould about 6 weeks ago said on 100%Footy or his podcast I can't remember which, that Parramatta are not a development club. Now why would he say that?

Personally I don't give a shit what he thinks, don't rate him. For every good thing he has ever done he has f**ked up as well.

He's just another self opinionated blow hard wind bag.

Implement Penrith's development program for starters. And before you say that we are a development club and we are doing a good job, I say we aren't on both fronts.

Agree we haven't, otherwise we wouldn't have had such a long drought and we have developed plenty of good players but we dont retain them. We have a few juniors in our team atm, Reed, Dylbags, Haze, Mitch, Matto and Sivo. Thats a big improvement on the amount of our players that have come through from the lower grades.

I believe we are getting better now that we have the right set up in the office, just not where we want to be yet.

Other than wanting to blow Gus, you still haven't said how you would implement anything, or how you would change our set up.
 

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
3,476
Implement Penrith's development program for starters. And before you say that we are a development club and we are doing a good job, I say we aren't on both fronts.

Why would I say that? Well Phil Gould about 6 weeks ago said on 100%Footy or his podcast I can't remember which, that Parramatta are not a development club. Now why would he say that? I don't know, but he would know, right? More so then you or I or anyone else here that wants to come to the clubs defense. I mean that's what the guy is great at doing and what the Warriors have now hired him to fix for NZ and only the other day I heard a NZ official wax lyrical of all the stuff that Gould is doing over there in restructuring their whole pathways e.t.c. and that in the not to distant future they expect major improvements and outcomes due to all his ideas and work that his is implementing.

Love him or hate him, he is brilliant at this type of stuff. Yeah sure he has a massive ego, but you aren't hiring him for his humility. You are getting him in there to do a job that he is probably the most qualified human being in the game today to sort out. Once done you move him on just like the Panthers did, before his ego and hands on meddling get in the way. He is a tinkerer and innovator so if you leave him in there long enough he start to get fancy and rearranging things because he likes to always update and try different things. So you get him out before he over cooks the pie so to speak.

But he is peerless when setting up and adding all the ingredients to bake the pie. That is why both the Dragons and just last week the Bulldogs also have tried to poach him but he stayed solid with the Warriors to complete the task he already signed up to do.

But getting back to Parra, if Gus reckons that we are not a developing club, he also named 2 or 3 other clubs that are doing a good job, but made a point of Parra not being a developing club and a wasted opportunity, then I will take his opinion over anyone here that that is probably true. I mean look at the results of our juniors coming through over the last decade or so. Hardly a list of stellar standout stars to be overly excited or impressed with.

Now I am sure that many here will jump up and down and refute his statement or mount a list of excuses as to why this or that caused our development to suffer, but the fact remains that we are still, in Gus's eyes NOT a development club. So again I ask why? What would make him say that? Sure some here would say maybe Gus has a hidden agenda? Really? Like what hidden agenda? Like what for? From what I see is that all he wants and has always advocated for is for all clubs to be well run and develop player pathways properly so ultimately the game thrives like never before and also starve off the AFL incursion. What isn't a hidden agenda is that our junior numbers have declined over the same period, by about 1000-1500. Now if we were really kicking goals in the pathways side of things I would expect our juniors to have grown not shrunk. The Panthers is so large that they don't really want anymore because they couldn't handle them properly.

We also have yet to see any significant influx of quality juniors coming out like the Panthers which I think is a tell-tale sign that he maybe right. Anyway what I would do is as soon as he has completed with his mission at the Warriors, is to beg him to come to Parra and do the exact thing for us, with obviously a Parra spin on it. This would in my opinion be the most significant signing our club has made since Jack Gibson. This is Gould's strong suit, he loves this stuff. He lives and breathes it. We could not do any better in regards to our long term future and success. Hell I would ask him now and try to get him on a handshake deal that when he finishes up with the Warriors, and he is ready to jump back in, he comes to us and does his thing.
Good points Ram. Since about 2006 when Hayne, Mateo and Inu burst onto the scene the only other good juniors to come thru since are just recently Dyl Brown, Niukore and Mahoney (can any of these really be considered OUR juniors?) and Kaufusi. Not a great return on the investment and one could say the club has wasted millions for almost nil return.
Btw Ram who were the other 2 clubs Gould mentioned?
 

hindy111

Post Whore
Messages
59,207
Sam Hughes could be the answer.....(If we only knew the question)

Its quite easy to work out imo. He is still listed as a player so they want him. If he was up to trouble he would of been released or a statement by now. I'd say he is going through a tough time personally. And we do not need to know what that is.
The clubs most likely said have 6mths off and are supporting him and will see him back I reckon later in the year. If not next season.
 

emjaycee

Coach
Messages
13,038
When Sharpie and his cohort were elected to the Board it was recognised that there had been not just a lack of focus on our junior development, but in fact total disregard for it for a number of years. Unfortunately, there wasn't and isn't a quick fix to this, no matter what Gus might profess. Proper junior development starts at the grassroots level around the 'open age' (say under 12's) and you don't see results of more junior players making it into the NRL squad for years.

Penrith didn't have the same level of disregard as what we experienced and talk to anyone involved in junior rugby league in the district and I am sure they will confirm that our juniors were a shambles (@Delboy is one who can shed light on this). So Penrith's junior program needed tweaking at the upper levels only, to make sure they were better identifying local talent and bringing it through their pathways into their rep and eventually NRL sides. It took Gus a few years to put this into place and the results only started coming in 2019/20.

Both BA and Bernie recognised this however it was only in around 2015/16 that there started to be more focus on our junior league from the senior organisation. There is still along way to go but there will be more positive outcome in the next 2-3 years with more Parra local juniors making there way into the NRL squad. If you look at our Reggies side now, there are at least 5-6 players who are true juniors and some are pushing themselves closer to the NRL (Dunster, Jake Arthur, Will Penisini, Sean Russell, Naidoku, etc.) There are another layer behind them in Ball and yet another in Matts so Gould is right, we are not yet a development club, but we are in the process of returning to be one.
 

TheRam

Coach
Messages
13,480
Good points Ram. Since about 2006 when Hayne, Mateo and Inu burst onto the scene the only other good juniors to come thru since are just recently Dyl Brown, Niukore and Mahoney (can any of these really be considered OUR juniors?) and Kaufusi. Not a great return on the investment and one could say the club has wasted millions for almost nil return.
Btw Ram who were the other 2 clubs Gould mentioned?

The Roosters were one but I can't think of the other one because I was thinking too much about how he thought Parra were not developing at all. He said something about there is a difference between having a lot of juniors and developing. Which we don't do properly.
 

Pazza

First Grade
Messages
8,609
dont forget gould started out in penrith in 2011, so it has taken 10 years to really bare fruit.

Right now we are good at identifying talent that is under performing and we can mould into better performing players at a lower cost to the cap. If BA and O'Neill think the next guy they can resurrect is Aaron Woods then awesome. The track record with these sort of signings has been quite good over the last 3 or so seasons.
 

Soren Lorenson

First Grade
Messages
6,923
When Sharpie and his cohort were elected to the Board it was recognised that there had been not just a lack of focus on our junior development, but in fact total disregard for it for a number of years. Unfortunately, there wasn't and isn't a quick fix to this, no matter what Gus might profess. Proper junior development starts at the grassroots level around the 'open age' (say under 12's) and you don't see results of more junior players making it into the NRL squad for years.

Penrith didn't have the same level of disregard as what we experienced and talk to anyone involved in junior rugby league in the district and I am sure they will confirm that our juniors were a shambles (@Delboy is one who can shed light on this). So Penrith's junior program needed tweaking at the upper levels only, to make sure they were better identifying local talent and bringing it through their pathways into their rep and eventually NRL sides. It took Gus a few years to put this into place and the results only started coming in 2019/20.

Both BA and Bernie recognised this however it was only in around 2015/16 that there started to be more focus on our junior league from the senior organisation. There is still along way to go but there will be more positive outcome in the next 2-3 years with more Parra local juniors making there way into the NRL squad. If you look at our Reggies side now, there are at least 5-6 players who are true juniors and some are pushing themselves closer to the NRL (Dunster, Jake Arthur, Will Penisini, Sean Russell, Naidoku, etc.) There are another layer behind them in Ball and yet another in Matts so Gould is right, we are not yet a development club, but we are in the process of returning to be one.
It's a bit of a catch 22 though as we will start to see with the Panthers. Most of their current cohort of NRL quality juniors will be lost to the club because their pathway is blocked, ie Burton, Laurie, Blore or they will lose current NRL players who were juniors in order to fit in upcoming.
 
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