There is some hope for you WT fans. As a Panthers tragic who has had the displeasure of watching wooden spoons, overpaid has beens (hi Sparkles), terrible board decisions (Corey Payne 32 year old CEO, no experience but he did play footy) and awful coaches (hi Matty Elliot, love your new book by the way), I can relate to what you are going through.
Our chairman started the path to where we are now when he approached Gus to become GM football. The Gus playbook started the revolution. It went something like this:
1. Get rid of the coach. Find a coach who develop young players. You have done this but replaced him with Tim and he has been given a fixed tenure. The clock is ticking before a completely inexperienced coach with no track record in coaching takes over. Hmmm.
2. Get rid of the over paid players and get the cap under control. Out went Grant, Coote, Civonoceva. It wasn’t their fault their contracts were two high but our chairman admitted we had 60% of our salary cap tied up with five players. This step hurt. Grant and Coote were good players and didn’t deserve to be moved but it needed to be done. You still haven’t done this fully yet. Brooks is a huge hole in your cap, but I think you have plenty of cap money available. Job done.
3. Get rid of those who aren’t buying into the new programme under the new Coach. Out went Lewis, Jennings and Civoneva probably falls under this heading as well and being overpaid sealed the deal. Have you done this yet? Hard to tell, the new coach hasn’t started yet.
4. Build a Centre of Excellence. You have done this and your board deserves praise for this. Good job.
5. Fill your roster with quality professional journeyman to hold the fort until the juniors mature. I heard Gus talk about this step on a podcast where he said he purposely hired journeyman like Ciraldo and Clint Newton (I am sure they were thrilled to be referred to thus) who were noted in their professionalism and attitude. He said “I told them they were in for spell down the mines and it will be hard work”. They would teach the youngsters how to behave, train and what it takes to be an NRL player. Where they dazzling? No. Where they leaders that showed the way? Yes.
The way you finished the season speaks volumes to your need to get hard headed journeyman in your club to change the attitudes and behavior of your young players. The Panthers were also flogged in round 25. Witness the attitude of that team of mainly NSW cup players, versus the WT players. I am not bragging, I am merely pointing out you have a massive attitude problem in your team. You need to take this step.
6. Get experienced halves to guide the team around. We were rejected by Thurston and Carney and in the end only got Soward and Peter Wallace. Cleary learned his trade under these two. Mahoney was added later and was Cleary’s final on-field mentor. Brooks is no rookie, can he play a leadership role? Ben Hunt would be perfect for you in that role as a mentor. He is a better player than Wallace or Soward and still has plenty of years left in him. Douehi could learn a lot from him if the Dragons are stupid enough to let Hunt go. You have secured Api, so that is a great first step.
7. Sprinkle a few stars in to keep the pot boiling. Gus managed to secure Trent Merrin and James Tamou to help improve the team. Api was part of the team twice, but wasn’t a star when we signed him, so I wouldn’t include him in this. Gus always tried to get players with the right attitude, show pony’s need not apply. You have got two in Papali and Api, you are on your way.
8. Get your development pathways working so your players come from within. We had this so wrong for so long it’s embarrassing. In 2011 before Gus started we had a spine of Burns, Walsh, Kingston and Coote. Only one Panther junior. What the club was doing signing these players with its massive junior nursery is anybody’s guess. We couldn’t develop players for sh*t. I hated those years and found my connection with the team weakening because it was full of third rate signings from other clubs. Gus rebuilt the pathways from the ground up and this is his greatest legacy for our team. I am not sure you have done this right yet. If there is one thing I know from years of superstar juniors amounting to nothing at the Panthers, turning a junior into a first grader is a difficult process that requires planning and investment, it won’t happen by winning Jersey Flegg for a few years. Talent is not enough.
In 2022, we finished 1,2,3,4,3 in all the grades down to Harold Matthew’s. This is what Tim should have focused on, not being the bloody coach. Flanagan could easily fill that role for you so Tim could focus on building your pathways. I hope this decision doesn’t derail that work.
9. Get your fitness and training team to include sports scientists and qualified coaches, not ex-players with a magic sponge. We were riddled with injuries and quite poor in this area until we changed our approach to this. You have a COE and Beni is hiring new managers to lead this area, you may have this one covered, time will tell.
Just so we are clear, I am not saying Gus had all the answers, he made some terrible decisions but his ledger was balanced nicely with the good outweighing the bad. You should be optimistic that you club has made a number of positive changes and have two great players starting next year. The only downside is the coaching. Hiring a complete rookie is a massive, unnecessary risk no matter how good a player Benji was.
Apologies for the length of the post.
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