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Opinion Joseph Suaalii is being set up to fail

Valheru

Coach
Messages
17,509
Historically...you're taking things a little bit too literally there old chap.

It's a complete myth regularly perpetuated by panthers fans.

Freddy is obvious.

I am struggling to remember another one in the NRL era. Can you name any other decent players?
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
17,509
Once channel 9 have the voice over monologue ready for his first game then give him the exemption. It's what the fans deserve for a player of his standing.

Or maybe listen to Wade Graham's thoughts on the matter, he is fairly qualified on the subject. As a Panthers fan I remember Wade coming through. He seemed ready & played pretty bloody well when he got his chance. I remember being frustrated that he was being eased in & he himself looked pissed every time he was on the bench. I believe that the bench time was part of the reason he went to the Sharks. The current NRL knows better than 17 year old Wade did, he says so himself.

Adding to that, what sualli himself says should hold no bearing.

Of course he is going to say he is ready. Sometimes players need to be protected from themselves.
 

Exsilium

First Grade
Messages
9,517
Adding to that, what sualli himself says should hold no bearing.

Of course he is going to say he is ready. Sometimes players need to be protected from themselves.

I agree with this.

Make the kid wait, let the media attention die down and let him ply his trade in the lower grades, get his body right and train in preparation for 2022.

That’s even if he’s good enough to land a starting spot.
 

soc123_au

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
18,451
It's a complete myth regularly perpetuated by panthers fans.

Freddy is obvious.

I am struggling to remember another one in the NRL era. Can you name any other decent players?

Ned Catic is arguably decent. lol

Matt Sing although a Queenslander came through at Penrith & played origin before heading to Bondi. George Rose & Richie Fa'aoso had their moments as well.

There have been a few decent players go from Penrith to Easts in the last 30 years, but Freddy is by far the standout. Him aside there are plenty of Clubs that pick the eyes out of Penrith ranks well ahead of the Roosters.

Edit, Mick Jennings would rank as a pretty good pick up for the Roosters as well.

Honestly the only other one I can even remember is Tinirau Arona who was hyped as the next big thing at Penrith before being pinched by the Roosters. As it turns out he never really did much.
 
Last edited:
Messages
11,595
Ned Catic is arguably decent. lol

Matt Sing although a Queenslander came through at Penrith & played origin before heading to Bondi. George Rose & Richie Fa'aoso had their moments as well.

There have been a few decent players go from Penrith to Easts in the last 30 years, but Freddy is by far the standout. Him aside there are plenty of Clubs that pick the eyes out of Penrith ranks well ahead of the Roosters.

Edit, Mick Jennings would rank as a pretty good pick up for the Roosters as well.

Honestly the only other one I can even remember is Tinirau Arona who was hyped as the next big thing at Penrith before being pinched by the Roosters. As it turns out he never really did much.


It’s a testament to the good work Penrith are doing but just on Matt Sing, we’ve developed a number of players that have come down as 15/16 year olds from Qld or northern NSW. Doesn’t seem to count when we do it somehow. Not having a go at you personally btw.
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
17,509
Ned Catic is arguably decent. lol

Matt Sing although a Queenslander came through at Penrith & played origin before heading to Bondi. George Rose & Richie Fa'aoso had their moments as well.

There have been a few decent players go from Penrith to Easts in the last 30 years, but Freddy is by far the standout. Him aside there are plenty of Clubs that pick the eyes out of Penrith ranks well ahead of the Roosters.

Edit, Mick Jennings would rank as a pretty good pick up for the Roosters as well.

Honestly the only other one I can even remember is Tinirau Arona who was hyped as the next big thing at Penrith before being pinched by the Roosters. As it turns out he never really did much.

Fair call on Jenko. I think we all can agree there were some issues between him and Penrith that resulted in him leaving though.

As you say, plenty of other clubs are well ahead of us in terms of poaching Penrith juniors/developed players. It is just that Freddy is the most obvious and high profile poaching from Penrith in their existence.
 

soc123_au

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
18,451
The Mick Jennings who Penrith ran out of their club when Jennings had 3 years left on his contract because "Mr Chinny" said he wasn't "providing value for money"? (source: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/i-never-wanted-to-leave-penrith-jennings-20130117-2cvey.html)

Yeah, thats the Mick Jennings. How he arrived there wasn't the point of the discussion. The point was busting the myth that the Roosters are continually raiding our stocks. Clearly they aren't. Cronulla for example has secured more high end talent from us in the past 10 years than the Roosters have since time began.

We have picked up some pretty handy players (not all directly) that were products of the Roosters development pathways over the years. Tamou, Soward, Sattler just off the top of my head.
 

soc123_au

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
18,451
It’s a testament to the good work Penrith are doing but just on Matt Sing, we’ve developed a number of players that have come down as 15/16 year olds from Qld or northern NSW. Doesn’t seem to count when we do it somehow. Not having a go at you personally btw.

Not taken personally. I face palm almost as much as you guys do with some of the shit people dribble.

I've long woken up to the fact that the Roosters do a shit hot job of junior development. Where they were born matters zero. We are blessed with a fantastic nursery at our doorstep, and have been rewarded with the likes of Critta, Luai, Leniu, To'o, Leota, Cleary etc.

But we have also reaped the rewards much like you guys by casting the net wider. Edwards, Naden, Staines, Yeo & Martin are all from Western NSW & Fish from NZ. So they have come through based on the same model as the Roosters use. Kikau & Mansour I won't use as they were largely developed before we got near them.

The other thing we are finally doing is targeted recruitment. We aren't quite there yet in attracting the likes of Teddy & Cronk, players like Tamou, Api & Soward have been exactly what we needed at the time. Not just buying whatever is available. The Roosters have been masters of this for decades now.

I think Gus' lasting legacy will be having set us up to emulate the Roosters of the Politis era tweaked obviously to play to our natural resources.
 
Messages
11,595
Fair call on Jenko. I think we all can agree there were some issues between him and Penrith that resulted in him leaving though.

As you say, plenty of other clubs are well ahead of us in terms of poaching Penrith juniors/developed players. It is just that Freddy is the most obvious and high profile poaching from Penrith in their existence.


And there were circumstances at play in Freddy’s departure too, wasn’t there? He wasn’t keen on going to Super League or something of that nature. I also thought he was looking at a Manly move too but Gus convinced him to come to us.
 

soc123_au

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
18,451
And there were circumstances at play in Freddy’s departure too, wasn’t there? He wasn’t keen on going to Super League or something of that nature. I also thought he was looking at a Manly move too but Gus convinced him to come to us.
Yeah, he was told he wouldn’t play or captain Australia if he went to super league. Politis had spoken to him prior to the war breaking out, but it wasn’t to poach him, it was Politis wanting to learn how to attract the right players. Then super league happened & Freddy had to find a new club. Roosters were in the box seat because Politis had made such a good impression. Gus was also a big influence obviously
 

THE CHAMP

First Grade
Messages
8,221
And there were circumstances at play in Freddy’s departure too, wasn’t there? He wasn’t keen on going to Super League or something of that nature. I also thought he was looking at a Manly move too but Gus convinced him to come to us.


Yeah a shitload of money had nothing to do with it
 
Messages
13,793
Because small coin was offered by Super League?

In actuality, Penrith originally were going to stay with the ARL but changed its mind and instead went to Super League. As Fittler was under contract to the Panther that was registered with the ARL, which had the ARL as a third party to it (which was standard for all player contract at the time iirc), the Panthers tried to use that contract to keep him at the club even though they weren't going to be playing in any ARL competitions in 1996. Fittler (along with Matt Sing who was in a similar situation) then took legal action against the Panthers and didn't sign a contract with any club (but had previously signed an ARL Loyalty Agreement which he did not seek a release from unlike many other Penrith players) until after the Industrial Relations Commission voided his Penrith contract.
 

Knight76

Juniors
Messages
2,043
Hes getting the attention because he is the next big thing
He isnt helping with his contract antics.

No different to Ponga coming to Newcastle, the media started harping on about his switch to 5/8, then when it happened they switched to how long can this experiment last, then it was Ponga wants to play union.

Suaalii better get used to it as it isnt going to let up.
 

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