You can never improve unless you first face the facts. My observation are these:
After requiring additional licensed club subsidies of more than $3m average per season since 2011. Don't be fooled by the club saying the Panthers are break even this was done by a bit of accounting sleight of hand - they simply changed changed the reporting of the property trust.
We have improved membership numbers - but they, as with all clubs, include plenty of dodgy stuff. The figures are pretty meaningless really. And their meaninglessness is demonstrated by a failure to convert this increase to increased attendance.
Crowds are poor - for a team making the 2nd last game last season, the crowds last year were very bad, this year they are just poor. Though about the same as for the 1991 premiership.
Sponsorship was marginally up for Season 2014, in gross terms, but down in percentage profit from sponsorship.
The team is running 10th. Yes, injuries have been harsh but that doesn't not make it any better.
The group assets have been reduced by more than $100m.
If you think things are running smoothly, think again.
Onfield things are running as smoothly as we could expect in the circumstances. We currently sit:
Under 20's - 1st, 3 points clear of second place
Reserve Grade - 1st, 3 points clear of second place
NRL - 11th, but only 2 points behind 5th place
Sure we're not doing aswell as we would have hoped this season. But we have had longterm injuries to all our key players.
Here's our "full strength" side according to what Ivan Cleary would be picking and the games they have missed:
1. Matt Moylan -
3 games (basically, he was injured 10 minutes into the Eels game) and will miss the next 8
2. Josh Mansour -
8 games, will likely miss more
3. Jamal Idris -
7 games, will miss the rest of the season
4. Dean Whare -
6 games
5. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak - None
6. Jamie Soward -
7 games
7. Peter Wallace -
5 games (hopefully this increases through him being dropped)
8. Brent Kite -
7 games, will definitely be more. But I doubt many consider him a loss.
9. James Segeyaro -
3 games, will definitely be more.
10. Jeremy Latimore - None
11. Lewis Brown -
3 games
12. Tyrone Peachey -
2 games, but through suspension
13. Elijah Taylor -
2 games
14. Reegan Campbell-Gillard - None
15. Sam McKendry - None
16. Bryce Cartwright - 1, although he was dropped I think
17. Isaah Yeo - 3, although i don't think he was part of our full strength side Originally. He has played 10 games though and would likely be there now.
Other injuries to guys who have played first grade this year for us:
George Jennings - 4 weeks minimum
Robert Jennings - 4 weeks minimum
Adam Docker - 6 weeks minimum
Nigel Plum - 5 weeks
Api Korisau - 1 or 2 weeks
Considering all the injuries we have had this season, and the affect those injuries have filtering down through to reserve grade and Under 20's, I think the club as a whole has done fantastic.
Our performances last year with injuries has probably increased our expectations through this years injury crisis. But would any other club look any better then us in the same circumstances? Our attack has gone to shit, but when you consider the amount of time our spine has missed this season, the amount of halves pairings we have had, the way our backline has been decimated with injury having our left side miss a huge chunk of the season together, our first choice backup left winger also injured, a fair few games with both centres out and so on.... I just think that we're pretty much performing how most clubs would in the circumstances.
Obviously we all want to do better. But we're losing players that are harder to replace to injury this year. We haven't had a run of 3 or 4 weeks where we kept the same team on the park to get familiar with each other and find some form. The last time we were even near full strength was Round 2, which we won 40-0. Our season went to shit when Soward picked up along term injury, and during his time on the sideline the other injuries started to mount. But even with all that, we're still only 2 points behind the 5th places Roosters.
