I will get in early before the next two games and say that regardless of whether we win or lose both, the club is in a good position. And the season has been successful. I will explain why.
For me the long term strategy has suddenly become as clear as day. Hook was brought in because in spite of his undoubted qualities, Cleary did not blood many juniors. He was very conservative. This last two seasons with Hook may have been frustrating at times but just look what has happened. Cleary, TMM,Edwards, Katoa, CHN, JFH, Kikau and now May have all been blooded. That never would have happened with Cleary.
That is eight players. More than half a team. The Knights and Tigers have struggled for those two years while we have quietly started building a team that is Penrith through and through and blooded more players than just about any other team. This has been completely lost in the seemingly never ending discussion about who should be 5/8th and whether Hook can coach.
I think there is also more to it than just blooding juniors because we have done that in the past and it hasn't always worked. The biggest single change from our club of old is that when these players debut, they look ready for it and not out of place. Gus reclaimed the reserve grade from St Marys and he got all three grades training in the same place. He got a proper training facility in place. They pillage the u20's even when a finals place is on the line so the kids get experience in NSW cup. They rotate them up and then put them back down again when they tire. When they debut, these kids are hitting the ground running, catch them if you can.
So here we are with a team with 12 of the 17 Penrith juniors and in spite of rebuilding u20's again, they are second and another group is in place.
We may lose both games and go out on our ear, but this club is in an amazing position right now. Only time will tell if Hook is the right man or not, but it doesn't matter. A new coach will be found and we will win a premiership. Patience is all.
Great post. The only thing I'd add to that is that Griffin is also good at coaching defence (and also appears to regard defence as one of the most important skills for a player to develop, ahead of attack or anything else).
Defence is traditionally an area that Penrith as a team has never been strong in, even if we have often had very capable attacking sides (if not all the time, at least on their day).
I have my own theory for why that is the case (feel free to tell me it is completely off the mark). Having watched the Panthers U20s and the junior grades back before there was an U20s, it always amazed me how skilled so many of the players were at scoring points, but I also noticed they never had much defensive grit or that much regard for the ball. However, because there was always a bunch of people in the team who could score points and overcome mistakes or defensive lapses, there was never really a need to develop much defensive discipline amongst the younger players. Admittedly defense isn't a strong trait in many juniors, but I felt like with the quality of the players in Penrith's junior ranks it also didn't really need to be.
The unfortunate consequence of that mindset is that it then, without a lot of coaching intervention, it followed the players through into first grade.
Griffin on the other hand I think emphasizes defence first and foremost (as well as discipline with the ball), which is something that I think is helping our juniors transition to first grade more effectively.
Also, to add to your list, I know that Blake and RCG didn't debut under Griffin, but he's undoubtedly improved their playing abilities incredibly. I used to cringe every time Blake took the ball up because you knew he was a good chance of dropping it - however, Blake has gone from a fringe first grader to one of the better centres. RCG also appears to have finally found his home coming off the bench.
