Please, anyone else in 2021

[firechild]

I don’t think the draft is the right way. The Dogs have responded to what we have done are are lifting their game across the organisation (Gould common denominator) and I can see them having a good few years.

The dogs are just trying to buy what Penrith has done, not respond to it. Parra did it when Manly were having a run of success. They bought a few players (didn't get as many as they were after) and coaching staff but fizzled out because it doesn't really work that way. The dogs are a stronger club than Parra so they may have a bit more success but I wouldn't be surprised if they have a few good years and then fall back to mediocrity when they don't get the near instant results.

 

[MugaB]

The dogs are just trying to buy what Penrith has done, not respond to it. Parra did it when Manly were having a run of success. They bought a few players (didn't get as many as they were after) and coaching staff but fizzled out because it doesn't really work that way. The dogs are a stronger club than Parra so they may have a bit more success but I wouldn't be surprised if they have a few good years and then fall back to mediocrity when they don't get the near instant results.

Don't be fooled, these dogs purchases are not the team that will give them their run of success, it's the teams below them that will be the real challenge, we've already seen a few debut this season, but the mercs "utilities" are there purely to help these kids become steady 1st graders, this is what happened at Penrith, give it a few more seasons, I would say only a handful of this current team remain, the rest will be from their crop below

 

[Marshall_magic]

Well it’s been 4 years and neither of those teams have won it.

 

[Fangs]

We are doing the lords work.

On the 6th day God created Penrith and he was happy with what he saw.

On the 7th day he rested. Probably cracked a tinnie and envisioned our 4 peat. No kayo in heaven.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Let me preface this comment by being upfront, do I dislike most of the Panthers team because of Origin? Yes. Do I have a soft spot for the Storm because of Origin? Yes. Am I still pissed off that the Broncos choked away a 16 point lead last year? Yes

Ok now that my disclaimer is out of the way, Penrith are obviously a supremely talented side and deserve everything they get but f**k me their style is boring as batshit and I'd be happy to see them take a break from winning premierships for a good decade or so.

I know their fan base will be bigger in the future but currently they are a small club and a small club dominating the NRL does very little for the game as a whole. If this were dogs or Warriors doing a four in a row for example, attendances everywhere would be lifted on the back of it.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

This success and the size and youth of their supporter base means they won't be a 'small' club in the future.

 

[MugaB]

Let me preface this comment by being upfront, do I dislike most of the Panthers team because of Origin? Yes. Do I have a soft spot for the Storm because of Origin? Yes. Am I still pissed off that the Broncos choked away a 16 point lead last year? Yes

Ok now that my disclaimer is out of the way, Penrith are obviously a supremely talented side and deserve everything they get but f**k me their style is boring as batshit and I'd be happy to see them take a break from winning premierships for a good decade or so.

I know their fan base will be bigger in the future but currently they are a small club and a small club dominating the NRL does very little for the game as a whole. If this were dogs or Warriors doing a four in a row for example, attendances everywhere would be lifted on the back of it.

I doubt you've walked the streets of Western Sydney to suggest they are a small club.. the fanbase is large, and it's mostly to do with how they are engaging with their fans especially after each game, most players hide in the sheds after any club game, these guys are out there well after the games done, even at away games, shows the effort of the team as a whole to ensure that they are milking their time with the public as much as possible

 

[Blues Riff]

This success and the size and youth of their supporter base means they won't be a 'small' club in the future.

Good point Mr Green. How else could you possibly explain the massive WT fanbase?
Just takes a strategic flick pass in front of some impressionable kids.

 

[Marshall_magic]

It will be interesting to see the long term implications of this. A lot of the boomers on the younger end of that generation are Dragons fans (brining/grew up during the 11 straight). A lot of the 45-50 year olds I work with are Eels fans (started watching the game in the early 80s).

In 50 years will kids be talking about how they know a heap of older Panthers fans?

 

[MKCS]

Let me preface this comment by being upfront, do I dislike most of the Panthers team because of Origin? Yes. Do I have a soft spot for the Storm because of Origin? Yes. Am I still pissed off that the Broncos choked away a 16 point lead last year? Yes

Ok now that my disclaimer is out of the way, Penrith are obviously a supremely talented side and deserve everything they get but f**k me their style is boring as batshit and I'd be happy to see them take a break from winning premierships for a good decade or so.

I know their fan base will be bigger in the future but currently they are a small club and a small club dominating the NRL does very little for the game as a whole. If this were dogs or Warriors doing a four in a row for example, attendances everywhere would be lifted on the back of it.

Definitely not a small club at all, Penrith has one of the biggest support areas, you start seeing Penrith fans from about Blacktown, Hawkesbury and Liverpool and then obviously more as you get closer to Penrith. That's a million potential fans from those areas alone but then outside of Sydney you see Penrith being widely supported in places like Bathurst, Blue Mountains, the entirety of the Central West, Dubbo etc so it has strong city support and regional support like the Dragons and Knights. Panthers would have 1.3 million people or so that could (Obviously not all of them will) identify with the club and be catered to via community outreach etc.

Bulldogs in comparison have an area of 300,000 people and no regional areas to get fans from, to the west they compete with Penrith, to the north they compete with Parra, to the east they compete with the Tigers or Roosters/Souths and to the south they compete with the Sharks. Bulldogs have a shit ton of money, that's why people view them as a big club.

 

[flippikat]

This run started with Gus sorting out the set up from top to bottom, slow burn but we got there. No reason other clubs can't duplicate it at least to an extent. Not all our "juniors" were born in the Penrith Council area. Other clubs had an equal shot at guys like Edwards, Martin, Yeo and plenty of others. Plenty of clubs also have decent junior comps left to wither on the vine.

From what I gather, Gus is trying to replicate what he did at the Panthers with the Bulldogs - and there's a good chance that will reach fruition by the end of this decade.

 

[flippikat]

Don't be fooled, these dogs purchases are not the team that will give them their run of success, it's the teams below them that will be the real challenge, we've already seen a few debut this season, but the mercs "utilities" are there purely to help these kids become steady 1st graders, this is what happened at Penrith, give it a few more seasons, I would say only a handful of this current team remain, the rest will be from their crop below

Precisely this - the Bulldogs spending spree is a short term move that was always going to happen once their cap was freed-up. (They had a LOT of dead money in their spending - duds, paying out contracts, you name it)

Now that's largely behind them, they have a decent amount of space under the cap to fill. Meanwhile, Gus is working on systems to nail-down pathways for the medium-long term - and that's where the "Penrith way" comes in.

 

[mxlegend99]

From what I gather, Gus is trying to replicate what he did at the Panthers with the Bulldogs - and there's a good chance that will reach fruition by the end of this decade.

Next step. He needs to sack Ciraldo because he is looking tired and hire Walters without interviewing anyone for the job.

Walters brings his kid with him and the pieces are falling into place.

 

[Wb1234]

I doubt you've walked the streets of Western Sydney to suggest they are a small club.. the fanbase is large, and it's mostly to do with how they are engaging with their fans especially after each game, most players hide in the sheds after any club game, these guys are out there well after the games done, even at away games, shows the effort of the team as a whole to ensure that they are milking their time with the public as much as possible

They are still one of the smaller Sydney clubs being amongst the last to come in the nswrl and the small population Penrith has had for 50 years which is now changing

 

[BunniesMan]

4 premierships in a row and they still can't average 20k a week crowds. Small clubs are small for a reason.

Souths, Dogs, Dragons, Eels would be averaging bigger numbers than the Broncos if we had 4 in a row

 

[AlwaysGreen]

4 premierships in a row and they still can't average 20k a week crowds. Small clubs are small for a reason.

Souths, Dogs, Dragons, Eels would be averaging bigger numbers than the Broncos if we had 4 in a row

If.

 

[ColdWetPanther]

4 premierships in a row and they still can't average 20k a week crowds. Small clubs are small for a reason.

Souths, Dogs, Dragons, Eels would be averaging bigger numbers than the Broncos if we had 4 in a row

I guess we’ll see when we have a bigger stadium.

 

[soc123_au]

4 premierships in a row and they still can't average 20k a week crowds. Small clubs are small for a reason.

Souths, Dogs, Dragons, Eels would be averaging bigger numbers than the Broncos if we had 4 in a row

Only one Goldenrod for this one, feels like as much effort went into it as a Latrell prelim circa 2022

 

[mozza91]

4 premierships in a row and they still can't average 20k a week crowds. Small clubs are small for a reason.

Souths, Dogs, Dragons, Eels would be averaging bigger numbers than the Broncos if we had 4 in a row

My team hasn’t been good for 20 years and we still averaged 22k this year. Maybe the fans of the ‘big clubs’ should have a crack?

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Definitely not a small club at all, Penrith has one of the biggest support areas, you start seeing Penrith fans from about Blacktown, Hawkesbury and Liverpool and then obviously more as you get closer to Penrith. That's a million potential fans from those areas alone but then outside of Sydney you see Penrith being widely supported in places like Bathurst, Blue Mountains, the entirety of the Central West, Dubbo etc so it has strong city support and regional support like the Dragons and Knights. Panthers would have 1.3 million people or so that could (Obviously not all of them will) identify with the club and be catered to via community outreach etc.

Bulldogs in comparison have an area of 300,000 people and no regional areas to get fans from, to the west they compete with Penrith, to the north they compete with Parra, to the east they compete with the Tigers or Roosters/Souths and to the south they compete with the Sharks. Bulldogs have a shit ton of money, that's why people view them as a big club.

Fair call that I don't know the area, I'll cop that. I don't dispute that the area is big, but the Panthers fan base doesn't seem to be one of the bigger Sydney fan bases.

Barely scraped 35k for their prelim, couldn't sell out the GF, outnumbered by Broncos fans last year (reportedly). I mean, I love the game and it be delighted to be wrong on this because I want our NRL clubs dominating Sydney and drowning all other sports out.

I can definitely see that the Panthers do have lots of upside in the future though.