Panthers pounce: Maitland duo signed
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By Josh Callinan
Sept. 18, 2012, midnight
RUGBY LEAGUE
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Maitland juniors Sam Anderson and Geordie Connelly have signed with the Penrith Panthers for 2013.
Both players have sealed one-year deals with the National Rugby League club and will head to the foot of the Blue Mountains
next month ahead of pre-season training commitments.
Anderson has been targeted as a prop for the senior squad while Connelly is set to feature as five-eighth for the National Youth Competition (NYC) under 20s team.
They will join a host of former junior players from the Maitland region playing NRL outside the Hunter Valley including Andrew Everingham (South
Sydney) and Greg Bird (Gold Coast Titans).
Closer to home Maitland products like Ryan Stig and Robbie Rochow have stuck with the Newcastle Knights, but both Anderson and Connelly have decided to part ways with the boys in red and blue.
Anderson, 21 of Aberglasslyn, said the decision to leave the region where he was born and bred was much easier than expected after receiving limited opportunities in the Knights top grade squad in 2012.
To be honest it was an easy one because I wanted it, he said.
I wasnt quite sure at the Knights and they have recruited a lot of forwards, but this [Penrith] is a new
start at a new club and a good opportunity.
Anderson had been on the Panthers radar at the start of last season when then newly recruited general manager Phil Gould travelled to his family home in search of a signature.
Anderson, who had been named player of the year and players player of the Knights NYC team in 2011, opted to stay with Newcastle after then newly appointed coach Wayne Bennett spoke to him.
But while the Knights won out in the short term, the Panthers have scored in the long term.
Anderson has spent the winter months playing for the Knights in the NSW Cup competition but his ambition is to
play in the NRL and he believes the Panthers can provide him with the best possible platform to achieve that goal.
It has been a completely different level of football [playing NSW Cup] and while 20s is faster, the hits are a lot harder [in NSW Cup] because you are only one step away from first grade, he said.
The pre-season under Bennett was intense and defence was the main thing I picked up ... but my aim is to debut [NRL] next season. I want to do my best, ideally have a really strong off-season and then play the NRL trials next year if selected.
Anderson, who has one year remaining on his fitter machinist apprenticeship, will be joined by NSW Cup teammate Ethan Cook at the Panthers in 2013 as well as fellow Newcastle
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players Wes Naiqama and Kyle ODonnell.
Connelly, who was part of the Pickers 36-6 preliminary final loss to Western Suburbs on Sunday, will partner up with former Knights NYC coach Garth Brennan in the Panthers under 20s system.
Both Connelly and Anderson signed contracts with the Panthers earlier this month.
Anderson will
continue his Knights commitments this Sunday when he lines up in the NSW Cup preliminary final against Balmain at Leichhardt Oval (1pm).
http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/340935/panthers-pounce-maitland-duo-signed/?cs=172
