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SG Ball premiers to NRL prospects: Inside Parramatta Eels’ reinvigorated junior pathways system
The Eels are making up ground on the Panthers and their recent junior success, with a future NRL team full of homegrown Parramatta talent on the horizon.
When Parramatta skipper Junior Paulo watches Sam Tuivaiti the NSW Blues prop can’t help but see himself in the rising Eels teenager.
Tuivaiti, a hulking young forward, led the charge in Parramatta’s SG Ball grand final win last month against Newcastle.
Keeping a close eye on proceedings at Leichhardt Oval that day, and the
brood of Eels youngstersturning heads at the club, was Paulo.
And every time Tuivaiti surged forward, a wry smile would form on Paulo’s face.
“Sam reminds me of myself when I was watching him play,” Paulo laughed.
“He’s got the footwork and the offload going. He led from the front that day and you can see he is going to be a great leader.
“His work ethic for a young kid and understanding of the game, you can see he’s going to grow into a great player if he is committed to it.
“He’s certainly got the skill and tough mentality to be a front rower. The work rate he is getting through, and he’s only at SG Ball, you can see he is only going to get better.”
Tuivaiti is just one of the numerous poster boys of Parramatta’s renewed commitment to
strengthening its pathways, in a nursery that boasts almost 6000 junior league players.
THE FUTURE
But Tuivaiti isn’t the only shining light from the victorious SG Ball outfit. Centres Blaize Talagi and Richard Penisini (brother of NRL star, Will), hooker Matthew Arthur (son of NRL coach, Brad) and boom halfback Ethan Sanders are considered genuine NRL prospects.
“They are our future,” Paulo said.
“I went out to watch the SG Ball team play in the grand final and there was a bucketload of talent.
“A lot of kids are going to be able to transition into first grade. For years, Parramatta have had a junior base but have lost them to other clubs.”
The Eels are working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen with this crop.
The club’s general manager of football Mark O’Neill has locked in all players until the end of season 2025, and Sanders until the end of 2024.
“Ethan is just very calm and understands the game, he’s got a great footy mind,” O’Neill said.
“Blaize He loves the collision and he loves competing. He hasn’t grown into his body yet. But he actively goes after the game. Richie oozes class and obviously comes with pedigree as Will’s younger brother.
“And Matthew, he’s tough, he’s a year young but has an appetite to learn. The game he played in the grand final was enormous.”
BUILDING BLOCKS
Parramatta has access to one of the largest junior talent pools in the country but admittedly has struggled in the past to keep up with other development clubs like Penrith and Brisbane.
“By no means are we sitting here saying ‘we are perfect’. We’re on a journey, and it’s continuous improvement. We’ve always been a development club but did we have it all perfect? No,” O’Neill said.
“But player development is a renewed focus. We’ve always been a development club but at various times you’re developing players that end up at other clubs. So we need to be securing players too. It’s about having a fundamental understanding of what a development club looks like. We want to get as many players from the pathways into the NRL and NRLW side.”
So last year, former Warriors coach Nathan Brown was called in to conduct an independent review to help Parramatta transform into a development powerhouse, like western Sydney rivals Penrith.
Already there have been key changes in areas like personnel and funding.
“That led to James Shepherd being employed as head of elite pathway and Nathan as a coaching director,” O’Neill said.
“He (Brown) offers a coaching lens to some of the players, be it one-on-one and a group setting.
“It transformed the way we trained and the way players received feedback.
Tuivaiti is one of the players benefiting from the specialised coaching, and Paulo believes it could be the difference between keeping junior players in the blue and gold or losing them to rivals.
“He invests his time into those kids that are going to be the future of Parramatta,” Paulo said. “It is hard when you are coming through with 30 kids for everyone to get a fair go but to see a club have that care factor is going to give the club an advantage.”
GRADUATING CLASS
Dylan Brown, Haze Dunster and Matt Doorey are the only players from the Eels’ 2017 SG Ball-winning side in the current NRL squad.
In contrast, Penrith have graduated nine players into NRL from SG Ball between 2014 and 2017, including Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, James Fisher Harris and Brian To’o.
Shepherd is committed to ensuring the Eels’ roster will eventually feature this year’s SG Ball winners Tuivaiti, Sanders, Penisini, Talagi and Arthur, along with players like Jersey Flegg captain, back-rower Jock Brazel.
“That would be the ideal situation,” Shepherd said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to predict the speed in which players develop. Some might get there in the next year or two, some in the next five years. But that’s the situation you want to be in. To have players showing NRL potential and then building a connection with the culture of the club and a connection with each other is only a good thing.”
PATHWAY BACK
Penrith’s re-engineered pathways have not only set the benchmark, they left the rest of the NRL in their wake.
Their SG Ball stocks helped the Panthers to back-to-back NRL titles, and last year the club also won the NSW Cup, Jersey Flegg, SG Ball and the NRL State Championships.
It’s a feat O’Neill thinks might not be replicated for years to come.
“Their success last year was off the charts,” O’Neill said.
“They won everything. It was a record success. To replicate that will be difficult. But we are trying to build something unique to Parramatta.”
While the enormous success of their rival has been a motivating factor to strengthen their own junior systems, O’Neill won’t lean on Penrith’s pathways blueprint.
Parramatta have introduced ‘The Jets’ program, which identifies the club’s best 10-15 players, with the view of nurturing them into the NRL system.
“We are trying to build something unique to Parramatta. We want the kids here to identify as an Eel and be a part of what we are building. I’m happy for Penrith but motivated by what we can deliver at the Eels. Getting talent into an NRL program will take a few years, they came in at 16 or 17 and have until they’re 21 to get into the system.
“Winning is important for young players so they actually know what it feels like, they aren’t guessing, and you want more.”
HIGHEST HONOURS
When Paulo runs out at Adelaide Oval in Origin game one for the Blues, he’ll be the only Eels junior since Tim Mannah to represent NSW.
It’s something the Eels want to ensure that never happens again.
“I pinch myself, I feel like it’s a lifetime ago but I was one of those kids coming through the Parramatta system having always dreamt of putting on the Blues jersey,” Paulo said.
“You get to do it at under 16s, 18s and 20s but when you do it at the NRL level, it’s a huge achievement you can look back on and see the progression over the years.
“To be a role model and give these kids a bit of an insight on what you can achieve if you are committed to the Parramatta juniors, and seeing there is a pathway to Origin if you stay.”
PARTICIPATION NUMBERS
Propping up Parramatta’s pathways plan are strong junior league numbers in the region’s vast catchment with stretches from Fairfield to the Hills District and through the centre of western Sydney.
The overall participation numbers are up to 5700 players in 2023, the vast majority of registrations are for the tackle form of the game.
Male registrations are up six per cent year on year, while female participation has experienced a huge 51 per cent rise to almost 1000 players.
Just two years ago, there were only five junior clubs with a team in the division one under 16s competition, but that has now risen to nine teams.
Rival code AFL, which has poured millions into grassroots football in the region, had a 10 per cent drop in participation as numbers continue to dwindle.
