That DOES sound entertaining!!!

Yes.
Showed good composure, especially when down 12-0 after 35mins. That To'o try just before half-time to level the scores was telling. 

I cant imagine Penrith starting poorly again next week. Their 2020 loss in the GF storm was due to a poor start and im sure they will be reminded of it.

Hope they can stop parra from winning it...

All the more reason why our reserve grade should win today....

It will make Penrith's first grade hungrier next week.

That is the only reason why I wanted Penrith to win.

Blake is already having nightmares about Cleary bombs.

Alas it appears the NSW Cup GRAND FEKKING FINAL is not being televised as both 9 and FOX are showing the Women's Rugby league something I give not two hoots about. On par with the National Men's Netball League. This novelty event takes precedence over the second most important game of the year. 

Parramatta have it all against them. Can't really see them getting close. Junior Par-Low was stuffed and is such an important part of Parramatta's game. The Tropics is a strength sapping game this time of year. Parramatta have a good attack at their best but their defence is no where near as good as that of the Panthers. 

It is disappointing that 9 can't cover the game on one of their channels. The AFL and Rugby are over, Cricket hasn't started. 1 or 2 cameras is sufficient.

Fox has crews at all NRL games, they definitely have a lot of gear sitting around in storage.

Women's league perhaps deserves coverage as well, it is good for women to have the opportunity to play.

Bloody ridiculous…

They keep trying to shove it down our throats but they can stick it as far as I'm  concerned, won't  watch it. Men's  game in slow motion.

They managed to show the Q cup final up here yesterday.

Down 17-6 at half-time. Man I hate the Panthers.

Yep, it is going to take something special to win it from here.

Panthers winning Matts? , Flegg and hopefully NRl.

They can afford to let us win reserves.

I hope that we gamble and throw Hayward on, we need to score points.

Bugger. Clawed our way back to 1 only to throw it away again. Still, after the crap team we've had for a while it's encouraging that our reserves are at least doing well.

Overall a good effort, out scored the opposition in the 2nd half, but couldn't grab the lead.

Just shows how  Panthers are becoming a powerhouse club.  Winning all the lower grades to the top. Their first grade players were at the game cheering the NSW Cup team today .  It is going to take a mighty Eels effort to best them next week. 
Bulldogs did well today Wakeham had a cracker of a game hopefully he stays and will improve with a better coaching.

100% right.
Not saying it shouldn't deserve tv exposure, but at no stage should the state GF be trumped by anything other than first grade GF.

So many channels by channel 9 and yet they still can't put it in. Ridiculous. 

Panthers are doing what I hope we will do, develop home grown talent.

Many of their players have been in the system for many years. Combinations and team spirit develop over many years.

The only way to beat big spending clubs is with home grown talent.

We departed from that model 2008-2021 and paid the price, in part that was caused by the salary cap scandal.

But we were almost back on track 2012,  a decade in the wilderness is the price we paid for going off script.

Had Skelton and either BBO or ZDC been available we probably win the reserve grade GF. Seafood would also have been handy. Being optimistic we may only be 3-4 years behind Penrith.

We are so different to Penrith. We don’t have the juniors. But it’s certainly no excuse not to have the best possible junior system. We can do that. 

Yes you're right.
We are very different to Penrith. 
Sometimes you just have to accept that they have a better crop of players. As they saying goes....you can polish a turd all you want, it's still a turd. 

I'm not saying our juniors are rubbish. I'm just saying that the Penrith model, albeit good, is one that just about everyteam strives for. So it doesn't matter if you have the best of everything, if you don't have the talent, you won't have the sustained success.

If there is a strong factor that Penrith have on their side, is the tight knit Pasifika kids. These kids live and breathe footy as do their families and community. It keeps competition amongst them high and that's without any fancy equipment or centres of excellence.

The other key factor with Penrith is the desire to literally overhaul their first grade team with these up and coming skillful players. They didn't hold onto any "experienced" players or veterans. 

Just replaced them all within 2 years and earnt success. 

We on the other hand wouldn't do that.

A couple of supposed quotes from top coaches. Don't know if they're true or not.
Bennett: better to let them go a year too early than a year too late.
Gibson: as coach I want to be paid $1 more than the top paid player

Don't discount that the really elite juniors get big dollars

That is part of the problem. We have tried offering big dollars. Both Walker and Carrigan were offered more money from the dogs the Rousters or Broncos. But they chose to sign with those clubs instead of us. 

We first need to be successful to demonstrate the effectiveness of our system. This is some way down the track 
The big dollars for elite juniors is before they are old enough to play NRL and is on the salary cap.

Even at Penrith a lot of their lower grade players are scouted from areas like NZ, QLD and country NSW.

All clubs are big on scouting.

But in the past we let players like Maroney and Kiraz go. Many current NRL players have spent sometime in our juniors and/or lower grades.

Penrith had good development and coaching for players at the club. Locally developed talent was given a chance.

It is about the total process scouting, training, facilities coaching.

Young kids and lower grade players are focused mainly on opportunity. If they get the right support coaching and development, and a chance to show what they can do, mostly they back themselves to make it, and earn the money later on.

This season our reserve grade side was young, players are being fast tracked and given opportunities.

Cap management is all about having a pipeline of young talent, giving that talent a chance and not going on a panicked spending spree. We also need a few quality experienced players to lead to way and help teach the yoing guys.

Sometimes talent like Thurston is written off by the big clubs. Often a player like that is loyal to the club that gives them a chance.

Bullfrog, Mark Hughes and Gus were/are good judges of talent.

The people making the calls are all important. Good decisions ultimately mean good results, bad decisions, bad results. After squad assembly the next step is coaching.

There is no subsitute for getting it right.

Interesting coz I've often felt our successful reserve grade teams recently have been made up of many players that have been tried in first grade. More so than other clubs.

Our premiership team of afew years ago had a heap of older players who weren't good enough for first grade. 

So the result was somewhat deceiving. 

You have a top 30. 17 in first grade, maybe 4 or 5 injured, so half of reserve grade taken up by top 30 players.  The other half of reserve grade should be players on the up side of their career not downside. Younger players in the main can play in their age group 

Yes that was a definite problem in that era too many fringe NRL players playing in reserve grade.

The ideal mix a top 30 is something like.

17 quaility starting NRL players.
6 solid experienced replacements / bench players.
7 quaility young kids ready for NRL.
4 development kids not far away from ready.

Outside of this main group we can definitely have experienced journey men players who mainly play reserve grade.

And we want to be promoting 4-5 young kids to the top 30 most seasons. 

Beyond NRL, reserve grade should definitely have some young kids stepping up a grade, same for all grades.

Developing players is more important than lower grade results.

Sometimes young players set up for a few weeks then drop back, but they learn what is needed for the next level.

Odviously it is hard to promte young kids if they are not good enough.

But promoting them helps them if they are good enough or close to good enough.

If we don't have kids in the lower grades that we view as potential future first graders we have an issue.

We have had a lot of players including some good young players debut in the last 2-3 years.

IMO fairly different to 2013-2019, when debuts included a lot of recycled players with NRL experience.

The young guys need a few seasons.

Gus and CC need to work out who to keep, who to promote and where we need to sign players.

The really hard part of the rebuild should be over. The cap is in shape and a lot of the squad is right.