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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 3334547, member: 1899"] Well done mate. The most important development Penrith made was their focus on junior development. It was an area that had waned considerably in 2008 when they started promoting their best juniors before they were ready. On the plus side it did lead to a surprisingly strong 2010 season where they finished second thanks largely to their gameplan of kicking a mid-field bomb for Coote who'd bat it back and they'd score off of that. However they were bundled out in straight sets and had a disastrous start to 2011 which saw them bring in Gus. Gus identified that the cap was completely imbalanced and made moves to get it back in order. Senior players like Petero Civoniceiva were released from their contract and replaced by more affordable options like Matt Robinson and Clint Newton. These players weren't considered 'like for like' but they would allow Penrith to get their cap in order. The first year was about making sensible signings. The only blue chip signing I can recall was Josh Mansour who for whatever reason was looked over at South Sydney despite being one of the stand-out backs in U-20s. The second year they went after more 'blue-chip' players like James Segeyaro, Sika Manu, Dean Whare, Adam Docker and James Roberts. Roberts may have actually come earlier but I wanted to highlight his signing because it represented a change at the club. Instead of signing him to play NRL, they actually had him go back to NYC where he played a big role in their 2013 NYC premiership side. The goal was to breed a culture of success into the club and slowly but surely trickle it through to the NRL side. It's worth noting that not a lot of players survived from 2013 but Isaah Yeo who has matured into one of the best forwards in the game has become a leader at the club. Things didn't go to plan at Penrith. They were going to build the club from the ground up with a view that they'd snare a big fish for 2014. That was supposed to be Johnathan Thurston and for all intents and purposes they had him. However, JT had a change of heart and so they went with the much maligned Soward who enjoyed a renaissance in his first year but became a liability by his second and third. However Penrith had a strong development program by that point and they'd keep complimenting their system with blue chip signings like Viliame Kikau, Api Koroisau, Te Maire Martin who were stand-outs but needed some more seasoning before they could become bonafide NRL stars. They won the 2015 NYC premiership, should have won 2016 but fell victim to a big second half comeback by Sydney but a lot of those players got their revenge in the 2017 NSW Cup Grand Final against Newtown (aka the Roosters feeder). Gus' influence was key but it's also worth stressing that he had to be moved on as well. For while he made the right decision to move on past players who were on inflated deals, he fell victim to the same mistakes and had players like Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Josh Mansour, Dean Whare, Reagan Campbell-Gillard etc. on inflated deals. [/QUOTE]

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