Foundations for success
When you try to build a tower, the most important thing to get right is the foundations. Attempt to build your tower too high, without a stable footing, and you’re assured that eventually the whole thing is going to come toppling over.
If at Parramatta, the tower we are trying to build is a premiership, then the foundation has to be a strong and successful junior development program. A steady stream of promising young players who are able to fill out a squad and step into vacancies as they emerge, is without doubt the key to sustainable success. It’s a blight on the Eels that a club like Melbourne with no junior catchment area of note, has been more successful at this than Parramatta, who arguably - along with Penrith - have the best nursery in the game.
One of the things that I’ve been hearing since Stephen Kearney and his team arrived at the club, is that once again the junior development has been made a priority and the setting up of the junior academy has been central to that. However, there hasn’t been a lot written or talked about what progress we’ve been making in this regard. This week, I got the chance to sit down with recruitment manager Peter Nolan and together with bits and pieces I’ve picked up talking to people like junior coaches, I thought it was time to look at what we’ve been doing in this regard. Read the rest of this article
