Ok we always hear about penrith junior nursery. Is the parramatta district that far behind ?
Is it that far behind is there a massive difference in numbers?
Someone please confirm what are differences . If so why is so bad in parra land ?
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Penrith has a much wider intake area that stretches way out west, and they also have superior junior systems in place. This was part of the money that Packer poured into the club over a decade ago which helped transform the Panthers entertainment quarter into the money making machine it is now and also overhauled their training and community facilities and systems.
We are taking steps in the right direction with the facilities going in at Kellyville and the additional focus on talent identification that's happening in our junior ranks. But realistically even if we had the same injection of funds the Panthers did (we didn't) we are still about 5 years away from reaping the same style benefits purely because junior pathways need to produce talent, which takes a good 10 years to make its way into first grade on the regular.
Structurally as a club we have the potential to have a powerful nursery. Not quite as big as the Panthers, but still there or there abouts. Unfortunately all those years with numbnuts in control of our club squandered these opportunities and our junior pathways are still developing again after many years of neglect...so it's still a bit of a wait before we should expect anything like the Panthers juniors depth of talent.
Think panthers have 2000 (20%) more juniors. 45% of NRL players have Pasifka heritage. Maybe demographic differences in the catchment play a part.
Roosters have shown you don't need a nursery they adopt when they are almost sorted