There's no secret that Parramatta alongside Penrith have the biggest Junior Rugby League nursery in Australia. Parramatta have the best juniors in Australia and you only have to look at how many times we've won the SG Ball Premiership and 2nd place isn't even close.
Our challenge for as long as I've been alive (30 years) has been transitioning our talented juniors into successful first grades AT OUR OWN CLUB. I'm not going to comment on what's happened in the past but I will make slight reference to it. The past has proved to be a failure and we can only focus on what we are doing now to rectify these issues so I will be talking about our current SG BALL, Jersey Flegg and NSW Cup sides and how we are still messing this up completely.
First things first, we need to talk about WHO is overseeing our Junior Development Program at Parramatta. Nathan Brown who is a former Coach, is currently the Elite Pathways Coaching Director. When this was announced back in July 2022 I was dissapointed. Respectfully to Nathan, what does he know about Junior Player Development and creating "elite pathways"? His experience in Rugby League is that of a player and an NRL coach. He has never been in a position like this before and has little to no experience about what it means to set up a strong pathways program. In the announcement, Mark O'Neil said "Through his involvement, Nathan will be able to give us an informed view of where our programs are at and what opportunities there will be to make improvements in line with best practice." - Again, what sort of information are you expecting to recieve from Nathan Brown (someone who has never done this before)? What does he know about "best practice"?
Moving on to our SG Ball and Jersey Flegg sides.
The Players:
Our SG Ball side was great in 2023, winning the comp, as we have done many times before. Many players in our SG Ball are also currently playing in our Jersey Flegg side who are also looking good going into Finals. Some of these SG Ball players also debuted in NSW Cup his year, showing that we really have some talented players in there. I am happy that we are finally starting to move our SG Ball players around and progressing them throguh to Flegg and NSW Cup early.
There's no denying we have a large amount of talent in this age group. Charlie Guymer, Ethan Sanders, Matt Arthur, Richard Penisini and Sam Tuivaiti to name a few. The club's focus SHOULD be to keep all these players together, ensure they bleed blue and gold and then bring them into first grade TOGETHER. Similar to what Penrith did with their current team. They put everything aside, and focused on the boys coming through the ranks. They kept them together and are seeing the benefits now. Unfortunately for us, we've already failed as we have let Ethan Sanders go. Now I've watched Ethan play on numerous occasions and in my opinion, he has the potential to be a generational talent. I've never seen a young halfback at this age have such a developed kicking game like he does. It's truly amazing to see and I've loved watched him develop over the years at our club. If you had asked me, I would have prioritised keeping all these players together over keeping our current team. Simply speaking, I'd have prioritised Sanders over Moses. A lot of people will disagree with that due to the "fear of the unknown" but if we have learnt anything from Penrith, when you have a strong junior nursery like we do, you need to trust your system and unless you have a Cleary, a Munster or a Harry Grant (which Moses is not), do not be afraid to let them go. I have no doubt Sanders will end up being a great first grader and we've lost him and I'm confident we will regret it. These other players like Guymer, Matt Arthur, Penisini and Tuivaiti are now less valuable. You don't get the full benefit of our junior system if you don't bring your core guys through together.
The Coaches:
We have one of the best junior Coaches for our Flegg side being Craig Brennan (i believe that's his full name). It just got announced yesterday that Jordan Rankin will be the new head coach of our Jersey Flegg side. Similar to what I said about Nathan Brown, what does Jordan Rankin know about coaching young men? What does he know about pathways? What does he know about coaching considering he just retired? Parramatta seem to just be giving jobs for the boys and we are not putting the right people in the right positions.
Now on to our NSW Cup side:
The Coach:
We had Nathan Cayless as our coach this year. Cayless was our coach previously and we did horribly. As soon as he left, we started doing well again but why have we brought him back? Why does the club feel the need to reappoint a coach who had already failed? Again, this is just a jobs for the boys situation. We've seen in the past how crucial it is to have a strong NSW Cup side if you wan to succeed in NRL.
The Players:
I am not going to fault the players but its no secret our depth is horrible. Our NSW Cup side has been stretched this year with lack of depth in the halves and our backline. A great example is Jirah Momoisea who is a forward that's been palying in the backline all year and even in the halves on one occasion. This comes down to our roster. Our roster is not good enough and Mark O'Neil needs to be held accountable.
Summary:
Now you might read all this and think I am stretching, but being who we are, being Parramatta, our biggest strength is our junior development system. We will not succeed until we get this right and since we don't have the right people leading our program, we will not get it right. I believe these are genuine concerns and I'm not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for us. Mark O'Neil needs to be held accountable because this is all happening under his leadership. I've thought this for years but the appointment of Jordan Rankin last night really pissed me off and I get zero confidence knowing that this program is being overlooked by Nathan Brown of all people.
Replies
Well we need names that arise and start pushing the barro
Rankin was captain/coach of NSW Cup last year when Ryan Carr moved to assistant NRL coach.
Eels know what they have in those juniors you mentioned and are prioritising their retention.
I disagree regarding Moses and Sanders. Moses is at his peak. Releasing him would immediately set the club back years. He's an Origin halfback. There's a difference between releasing a middling NRL half for a promising junior and releasing one of the top 3 halfbacks in the game for a kid.
Penrith have released players they have seen they can replace from within. They're not releasing Cleary anytime soon and that's essentially what you're suggesting we should do.
It's not a fear of the unknown, it's that we've been down the path of quickly rushing a young halfback into first grade before. It doesn't work out.
It is a very hard decision, but I would've made way somehow for Ethan Sanders. He wouldn't be on big money at Canberra. Also many parra fans are too blind to see, but Moses isn't Cleary. There's a big difference between letting Moses walk and letting Cleary walk.
I don't have much confidence that Moses will be the one to deliver us a premiership.
Well, it's not terrible advice. One injury could end their career.
But it's terrible advice from a development perspective. Taking the big coin immediately brings attention and expectations. That can be too much for some young players.
And Peter Wallace was brought back from Brisbane, then shifted to hooker to help bring through Cleary.
Remember how good Tim Smith was in his first year? How did that turn out?
Massive risk to priortise an unproven kid over a top 3 NRL halfback!
Pretty sure Rankin was helping the SG ball team this year as well.
Do we still have one of the biggest areas? Sure we used to but Wests took over Campbelltown etc.
Also, since SG Ball went up to U18s in 2006 we have only won it 3 times (2007, 2017 & 2023). Same as Roosters & Penrith, whilst Wests have won twice.
Plus our demographics have changed heaps over the years. Lots more Asian, Indian & others in the area who don't necessarily play the game.
I do agree with your thoughts regarding Cayless. Why did they bring him back? Hopefully he is not part of the BA succession plan.
We still do have one of the biggest areas especially considering the Hills district is under us too which is a massive area that is continuing to grow with new housing development.
Yes demographic has changed. This is another one of our issues though. There is still a huge polynesian presence in our district especially in Guildford and Granville. These are 2 areas we have neglected. Manly have been poaching players from Guildford for years thanks to Fulton. All those Manly Parra boys are from Guildford. Expect our Guildford boys to start going to the Tigers too now that Fulton is with them.
Fulton was sacked from the tigers back in Jan.
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