I was reading this article from Sen (NRL) and took note of the quote from Andrew Johns. It was in regards to the ongoing failures dogging the Newcastle Knights over the last 20 years (sound familiar).
The article:
Andrew believes the youth development across the entirety of rugby league is an issue but believes it’s one of the Knights’ major issues.
“I think it’s a problem across the game,” said Andrew.
“But it’s a big problem in Newcastle.”
Andrew also praised Phil Gould’s words on how to implement a proper youth system into a club.
“Phil Gould spoke about building a club,” he explained.
“You have got to build a team, build a club where the players come through together and they have to care and love the club.
“At Penrith, he set up the junior pathway system and how they want to coach.
“And now you look at their first grade team, Dylan Edwards, Brian To’o, Stephen Crichton, Nathan (Cleary), (Jarome) Luai, (Isaah) Yeo, (Liam) Martin.
“All have kicked on and played rep footy because of the junior structure in which Phil Gould oversaw and told this is the way we’re playing.
“He had to make big decisions on coaches, we’re going to coach our juniors skillswise and how to play so that they understand the Penrith way of playing.”
I highlighted what I consider to be some of our biggest failings as a club and we seem to consistently make the same mistakes. Maybe this is why our culture is so poor. We simply have not invested in it.
Now that's how you build an expansion team.
Not that I'm a big fan of the Dolphins...but I am a big fan of their Leagues Club :D
The Dolphins have made sure that the Sydney NRL media throng will choke on their Corn Flakes in the morning.
True, but a lot of the Dolphins list is at the wrong end of their career, however they have a good chance of early success.