JTS to NRL; the Titans juniors transition lounge

[Titanic]

Yep at this time of year Dribbles Badel will find some anti-Titans click bait. You couldn’t blame Jnr for choosing a boxers pay cheque but Thornberry is hardly Don King.

[Hail Sezer]

Cooper Bai and Sam Stephenson both made QLD U19.

Both are still U18 eligible this year, as are most of our U19's contracted kids.

[Whats Doing]

Cooper Bai and Sam Stephenson both made QLD U19.

Both are still U18 eligible this year, as are most of our U19's contracted kids.

I see Isaih Scanlon is with the Panthers. Was he not with the Titans at some time?

[Hail Sezer]

I see Isaih Scanlon is with the Panthers. Was he not with the Titans at some time?

Yep, as was Larry Siala (Dolphins)

[Whats Doing]

Yep, as was Larry Siala (Dolphins)

That’s a shame. From the little I saw of Scanlon, he showed some potential

[Whats Doing]

Interesting article on the Penrith Pathways Program.


NRL 2024: Inside Penrith Panthers’ elite pathways development program with a 90% success rate

This is the never-before spoken about elite program that had a 100 per cent success rate in its first year. FATIMA KDOUH takes an exclusive look inside Penrith’s ‘Pearls’ program.

f the world is rugby league’s oyster, then Penrith is where they find the ‘Pearls’.

Which is what the three-time premiers are claiming of their rich pathways system – that is also home to a never-before spoken about elite program that had a 100 per cent success rate in its first year.

The ‘Pearls’ are hand-picked as the junior nursery’s cream of the crop.

“I reckon we’ve got a 90% success rate overall,” says pathways manager, Lee Hopkins.

“We started it just before Covid. Our first cohort of Pearls was Lindsay Smith, J’maine Hopgood, Brendan Hands, Sunia Turuva and Izack Tago.

“That is a 100 per cent for those guys.

“We nominate them and say, ‘Right, well, we think you’re a Pearl’.”

It’s designed for players that have had no exposure to the NRL to give coach Ivan Cleary a chance to get his hands on the youngsters showing top grade potential.

The Pearls program is ‘ruthless’ and Hopkins makes no apologies about the uncompromising approach.

“Ben Gardner and Peter Wallace, our NRL assistants, they’ll actually run the drills with those players, teach them the basics and understand where those players are at now,” Hopkins said.

“We’re extremely hard on who can and cannot be in that program.

“If we feel you’re not quite up to the standard we want … we had a kid last year that wasn’t going to school, so we kept him out of it.

“You have to be extremely ruthless on it.”

The most recent graduates include Billy Scott, Harrison Hassett, Trent Talau, Luron Patea, Jesse McLean and Jack Cole, the latter two of which have made their NRL debut.

Cole is viewed as Jarome Luai’s long-term replacement at five-eighth.

But the club takes the same uncompromising approach across its entire pathways.

The system that has delivered three-straight NRL premierships, on the back of local juniors, wasn’t a fluke.

It was by design.

One that started on Hopkins’ first day on the job and would soon take in CEO Matt Cameron’s vision for the club’s pathways.

GYM MADNESS

On his first day as the new strength and conditioning coach back in 2010, Hopkins almost quit the role before the shift was over.

But it was a seminal moment in his time at the foot of the mountains.

“I nearly walked out and said, ‘I can’t help you’,” Hopkins recalled.

“I walked into the gym, there was a young kid doing a bench press. His phone went off, and he racked the bench, picked up his phone and answered.”

It was a small but crucial indication that standards weren’t where they needed to be.

But the former Panthers and Eels forward stuck it out and not long after, Cameron had arrived at the club as the head of high performance.

It would be the genesis of the ‘Built from Within’ blueprint, a syllabus for coaching and performance that mandated how every player in the representative system would be coached and trained.

BUILT FROM WITHIN

At the core of the blueprint is what Cameron describes as ‘alignment’.

The idea that every player in the junior representative system is being coached the same skills as that at NRL level.

“That’s where we feel the success is,” Cameron said.

“We asked Ivan what he wants an NRL player to look like, how they pass the ball, catch the ball, how they lift in the gym.

“When we designed the strategy, we were very clear. Every coach has to stick to the syllabus.

“You could bring your personality to the job but when it came to how a player should say, catch a ball, pass a ball, tackle … the coaching points were defined.

“It was a top down approach and everyone had to be on board.”

The Panthers are widely regarded as the fittest side in the NRL.

That too, is no accident.

It’s the result of a strength and conditioning program that subjects players, even at the Harold Matthew level, to NRL standards.

“If you have to run a bronco (running test) and the requirement is under five minutes at NRL level then the requirement at Harold Matthews level is the same,” Hopkins said.

“We know maybe 50% of our Matthews players won’t make it in under five minutes. That doesn’t matter.

“The club’s standard is the club standard.

“None of that was being done before the alignment.”
FUTURE PROOFING

While the ‘Built From Within’ ideology can’t guarantee that the NRL trophy will continue to stay at the club, they are confident of sustaining perennial title contention.

The club’s production line has never been more important as cashed-up rivals pillage the champion outfit.

In just two years, the Panthers have already lost Matt Burton, Api Koroisau, Viliame Kikau, Kurt Capewell, Spencer Leniu, Stephen Crichton and most recently Jarome Luai.

“If we build from within, we’ll be in good stead,” Cameron said.

“My responsibility is to future-proof the organisation.

“Part of what Hoppo (Hopkins) is doing in pathways is making sure that when Stephen Crichton leaves, Jack Cole, or whoever it might be, is physically ready to take his position.

“We’re trying to future proof not only to the playing group, but also the football staff.”

NEXT CROP OF CUBS

The Panthers take great pride in an NRL roster that boasts one of the highest junior level representation across the top 30.

It’s meant that in recent seasons, head coach Ivan Cleary has only needed to go to market to secure depth signings rather than splash cash on marquee players.

In 2023, 82 per cent of the roster was made up of local juniors.

Right now it’s at 75 per cent, a figure that Hopkins labels ‘too low’ by Panthers standards.

Hopkins concedes it’s getting harder to keep junior talent at the foot of the mountains.

But the club is constantly moving to secure long term up and comers that are showing potential, including the likes of Cooper Ferrari, Jenson Tuaoi, Aston Warwick and Sam Lane, who will feature in this year’s Jersey Flegg campaign which kicks off on Saturday March 9.

Lane, a centre, was also a graduate of the Pearl program.

Backrowers Ferrari and Warwick both hail from Dubbo, while Lane, who was the Jersey Flegg player of the year in 2023, is a Lithgow product.

While the club is focused on its own nursery, its Rams junior development academy has given it a presence in Dubbo, Forbes and Bathurst.

“We’ve got enough, we’ve got lots of players in our junior area that we can recruit in,” Hopkins said

“I suppose the best way to look at it is if we’re going to bring a kid in from the outside they have to be better than what we’ve got.”

Tuaoi is a rising hooker, and a local Doonside product, that is likely to join the Jersey Flegg side after the SG Ball season in 2024.

COSTLY EXERCISE

Penrith’s commitment to its pathways comes at a hefty price.

The club currently spends close to $3 million a year to ensure it will remain competitive.

But the club isn’t only getting a return on investment on the field, it’s helping to secure the financial position of the organisation.

The strength of the club’s pathways helped secure its richest front of jersey sponsorship deal to date.

“The owner of MyPlace asked what guarantees can you give that you’ll be as successful as you have been over the last couple of years,” Cameron said.

“I said ‘I can’t give you that guarantee but write these names down Isaiah Iongi, Jack Cole, Jesse McLean, Harrison Hassett….”

“He asked, ‘Who’s that? I said Steven Crichton. Brian To’o, Izack Tago, Sunia Turuva.

“That’s Penrith. We’ve got a model that works and we won’t compromise on it.

[psmitty]

I am not sure if it has been asked before but how does our Junior Program stack up to Penriths or any other in the league? Do we spend anything like the 3 million and are the standards as high as with Penrith?

[lonegull]

From what I have heard our junior program has become one of the strongest in NRL with the titans owners pumping a lot of dollars into it

[Hail Sezer]

Round 1 MM & CC sides named:

https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2024/02/...up-team-lists/
https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2024/02/...up-team-lists/

Plenty of Titans contracted boys across each comp. At first glance, Dolphins look like the team to beat.

As an FYI - Caelys Putoko will be playing MM at Ipswich. He played a trial for them on the weekend at left centre, was very good. Worth noting - Titans don't feed Ipswich MM side. Caelys just happens to be there because they want him progressing to Qcup this year but he's still U19 (MM eligible).

[Hail Sezer]

It’s an error-bonanza so far in todays CC & MM matches

Tweed barely hanging on here. Lost a man to the bin and Stephenson went off for an HIA, say he’ll miss a few weeks.

At least we know Ryder Williams will fight anyone who says mean things to his teammates.

Edit - this didnt age well. Ryder in the bin too.

[Hail Sezer]

Zane Harrison with some magic to give Tweed a late try despite having only 11 on the field. Clutch.

Tweed coming home with wind in their sail here. Zac Kumbamong looking a level above every other middle on the field.

[Hail Sezer]

Tweed win their round 1 MM match 32-6 versus Wynumm. Did well to wrestle back momentum and their attack clicked halfway through second half. Plenty of errors, bit of biff, and some injuries. Fair to say Tweed were classier side and should’ve been more dominant IMO.

Real shame the Dolphins poached Finigan from us, he played well. Plenty of good contributions from Titans boys across the park. We’ve got so many it’s hard to name them all but Harrison and Zac Kumbamong were IMO our best. Sam Stephenson had a good first half but had an HIA from a rough head knock.

Hope Stephenson is ok, as well as Jack Schmidt who went off during the first half.

[Titanic]

Thanks HS, sounds like it was fun.

[Cowabunga]

The Sam Stephenson hit was brutal, He had no clue what was going on when the push fest ( was going on. I was wondering what happened to Finnigan, We're not to short on second rowers anyway but he looks good, Has he put on a fair bit of size because I always thought he looked a lot skinnier.

Kumabong was great like you said, Had some nice footwork before the line and some real speed but the pack did a good job, I have a soft spot for Wellard, He doesn't look like much but is all heart. Zane has a great head on him for that age it seems and I'm loving some Corey Pear$e sh1thousery already. I thought the fullback was impressive as well, Looked like a menace to deal with.

The ref yelling two was crazy, I thought a siren was going off the first couple of times hahaha. She put all her effort into that one tackle.

Was surprised at how much bigger Wynums CC team looked and Tweed did no favours with the errors, I liked the halves from Wynum, both looked electric.

Jimmy McCombie didn't look good either, He took a quick tap and got absolutely smashed, didn't get up for 5 or so mins and really struggled of the field, Couldn't tell what the problem was, Maybe ribs. Both teams went down but the 18s nearly came back in the end with McCombie out.

I've been impressed the most with Hudson Towell in the NR Titans teams, He switches with Kaleb Smith between 5/8 and hooker and has looked the most threatening out of the 3 playmakers.

[Hail Sezer]

@Cowa - For Tweed MM the 10 is Kumbamong, fullback is Mason Barber - kiwi kid at Keebra signed to the Cowboys. He’s very good. Can see live teamlists on QRL

Havent watched Tweed CC yet but don’t love their squad..can see them struggling.

Didn’t watch the northern rivers games at all so appreciate the insight on McCombie & friends. I’m sure mdrew can shed some light on Towell.