It’s hard not to notice the success of sporting clubs that start afresh and build from the ground up. That is exactly what the Penrith Panthers are doing, and as a rival fan I admire the approach.
One man has taken up the challenge of changing the Panthers’ fortunes, attempting to transform them from a struggling club which had made the finals once out of their last nine attempts to a side which will challenge for the premiership over the coming years.
His name is Phil Gould. Unlike most other NRL teams, the Panthers under Gould are building for the future.
Modern professional sport seldom takes the “let’s build for the future approach” and sticks with it. Look at the New Zealand Warriors. The board wanted to give Matthew Elliot two years to turn the struggling New Zealand club’s fortunes around, yet just five rounds into season two the club pulled the rug out from under him and will have to start from scratch for a third time.
Too many clubs these days employ coaches claiming they want to build for the future. Stephen Kearney (Eels), Brian McLennan (Warriors), Neil Henry (Cowboys) and David Furner (Raiders) are all examples of coaches who have had their contracts ripped up prematurely.
Boards need to allow coaches to see the contract out, and then decide whether to sack the coaches. Coaches aren’t magicians. They need time, and in this day and age they simply aren’t getting it.
Short-term quick fixes will work on some occasions, but will not work out in the long run.
Take the Newcastle Knights, a team with older players who travelled to within reach of a grand final in 2013 with an ageing roster. But 2014 does not look great for the men in blue and red, who have started with a 2-7 win-loss ratio. It isn’t curtains for their season, but it will be an uphill battle from here.
At the Panthers, Gould employed Cleary to take the reins at at the back end of 2011 after he’d coached the Warriors to the grand final in the same year. A cleanout took place between 2011-2013 at Penrith, with the men from the foot of the mountains finishing 15th in 2012, then 10th in 2013.
Gould and Cleary have allowed young players of the future to get a taste of first grade, with Travis Robinson and Matt Moylan bright sparks for the Panthers in 2013. Not many pundits would have predicted Penrith to finish 10th in 2013 – they were in fact one of the favourites for the wooden spoon.
The first stages of the plan were in place going into season 2014, and the Panthers currently sit in a respectable sixth on the ladder with just over a third of the season gone.
Short-term fixes can bring victories, but long-term planning can create dynasties. With Gould and Cleary, Penrith may just be onto a winner.
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