The Penrith Emus are building a future in western Sydney

Did the Emu' s move straight to subbies after being removed from Premier Rugby? If not, why not? Regardless of division, surely continued operation as a senior club would have a good thing.

Hope Two Blues don’t have there recruitment decimated. Is the depth there in west Sydney for two blues and Penrith?

Yep ! I played first grade with the Nepean Emus back in the 70's , and in those days the club had a small group of amateur enthusiasts working hard after their day jobs trying to run a Club in the Sydney 2nd Division competition at that time. 40 years on, and it seems nothing more has changed , except the name change to the Penrith Emus. Until they get some serious full-time management and cash behind the Emus , I am afraid it will be more disappointment like we have seen for decades out there at Andrews Rd. Maybe Peter V'landys might want another challenge ?

I don't think there is or has been an expectation that the emus make the finals. The hop I hear is that they are not rock bottom year-in, year-out and that they might win a game. As for fielding teams, if you don't have a team in a competition you aren't in it. Again I think there would be some allowance for being a team short on a given saturday but the issue is much worse. I hate that we lost the emus and I hope they can stick around this time but it isn't fair to say expectations have been too high.

I suspected that Timmy with the younger fellas, didn't surprise me that the size/league influence would make for some lopsided affairs before all the fellas had properly matured, especially in an adolescent age group like u15s. I also think the subtraction of some talent by league would be happening naturally as well. But, and I suppose it's a theory also, with the quality of younger players they have in their ranks already and in the Western Suburbs more generally I think that with better direction and support the club has the chance to really grow and make a statement in the Grade comp. My hope is that with the arrival of Muggleton some better direction can be given and in the future the club can develop into a really strong organisation. We need rugby to regain it's presence in West Sydney, there are many many rugby loving people there but they're droned out by league thanks to the continued neglect of the area by the various unions.

The fact that Emus act as a feeder isn't all bad, perhaps a couple of senior games should be scheduled to be played in Penrith rather than flog a dead horse

Hi Big Dog, it's good to read your comments but one stands out for me. but until the Emus can put a competitive side on the paddock in all Grades and Colts.... This for me is part of the problem and it isn't unique to Emus. The reality is that some clubs will never be able to put Premier ( in the case Shute Shield) Teams on the field but will be strong enough to fill several but not all grade teams. Clubs that can do this should be encouraged to do so as it is a more sustainable pathway for some areas. Having a rugby club that fields 4 or 5 teams but doesn't field a couple of grades still fulfills the primary purpose of the club, that is a club that helps people get together to play our favourite sport and provides a rugby pathway for youngsters. The expectation that they have to make the finals of Shute Shield every year is emblematic of what is wrong with rugby in Australia imo.

Eastern clubs know very well where Penrith is as we have been supporting the Emus since their original admission to Shute Shield. My own club traveled to Penrith last year for a full day of trial matches - all Grades plus Colts - as Penrith was desperately trying to prove they were worthy of inclusion in last year’s comp. This was not required of our club; it was a gesture of goodwill towards Emus to assist them. Unfortunately, the results were the same as they’ve been for the majority of Emus’ time in SS - blowout victories for us, the lack of tight forwards for Penrith saw their props playing two or three games, and the lack of fitness of Penrith players readily apparent. About twenty years ago, in the days when clubs had some cash as a result of funding from the ARU, every other SS club kicked in about $10k each to provide a cash gift to Penrith of substantial size. Unfortunately, the money didn’t last long. I don’t know why. So there are two examples that run counter to your wearisome, classist narrative about how the “Eastern” clubs (with their lobster and oyster dinners, for God’s sake!) are somehow anti-Penrith and anti-western Sydney club rugby. In my decades of association with Shute Shield rugby, I have never once heard anyone say they want Penrith out of the comp. Indeed, everyone I know thinks that a strong Penrith Emus is just what the Shute Shield needs, and our actions have matched our words as stated above. But until the Emus can put a competitive side on the paddock in all Grades and Colts, they will continue to struggle and be on the wrong end of some serious defeats and this serves nobody. I don’t know what the answer is but Muggleton’s appointment is a good first step which will hopefully attract players of both caliber and number. I wish the Emus well.

RJ I have a theory about the lack of success in that transition from Penrith juniors to Emus. It's a theory and might be full of holes .... I attended all three days of the U15 State Champs last year and ran the touch line in one of the Penrith games. They were State Champs in the U15s but didn't even field a team in the U16s, if I recall correctly? The U15 team were all huge young fellas, much bigger on average (10kg or more) than just about everyone else. I also believe a lot of them play league. And here's where my dodgy theory comes in... If they're so much bigger, more athletic, more muscular than their 15 year old opponents, the combination of league running lines and power make for some lop-sided matches. But that advantage disappears once they're playing in opens and older, and some of them will have moved to playing league exclusively. As I said, it's just a theory. Certainly when I played Subbies against Penrith prior to their elevation (early-mid 1990s) we would frequently have 6th grade thru to 1sts clean sweeps against them. As Kentwell Cup winners and Subbies club champs in 1994 (?) we at UNSW were amazed that Penrith were elevated to Sydney Grade over much stronger clubs. Understand in retrospect why their promotion happened. But there were fundamental problems from the start, not helped by the advent of open professionalism in rugby a year later.

were they over looked or just bad?

yeah, they are quivering in their boots

i hope he does. dont blame the elites, maybe penrith just were not good enough. expansion was given a go for 25 years and failed

They won’t do it mate, fans wouldn’t even travel to a World Class stadium at Parramatta for the Grand Final. Shute Shield is a fantastic competition but it really only exists in the heartlands.

Flowing on from that, a truly competitive representative team from the Western Sydney Region (Western Sydney Rams), with the local Shute Shield clubs as feeders, being re-introduced to a revamped NRC. The Rams were after all very successful in the original short lived ARC, making the semi-finals, before the competition was prematurely abandoned after only one year.

If you truly want to have a national competition etc you have to agree to expand, naturally. If you are going to let Penrith and Newcastle back in (and maybe others) then do it and don't wait for them to fail - find ways for them to succeed. It doesn't matter if you are a rusted on Norths, Gordon, Randwick, Uni, Easts or any other club supporter - get on the bus and find a way to help these clubs make inroads into the competition - find ways to make them viable - welcome them, don't immediately find ways to keep them down - celebrate their re-inclusion and help in any way you can.

We all need to get behind this. Work out what you can offer.

How are you going to help, Max?

Don't be catty!

This is great news. What can I do to help?

I would like to see some big names directed to play for Penrith. The stars unfortunately gravitate to Randwick, Uni and Easytwood to a lesser extent.