Penrith’s home-grown superstars have noted a changing of the guard during the past decade and the Panthers say the west, which once belonged to Parramatta, is now theirs.
Penrith have long been the little brother to the powerhouse that is the Parramatta Eels, but Penrith superstar Jarome Luai says that is no longer the case.
Stephen Crichton, Jarome Luai and Brian To’o pose in Penrith heartland, the Nepean River.Credit:Nick Moir – The Sydney Morning Herald
“You can call us daddy,” the Panthers five-eighth quipped when asked who held the title as big brother.
For decades Parramatta was renowned as the greatest breeding ground of rugby league talent in the world. But that mantle now belongs to the Panthers, who will take the field for Sunday’s NRL premiership decider with 14 players who made their first-grade debuts for the club. This is double the number of players in the Parramatta team who made their debut for the Eels.
That hasn’t been lost on proud Mt Druitt resident and Panthers winger Brian To’o. “Things have changed,” To’o told the Herald.
Where they come from: Parramatta Eels’ grand final team
- Clint Gutherson: Northern Beaches
- Maika Sivo: Fiji
- Will Penisini: Parramatta
- Bailey Simonsson: Northern Beaches
- Waqa Blake: Fiji/Perth
- Dylan Brown: New Zealand
- Mitchell Moses: Parramatta
- Junior Paulo: Parramatta
- Reed Mahoney: Queensland
- Reagan Campbell-Gillard: Penrith
- Shaun Lane: South Sydney
- Isaiah Papali’i: New Zealand
- Ryan Matterson: Parramatta
- Nathan Brown: Balmain
- Jake Arthur: Parramatta
- Oregon Kaufusi: Parramatta
- Marata Niukore: New Zealand
“There aren’t that many kids coming through the Parramatta system that are from the west. The majority of the people that are in the Parramatta team come from other countries or other parts of NSW … or even Penrith.
“It’s pretty cool to see how many of us Penrith juniors have come through the lower grades up to the big leagues. It’s pretty special to see like Taylan May and Izack Tago come through this year.”
The Eels have six local juniors in their team, but only three of them (Jake Arthur, Oregon Kaufusi and Will Penisini) have played their entire NRL careers at the club.
Ryan Matterson and Mitchell Moses are Parramatta juniors but were handed their NRL debuts at the Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers respectively, while co-captain Junior Paulo left for Canberra before returning to his junior club.
Where they come from: Penrith Panthers’ grand final team
- Dylan Edwards: Country NSW
- Charlie Staines: Country NSW
- Izack Tago: Penrith
- Stephen Crichton: Penrith
- Brian To’o: Penrith
- Jarome Luai: Penrith
- Nathan Cleary: Penrith
- Moses Leota: Penrith
- Api Koroisau: Canterbury
- James Fisher-Harris: New Zealand
- Villiame Kikau: Fiji
- Liam Martin: Country NSW
- Isaah Yeo: Country NSW
- Mitch Kenny: Penrith
- Scott Sorensen: Cronulla
- Spencer Leniu: Penrith
- Jaeman Salmon: Cronulla
For the Panthers, Izack Tago, Stephen Crichton, Nathan Cleary, Moses Leota, Mitch Kenny, Spencer Leniu, Luai and To’o are all Penrith juniors.
The likes of Dylan Edwards, James Fisher-Harris, Isaah Yeo, Charlie Staines and Liam Martin were all brought to the club in the junior representative teams before debuting for Penrith in the NRL.
“We’re both western Sydney, but our team has been together for a long time and played a lot of footy together,” Luai said.
“I think we’re home-grown. We represent our people. Western Sydney is our home. Every time we put this jersey on we represent our home. We just want to compare ourselves to the best. It’s an awesome feeling when you’ve come through the grades and make your mark on the biggest stage.
“Everyone knows where you’ve come from ever since you were little in the area. People always talk about the memories they have of you when you were younger playing footy for the local junior clubs.”
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