As a fan, you questioned whether the much hyped five-year
plan, which Cleary had been brought in to kick start, had been thrown out the
window.
Gould even went as far to say Cleary’s sacking was a ‘gut feeling’ he
had at the time.
What was more mystifying than the proverbial punting of Cleary,
was the reigning in of ex-Broncos Coach, Anthony Griffin.
While Griffin has now
been in place on the east side of the Nepean for well over a month, the
question has to be asked: what can Anthony Griffin do for the Panthers in
season 2016 and beyond?
Griffin was handpicked by Gould without board consultation or any
recruitment process taking place.
He is a one-club NRL coach, racking up 101
games at the helm of the Brisbane Broncos from 2011-2014.
He has had a long
coaching career, dating back to the late 90’s where he was involved with
various teams in the Queensland competitions.
He was an assistant at the
Melbourne Storm under Chris Anderson, had a season at the Broncos as Assistant
Coach to Ivan Henjak, and then was thrust into the Head Coaching role after
Henjak was sacked.
While a credentialed and respected custodian, the man
himself doesn’t strike you as the most inspirational bloke on the planet with
his relaxed and simple demeanor.
But maybe that is his greatest strength, or
maybe that’s all we can see from the distance of the couch.
The 49-year-old comes to Panthers at a time of transition, much similar
to that of his time at the Broncos.
In Brisbane, Griffin was the coach of the
NYC under 20’s team in 2008 which went all the way to the Grand Final. A few
years later, Griffin became first-grade coach and was charged with assimilating
many of his young crop from 08’ into the top team.
The Red-Hill franchise would
have thought Hook’s experience working with the youngsters would help their
transition into first grade footballers.
While debate on whether he achieved
that can be left to the experts, Griffin was unable to take his Brisbane
first-grade side to the next level, with finishes of 3rd in 2011, 8th
in 2012, 12th in 2013, and 8th in 2014.
He would
eventually be pushed out of the club to allow for the return of Super-coach and
Broncos kingpin, Wayne Bennett.
It could be argued that given the success of some of the Bronco’s
youngsters this year under Bennett Griffin was indeed successful in
transitioning some of the youngster’s into quality first-graders.
So if Griffin
is a good coach from that perspective, but is not quite a coach who can take a
side to the next-level of premiership opportunities, why have Penrith signed
him?
Under the tutelage and guidance of Gus Gould, the Panthers have for the
past three years driven a recruitment strategy based around developing many of
their talented juniors.
In the last couple of years, the likes of Matt Moylan,
Bryce Cartwright and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak have emerged from the vast Penrith
District Junior Rugby League catchment to debut under the coaching of Ivan
Cleary.
Cleary appeared to have the right nouse and judgement on how much the
juniors’ could handle, and when they were ready. He wasn’t afraid to give
someone a start but was timely and measured when he did.
Cleary’s sacking followed an 11th place finish for his side;
obviously not what the excellence-seeking Panthers would have liked, but after
a season of almost catastrophic injuries, many commentators gave them the
‘unlucky, move on to next year’ summary.
It’s difficult to understand why he
was let go, but it’s even more difficult to picture Anthony Griffin leading the
Panthers to a premiership.
Gould must see something in Griffin that the regular punters can’t, but
he has taken a huge gamble on the future of the club by investing in Griffin.
Perhaps Griffin is a stop-gap coach while the club waits for a world-beater of
the Craig Bellamy mold. His ability to work with younger players - who at the
Broncos have long lauded him as a reason to their success - could be what the
Panthers needed.
Maybe that’s why Gould brought him in, to help transition more
of the juniors into first grade.
With the club having won the 2015 NYC
competition in 2013 and 2015, the conveyer belt of juniors is well and truly
operating.
Indeed maybe Gould knows that the Panthers are three-to-four years
away from being title contenders, not one-to-two as the original five-year plan
would suggest.
What’s clear is the appointment of Anthony Griffin by Gus Gould to coach
the Penrith Panthers in 2016, is one of the maestro’s biggest plays during his
forty-plus years in Rugby League.
Whether that leaves Griffin with a mountain
of pressure to carry, or Gould takes the responsibility himself remains to be
seen.
Let’s just hope those juniors can keep feeding into the NRL side and
their talent, along with the structures and systems in place at the Panthers,
can finally awake the ‘sleeping giants’ of the NRL.
It’s been far too long for
the mountain-men.