They are the batch of value-for-money Penrith players who keep the dynasty alive when the NRL’s salary cap inevitably takes hold.
The men who aren’t part of Penrith’s ‘big nine’ who will line up for a fourth grand final on Sunday, and those who didn’t come direct from the NRL’s best junior system.
Instead, these are the players bought cheap and with little cap room to work with, brought to the foot of the mountains by the lure of a premiership and the chance to revitalise their careers.
We’re talking Jack Cogger, Luke Garner, Tyrone Peachey and Zac Hosking.
Or Scott Sorensen, Jaeman Salmon, Sean O’Sullivan, Paul Momirovski and Matt Eisenhuth in years past.
“On average we’ve had probably four blokes come from outside each year,” Penrith’s football boss Matt Cameron said.
“One of the things we always talk about is trying to target the right ones.
“(Recruitment manager) Jimmy Jones hasn’t been to New Zealand in five years. We don’t actively go and recruit into our junior system from outside anymore.
“We love our own backyard, and our recruitment
“Then we supplement it in the NRL squad.”
Penrith’s roster management — from teenage pathways to the NRL squad — is at the same time simple and complex.
Decisions on who the club must fight to keep and who they can afford to lose are based on players’ projected progress years in advance.
If Penrith know they have a junior rising through the system who will soon be a star, careful planning determines how they can be blooded and retained.
In the past three years, Penrith have lost enough junior talent to big-money offers from other clubs to arguably form another top-eight side.
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