State of Origin 2022: How Penrith Panthers created one of the greatest ever club representations

The Panthers have produced one of the greatest club representations in Origin history, and it’s all thanks to some decade-old leaked documents.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 08: Nathan Cleary of the Blues looks to pass during game one of the 2022 State of Origin series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons at Accor Stadium on June 08, 2022, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

This is the official Penrith Panthers document which helped create one of the greatest representations from one club side in State of Origin history.

Titled Built From Within, the 20-page hard-copy report — started 10 years ago — was the initial building block which has culminated in a record-equalling nine starters from Penrith’s 2021 grand final win being chosen as starting players for State of Origin II.

Current Panthers stars Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Brian To’o, Stephen Crichton, Liam Martin, Isaah Yeo and Api Koroisau will represent NSW, as will Canterbury’s Matt Burton, part of the Panthers’ premiership-winning side.

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The New South Wales squad for Origin II has a record-equalling number of players from Penrith’s 2021 grand final team.

Queensland’s Kurt Capewell was also a member of the Panthers grand final last season. And, remarkably, all of these players will be starters in Perth.

Only three grand final teams — Brisbane (1993), Brisbane (1997) and Melbourne (2007) — have featured nine players that started in the following year’s Origin match.

Penrith’s current success was born in 2013 when then junior development officials Matt Cameron and Jim Jones began generating a document aimed at lifting their club to unprecedented heights.

Cameron and Jones have since watched Penrith become an NRL powerhouse that will stretch for years to come. Built From Within has become the blueprint to success for a Penrith side searching for a third successive grand final this season.

“We started putting a strategy or philosophy together in 2013 and it was called Built From Within and we’ve basically stuck to it,” said Cameron, now Penrith’s NRL football CEO.

“It was purely an internal document that started to guide the principles upon how we were going to develop kids at Penrith and produce first graders.

The Penrith Panthers' Project 2015 document.

“Primarily, it’s about good coaching, good systems, good governance, investing in the club’s juniors and being patient. And that patience is from the top of the tree all the way down; that’s critical to building long-term success. We have taken along-term approach.”

Koroisau said the Panthers culture had transformed players like Luai.

“There is a lot of youth, but there is a lot of maturity mixed in with that too with players like Isaah Yeo and Nathan Cleary,” Koroisau said.

“In terms of that, I think the biggest improvement in a player has been in Jarome Luai with how much he has changed in the three years I have been at the club.

“He’s mastered the mix of talent and maturity. That’s become part of the culture at Penrith, it’s ingrained and has led to a lot of success.”

Cameron said the Panthers were no overnight success story.

“The club’s success hasn’t just been in the last two years,” Cameron said. “I think at one point there we reached the finals four out of five years. There has been success but this current crop has really taken it to the next level.

“It’s the culmination of some very good coaching in the building. It’s reflective of a grand final in 2020, a grand final in 2021 and where we are positioned in 2022.

“We have sort of drifted away from it in terms of the document but the philosophy and principles that sit behind it haven’t changed in 10 years.

Nathan Cleary will have a great familiarity with his Blues teammates.

“The club has set up development programs for our local kids and invested in the country. We’re not a big recruitment club and when we do recruit, it’s to a specific need.”

Dummy half Koroisau will start ahead of Damien Cook in Perth, while centre Burton will make his debut.

Luai said he was looking forward to reforming the dealing combination with Burton, and To’o.

“He’ll kill it,” Luai said.

Jarome Luai is looking forward to linking up with some of his Penrith teammates.

“He’s made for this game. It will be pretty cool to reignite that combination we had before with myself, Burto and Bizza. There are a couple of photos we used to take after captain’s run. We were showing Burto what the photos were like and we are excited to get that combo again.”

A Panthers junior himself, NSW coach Brad Fittler has turned to his former club to save the Origin series on Sunday night. NSW’s chief adviser Greg Alexander and the Blues’ head of performance, Hayden Knowles, also went through the Penrith system.

And Fittler will turn to his eight Panthers for power, guidance and inspiration.

“(Nine players in Origin) is a fair effort, it’s a really solid reflection on where the club is currently and the work that has been put in for a number of years,” said Cameron.

“It’s testament to not only the coaching side but also the governance and management side, to be able to produce a group like that and keep them in the building.”

The Built From Within offered guidance that proved presient.

“The purpose of this paper is to outline to the board of the Penrith Panthers’ NRL club, a strategy for the ‘future proofing’ of development pathways and long term athlete management, aimed at continual sustained success, putting the Panthers in the best possible position to compete for the NRL and lower grade titles every season,” the document read.

“The players identified to participate in this program would be viewed as the ‘blue chip’ prospects for the club and would be given the opportunity to develop in an environment where NRL expectations are the norm.”

Originally published as State of Origin 2022: How Penrith Panthers created one of the greatest ever club representations