Phil Gould’s five-year plan comes to fruition as Panthers win fourth premiership

Phil Gould was instrumental to the Penrith Panthers’ rebuild, so the former manager couldn’t help but bask in his success on Sunday.

Phil Gould’s plan worked.

The Penrith Panthers claimed a crushing 28-12 victory over cross-town rivals the Parramatta Eels in front of 82,415 fans at Accor Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday evening, securing their fourth premiership.

Gould was instrumental to the club’s rebuild over the last decade, helping develop the Panthers Academy during his eight-year tenure as general manager.

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The premiership-winning coach departed the club three years ago, but has since watched from a distance as his famous “five-year plan” came to fruition — just a few years later than anticipated.

The Panthers have become an NRL powerhouse since Gould left, qualifying for three consecutive grand finals and winning back-to-back premierships with a squad comprised mostly of players that came through its junior system.

Penrith superstars Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai and Brian To’o all started as local juniors, learning their craft in western Sydney before climbing the ranks towards first grade and representative football.

Rather than pursue marquee signings, the Panthers developed talent from regional areas of New South Wales, and Gould, at least partly, is to thank.

“I particularly feel happy for the Panthers fans tonight — the last two years were Covid-affected and they didn’t get to see the grand final live last year,” he told Channel 9 after the match.

“To be here and experience a night like this, for the club to be so resoundingly brilliant on the game day and beat their local neighbours so convincingly on the scoreboard.

“You see the scenes here, these are the things that grab me. All these blokes came to us as teenagers, most of them. Now they have got wives, families, kids, houses, cars – they have grown up as a group of players together.

“One telling factor that I saw leading into this game is that 13 of this 17 not only came through the Panthers Academy, but have played 100 per cent of their NRL football with the one club.

“That is an extraordinary statistic, and to think that this club has produced not only more NRL players over the last 10 years, but more representative-class players (than any other club).”

Canterbury Bulldogs NRL General Manager of Football Phil Gould. Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

The NRL premiership wasn’t Penrith’s only triumph this season, also winning the SG Ball, Jersey Flegg and NSW Cup competitions, becoming the first club in Australian rugby league to achieve the feat.

“This year, to win all four of the senior representative competitions, plus the NRL, shows that it is just the beginning,” Gould said.

“This isn’t the end of it, this is the start of it. It really is a strong club, it is set up better than any other and they deserve everything they get.

“The key to it is having good people – the Academy is not the bricks and mortar, the Academy is the people that work within it. The Academy is an inspiration for all kids in western Sydney and western NSW.

“Every demographic of our western Sydney culture is represented in this team – all the way from Dubbo down into the heart of the Penrith and Blacktown area.”

Gould will be hoping to replicate the feat at Bankstown, where he is currently looking to execute a rebuild as the club’s general manager of football.

Penrith Panthers win their fourth premiership.

Sunday’s season decider was supposed to be a blockbuster western Sydney showdown, but it instead turned into a bloodbath as Penrith pulled off a famous victory.

The Eels were utterly overawed, while the Panthers were absolutely clinical in racing out to an 18-0 lead at half time — and it didn’t get any better in the second stanza.

The loss also means Parramatta’s premiership drought will stretch into a 37th season — which was already the longest in the NRL.

“I think our first half was the best we have ever played,” Cleary said on Nine.

“I was thinking that today when I woke up. I thought we have put some really good seasons together but we have never really come off. That’s the best game we could play. I think the first half was just about that.”

Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards claimed the Clive Churchill Medal for best on ground in the grand final, having run a match high 281m and pulling off a desperate try saver despite the Penrith already holding a dominant lead.

— with Andrew McMurtry and Tyson Otto

Originally published as Phil Gould’s five-year plan comes to fruition as Panthers win fourth premiership