Penrith opened its 2008 pre-season last Saturday with a practice match against Gosford at Kelso Oval.
A report from Head Coach Jason Bradley follows:
"In our first proper hit out of the season it was very pleasing to see the numbers of players in attendance. From old to new to returning players, it was a welcome sight.
Gosford are always a good match up with us and Saturday was no different. While still missing a few of our better players for this match, the players showed the coaches that this season will be a much improved one from previous years.
While no player had a standout game, every player tried their best and all the pre-season's hard work was starting to show. I believe that when round one comes around and we have our best possible side on the ground we will not only show the opposition but more importantly ourselves that we will be able to match it with the better sides and actually come away with some great victories against them.
I will not single out any one player but I will say this, every one of the 30 players that played on Saturday showed, after a bit of a slow start, that come selection time every Thursday night, the selection panel are going to have to make some very difficult decisions and we will be looking forward to that because that will mean that for the first time in quite a while we will have more than just 18 -20 first graders at our disposal. That can only benefit the club in the long run."
In what was an even display, the class of on-ballers Dale Chivas and Steve McWilliam showed out, and they had great assistance from new recruits Luke Barr and Clive Gilleece. John Keane was as usual a fine contributor down back, whilst the returning Adam Ballard showed that he'll be a great acquisition.
Last Modified on 21/04/2010 14:59