There has been plenty of speculation surrounding Penrith’s future in the Shute Shield competition and the Sydney Rugby Union is expected to reevaluate their involvement based on playing numbers in the opening rounds.

However inside the club, new coaches Chip Carroll and Peter Niumata are working hard to not just get teams on the field, but to produce competitive sides week in, week out this season.

Overview with Chip Carroll:

“Our preseason has been pretty good I think. We had a few internal trials then we played Woy Woy and Easts,” Penrith coach Chip Carroll said.

“Our numbers have been a little inconsistent at times but generally speaking, they haven’t been too bad. We’ve probably averaged 70 players most nights at training, some weeks we’ve got a lot more, some times we have less and that’s a little frustrating but we’re working on it. We’re getting a lot of new faces at the club as well, we just need to get them all there at the same time.

“Consistency is hugely important for us at Penrith, we need to get the same guys training and playing together to create that continuity and that’s something we’ve been working really hard on.

“I was coaching elsewhere last year so I didn’t see a whole lot of what happened at Penrith. I think Julian Huxley was certainly on the right track and although I wasn’t privy to what was happening inside of the club last year, I’ve been in and around the club for the past 10 or so years.

“I think it’s fair to say that some weeks last year, Penrith played really well then other weeks they didn’t. I wasn’t privy to what was happening on the inside but I do think the club was heading in the right direction. Now we need to build on that.

“Last year the club dropped back to two grade sides and two colts side and we’re doing everything we can to ensure we can field teams in all grades. To be honest with you, we’re not far off. There is a lot of speculation and innuendo around our numbers but that’s the nature of the beast when you’re playing out in Western Sydney.

“We’re not worrying too much about what people are saying outside of our club because we know on the inside, we’re all working out backsides off to get the results we want.

“We obviously want to avoid players playing more than one full game each week. We’ve got a duty of care to our players and that’s paramount to us as a club and a coaching staff.

“We want to create our own legacy as a club. In the past, we’ve always thought that we’ve been victimised and that we haven’t been looked after but we need to get past that and help ourselves before we worry about anything else.

“It’s vitally important that Penrith remain in the Shute Shield. People seem to think that Western Sydney stops at Parramatta but Sydney is a much bigger city than that. We face a lot of challenges out here, things like access to transport make it tough, but everyone involved in the club are here for the right reasons and they are all passionate about rugby.”

2017 result: 12th

Ins: Richie Vaihu (colts), Willie Tuala (returning), Hamish Milne (colts).

Key areas of improvement: 

“I think for us it all starts up front. If you can get your engine room going properly, then the rest of our game will come off the back of that. You’re committing suicide if you try and go wide before you go forward,” Carroll said.

“I think these days, too many sides try and play like Super Rugby sides and throw the ball around from anywhere, whereas I think it’s important to pull guys back a little bit and make sure they know their individual roles before they worry about anything else.

“I think most sides will be fairly forward dominant early in the year because if you don’t set a good platform, you’re not going to go anywhere.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“One of our young props, Adrian Saliva has looked really good during preseason and in the trials. Our hooker Ezekial Vatos has also been really good. They are both young players but they’ve really stepped up so far this year and they’re both part of our leadership group.

“Even though they’re young, they have no issue with voicing their opinions within the group and I think they’re going to develop into really good players. Because they are so young, they are guys that we’re looking to build the club and the culture around.

Hopes and expectations for the season: 

“I don’t really like making bold statements because they usually come back to bite you. For us though, our first goal is to win one game and then go from there. Once we win one game, I think we’ll grow in confidence and it will do a lot of good for the culture around the club.”

Who will Penrith play in the grand final? 

“It’s hard to go past Warringah. They won last year for a reason and they haven’t lost too many players from that side. They are pretty strong in all facets of the game, their personnel all know their role and the culture at the club is great,” Carroll continued.

“They understand their game inside and out and they are well coached. They deserved to win last year and they’ll be tough to beat again this year.”