Shute Shield premiership winner and recently appointed Australian U20s coach Simon Cron will head to Penrith with his Northern Suburbs players this weekend to take part in a joint training day alongside new Penrith Emus coach Julian Huxley.

Cron and Huxley will put both Norths’ and Penrith players through a combined training session at Nepean Rugby Park on Saturday morning and host a short presentation about the opportunities rugby can offer.

“There is a huge talent pool in Penrith and it will be great for our boys at Norths to get to know the Penrith players better and visa versa,” Cron said.

“Penrith can sometimes feel isolated as a club geographically, so the key for us is to make sure their players don’t feel that way as they add so much to rugby.

“We need to combine forces and spell out the advantages of the game over other popular codes.”

Former Wallaby Julian Huxley will coach Penrith in 2017 and said Saturday’s session with the 2016 Shute Shield premiers will be important for the clubs development.

“We are determined to stand on our own two feet at the Emus and improve our performance. Part of that is to keep an open mind, accept help, and always look to learn and improve,” he said,

“We’re really looking forward to hosting the Norths boys this weekend and developing friendships which is what rugby is all about.

“We all play for our own teams but we are all part of the bigger rugby family and it’s good to remember that.”

Saturday’s session begins at 9am at Nepean Rugby Park and is open to any player above the age of 17.