The problem with the current media is they focus on the end of Gus' tenure at Penrith, which in hindsight had some mixed outcomes, but thats football. The obvious criticisms are being against Ivan Cleary coming back & the signings of Blake, DWZ and RCG. Recruitment is mixed; Blake & DWZ aern't the greatest but RCG is playing career best footy at Parra & made Origin. He would be an instant starter in this Panthers pack.
Ivan Cleary has directly benefited from the investment Gus made into juniors, as we all know. However fairness to Penrith & Cleary, they've made some excellent signings in Korisau & Capewell (and to a lesser extent Eisenhuth & Sorensen), so to say all their success is down to Gus is disingenuos.
Gus started there in 2011 and a lot of the success they are now reaping is because of him. By the time 2019 rolled around, it was just a matter of both parties needed a new direction. Thats business and that's football; nothing lasts forever. There is an obvious media bias by Fox against Gus; they will outline his failures at Penrith but will never mention him when they discuss Penrith's excellent juniors & pathways.
If you tell me that in 8 years, we end up with the best juniors pathways in the league and the price of that was a couple of coach payouts & a few average signings than i will sign on the dotted line in a heartbeat.
This is all in hindsight.
Back in 2018-19 no Bulldogs fan was jealous of Penrith or their pathways.
It's only through the Ivan Cleary success that Gus's work has been lauded.
Not enough credit goes to Cleary for bringing up the young gun players and maintaining a championship team even after losing premiership players.