O'meley, Anasta, Mason, Thurston were signed and in our system way before Peponis took over in 2002 after the salary cap drama. O'meley put pen to paper in 2001 to play with the dogs from the beginning of 2002. Mason was already here way before then, he debuted against Penrith at Penrith Park in 2000, we won 16-12. Same with Anasta, he debuted in 2000 against Parra at Parra stadium. Also Thurston was in the system way before Peponis took over. Peponis came in when those players were already here.......The difference is him and Noad let the best of our players go and there was no more good recruitment and development, our players coming through the system and good astute buying dried up because Mark Hughes was no longer there because the Hughes Family got shafted by the club.