Nepean Crossfit Development Squad

At the completion of each season, the Director of Referee Development consults the Referee Development Panel, Referee Development Coaches and both the Saturday and Sunday Co-Ordinator to identify and select potential Development Squad members. During this process a team of referee coaches is also constructed.

The squad is announced at the completion of the season. The group assembles in late October a briefing about what being in the Development Squad is all about. The squad is primarily funded by the District Club, Panthers and works closely with the District club to ensure all facets of rugby league in the region are performing.

There are many aspects of development in this squad. A major aspect of this group is ensuring that the Penrith District Rugby League has quality officials in multiple grades.This is done by developing referees at key transition points in their refereeing journey to ensure that the Penrith district has a high level of officials at various levels of the games. The transition points include; mod football to international football, Saturday football to Sunday football, lower graded Sunday football to higher graded Sunday football and Tier 5 to Tier 4.

Another key aspect of this group is providing the opportunity for referees from Penrith to progress to the Junior Representative Competition. Many of the current NRL Officials progressed through a similar program during their time in this squad. The group not only provides referees directly to the Junior Representative Competition, but also provides officials to Development Squad games organised by the District Club and referees for touring teams visiting the district. The group builds the capacity of its members by enabling them to seek coaching and identify areas for improvement. Whilst some members of the squad are already in the Metropolitan Development Squad, the remainder have been flagged as potential members, thus the Development Squad acts as a resource building group so that the Junior League Competition has quality officials all year round.