Penrith GM Phil Gould wants people to respect the VB NSW Cup.

We hear you Gus, our The81stMInute Commentary Team are out there most weekends.

Gould believes the club’s development programs, including the NSW Cup, are making his club stronger but receive little reimbursement from the top brass.

“The aim is for these development programs and systems to build this Panthers club over the next decade and the model should hopefully sustain this club for many decades to come” Gould wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We know it’s working and we will persevere. This is an expensive exercise and we will produce many NRL players over the next decade, not only for Panthers, but inevitably other NRL clubs as well.

“Are we compensated financially for this by the NRL? No we are not. We don’t even get a thank you. In fact, in many ways they actively work against us. Not just us mind you, but all NSW-based development clubs.

“Again, more on this another time.

“The basis of all this though has been re-establishing the importance of the reserve-grade side and open-aged completions in the development model.”