It's hard to get back to a grand final.But after getting over the mental hurdle that was week two of the finals, plenty of this Parramatta playing group will still be around for another tilt next year.The departures of Reed Mahoney and Isaiah Papali'i, as well as a few others, signal a changing of the guard - but as high quality as those players are, there's still plenty of talent on this roster for 2023.Teams like South Sydney and the Roosters have shown it's possible to re-tool on the fly with minimal 'down years', while Melbourne have ridden through the departures of multiple superstars to continue to operate at the highest level.Parramatta's hopes will largely hinge on Josh Hodgson's ability to come back from a torn ACL, as he steps into that hooker role that Mahoney has played with such aplomb in recent years."We're losing a couple of great players but whoever steps up is going to do a job for us next year," captain Clint Gutherson said after Sunday's grand final loss.If you look at the last few losing grand finallists, there's reason enough for hope.Canberra has made multiple finals runs since 2019, Penrith won back-to-back competitions after losing in 2020, and Souths, who most people thought would take a big step back after their 2021 heartbreaker, were competitive up until the second half of their preliminary final loss.
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