A cup of tea and a bex

From time to time, I feel the need to write a blog when our overly-reactive fanbase goes off the deep end. The last time I wrote a cranky blog over the mass hysteria caused by Jarryd Hayne leaving because I was confident life would go on. It has.

I'm not cranky at the moment. Just bemused. And I think what is going on right now is very indicative of the deeper cultural issues that have seeped into our organisation and which we, the supporters, need to contribute to addressing.

So let's first talk about where we are as a footy team in 2015. It's quite stunning that we as a supporter base are so filthy with the side for losing that match on the weekend. And I am filthy. I'm filthy we didn't take the two when a two-try advantage with 40 minutes to go would have put us in a fantastic position to go on and win a key match. I'm filthy that our halves didn't take control of that match; make sure we played the game in opposition territory and I'm filthy that it was senior players who came up with basic errors that let the Tigers into the match. 

However, I recognise that the fact I'm filthy shows just where we're at, as a team. We're the side who everyone wrote off when Jarryd Hayne left. We're also the side suffering a crippling injury toll that would flatten about any side in the NRL. Yet, we still expect our boys to win. And they almost did despite getting multiple shocking decisions from the referees.

And so I recognise, that as a squad we're almost certainly exceeding expectations at this point in the season. We're certainly not performing like a bottom three squad, which is where most of the experts us at the start of the year. And I feel confident that if we can get a decent run on the injury front we can really put ourselves into contention for the finals, which I think most of us felt would be a realistic accomplishment given what happened to us in the pre-season.

I also recognise that many of the things I'm filthy about, came down to that lack of leadership we've for too long lacked. Which again is something that the club has addressed through the recruitment of Kieran Foran for next season and beyond. It's nice to finally look into the future and not see a lingering core weakness in the playing group.

Which brings to the ANZ issue. Now, you won't find anyone who is more passionate about playing games at Pirtek them myself. I've had many, many debates on this site and in person with folk over the issue and argued that we need to have as many games as possible at our home ground. 

One of the reasons I got involved in the political side of the club, is because I didn't like the fact that we were headed away from Pirtek. Make no mistake, that had there not been a change of administration we'd have played all our games against Sydney teams at ANZ, with Pirtek reserved for the small games against out-of-town teams. And on that basis, Pirtek wouldn't have gotten any funding for an upgrade either. Not only did we stop the club from going down that ANZ route, we got one of our ANZ games back at Pirtek and we've ended up with a compromise that nobody is exactly happy but which all parties - us, ANZ, Pirtek and most importantly - the NRL; consider to be a satisfactory state of affairs.

On Monday, everything went against us; injuries, refereeing decisions and the rain which probably kept 10,000 plus mostly home supporters away. Yet we still managed to pull 35k+ supporters, and we still were leading a game 12 minutes from time. 

And yet once again, we get this incredible reactive response of wrist-slashing and burn-the-place-down. If you're one of those people, seriously, take a bex. You might also remember that we lost to a bottom-placed Newcastle at home last year, during the middle of a hot streak.

Bad luck happens. Mistakes happen. As supporters we are wholly entitled to bitch and moan, vent, whinge, complain and demand more. We're Rugby League supporters - we're entitled to be depressed and angry after a loss, and one shouldn't expect fans to be do a happy, happy, joy, joy dance when we don't win. However, what it seems to me, is that we as a supporter-base immediately look for the quickest fix possible. Sack the coach, change the board, boot this player, axe the back-office. You don't see fans at the Dogs, Roosters, Storm, Souths react in such bi-polar manners. The last six or seven years of boardroom shambles seem to have seeped into our club consciousness and while nobody wants to start using five-year plan excuses again, god, it would be nice if we could occasionally view the world through a lens extending beyond the last seven days.

Now, would you like sugar with your tea.

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  • >You don't see fans at the Dogs, Roosters, Storm, Souths react in such bi-polar manners.

    You would've seen Souths fans acting like this 6 or so years ago. Long stints languishing at the bottom of the ladder leave fans feeling desperate for success, overdue for success. That's why as fans we knee jerk and lash out and find tokens to blame things on. Because we feel like we're so far past due it's no longer funny.

    Being a long term laughing stock isn't fun. Being a fan people pity isn't fun. And now every time it looks like the tide is turning of course we're going to be looking over our shoulder waiting for "the bad old times" to reappear.

    I know success takes time, culture change takes time, team structure takes time. But like all faithful Eels fans I feel like I've waited my time and glimpses of success just doesn't do it anymore. Until we can compete week in, week out the scapegoating and knee jerk will continue. They'll end when we're a side we can constantly feel proud of. And that time is getting there. Just don't get upset if we're a little impatient... After all, we've all been waiting a long time and been let down many times before.

    Just as it takes time for the team to create a winning culture, it'll also take fans a while to adopt a winning culture and lose our jilted reactive style. 

    • Yep, absolutely recognise that. And it's absolutely a tough thing for any organisation to go from an ingrained losing, reactive culture to a winning culture. And I know it's tough to be patient, but I truly believe that we as supporters can help that process rather than hinder it, by just showing a little bit of longer-term thinking and to reflect on what our realistic expectations are and how quickly we can get there. I appreciate what is a thoughtful response to my blog, though, Captain.

  • Top blog. Whilst I was frustrated at the result on the weekend I thought we played the game the only way we could with so many injuries. Tough grinding football, focusing on completing our sets. Whilst it was boring, with a completely different backline those set plays just aren't going to come off. Three drop balls in a row and 2 fluke kicks in play from Pat Richards are what won the Tigers the game. I'd be more filthy if I was a Tigers fan because they really could have put us to the sword. My one critique is that we didn't play much second faze footy which I think would have gone a way to tearing open the Tigers, well that and ball control.

    I expect us to bounce back against the Titans and play some fluid attacking football at home. 

  • Lol the irony. If we run last spanner you can root my missus.

  • Ok, so I'm trying to tell if you're serious. We were the first team to beat Souths in 12/13 games the week prior, with an injury-riddled team and you think we're a club in crisis?? The prosecution rests.

  • Again, I get that. And like I said, I expect people to be negative when we lose. It's just we need to ease up on the depth of negativity. If there is one thing that we as a club should have learnt, it's that reactive change and throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a recipe for disaster. I do know one thing is if you are forever chopping and changing and making reactive decisions, we will never get to the point where those clubs with winning cultures have gotten to and that needs to be our objective, more so than getting too worked up over any week-to-week performance.

  • Hahaha.
    You really love your missus.
  • Excellent post Kramerica. 

  • That's PASSION with a capital P.
    Onya Kram.
  • Phil well written and I agree to a point.
    My problem is the side accepts the plaudits when it's deserved but it cant cop the criticism when it is warranted. What is this, we can't offend the team anymore for fear of them crying or something?
    This club has failed miserably for nigh on 30 years so I think its understandable that some fans feel disheartened and let down at times especially after the side puts in a great performance at Pirtek every other week.
    I agree with Captain, until such time as the club and players show a continued improvement and get us into that 8 regularly the fans will continue this way.
    As for complaining about the team performances, yes there have been injuries this year and we are now Hayneless but the current side isn't too far away from our first 17 and that's not a bad side. Really only Semi, Taka and Robbo walk straight back in. Based on the form of the replacements Edwards and Jnr may not come straight in.
    We went into that Tigers game light in the backs. We do have options but BA choses not to pick them, most notably Crooks.
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