Parra needs a rebuilding of their squad, now is the best time with 28 players off contract between the end on 2018 and the end of 2019 very few players are safe from the chop, which when rebuilding is a very good thing there are 16 players off contract in 2018 these include.
and 2019 off contract list is
Daniel Alvaro, Bevan French, Clinton Gutherson, Josh Hoffman, Michael Jennings, Greg Leleisiuao, Manu Ma'u, Tim Mannah, Tepai Moeroa, Mitchell Moses, Corey Norman, Brad Takairangi.
in order to rebuild parramatta to the team tough decisions will need to be made and some fan favourite may need to go for the better of the team, one of the biggest problems i see with the team is currently parra has 2 ball running 5/8's in the halves. I was one of those people really excited to see what moses could do as a halfback but after half the season and 11 losses in 13 games i think he is at his best when he is running the ball, corey norman looked good at full back but with all his off field incidents he would be first on my list to go he also take up a good chuck of salary cap space.
Corey Norman i just dont think his best position is in the halves he is an average halfback, he is better at 5/8 but tends to go missing a lot, he had one good showing at fullback but not enough to warrant selection there for next season and with his numerous off field incidents he needs to go for the benefit of the team.
The current options for fullbacks in 2019 are rather thin with the standouts being Matt Dufty and Cameron Munster i doubt Cameron is leaving the storm however Matt Dufty in a St George team which has spent big in other areas could possibly be lured to the blue and golds with an increased contract, i have no idea how much this kid is currently on but is exactly the type of player parramatta needs he is also contracted until the end of 2019 so another issue would be St George releasing him early. i would hope parra offers him around 500k a year or there about which would save a quite a lot from corey reported 900k he will earn next year.
Moses needs someone to control the team for parra moving forward it isn't him neither is it corey norman, they need a player in the mould of Cronk, blake green or trent Hodgekinson who direct the ship and allow the 5/8 to play what they see, this will be the most crucial and hardest position to fill, halfbacks these days are going for a million or close too and i really have no idea who parra could put here as options a very thin.
Clint Gutherson i really do respect this bloke and he is a great natural footballer but Brad has a questions that needs answering and if he doesn't find the answer soon in my opinion unfortunately clint needs to go, that question is what is his best position he has been in fullback, winger, and 5/8 now he hasn't embarrassed himself in any of these position .. ok maybe winger and we all wanted his head other then that he has been a solid gap filler but he deserves more then being a gap filler and for the sake of consistency in the team so does the team. in my opinion it either hooker ( i know i wrote a blog on that a while ago a got crucified wont waste space justifying that again) or centre Gutherson is a natural runner of the ball, can bust a tackle and has decent playmaking abilities and is quite good defensively he would suit the centre position long term.
Gutherson would replace Michael Jennings at centre who is on a big contract and really not living up to expectations earning around 800k per year this morning is better spent in the dummy half or forwards spots for next year
Bevan french great try score he is improving defensively and had areas in his game to improve, defensively he isn't good enough for fullback for a number of reasons and should be retained as a winger and as a winger only , this should be made clear to him if he wants the number 1 jersey he needs to look elsewhere.
Jarryd Hayne cops a lot on the site and for good reason which we dont need to go into, he has missed most the season with a hip flexor injury these are most common cause by OVER TRAINING by all reports he put in and dug deep in training we all know he need to with his current condition at the start of the season unfortunately we haven't seen enough of jarryd to really know where he is at, he should be back soon and have around 9 months until 2019 season and i think parra should keep him as a centre to see if he can get back to his game breaking best pending his form for the rest of the season. Hayne would take takas centre spot with him going to a bench forward/ utility role.
So at the moment parramatta's backline looks like this
fullback Matt Dufty (possibly corey norman if he survives the chop)
wingers french and G.Jennings centres Hayne and Gutherson
5/8 mitch moses
halfback????
saving around 1.2mil per year although i haven't spent any money on a halfback not sure if salmon can fill this role know very little about him and jennings spot would need to be replaced in the top 30 hopefully by Mahoney or Stone
Im going to leave it there their forwards are such a problem with lack of size and aggression also the amount of options available make it a blog of their own the forwards and dummy half position will need the most amount of cap space available to spend
Replies
Say what?
I could read Pride and Prejudice faster than reading this.
Simple answer to this excessive waste of cyber space - YES, we do need to recruit wisely from players available (and willing to destroy their future careers) for 2019.
That is all that needs to be said.
Forget the halves Hooker is where Parra need to get better.
I can live with Norman Moses and Gutho in the spine but Pritchard And King I've seen enough to suggest we need a serious replacement there if Parra want to go foward.
Stability is what we need a spine that can stick together for a period of time to sustain team consistency.
I think that's a huge issue all the successful teams spines will have been together for a sustained time while in Parras case we are changing it out every other week.
Hookers where I start then I get a big fast outside back.
The Eels certainly need something to change, it's just crazy that the same players put in the effort they did last year yet come out this season looking slow & weak. I can't believe how often Eels players are left laying on the ground after a tackle letting the opposition get a quick play the ball & tearing out defence line apart.
P.S. I know there were a lot of people talking about how BA beat Hayne during the sand hill runs last off season but he also beat most of the team. I'm sure BA is a very fit man but there is no way NRL players in their prime should be finishing a training run behind their coach. It looks like there was a whole lot more to be taken out of that pre season story.
Yeah, bout 30 years worth.
Taupau would be great, runour is he is close to signing with Roosters.
You're dreaming if you think we'll get Dufty
No doubt that the recruitment has been a shambles. The key to good recruitment is getting value for money.
If you sign an older player on the way down, you dont pay him as much as you would an established player on the way up.
I still dont believe that Paulo is a good signing considering what he is being paid.
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