I'm writing this blog off the back of the earlier Angus Crighton blog. Crighton, without question, is going to be one of, if not the hottest off-contract players in the market, if Souths can't manage to tie up him well before his contract ends next year.
If he does put himself on the market, would Parra be a chance?
Based on our history, you'd have to say no. And that reality probably represents the next step, the Eels have to take, if we are to establish ourselves as one of the power clubs in the competition.
I think it's fair to say that Parramatta has has problems attracting big name players to the club. Kieran Foran is probably the only genuine rep player, still in his peak-years, that we've attracted over the course of the past decade. Anthony Watmough, Chris Sandow, Will Hopoate and Beau Scott were all in-demand players, but each came with baggage or were pre-or-post peak in their careers, and perhaps, more pertinently we paid through the nose to get them. We also had to offer Foran, an NRL record salary to get him here.
That's been our reality. To get marquee talent, we've had to pay through the nose for them.
Under Brad Arthur, we've been pretty austere in how we've managed our salary cap. We don't have a single player eating up a massive chunk of our cap, and the result is we've managed to have deep-playing roster would good-depth.
We've also managed to attract talented players, without over-paying for them. Nathan Brown is perhaps the best example of that. He was a genuine NRL player when he came to the club, but he felt he could take the next step in his career by joining the Eels, and we got him on a relatively modest contract.
And then of course, there was Mitchell Moses. I think Moses is on his way to being a superstar, but the stars really did align for us, on that one. He wanted out at the Tigers, we wanted him, and in the end it was a pretty straight forward signing. We got a great young player, without going over the top for him, and he's fit into the club like he's always been here (or should we say, never should have left).
But he was still a punt. He had plenty of questions marks on him, in terms of defence, and his ability to run a team. It wasn't as if we battling half a dozen clubs for his signature.
However, if you look at clubs like the Roosters and Brisbane, they seem to have the ability to get in-demand players who come onto the market, without having to cruel their salary cap to do so. Now, I don't think anyone is blind enough to know, that an extensive TPA network isn't a major factor here, but I think the fact that those clubs are always in finals contention and have respected coaches does also play a major factor.
Stories circulating around Ash Taylor going to Brisbane have commonly referred to his desire to "play for premierships", as well as the lure of playing under Wayne Bennett. I'll also throw in the Storm, who don't commonly land the big marquee signings but they sign a string of NRL quality players on reasonable money because they know if they go to the Storm, they're going to be playing finals.
The Eels are potentially at that tipping point. Brad Arthur has a fantastic reputation amongst the playing community. Players know that if they join the Eels, they'll play under a well-respected coach, that they'll join a tight playing group, and that players of late, have shown they can improve their games under Arthur.
After a top-four finish, Parramatta can also potentially say to any new recruit that a premiership is a real possibility. However, outside of our one-eyed fan base, does anyone else actually believe that. Already, when I've read predictions for how teams will kick-on for next year, we're always talked about as strong top eight contenders, but still nobody rates us as a genuine premiership contender.
The fact we fell at the last hurdle this year, didn't help that perception.
Some people will argue that we're still a superstar short of going all the way. But can Parramatta attract a superstar without stuffing up their now well-managed cap?
Would a player like Angus Crighton opt to leave his club, and potentially play for us for less than what some of the struggler clubs are offering, because he sees future glory at the Eels.
That's why I believe next year, and particularly the start of next year, is going to be so important. We need to put in at the minimum another Top Four performance, and lift that perception from us being a group of over-achievers to be being recognised as premiership contenders. Everything gets easier from that point - attracting players, retaining your talent, even attracting sponsors (and TPAs).
If we can go into 2019, at our new Stadium, with our Leagues Club developments well down the track, and hopefully having arrested some of our commercial issues, the club has a real opportunities to lift itself to the same level that clubs like Brisbane, Roosters, Cowboys and Melbourne currently sit.
Replies
Who is Adam Crichton?
Who? What? No idea what you're talking about. ;-) I need to implement a crowd-sub-editing feature.
I still believe we're a couple years away from a Premiership and i agree how we start next year will have a massive impact on us going forward.
I still believe we had the most favorable draw in the competition above any other team last season and we were basically gifted the 4th position on the ladder, so i dont think we over achieved, We won the games that we were expected to win, and we lost some that we should have won, and we also won some games that we were expected to lose.
I think the days of Parra being an easy beat are now gone, but more now a reputation of a team being tough and players playing for each other. As a group i reckon we're as tight as another other team in the competition and I hope thats enough to bring players like Adam...Angus over..
That's just asking for salary cap trouble.
I still think development is the way foward we need to nurture and keep the right guys make sure we have a good transition period to first grade for the identified talent.
Going after high priced talent is a all eggs in the basket and you hurt the above mentioned because you can't keep the talent you developed because your committed yourself to the high priced guy.
That's a good summary of where the club is at the moment Phil. The question though, is BA actively looking to purchase a superstar? We have a few very good young players who may make that transition in the coming years, and you can see that everything seems to be aligning towards building the team as a unit, with these good young players hitting their straps at around 2019/20. For 2018, we probably aren't at the same level as some of the top clubs though. The risk is that these players don't make the transition and we are back to square one.
Being able to attract TPAs to the players at our club does seem to be an issue, but from what I can see sport sponsorship in general is difficult at the moment. The move back to Parramatta should address this - the city is going gang busters and has become a true city, not just a suburb. The club should be looking to build on that local identity and use it to our advantage.
We are, for all intents and purposes, still a bit of a basket case of a club. One swallow does not a summer make.
We're setting ourselves up for consistency, but we haven't achieved it yet, and I don't think we can boast with any sort of confidence that we'll make the 8 next year, or that our back office won't self-destruct in the next couple of years.
I think we'll need another couple of years of sitting in the 8 before we can expect to see players preferring us over other clubs.
Basket case is an over reaction Tom.
A lot of things still need to happen but our back office is good as it gets and it won't self destruct.
Lets accept the positives for what they are, your reactions are negative at this point!
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