Observations on Squad

Hi Guys,

Been in the Territory without TV all of the last week, so just watched the replay of the Titans game tonight.  A few things stood out for me.

1. I'd say that this was Isaac De Gois' best game for the Eels so far - he ran well out of dummy half, was a constant presence in the middle, pushing up hard in defense and controlled the ruck well.  Has to be said though that the Titans were fairly ineffective up the middle (a combination of our forwards, the halves kicking game and their lack of quality front row options).  The only concerning thing in his game in my mind was that Isaac was nearly nowhere to be found in the last 15 mins of the game in attack - exemplified when I remember seeing Jo Paulo come into dummy half with Isaac standing not half a meter behind the play the ball.  Having said that if Isaac can build on his performance over the weekend he can definitely competently fill the hooking role for the remainder of the seasons and hopefully into the finals - albeit at a lesser standard to Peats, yet still satisfactory for a first grade no.9.

2. I've been asking myself the same question for most of our season and last night contriobuted to the debate somewhat - Should Parramatta keep Chris Sandow?.  Chrissy is one of those x-factor players and personally, I love watching the guy play.  the 40/20's; short drop-outs; chip-and-chase are all great.  More than that, Chrissy has a good running game and some of the short balls he throws are sublime.  It's been argued by many people that should he stay at Parramatta he'd need to take a pay-cut as his current pay packet is too big.  On face value I'm likely to agree, and here is where I have my debate - whilst In his previous seasons at the club I don't think Chris has lived up to his wage by any means, with the increase in salary cap and scarcity of quality halves in the competition, $500,000 a season seems relatively normal for a half of Chris' quality.  If you look statistically at the players above and below him you might notice that both Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson (the NSW halves pairing) have the same amount of try assists as Chris according to the SMH stats.  But where Chris dominates are the razzle dazzle plays.  I have always been a fan of Chris' long kicking game, and this week, his short kicking game was awesome. The question for me is whether he can build on his performances so far and lead his side into the finals.  If 26-28 is generally the peak of a players career, I wouldnt mind hanging on to Chris if he'll take a 2 year deal. If we're looking to offload some cash to get DCE or another marquee signing (remembering that we'll get cash anyways in 2016 because of the payments were making to other clubs) I say offload Mr. $450k Darcy Lussick.  At the end of the day, if DCE is commanding $1mill a season is the difference in price really worth it? (and let's be honest Cronk, Thurston, Foran are all better halves earning less than that maybe even Ben Hunt or James Maloney [controversial I know]).  Ultimately $1mill per season is x2 the standard rate of a Garreth Widdop or a Jarrod Mullen - is he really twice as good? I'd say no, and that if Jeff Robson played halfback with that Manly backline he'd look pretty good too. Seriously, I hate manly with all my heart, but Jamie Lyon has been in the top 3 Centers in the competition for the majority of his career.  Steve MAtai has one of the best running games in the league and is a beast in defense, I'm sincerely jealous that Manly have Peta Hiku as well and Kieran Foran may be the most underrated player in the league.  I think that sort of money could be better spent elsewhere.

3. This brings me to my third and final point.  If Parramatta are going to lose Ken Sio (I hope not) and gain  Anthony Watmough as rumoured, what should the squad look like?  I think one of the dangers of losing Sio is that Radradra is not a finished product.  The titans game exposed a few of his weaknesses in my mind.  Vai Toutai has some utility value in that he can cover centre, but ultimately lacks the vision and finesse of Ken.  Having said that, if he can land a fullback role or good deal at another club I don't think it's fair for Parra to keep him when we have Goodall and Toutai coming through. I think 2015 might see Goodall exposed to some 1st grade football and hopefully we can find a long term wing prospect there.  I do think that the prospect of Watmough coming to the club is a good one however.  Ultimately, our backrow, although performing storngly at at full strength is relatively green.  There are rumours Joseph Paulo may be headed to the Knights and if that's so I'd say that Ken Edwards or David Gower would fill in at lock very well with their ball skills (although I must admit I love Ken on the edges).  Ultimately if it were up to me I'd be running somehting like this for my back row rotation: 11. Edwards, 12. Ma'u, 13. Watmough - 14. Moeroea  15. Pauli Pauli, 16. (if still here) Gower  The advantage of having a guy like Pauli is that you can play him just as easily in the middle as you can on the edges depending on what the game/ squad requires. I also don't think Moeroea needs to be rushed into first grade.  Whilst he has been playing really well in his limited game time, I think it would be a mistake to take him out of the junior system too quickly.  Ultimately having Watmough at the club provides a fantastic opportunity to mentor our very young back row stocks (including Ma'u).  Obviously though at the end of the day, if he's asking too much for a contract it's not worth it. 

So the questions that remain:  Who will step up in the front row? Will  Ryan Morgan be our Centre solution after Willie Tonga leaves? How much is a halfback really worth?


 

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  • Couldn't agree more

    Think Morgan should be our centre until Folau or Davis etc become better than him

    I think our front row is almost sorted. Mannah start and Junior on the bench. Lussick Mossop, wicks, peni, Kelepi to fight over the other bench spot and one the more experienced ones to step up for the other starting role

    We really need a backup fullback - especially if Sio goes

    Wonder how Morgan would go at back up Fullback. Great running and support play. Reasonable in the air and defence. Just need to learn the positional play. With a traditional FB role he does not need to worry about passing
  • I meant as backup full back for when Hayne is at SOO
    Sio may be going and if he is FB we will miss him on the wing
    Hopoate sure but we will need to fill his centre spot
    Norman does not want it and we need to fill 5/8

    Morgan does ok as centre but it would not destroy our attack to move him to FB
    Like it would if Sio Hoppa or Norman were removed

    For me Morgan to FB would be the least disruptive and better than what we saw from Hunt
  • What about Mahe Fonua, Morgan is dreadful, I said this last year aswell.

  • As long as seffa isn't playing the team make up doesn't need to change too much, Morgan and hoppa are the centres, spare fb in hunt, spare half/hooker zdc - fwd pack of paulo, pauli, Gower, Edwards, mau, lussick, mossop, unfortunately mannah, terepo, Moreira, tanginoa
    No wukkas there - got metre eaters and defenders
  • Last weekend The Goose actually had some intelligent things to say about bringing the young 19-20 y o players into FG.

    Nurse them in - mentor them but DO NOT over use them.

    They are young and susceptible to injury.

    He was talking about guys playing u 14s who have already had knee reconstructions because everyone wants a piece of them and they play more games than their body can handle.

    Moeroa at only 19 playing in the forwards is one guy we must protect and ease into FG - several others fit into this scenario as well and I would hope BA understands this, and rotates them in and out of FG.

    All too often we see teams hit with a string of injuries and have to go cap in hand to the NRL seeking salary cap exemptions to bring in players to fill the shortfall - this issue needs to be addressed and clubs allowed to bring young players up during injury crisis with NO penalty - this will also assist to get the young guys used to the higher level required of them even if they don't make the top team until 1 - 2 years later.

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