Ok so we are in last spot, we have hardly played great footy this season and many have already written off next year. I know the coach has to bear the brunt and ultimately even if he stays next year it will be his last if we cant get the Eels into the 8.
But I do want to challenge the presumption out there that our recruiting has been bad under Brad Arthur. During our horror season in 2016 we were building nicely. We purchased Kieran Foran who was one of the most competitive players in the nrl and was going nicely until his relationship breakdown and sunsequent overdose. Who could have imagined how his life and footy career would spiral and how he would walk out of league and Parra within 6 months. Michael jennings came to Parra in 2016 as a SOO player and one of the best centers in the world. Nathan Peats (2014-16) was in SOO form and playing great guns after coming from Souths until he was forced out mid 2016. Watmough although only briefly did add something the Eels pack were missing in aggression and a winners attitude in 2015-16 before early retirement. We had Junior Paulo beginning to really stamp his mark on the NRL, Michael Gordan had a great season for us in 2016 but then left and both Danny Wicks (2015-16) and Manau Mau (2014 - now) were risks but both proved to be astute buys. Clint Gutherson was an injury prone player with potential when he arrived in 2016 and has been spoken about as a future Origin player as recently as this year. Beau Scott killed it in his first year with the eels and although not effective this year he was a good buy for his first two years. Brad takarangi came in 2015 and has been a solid first grader. Corey Norman was not bought by Arthur but was being suggested as the next Queensland half just a season or two ago and Mitchell Moses was also in the mix for NSW this year and no one could argue that he added plenty when he came last year giving people plenty of reasons to be optomistic for the future. Nathan Brown is probably our best recruit - arguably our best player last year after coming to us on a small contract from the Bunnies. Semi Radradra was also here before Arthur but he came of age as a player under Arthur. Throw in the return of Jarred Hayne a proven origin and international rep and you have some pretty fair acquisitions over the last 3 or 4 years. Auva and Goerge jennings were handy pickups and even Cam King during 2017 was being touted by fans as a quality hooker that could potentially be our future dummy half.
Yes there has been a few failures along the way. The two english forwards Mossip and Hasson come to mind and the Foggarty experiment failed. There are others no doubt that I havent mentioned.
The salary cap scandal hurt us and losing Paulo and Peats as well as Foran having to leave us mid season was massive in 2016. We also werent able to add to our squad much after this and havent fully rebuilt from this and as many have mentioned we certainly have lacked some quality props who can bend the line this year. But you could say that we actually have class and quality players in most positions and that Arthur actually over his tenure has recruited much better than Kearney and Stuart combined. Quality players have joined the Eels in the last 4 seasons and even now we have a very classy backline which would be the envy of many teams.
I wanted to highlight the recruiting because there has been much comment made about it on this site, i think at times with out a lot of thought and from the place that we are doing very badly this year. When you are hurting it is easy to make over the top statements. But if you take a snapshot of the last 5 years it is simply not true that BA has simply been a 'moneyball' recruiter and only buys over the hill NRL players.
BA may yet turn out to be the 'bush' coach but I for one would like to see him given his final year of his contract. It may turn out to be a bad move but so has changing our coaches over the last 10 years.
Go the Eels and may 2019 be our best yet!!
Replies
BA did not bring Peats or Norman to Parra, they were brought in by Stuart. Semmi was also playing first grade as promoted by Stuart but hey don't let the facts get in the way of your excuses for BA's failures.
Shane I did mention that Radradra was here before BA but played his best footy under BA. Take your point about peats but the fact is he played great footy under BA. No excuses for BA and the team this year - that is not what i am trying to do. I just want to show that the recruiting has been pretty good these last 5 years and way better than what it was previously. BA has attracted good players
Shane think you need to re-read the blog.
Read the blog properly Shane, James states that BA did not sign Peats, Semi or Norman but don't let that get in the way of a good winge or bitch session.
I don’t think BA brought in Mussop
BA's good buys have been Brown, Jennings and Gutherson. His average/ok buys include Hayne, Gordon, King and Wicks. His terrible buys include Kane Evans, Foran and Watmough
3 good purchases, the rest average to below average.
Evans finished the season in reserve grade at the Roosters. Forgot about Moses. Still a question mark on his signing. Austin will be a terrible signing. Can not tackle
Unfortunately passion doesn't make you a first grade half.
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 6 Next