Firstly let me say that i have been following this site for a long time and have only ever started a few blogs and made a handful of comments. It must be said that there is an enormous amount of passion on here and maybe it would be be great to see that out on the paddock.
So, here is my take on our situation or the perfect storm if you will...
Off the field
Burnie had spent the better part of last year looking at governance across the club and finding sponsorship for financial support. He often said that he would leave the footy to BA, was that the right choice in retrospect, probably not, after all BA is one man and you need the CEO there for support and accountability. As for sponsorship he often coined the phrase that "we are looking for the right partnership' or words to that effect. I understand finding financial partners after such a troublesome period would have been difficult but it was an extremely drawn out process, which again takes away from our primary business, footy.
Is Burnie the right man, that i dont know, do we need him now to be a leader and steer the ship, yes we do. That starts with a public statement and plan as mentioned in another blog. Be ground breaking, step away from tradition and be transparent, we fans will appreciate that even though we may not agree with some of the ideas and plans.
Coaching
Cost saving measures or bad decisions i again am not sure. However when a bloke like Luke Burt, who was a club stalwart after being signed at the age of 15 from Newcastle, leaves the club there must be reasons why. I dont buy the come to GC to help with Hayne, either he was short changed financially, or lack of advancment opportunities. Is that BA's decision or Burnies, who knows. Irrespective the assistants has hurt BA and hurt our boys. BA appears to be too old school in trying to do it all, when that happens your performance slips and you miss little things. It is these little things that contribute to use being 0-6. BA needs support, needs to clear his head and hold people to account. He is not the savour, he is not there to protect everyone, the best coaches are good man managers. BA has proven that he can be this but has lost his way.
Playing Group
This may be the most contentious of them all. Are we short a few players? Yes we probably are, however can that not be said for most sides that struggle? In saying that with a salary cap we have an exciting and even competition. Lets play out the tiger situation. If the tigers were an EPL team they would go back and forth between the EPL and League 1 (if they could get that high in the first place). On paper they look no better than us in most positions barring the front row, however they make it work. Now turn to Ballamy, a bloke that has built a career on turning no bodies into superstars. Brian Norrie, Cint Newton and Garrett Crossman, were all busted and going nowhere and Bellamy turned then into role players and grandfinalists. Yes he had the big 3, but he managed people. My point is that with salary cap teams are as even as they have ever been and on any year any team can win, Who would have picked Tiger, Warriors at the top of the table???
This is where an attitude adjustment is needed. Yes BA has to play his part but if the individuals dont want to do it no matter what BA does it wont happen. This is the big difference on 6 months ago, attitude and that sits firmly on individuals. We need our players to want it, to want to bleed for the blue and gold and not just see it as a paycheck.
Retention
As with above i think its an attitude assessment that needs to take place as much as ability. I am no expert but it would appear that there are a few player currently saying 'i really dont wanna be here' by the way they are playing, this is where Burnie, BA and the rest of the footy management need to identify and rid these players.
Recruitment
This one has to be more based around our juniors and to stop chasing a premiership. I have a standing joke with my mates that i can watch any game on any weekend and i can spot a good player that is a Parra junior. They all laugh at me and say 'i guess he is parra junior too'. A large part of the time they are. This is what frustrates me as a fan most of all. I look at player like Ryan Matterson, Luke Keary, James Maloney, Paul Gallen and say wow what could have been. I understand that we cannot keep them all but really we need to keep more. To that effect, we need to recruit where have dont have coverage in the lower grades. So, in saying that i dont feel we need a 9, we have solid up and comers that could be the next Jayden Brailly. We dont need back rowers either, i feel we need to chase props. If the Jr Paulo rumors are true this could be a good start, but who else, i dont know. Irrespective of what positions we chase make our juniors a priority.
As mentioned in the title, i believe that we are in a perfect storm. There are many areas that need to be addressed and everyone, namely the media is telling us where we are going wrong and what needs to happen. This plays on the minds of all involved.
This is where we need leadership and individual accountability coupled with a willingness to succeed.
These are just my opinions and i dont profess to have all the answers. I do know that i love this club and anyone that pulls on the blue and gold. As frustrating as it can be at times i will always support the eels and i hope better times are just around the corner.
Replies
Great post Webby , you should post more often .
Like most of what you posted
Great post. Just a couple of things:
I think Bernie was what the club needed in 2016. His job is to right the ship, and we are not quite there yet. Until the PLC gets fixed we don't really have the full support of a strong leagues club behind the football club. I would like to think Bernie would hand the reins over to another CEO who has more football experience, perhaps in another couple of years.
It's certainly disappointing to see Luke Burt at the GC, but from a developmental point of view he is better off learning the ways of another few clubs if he were ever to return to Parra (and I reckon he will eventually). This will help his coaching ability and he may be a future NRL coach for the Eels.
I agree with your comments about buying in the players where we have deficiencies. It seems that in the past we would buy players who became available, doubling up on positions we already had covered thus pushing out the juniors as there were no clear pathways to NRL. I don't know what the club's vision for juniors progressing to NRL, but this needs to be clear to the players and coaching staff in order to develop them appropriately.