With a year to forget for the Eels, 2012 will forever have a black mark in the minds of the Parramatta faithful. With that said let's have a look at the year that was in this mad house we call 1 Eyed Eel.
The year started with many blogs on the fitness of certain players as well as the training regime being used by then coach Stephen Kearney. As well as that there were blogs, surprisingly on Folau being unhappy at GWS and Reni Maitua to take over the captaincy. In January and February the anticipation was growing as fans waited to see Parramatta improve on their 2011 campaign.
As the season started the panic button was quickly pushed and there was plenty of criticism of the team as well as the structure Kearney spoke of constantly. Then came the big announcement. Nathan Hindmarsh would retire at season's end. In response to this the Eels defeated reigning Premiers Manly. If you visited the site shortly after that win you'd have thought we'd won the Grand Final, not our first game of the season.
The Parramatta legend received a lot of coverage on the site with a number of blogs dedicated to the man the call Hindy.
As the year continued we grew ever more frustrated with the team. The site became flooded with blogs about the team possibly being the first to bomb out of Top 8 contention and some even predicting the wooden spoon (These were more accurate than the Mayan calendar).
However, the season was put in perspective when it was announced that Jon Mannah had relapsed and had to again fight for his life against cancer. Thanks to some generous members of the site a banner was made and presented to the Mannah family after the Roosters match, (to this day I don't know why the textas I bought didn't work).
It was revealed around this time that a number of players had requested releases from the club including Justin Horo and Shane Shackleton. Both were refused yet were released later in the season anyway.
As the train wreck continued more and more pressure mounted on Kearney until on 20th July he announced that he would resign from his post, effective immediately. This saw the most amount of traffic the site has ever seen.
With a new coach came a new style and the Eels posted big scores against the Roosters and an extremely entertaining effort against the Broncos, only to be hammered by the Tigers. Luke Burt also announced his retirement alongside Hindy.
The tribute blogs flowed for the legendary players but there would be no fairy tale ending for the modern day equivalents of Price and Cronin.
Hate and disgust was directed to Eels management when they announced, only 1 week before Round 26 that Hindy and Burt's farewell game would be moved to ANZ, heavily inconveniencing the thousands of fans who had already purchased tickets at Parramatta.
Whilst Hindy and Burt didn't win their final game the highlight was a penalty goal by Nathan Hindmarsh on the full time siren.
Of course, with the off-season starting early for the team, many blogs and opinions were expressed of the newly signed Ricky Stuart as coach. This was mainly due to starting pre-season during the finals. His stance on lazy and arrogant players was made clear early on.
As the off-season continued the site became more and more nutty with members having to think of new and original ideas to occupy themselves.
Then, all of a sudden, the footy talk returned prematurely when members including Muttman, Bongo, Joneel and even Mr. 1 Eyed himself, Phil announced they would run for the PDJRLC Board. Although defeated by the incumbent (arrogant and dis-respectful) Board, they raised some key issues including proxy voting and the treatment of the members.
This year we saw some more entertainment on the site with Dr. Meinoz opening the mental hospital for the tormented members. Moray wrote several diary entries detailing a number of his trips to away grounds that often involved bearded ladies and dwarfs.
We also saw a rise in the profile of the site. Due to this rise a number of new moderators were added to assist Phil in the running of the site. Crow was added to assist keeping the site clean during the election period and regular moderation. I was added to assist with content production as well as some basic moderating.
Once again the Cavies Vs 1EE matches were played with the 1EE team clinching the series 2-1.
I would like to thank you all for a wonderful year on the site that has provided so much entertainment given our performance on the field. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. And as always GO THE EELS.
Replies
very kind of you darkie, without you mate this place would lack some serious class,humour n reality, you da man.
Super, well done on your HSC results you deserved them, its upwards for you mate.
And arnt you lucky you asked me for some of my tried n tested cheating methods at HSC level that worked so well for me, glad they worked for you so well
cheers
1 eyed as we close upon 2012, the darkest year in this ounce proud club history, 1eyed eel site give us opportunity to release our fustration with the management and club. with the the re election of 3P it is hard to be positive about the club future prospects.
It's once........... Get it? Once.........no u
Good work super. Keep up the good work in '13.
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