Eels Blogs

Replies

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  The Badger August 19, 2014 at 3:40pm

  Why? Aren't we suppose to be getting 5 'priority picks' each year before throwing the nevilles into the draft??
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  Ham Sammich August 19, 2014 at 4:06pm

  It all depends, if it only 20 year olds are going up to the draft that makes it a lot easier on teams but it also means that more 17 and 18 year olds will be making their debut rather than them making their debut at 19.
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  sixtiesboy August 19, 2014 at 4:09pm

  Please read my endless drafts on this topic.
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  Yobz August 19, 2014 at 4:38pm

  Nothing has been decided. You are arguing about hypotheticals.
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  JT August 19, 2014 at 10:16pm

  People on this site have been banging on about our juniors for a generation and those same juniors we are so concerned about have filled our trophy cabinet. We have been unable to identify and retain talent for thirty f@fking years, how's a proposed draft going to make it worse.
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    Ham Sammich > JT August 19, 2014 at 10:23pm

    You've pointed out why we haven't been able to win a trophy and that's because we haven't been able to keep the best juniors all the way through to first grade. This is the first year in the NYC that we've been competitive all year and have been assured a spot in the finals with a month to go, this is also the first time that we've consistently been in the Top 4. If we are able to keep these players from our juniors through to first grade we'll be able to retain and potentially buy more superstars of the game because our junior base will be strong and if a player is asking more than what we believe they are worth then we can just promote from within.

    You say that we haven't won a competition with juniors, we also haven't won a competition with players brought in so why are they any better than those that have been produced in our systems?
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  Waterboy August 19, 2014 at 10:30pm

  Ask Terry Hill what he thinks of the draft system.
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  JT August 19, 2014 at 10:45pm

  Ham, the rosters, rorters, manly have been the most successful,teams in the resent past and rely more on talent identification and retention than they do juniors. In the modern professional era where players are a commodity to be traded (and they are happy with this by their willingness to move for higher paid contracts) we needn't be jumping at shadows that the juniors draft (That's only a discussion item) will hurt the eels.
  
  And you are also right we haven't won a comp with juniors or player identification, fark it hurts being a parra supporter.
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    Ham Sammich > JT August 20, 2014 at 10:45am

    A lot of the players from those two teams in more recent times have come up through their junior systems though. In the past decade or so the roosters have won 3 or 4 of the under 18's titles. They are more than likely not local juniors but they were in their junior system and have progressed into first grade. They didn't buy RTS after he'd played first grade, they didn't buy Mitchell Pearce after he played first grade, they didn't buy SKD either. There's a bunch that they have bought in but they were able to do that because they had an awesome junior program so they didn't have to bring in the best young players after they'd made their first grade debut.
    
    Parra have one of the best if not the best 16 year old comp going in NSW, kids will come from everywhere to play in our comps e.g a team from the manly comp decided it was too easy for them so they moved the entire team mid-season to join the fairfield I believe it was. It's a major reason why we've won so many under 16's titles in the past but then these players get signed by other clubs and subsequently we've won less under 18's titles and no under 20's titles. I'm not too sure of people's exact thoughts but I believe it is similar to the dinosaurs that were in charge before Peter Nolan. You can have the best under 16's in the world but if you don't put them on a contract they are free to sign anywhere they like. It also wasn't until the current board that we saw a full-time NYC coach and that has paid dividends for the team as I've said before we have never been in this position in the under 20's and if the first grade doesn't make the finals getting tepai moeroa back into our 20's will give us a huge boost towards winning the comp. I know that doesn't mean much but if we can retain the best players from this team it means that when they progress through to first grade we won't be paying as much as bringing in another top flight junior from another team I.e Brendan santi. So we are able to sign or re-sign players like jarryd hayne, foran, watmough, or dce.
    
    In the past 3-4 years the roosters have put even more money into bringing younger players across so that when they get older they won't have to pay first grade money to have them in their team.
    
    The draft will hurt the Eels, roosters, panthers, broncos, raiders, warriors, storm, and dragons the most. All these clubs either have a natural development area, put a lot of money into buying younger players, or have players that wouldn't want to leave their area.
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  Moray Eel August 19, 2014 at 11:24pm

  This is a stupid Idea. Typically the media and NRL have said that teams like roosters will be hard done by. Wtf? Clubs like Parra and Penrith can keep 5 players! 5 players! The reality is that this means parra and penrith will lose the rest of their juniors to clubs like the roosters. So how do we benefit exactly benefit?
  And how are clubs like the roosters lose out. Typical of NRL to show favour to clubs like roosters, Canterbury and Melbourne. Instead of rewarding clubs who produce juniors they are punished and those clubs who don't produce juniors are rewarded. Go figure!