We were drinking the Kool-Aid from day one of the pre-season. Big gulps.
Every little thing in the off-season felt like proof we were onto something. The Lomax stance? Finally, we’ve got a backbone. The club stands for something. Love it.
Pezet on a one-year? Sneaky smart. You start talking yourself into how that could actually be a Ryles masterstroke.
De Belin, Kelly… yeah alright, maybe.
Then all the Moses chat kicks in. This is the year. Breakout. Leader. The media and Journalists start backing us. Everything starts lining up nicely in your head.
Then the season starts… and it hits you.
We weren’t building anything. We were just talking ourselves into it.
All that “identity” stuff? Turns out we suffer from multiple personality disorder, and none of them are good.
Classic. Cheers for the Kool-aid it tasted better this year.
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Dave Riccio tried to spin it that the Lomax case somewhat derailed our season as we got nothing out of it. But nobody said "what did you want Parra to do?" What happened was best case scenario and glad they did it as opposed to just letting him go to Melbourne for nothing as well.
Yeah agreed Riccio is silly, that's deadset rewriting history. Ideally Lomax wasn't a dolt and doesn't chase a mirage in the Middle East, but he was never known for his brains.
The fallout that followed was 100% a great showing by Parra every step of the way and basically every pundit and armchair critic at the time was agreeing.
Lomax leaving definitely impacted our season, but us growing a pair over him walking back into the Storm was absolutely the right move.
Agreed. The question is are we improving or are we going backwards?
We haven't played finals since 2022 when the club allowed the roster to be picked apart. People mention rebuild when they talk about the Eels but if you're not improving, can it be called a rebuild? Or is it more accurate to say the club is going nowhere?
You can tread water for a long time, unfortunately it dosnt mean your swimming towards something. Our recruitment is exactly like that. Its like we are waiting for that 1979 and onwards era where we had a number of juniors and signings come through at the same time. Gave them the greatest coach ever, listened to him and got out of his way. Bingo a dynasty. We have been trying to find the start of one ever since, with too many people in charge that have never experienced being champions at an elite level.
You’re right about the Storm. But their story’s coming from a very different place.
They’re a club built on winning. A guaranteed top four. So when expectations drop, it feels like a shock. It stands out because it’s not who they are.
Us?
We’re nowhere near that.
We’re not adjusting from success. We’re still trying to figure out what success even looks like.
Storm have also lost 0-5 (with margins shown) vs Broncos (-4),Cowboys (-4), Panthers (-40), Warriors (-24) and Raiders (-4). Aside from the mercurial Cowboys, everyone is predicting those others to be in the Top 4 mix. Nobody expects the Storm to just fall away. Years of success means the Storm know how to play to expectations?
Eels? Flogged by Storm and Panthers (expected) but then also by Titans (unexpected). Everyone expects the Eels to just fall away. The Eels seem to wait until the pressure valve of expected wins has been released before anything like a dominant win is within their capacity: see 60-26 vs Tigers in R27 of 2024 (Tigers got spoon) and 66-10 vs Knights in R27 of 2025 (Knights got spoon). Eels don't know how to live up to hopeful expectations, only to shy away from them?
For the last 40 years our experience has been of a losing culture. Until we get more people in management positions that have winning experience at elite levels we will always be on the stairway and never reaching the top.
I think even the club and everyone involved drank it too. That's where after last week Ryles looked the most dejected I've ever seen him. As if it was a pure reality check of "shit, their effort says injuries aren't the only concern"
Ryles definitely had that thousand yard stare in the presser. Mitch just looked annoyed.
It was an uncomfortable watch.
Imagine being an elite halfback, that could anchor a premiership side and be given juveniles, over the hill fowards, players that wanted out of the club, as the men around you. The players we are recruiting in the main just don't cut it. Most would struggle to play first grade in a top 4 side. We are wasting Mitch's talents. If we are not going all in and breaking the budget to sign elite players we might as well let Mitch go. He is no use to us if we are not going to surround him with at least some origin players, some real speed and some mongrel go getters. I have only ever wanted the head of recruitment to get better. I'm now starting to wonder if those that employ him now need to be looked at. P.S the signing of Su'a may be the start of his improved performance, jury is still out but it needs to be acknowledged.
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