http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/08/05/eels-better-off-without-mercurial-millennial-minto/
Like a poor soap opera, the Parramatta Eels have been dealt an unexpected shock when they could least afford it: Jarryd Hayne has broken his promise to be an Eel for life and betrayed his junior club.
(Cue the pained, elongated blue and gold steel look at camera two.)
Hayne will be wearing blue and gold this year, except it will be the lighter, paler, Gold Coast version of blue.
The footballing cliches are already coming out thick and fast in both the ‘good for him, good for the game’ and the ‘Judas’ categories.
Irrespective of what people think of Hayne and his exploits in the last 18 months, most neutral observers must understand why rank-and-file Eels fans are agitated. They have had a dire season on many levels, and they hoped the prodigal son returning would be the band-aid, not the salt placed on the club’s haemorrhaging, largely self-inflicted wounds.
However, desperation is clouding the blue and gold faithful’s judgement. They dodged a $1.2 million bullet.
The core of a very good team is in place at Parramatta. They have a coach in Brad Arthur who has earned the respect of the team, and the players are reciprocating on the field.
The Eels team who went down bravely to the Wests Tigers last Saturday were missing nine of their ten highest-paid players – a skeleton squad – yet showed the same spirit and 110 per cent effort that has largely defined the Arthur era, especially in the last two seasons.
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If not for the unfathomable ineptitude of the current and previous boards, Parramatta would still be in the eight. The club, despite three wooden spoons, boardroom warfare and player controversies over the last six years, still have the third-highest membership figures in the NRL, at over 23,000.
A near-flatlining giant, but a large, well-supported sporting entity nevertheless.
Best of all, the club is safe (for now) under an administrator, there seems every hope that a professional staff will be hired to support Arthur, and a new board will eventually be appointed to stabilise the club and see it realise some of its much-promised potential.
Which brings us to Jarryd Hayne, the most naturally talented athlete I have seen play either of the rugby codes, who would have been a welcome addition for Parramatta and instantly improved the club.
However, he is a product of his millennial generation. In this dark time for Parramatta, he is not the type of player to lead the rebuild.
The money saved with the release of Kieran Foran and the loss of Hayne can now be wisely invested in strategically strengthening the squad. With the administration soon to be entering the 21st century, there is every hope the Eels can recruit a few players with the characteristics needed to build on the positive culture Arthur has generated out west, and continue to put the dark past behind them.
In many ways, Hayne is a reminder of the aimless decade the Eels experienced from 2006-2016, following the end of the Brian Smith era.
Hayne, along with Feleti Mateo and Krisnan Inu, epitomised the unlimited talent yet mediocre effort of the teams in this period. Hayne finally put in a consistent, mature season in 2014, before walking out on the club at short notice, with a promise to never, ever play for another NRL club.
Now is not the time for Eels fans to scapegoat a poster boy for the millennial generation of NRL footballer. It is time Parramatta finally looked forward to the future, free of the psychological and boardroom baggage that has cursed the club for a decade.
Replies
I have to say this is one of the better posts on the Roar. The reference to the Millenial generation is actually an excellent one, referring to many of those who saw the world (still do) as their own, they being the centre of the universe, & they owned it all, & all owed them, worthy in many ways as successors to the ME generation.
Daz, more I think on Hayne, & I watched the news last night showing flashes of his first days training. Seemed to me he is still relying overall on his skip/jink run when approaching the defence, his team mates did not show much effort in the defence on him though. I am not sure how long he will take to get back to even his old form, his old aspect of blind passing & the like.
That said, looking to his big NFL blooper where he dropped the high ball cold, may come back on him a bit, as in the time he has been out of the game, many of the kickers have developed a lot more variation in the high balll, especially Souths Reynolds that have tested the best of the 1's.
I am more than happy with the roster we have now, along with a couple of new signings, & upgrades to the key players we need to keep, we have the core of a very strong winning future. 3 key areas are needed to be strengthened to really lift. 6/7, 9, & 8/10
Prof you make a very good point. According to the ladder on NRL.com no team has scored less points than the Eels. This is due in part to the fact that our playmakers (Norman Foran) are not playing but it also is a product of the fact that we are relying on the great defence of this close knit team. The proof here is that the Eels are currently 16th on points "For" but conversely 1st in points "Against".
This is a sqad that plays for each other, we do not want to go back to being a one man team and what is required now is a playmaker or two to enable us to score more points.
It is not inconceivable that BA had it in his mind also that he did not want to bring the "Princess" behaivour back to the squad. I like everyone else have heard all the rumours about the JH Princess behaivour and if there is any truth at all in this inuendo then I don't think that BA would be wanting to bring this type of culture back to his settled squad.
Put the fans out of their misery sooner was better..
This article doesn't mention the very important that Hayne would have on restoring our brand image and the Bucks he would draw from an off field perspective.. To state that we have dodged a bullet is bullcrap.br />
There wasn't a person here who thought we weren't making room for a Hayne signing everything pointed to that.
I'm ok if Brad really didn't want him coming back but the NRL dragging their heals on what our cap position was moving forward stinks. The day after Hayne signed at GC alls good with our cap for future. Stinks!
Brad was put in a difficult position from every angle and timing of this whole shmozzle.
We move on and think Brads response was just him being the true club man he is.
Mace, we were interested in Jarryd - BA said that in his press conference yesterday. Just not for $1.2m. We can't pay him $1.2 and keep everyone else we need to keep. So there was no reason to tell Jarryd we weren't interested - because we were right up until he took the $1.2m from GC. Which BA said he didn't even know about until his kids saw it on the news. Neither Jarryd or Beavis came back to Parra to say that GC had offered that amount. BA wasn't put in a difficult position - he made a decision that he would offer Jarryd a certain amount so he could keep others. He even said we could in fact match GC $1.2m because we have that money - but he chose not to do so because he wants to keep the team together.
Have you watched the press conference on the Eels website? It's a good watch.
For whatever reason, we failed to resign Hayne. I accept that, but like most, I was disappointed.
And now we have some room, seemingly, in the cap to fill some needed gaps in our squad.
As it's there for all to see, we have a wonderful spirit in our squad now and will fight for the 80minutes to grab the win. But we need a half, an attacking hooker and a big Prop to round off a team that can really make a challenge.
So I agree we could be better off without Hayne. I emphatise, "Could be." Only time will tell.
So when I hear Hayne criticized for his behaviour I don't defend him because I simply am not privy to that inside info.
But when I hear Hayne bagged for mistakes he makes on the pitch, or at training, or even his ability to catch up with the way the games gone ahead in his absence, it tells me that some here are desperate to knock the guy and that they would never ever give him the credit he was due!
As for his loyalty, that could go either way.
Macy, I actually pointed out at one point prior to Hayne signing with Titans, that should he return then there would be no issues getting TPA's, club would get more sponsors back, this was especially so if he came back this year.
Most people including myself were looking at the aspect that the NRL was waiting on the appeals decision before making the fine & cap situation clear the first has been done but we still wait on the other confirmation.
BA would have liked having him Yes, but not at a price that would affect the overall roster. The problem that most of us have is that we can only speculate at possibles, & some probables.
I think we dodged a bullet. 1.2 million for a fullback? No way!!
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