How is Tom Opacic leaving apart of an exodus? he cannot get into the 17. He is taking a starting spot at Hull KR, good on him. Seriously this exodus talk is rubbish now with some good players coming through in the back-line and players we have bought in general with more to come i predict.
https://www.zerotackle.com/eels-exodus-to-continue-as-centre-reportedly-signs-new-deal-119357/
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He's here until the end of the season. He'll probably be needed again.
Can't agree LB - I'm not excited by what I'm seeing with regards to retention and recruitment.
I know it's only June but the quality of player leaving vs who we have signed for next year on is like 3/1 - the incoming talent isn't in the same vicinity of leaving talent.
Sure we could sign a big name before kickoff 2023 but I'm willing to bet no one of note will be signing.
It will be up and comers, has beens or rejects looking for a second chance. It's what we do.
Frank you are unfairly critical .Tom Opiac came to Eels from the Cowboys who refused to offer him a contract . So he himself was " a reject looking for a second chance " . And Tom was bought in just after M Jennings drug charge to immediately fill the gap . Since then we have more than capably filled that missing centre position.
Not talking about Tom I'm talking about the calibre of all the players we are losing vs the calibre of player we are getting.
Anyone without painted on eyes can see and understand that.
Most of our key players and development players have improved so much they demand and receive more rach year . So we have to let a few players go to keep the mainstream of them . Take into account that there is a salary cap and we have a seriously strong depth of bench players and reserves. You make it sound like we are going backwards with the overall quality of our players . Not true .
Hey Frank, have any of the players leaving won us a premiership?
No.
There's a bit of quality leaving, but who knows who is the next Papali'i. If we don't have significant change in our roster, are we going to win a competition? Of course not. We're pretty good, but not a real threat. That soft underbelly we have is intriguing and our current mix of players owns that. We just can't continue having that and changing up the squad is a necessity. The whole Gutherson thing is my concern. He's a very good player, but his position requires speed.
Hey Grunts.
I couldn't give a toss about the players who are leaving and whether they are winning comps, I'm just sick of seeing talent leave and then not replacing them with players who are seemingly of similar talent.
I understand we can't keep them all but this seems to happen far more often at Parra than any other NRL club. It's not like we've won anything recently and yet here we are every few years turning over our squad.
Think this needs to be addressed and the next turn over definitely needs to be the coaching team including the head coach.
I agree re coaching staff. We really do need to get a replacement that is better though and I can't see any proven winners on the market. Those clubs throwing big money at Ciraldo are mad imo. He may well prove to be a very good head coach, but plenty of assistants have failed and we've won nothing under BA, but at least we play finals footy.
I genuinely wished we got Bennet when he was looking around. When it comes to players, with a top shelf coach we only need a couple of top shelf players and the rest young and keen and a very good coach can win a premiership with them.
It happens at every club Frank. You probably just don't notice it as much with them as you don't support those clubs.
We have to adhere to the salary cap after the debacle of 2016. And, we have had a pretty stable roster for the better part of 3 years - which as Grunta rightly points out, has not delivered a premiership.
We have managed to re-sign RCG, Paulo, Gutherson, Moses (last year), Matterson. That's pretty good going. I will also say that the club is also having to make a call on Dylan Brown. If the intention is to keep him, we will have two $1M players in our halves, a luxury no other club has right now (Melbourne and Penrith would be the closest).
That's why with signings like Hopgood and Momoisea who are both unknowns with 6 and 8 NRL games respectfully, you have hope they may be 500-600k players by 2025. We did it with Papali'i, could do it again, of course not all players can be developed but atm BA has a decent track record so benefit of the doubt until he shows players he gets of late do not turn out.
If Hopgood turns into a star on the edge, people forget Papali'i who i predict will have an average year at Wests, same as Mahoney at Canterbury.
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