Canberra recruitment guru Peter Mulholland has struck again, picking up one of Parramatta's hottest young prospects. Lock Trey Mooney was named NSW under 16s Player of the Year a couple of seasons ago and also played Australian Schoolboys and NSW under 18 State of Origin this year. Mooney is an Eels junior and the club was keen to keep him on board - but he sees great opportunity at the Raiders.
The Eels review identified the club as a development club, but I thought they meant we developed players for our clubs future.
Well it turns out we are developing players for everyone else. Stories regarding the Eels loosing another gun junior are now becoming a trend this off season.
These are kids that are killing it in junior reps & are the future of the game. They don't eat into the salary cap so why the hell are we not looking forward. Yes we can't keep them all but we do have to try to keep the best of them. As a club it looks like the Eels are way off operating at the same level as the consistantly top teams. We certaily have a really good squad next season but that appears to be as far ahead as they look meaning in a couple of years we will be trying to buy in talent again because we let the good ones go.
I love this club & have done so for 40 years, They shape the way I feel week in week out during the season. In the off season I check the NRL relivant sights multiple times a day looking for anything Eels related & just when things look to be going in the right direction these stories come out & the disappointment sets in for another week.
I know I don't have any idea of how & why in regards to junior retention but I see 2 of the best players in the world ( Turbo Bros ) coming out early & saying " We ain't playing for anyone but Manly. Our players all want to shop themselves around, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH.
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Manly kept the Trbos because they were the highest bidder. In a lot of ways they were forced to pay overs to appease the fans. Just like when Hayne kept re-signing with Parra because we always paid overs. If we'd lost him there would've been a mutiny.
Though in Manly's favour they don't have any elections for ignorant fans to express their frustrations.
Remember Blaise Barnes?
This has become the latest cycle .
Its been the same at Penrith. If you strengthen your development , you lose players .. and idiot journos will have you believe you lost future immortals. Then comes fan hysteria and moaning when 95% of the time they've never even seen what the guy we lost looks like let alone how he plays . Wash, rinse , repeat .
I think Stefano is the highest profile junior we've lost recently . Whilst it would've been good to keep him and watch him develop he is not Payne Hass. This shit starts because they come through at the same time and have similar features so are compared . Think back to last years final when Hass came across in cover to shut down Waqa for a try . Stefano would be more than likely blowing in seagulls 40 m from the action . That's not to say he has nothing going for him and can't be a good player in his own right , but he's not Payne Hass , is a long way off Payne Hass , and if someone pays big overs to get him we as a club have to live with it . It's not worth the hysteria . We have to build ourselves as a top flight professional club that kids take less to stay at because it's best for their development . We're not there yet , but that and retaining our top priorities has to be the immediate focus .
Agree totally GWF.
The hysteria on this site to these media reports is tragically comical.
Nice one mate - spot on. The Penrith analogy is bang on - look at the mess they are in . . and how did they get themselves in such a mess? They signed every junior with any potential (or ill concieved hype) to big money long term contracts and none of them has lived up to the potential thus far - and a number of them are now playing at other clubs and Penrith are still paying part of their contracts - what a fecking disaster..
100%.
Thats the other trend in the NRL these days . Coaches not 'having their roster'. The clubs that change coaches every couple of seasons play catch up with the cap when player and coach can't get on the same page . That , and they might sign a guy for 500k and have a kid come through that they need to keep at 250k so the 500k guy is expendable and they cut their losses .
Theres an art to managing the cap. People like TCT get that logic but they think every young mofo they've watched since they were 12 is a future gun . The club needs to look ahead and see what their roster will be and what their needs are in 3 years from now . So much future planning is required with how the NRL salary cap works . Some calls will be right , some will be wrong . But you can take to the bank that we'll be told about all the ones we lose to feed the news cycle.
Exactly my thoughts. We want players who want to be at the club. Not ones who try to hold the club to ransom. These kids managers make them think they are worth more than are well before thier time
Not on this occasion. The groundswell of unrest has come from within the club itself at the frustration of seeing years of hard work going down the toilet as result of non existent retention policy or at best reactive rather than proactive. The cry for help has come from within the club not from hysterical fans.
Thats spot on Parra Tragic.
What I find far from comical is there is now another story regarding Kafusi looking elsewhere. This is a really disturbing trend for a development club. You won't see this crap happening at the Storm or Roosters.
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