The only reason I can come up with for this clubs consistent ability to screw things up is a fear of success.
Some clubs build a culture off of winning not us for 36 years we have failed. We as fans are passionate about our team but deep down we know it's not really our year and the next year won't be either.
It's why we are the team everyone else hates eels are nobody's second team we are the team that is funny to watch implode the fan base that are vocal and blind that get crushed back to reality whenever things look good.
I said when we re signed BA that it was a sign that this club doesn’t hold ambitious of winning a premiership we are happy to be a finals team who is there or there abouts.
Our recruitment retention team/ Management continues to alianate the fan base with strange recruitment strategies 2023 is a while away but with players exiting quickly it could be a long 22 season.
Once again to try and be positive The flip side is this is a roster that hasn’t achieved anything 3 consecutive week 2 finals exits is not an achivement to be proud of maybe a rejig of the roster is what we need and a bit of pain maybe needed.
Who knows who cares its Parramatta we are a club that is destined to dissapoint its in the Parramatta DNA.
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Well said, we are content with being also rans, its the safe option.
This one shits me im not mad at Reed just dissapointed.
I'm filthy with the club
Every club has ambitions on winning a title, some teams buy comps, some teams be patient and develop a team for a comp and some are content with being a good side hoping a title will fall into place like Steven Bradbury, teams fall around us and we get in like 05' with Wests and North Queensland
We are the latter, the moneyball type process we do is good and works but as I mentioned numerous times yesterday, we have developed as a team where the board has not developed with us, their model makes us good but not great and they are happy with that and they will say we should happy with that too.
Some clubs run off a buissines model and success is measured in jersey sales and memberships and if that Spreadsheet reads a profit then that's the win
Well yeah that is true too, that is like English football model of "our team is not going to win a damn thing, let's try and stay in the Premier League and make our profit off merchandise and tickets etc."
Offside - I think you raise a good point here. It may not be such a fear of success, but more of a culture of happy just being competitive.
How good is it when we see the passion overspill onto the playing filed after a try or tackle that forces an error (think Mitch Moses' opening try for BankWest or the fire and brimstone in Nathan Brown after a big hit). That's all well and good for a single play, however we need to see that level of hunger throughout the duration of a season and then some. As much as we loathe someone like Cameron Smith, that guy stayed competitive for every game of his career.
I'd like some feedback from some older fans who can report back on the culture of the Eels pre-the golden era. I started following the Eels at the ripe age of 7 in 1980 and understand we were perrenial also-rans for decades prior to this period in time. It seems we may have slumped back into our comfort zone of 'just being there'.
Can any of our Eels fan elders shed some light on this?
We were very much the westie team, the team that had no money and it took a long time to get a small amount of credibility. We were like the Great St Geroge team that won 12 odd premierships in the same amount of time, except at Parra we won 9 wooden spoons from 47 to 61. Then things changes a little with recruitment the Thornetts, Ron Lynch and many other players changed the loosing culture. In the middle to late 70's the club became much more dynamic, more supporters that had moved west and the playing squad continued to get better. Finals footy was regular without winning anything. This led into the glory 80's where our club was the hottest in town, with legends at every turn. Argggggg the late 70's early to mid 80's was just glorious and that winning feeling was great. It all went down hill when Fitzgerald became too big for his boots and had pissed off just about every past player and admin/ board member available. It went down hill from there mainly due to Management, their was no consistency or long term planning as the elections every second moment changed management which changed coaches/ strategies and there was no ability for long term planning. Then Brian Smith changed that and we went close to some glorious moments, but failed at the last hurdle. We have never been the same since he left. Now with BA and the current squad we have again got close a bit like the mid to late 70's I just dont know if we have the "retention committee" to take us to the next step and see some glorious times ahead or back to the 50's and spoon territory. We are getting some continuity now and some long term planning of juniors and the like. Im just not sure about Mark Oneill and Rogers, calling the shots about list management. The signs are good with the new assitant coaches though. Ennis, Woolford and McGregor.
Thats my take and only my opinion.
Thanks for your take on this, Blue Eel. As I suspected, we have been more comfortable being the bridesmaid rather than the bride.
Looking at the history I think there was definitely a catalyst for the success of the Golden Era. Whilst we had talent across the park in Sterling, Kenny, Grothe, Cronin, Ella etc. , we needed a leader of men who would push the team to glory and never give in... enter one Ray Price.
Whilst Pricey's comments in recent times will leave you scratching your head, you couldn't fault him as a player who exuded passion and had the desire to win at all costs. He commaned respect from his team and I've read articles from some of the greats listed who were scared of letting him down.
So fast forward to 2021/2022 - do we have such a player on board? Regrettably, I don't think so.
A few years' back, Gutho set the pace for fitness and commitment whilost the ball was in play. His 2 most recent contract extensions have not demonstrated a commitment to the success of the Eels. In my mind I'm not that keen on him leading the team anymore.
So who does that leave? Can we import someone of this ilk? I thought Reed Mahoney could have been heir to the throne, however that has now gone to dust.
What do others think of the above?
Fear of success is an interesting concept. I have seen that quite a bit.I used to be on interview panels many years ago. I often saw people present very well. Great CV,s and great interview presentations. Then for some reason in the last couple of minutes, they would say or do something completely out of character and do or say something really stupid that killed their interview
I think you see that type of thing happen in footy games as well. Last-minute suicide decision or missed easy kick at goal which costs you the game.
For those who saw the Squid game----the last minute of the series was a good example
Parra is missing that Jack Gibson Wayne Bennett Craig Bellamy Nick Politis Frank Ponissi Gus Gould type.
These guys understand the fabric of the game and what it takes to win.They also understand thee identity of there clubs and how to keep the behind closed doors inline.
This is what we are missing we aren't scared of winning we don't know how to do it and have had the wrong people running it.
I think Bernie Gurr and co got us going in the right direction but we are falling short with our on field and off field decision making.Once we get that corrected then we'll get the desired result.
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