Reading about Marty Tapau and some other goings on in the NRL recently got me thinking about our club and my feeling that we have some of the most die hard but deluded fans of any club.
We generally really have a distorted opinion of our club, its playing group and its coaching staff. According to many (there are some exceptions to this rule) they are ALL the best, no matter results. Well I like to let the results dictate that and not any fantasy flying around in my head.
What do Parra fans and Delusion have in common? Wow where to begin.
When Parra sign someone, any year anytime, they always come to the club to play under a great coach for unders or to play for the club because its a great club going places? Why cant we fans just accept the fact that every player in recent living memory only came to Parra for one reason, $$MONEY$$ and plenty of it.
Why must the fans continually embellish the facts?
Players who wont come to Parra, like SBW, Burgess and Tapau are mercenaries but players like Foran, Watmough or Sandow only came for opportunity of playing under a great coach. These guys quite simply came to Parra because we offered the most money or best overall deal, simple really. I am glad some of these players came but the truth of why isn't lost on me. Anything else is really just wishful thinking.
Most players nowadays are motivated by money more so than playing under a coach or a particular club and that's fair enough, but to skirt that fact is delusional. Why do we insist on bagging other clubs for over paying for players and yet we do the exact same thing.
I find it amusing that some on here foretold that the Sea Eagles would be lying at the bottom of the NRL table for years to come- they weren't last year and unlike this great club, they rebuild at 10 times the rate we do. Don't agree, well lets see how they go this year.
As a fan of Rugby League first and foremost, its great to have club loyalties and to even become obsessed, but not at the expense of speaking the truth and seeing the truth for what it is - Parra is a club that's still living on past glories. Until such time as we start winning again then this will remain an undisputed fact.
Love can sometimes blind us, don't let the facts get in the way though. We haven't won a thing for 30 years and until we start winning again we will always pay overs for players. Here ends my rant.
Love - the TANK.
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It wasn't that long ago that the Cowboys were the worst team in the comp, even in 2010 they had the most losses of any team in the competition and were outside of the top 8 for extended periods of time. Teams go through ups and downs, eventually the more successful teams will fall out of the top 8 because that's how the salary cap and the market works. Some teams just seem to stay around the top of the table no matter what year it is.
I do not hold the positive views you have for Manly. Their forwards are still terrible in defence outside of Jturbo, better teams will be able to run rings around them in the middle of the field and will run the ruck more often than not when Manly don't have the ball. They only have one recognised half in attack which will limit which side of the field they're able to attack strongly on and with both DCE and Lyon on the right side they will heavily favour that channel and it will be similar to our left hand side this year where at times it almost looked unstoppable.
What evidence proves that Arthur hasn't made our defence better? In 2012 our points against was 674, 2013: 740, 2014: 580 and then this year our PA were 573. As soon as Arthur stepped in in 2014 we were 160 points better in defence. Funnily enough our points against pre-2012 were 2011: 538, 2010: 491, 2009: 473.
As I said above most teams go through a rollercoaster of positions on the ladder, we had a good run from 2005-2009 and were out of contention to make the finals near the end of the season from 2011-2013
For the last two years I've been an unabashed fan of BA. I'm not wavering. If anything my belief is only stronger. We will be stronger with him at the helm.
As for blokes like SBW, Burgess and Tapau, when have we tried to recruit them? Good luck to clubs that do.
I'm happy with our signings and their motivations.
Scott's motivation to move to Sydney has been documented.
We secured Gordon at an ideal time. We offered him a deal when he was not wanted.
Foran is on very good coin but it seriously isn't the only reason that we have him.
Apart from these big three signings, we are investing in potential and depth along with the very good base of talent there.
Not forgetting that the key factor for 2016 is as much who about won't be playing for us, as it is who will be!
Furthermore, we are a more balanced team. I was a big fan of Hayne but we grew massively as a team without him last season.
Totally agree on Foran and other stars, They dont come to a poor club just for money.
There has to be job satisfaction, potential, and overall sucess, otherwise these players on Big money will only lose out on the next contract ALA Sandow.
Sandow hot or cold hurt his own reputation and future earnings by walking away when he did and cause so much trouble doing it. I know there is 2 sides to the story and I do believe both sides were at fault. Our Club have an easy out and thats to terminate or move on players, This is the 1 thing that annoys me as player managers know this and players avoid the eels for this and many other reasons. The only way out is to buy the best become successful and learn from the mistakes the club makes with recruitment.
If we can make the top 8 thats the building blocks for the clubs future success. You make the finals 2-3 years in a row and good players make themselves available because the club is successful.
the club is doing the right thing brining in manly boys to show them what it takes to win and how to bond better.
This is where I have hated our club in the past we have had 2 teams, the hindy's squad and the other Haynes, and a lot of friction.
Can our club all be on the same page and win consistently and be proud of the jersey, This will bring the cattle and supporters in.
Yep have to agree mate.
When your close to something ie your dog, it's your best mate and you wouldn't give it up for anything. But to others with no emotional connection it's just another dog.
Everyone does this, it's just when the emotional connection is broken you see it for what it really is. I feel sorry for you and hope one day soon, maybe as early as next year you can reconnect with your team.
I may be delusional, but what's the option, an emotional disconnected fan? No thanks.
I don't think parra fans are the only ones either, you just had to read the silvertails forum roller coaster when both halves were going, staying, going and staying. They were exactly the same lol
It'll be ok Frank.
There's a handful at every club. All of their signings are infallible and every other team's signings are poor, that's just the way it is. I've got no problems in saying that I'm one of those supporters.
I try not to think about that Cowboys game. We were winning comfortably with a game plan that was clearly working then when they scored 2 tries against us and still behind we went away from what was working and tried to play catch-up football even when we were ahead, I honestly don't know why the players went away from what was working.
Winning under adversity is something that we weren't known for for the past few years but our team was mentally weak and the only way to change that is to bring in players who've been in that situation and have performed strongly. Given that we could have a completely new right hand side from 2015 to 2016 I don't think it's fair to paint them with the same brush yet. If they do not improve our right side attack and defence that's when you can be negative but atm they are neither good or bad.
What changed was the Cowboys' game plan. They switched their focus to Sandow and reaped massive rewards.
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