Eels Blogs

Just for an off the pace type of discussion, upon watching some old highlights of past seasons, came across a semi final in 2007 where Tim Smith was playing against Canterbury. Brought me to think of how this kid was the messiah to the eyes of many fans and yet the lights may have been a tad too bright to reach his full potential. Which brought me to think of numerous juniors who have come through our system with hype with success and failure.

Upon today seeing the likes of Penisini, Arthur and Russell all debuting from our junior ranks, others like Hollis has yet to due to an underwhelming season in NSW cup, with COVID stoppages last year halting his development unfortunately. It is the same within all sports, junior ranks or drafts where teams tout rookies with expectation of making an impact to the point where a team completely invests in a rookie which can set a team back years or turn them into contenders.

As a junior system the club went through a bit of a lull through the early 2010's, 2018 was when we saw a massive shift with juniors being thrown into the squad to fast-track development. Mahoney, Kaufusi, Niukore, Stone and Salmon all debuted in 2018 with 4 out of the 5 still at the club and 3 of them constant first graders. If you ask me that is successful development, this year seems the same. There are some others who have yet to debut who have raps on them (Loizou, Hughes, Hollis, Naiduki) though there are some who havent made the grade and some who have exploded onto the scene. We will start with the positives, those who have excelled into their potential. Now i will only mention players i have seen through the hype, so early to mid 2000's onwards is when i started following football. Also i will miss names, which is where the comments come in handy for those of the past or present that i do not mention. This is not gospel in terms of the best juniors or anything of that nature, strictly remembering those with hype who intrigued us in seeing how they develop. I love nothing more than seeing debutant, even more so seeing what they become.

1) Jarryd Hayne, debuting at 18, Origin at 19, 23 origins, 11 tests, 2 dally M medals. Whatever you think of him as a personality, you cannot deny he was one of the most talent players to wear the blue and gold, with times showing skills with upmost ease that most players would dream of being able to do on a good day. Inconsistencies, a failed stint in the NFL and the Gold Coast stunted what would have been an excellent career. it was still a great career, with only 1 GF to show for his form he is a player who fulfilled the hype that was layed upon him, though i believe there could have been another level there.

2) Reed Mahoney, a player who did not recieve hype until he was seen in NSW cup, though some noticed him in 20's (including myself when seeing this no.14 with a headgear thrown bullets from dummy half). What they saw was a tiny hooker, who had a motor of a bulldog and drive to become a force in the league. Debuting in 2018 during a time where the team was awful, underachieving and trying to regain some identity. Upon a Pritchard injury and King underperforming, Arthur decided to bite the bullet and throw in Mahoney to jump start the team with some youth and enthuiasm. After 2018 he gained admirers, 2019 and 2020 were great years for Mahoney cementing a full-time spot, though his attack ability took a bit more time to really understand how to attack in the NRL. Though in 2021, Arthur has assisted Mahoney in developing his attack to the point of being an exception to the long list of average Parramatta hookers of the past, showing ability to defensively be dominant and attackingly threatening being called up to QLD and being the driving force of the Parramatta attack. The love he has for the game will make him devleop further with his hype well and truly justified.

3) Tim Mannah, now before you laugh and shout names of ineptness towards me hear me out, Mannah towards the end of his career began to drop off rapidly, however his rookie season was exceptionally especially in the run to the GF, and played origin 4 times.The hype was for Mannah to replace in some way replace Cayless being that leader and enforcer upfront, and though he did not meet the standards of Cayless, he did become a good leader of the club and become a very good rep level forward. Mannah went through the bad years of the early 2010's with the club but was everyweek willing to put in 110% to ensure he produced the best performance possible. Though i may be making Mannah a slight exception to the rule of meeitng the hype as he didn't exacly meet the hype of being the next Cayless, he did exceed the hype of being a good first grader with being a great player for the club

Now to those who did not meet expectations, these players will not include the likes of say Jaeman Salmon for example as he was technically a Cronulla junior and only played three quarters of a season in the junior ranks, same as i didnt place Sivo into the list above being from Penrith etc. Reminder these players are mainly mid 2000's to now.

1) Patrick O' Hanlon, debuting and coming through the grades in 2011 O' Hanlon was seen as a possible replacement for an ageing Hindmarsh. Being a spark of promise pushed onto a fan base witnessing the start of a turn of what was to be one of the worst decades in the clubs recent history, mid 2011 things were looking grim and re-build was looming, the eyes on a young back-rower who made numerous schoolboy and junior QLD teams was touted as the next start, the new no.11 with the hair like Hindmarsh, tall stature that led him to run great lines and leading the holden cup in tries for forwards. Given a debut off the bench at centre for an Injured Jakob Loko was not an ideal start. O' Hanlon did not seem to grasp the demands of the NRL, being nothing more than a squad player and was moved on after the clubs abysmal 2012 season. At Canterbury he became an in and out addition for a few seasons before a broken ankle ended his career. Safe to say he never came close to the hype presented upon him, not even becoming a constant first grader.

2) Jacob Loko, another 2011 debutant, the Eels were lacking attack. Joel Reddy and an ageing Timana Tahu were not performing, Krisnan Inu jetted off to the Warriors and were in need of something different. Loko in 20's was like that kid who played like he was playing against kids 2 years below him, with a killer palm, height and speed that made all Eels fans drool at what could be. 2 serious knee injuries led to a disrupted 2012 and 2013 seasons led to him being released to Canterbury. Injuries and later maturity issues prevented him from playing another first grade game and now is playing park footy for Thirlmere in group 6 competition. Whether it was he was poorly handled coming into first grade or just unlucky, Loko could have been a very special first grader but just was not meant to be.

3) Tim Smith, debuting in 2005, helping Parramatta to a minor premiership and prelimanary final, Smith a bright spot in a disappointing end to a promisnig season, though a missed opportunity the answer to the once thought curse no.7 seemed to have been unearthed with Smith. Smith possessed a sense of cockiness that was shown in his kicking game which was lethal enough to have 40 try assists in 2005, the most in NRL history. Also claiming Dally M rookie of the year, it was presumed he would partner JT at 7 for QLD for the next decade. Leading Parramatta to three straight finals appearances including two prelims. Though Smith incidents started to come into the media, with underlying issues with Smith started to become clear, in 2008 after a luckluster start to the season, Hagan dropped Smith which left him alone with his demons with added pressure of being the chosen one for Parramatta on top of drinking and partying. Later taking time off to work on mental health, Smith jetted off to England where he came back for two seasons in the NRL with Cronulla before heading back to the ESL. A bad case of what if with Smith, a player who perhaps hit the seen with too much impact too quickly that he could not handle the pressure and criticism that came when things did not go to plan and his mental state suffered because of it, still made a career in ESL though being home would have been better. it is a shame.

4) Daniel Mortimer, this one is a bit of weird one, yes he did not live up to his expectations after the 2009 GF campaign, though he did have a reletively healthy NRL career holding quite a constant 17 spot for the Roosters winning a premiership in 2013, granted he was playing as a utility off the bench but still won a title. Mortimer was one of the long list of juniors trying to shake the hoodoo of being the next great halfback/five-eighth since Kenny and Sterling. Mortimer coming through 20's was thrown into a down on luck Parramatta line-up (as most of these juniors are) expected to show something of hope to a team that is in a wooden spoon battle. What happened next was being apart of a team that made a GF, scoring 10 tries and in the running for Dally M rookie of the year (losing to Jamal Idris). Early 2010, he had a massive offer from Canterbury on top of talk of Origin selection, re-signing with Parramatta he was thrown the reigns with Jeff Robson to repeat the year previous, though apart from a decent running game, decent defence and a heart of trying, there was not much else Mortimer could offer Parramatta that would warrent him staying in the 7 for the distant future. Sandow was signed for 2012, along with Ben Roberts and Stephen Kearney decided to move forward with his choice of halves, jetting Mortimer off to the Roosters. From there he played three seasons at the Roosters, played two seasons in the Gold Coast then a season at Cronulla before heading to England. The only player listed here to have played 100 NRL games, simply a player that just was not good enough to be a full time half in the NRL but had enough heart and drive to warrant a selection somewhere in a squad, would have been a perfect 18th man or utility option in today's NRL, but just did not come anywhere near the hype that was brought upon him, which was unfair to him after only 19 NRL games at the time of the Origin talk.

5) Bevan French, this one pains me as i was his biggest fan through the grades, the potential he showed with blistering speed is what this team was lacking in 2016, came through as a player of real talent switching between Fullback and Five-eighth he competed with Gutherson for the Eels no.1 spot after a succesful 9's tournament fans witnessed something special in terms of speed and anticipated his emergence into the top grade. completing his debut season with 19 tries from 13 games he was primed to continue into 2017 after playing on the wing he moved into fullback late 2016, though issues with his size were present with injuries and inability to make an impact with limited space had French offering little to no impact, as this played out his form and confidence suffered. He ended 2017 with a chance to take over the no.1 spot that was taken from him by Gutho (who then tore his ACL), first game back he got injured and missed the rest of the year including the Eels semis run with Will Smith taking over. In 2018 he had the no.1 spot all to himself with Gutherson still recovering, though a 0-3 start with him at 1, French got injured again and found himself in trouble of losing his 1 spot when Gutho comes back to which is what happened and French wasted away on the wing demonstrating what was to be poor attitude (could be wrong but heard there was some of that) even to the point of taking two runs in 80 mins on the wing which is an abysmal effort. You could tell French's only key to his game was speed, speed and more speed, not using his smarts to create very much at the back and doing the hard yards early in a set. His size and strength was not suited to modern day NRL, being dropped for 2019 leading to a mid season switch to Wigan where he has had a fair career to date. The speed game works in ESL where the game is slower to that of NRL, therefore is able to produce whether on the wing or at fullback. French's only go in the NRL would be as a try scoring winger, but with the importance of wingers to the start of sets in today's NRL French;s being a weapon to just score tries wouldn't justify his selection as a full-time NRL fullback unless he can produce good post-contact metres. A player with promise though if it wasn't for Gutherson i reckon he would have had a season or two more before being moved on.

That's just some in my opinion, there are others though i did not want to do too many players that were looking good but injuries hampered them to a point of not developing or those who debuted but didn't have too much hype on them as being a superstar (Parry, Oake, Stone etc.) as these players turn into good squad players or great players or poor player but were never seen or monitored like the ones above.

Please mention below anyone that i missed or even if you think the ones i mentioned should or should not be there, i enjoyed writing this one as i always have things on my mind and love discussion and remembering the history of the game and the club, so if you want me to do another for signings such as Sandow, Watmough etc. i am happy to write one up. If not enjoy this write up as it is different to hearing about what the team is doing wrong last week or this week or what Arthur is doing and is he going (yes i have added my point in these discussions but now im fatigued by it).

Let me know who you feel is the same in the 90's or even 80's.