Parramatta Eels front-rower Junior Paulo continues a contract standoff with the Parramatta Eels after losing the Perth Bears deal.Contract talks collapsed between Paulo and the Bears in August after his management asked for a two-year deal at $900,000 per season.
This led the Western Australian-based club to pursue Corey Horsburgh from the Canberra Raiders after he had a falling out with Ricky Stuart.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a deal has been offered to extend with the Parramatta Eels.
Parramatta have offered Junior Paulo $650,000 per season, which still doesn't meet his expectations.
Paulo missed most of the season after having minor knee surgery.
There had been whispers that Super League clubs believed Paulo was available for the 2027 season, according to The Daily Telegraph.
"Junior is super important for us in terms of experience in the middle third of the field; we are quite young there," Jason Ryles said at the end of the season about closing Paulo on a new deal.
If Paulo stays at Parramatta, he will join his co-captain at international level, Jarome Luai, who is heading to the Eels in a 12-month stopgap deal for 2027.
Another Samoan star, Jaydn Su'A, will also arrive at the club on a three-year deal from the St George Illawarra Dragons.
It is likely that at this stage, Paulo will remain at Parramatta; however, money is a major factor for the 32-year-old in his next year.
Replies
Cody walker got offered 300k. 650k for an aging player past his best, that plays half a season, is damn good money!
Spot on, this is exactly what the top clubs do. This is our offer, take it or leave it. They let Adam Reynolds go, Alex Johnson was only saved at the last second by Bennett and I'm guessing is on a modest contract. The whole scenario of offering Junior the type of money mentioned stinks to high heaven of the Ryan Matterson fiasco all over again. Why would we do this to ourselves?
That's the problem though Adam let him go and whose the experience we get to replace him.I agree the good clubs do let players like Paulo go much like Melbourne they'll lose the Lomax court case pay the legal bill and go and get Issako.
Who are we going to go get exactly.Your right about the good clubs doing what they do the difference is they have a plan and execute it here we are 2 yrs later call it 3 and still haven't a ready made replacement for Brown and our replacement for Lomax is a journeyman in Kelly.
Thats the difference we aren't a good club.
No one (myself included) thinks we are maestro's at recruitment. We aren't. It's a tough gig on that front for the club and it's fans. I've said to you several times previously what works for some other club will not work for us. So let's not pretend that it will.
To my thinking the best way forward is to cultivate a core group of young talent (aged early 20's) now who in a few years time will deliver (mid 20's). Notice the time frame mentioned. Years. It's the Sam Tuivaitis, Teancum Browns,Isiah Iongis, Talyn da silvas etc. that will get us there.
It's going to be rough along the way, there will be any number of hurdles to get over, issues to deal with, moments where we question are we doing the right thing with these guys.
And this is exactly what is happening under ryles right now. It's subtle, it's a player is bought into grade now and another in a bit when he's ready. If we stay the course we will reap the rewards.
If we go off on a tangent here and blow our cap on an individual player that places the original plan in jeopardy. It could work, but it could also backfire spectacularly which seems to happen for us when we buy big name players.
patience is key, as is trust in the process.
We were prepared to do that though they were throwing a lot of coin at Kolomatangi and Galvin.
The process is a bit of the side of the mouth talk though isn't it we say trust in our young core which I do agree with you there but at the sametime we aren't aligned with Moses's prime so shouldn't we really be trying to win now since we have millions invested in our best player.
We still lack depth in alot of positions.halves and back 5 to name a few.
Considering we don't know what we have JR is walking a fine line if he has another season like this one how much patience does our front office have and the coach seat gets a bit warmer in the process.
We made offers which we deemed appropriate for the two players you mentioned. Neither offer was accepted. Pretty sure the offer to Galvin was in the $600k range. I would say that was entirely appropriate. There's a fair bit of speculation as to what went on with koloamatagi. The dragons went over the top of us and he took it. Logical choice.
You understand this is social media, it's just a bunch of punters talking amongst ourselves about the footy. No one is writing a thesis on the eels recruitment plan. Things are said in the space of a few lines. When I say a core group of young players I'm not excluding external recruitment entirely for ever. If a good opportunity presents itself we would be mad not to take it. There is always a need for experience and there will always be gaps we need filled. But that isn't our primary focus.
I think it's more simple than that we just have the wrong people in the recruitment area those offers made if we had a closer I'd say there's a good chance we get wither of those guys across the line.
To be honest the off the park is where we have to improve decision making wise and.having a plan at the moment it's all on JR it seems and the people above just fall in line.JR can't do it by himself.
In JRs case being in the Melbourne and Roosters setups anyone that becomes available that's seen as an upgrade of what we have we try and poach or hire.
I couldn’t disagree with you more, did you read the post by ParamattaLurker in the Ryles extension discussion? I'm assuming this is a media exert. What does the final paragraph state? What did the statement from the chairman at the time of Ryles appointment state? The club holds a different opinion to you. Is it possible that the people at the club who hold those positions are more aware of what's going on than you? Long term problems (you've mentioned numerous times the 40 year drought) require long term solutions. And the fix isn't quick or straightforward.
You've said on numerous occasions just get Peter O'Sullivan. Don't know man I posted that interview and he seems pretty happy at the knights. What's your solution if he doesn't want to come to parramatta?
It's a bit like the long line of players you suggest we nab. In the space of a fortnight it was farnworth and Burton (both over a million dollars you were paying). I said to you at the time that's 3 players (including Moses) using up a quarter of the cap leaving the remaining 27 in the squad with circa $300k each. You changed your tune pretty quick after that. What if farnworth and Burton don't want to come to parramatta?
Let him walk, he isn't the prop he used to be.
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