So anyone who watched Albert Kelly play juniors won't be surprised with the form he's starting to show now. However, anyone who knows what he was like during that NYC year also knows he was a bit of a basketcase.
Pretty similar situation with Mitchel Johnson. Huge talent but discipline issues.
At the time, most people seem to be "if they don't want to play, piss them off" but then when they go and grow up a little and start playing good football the chorus then goes up "how could we let them go". I guess its a similar situation to what the Raiders faced with Todd Carney.
My own belief is that this club has under-valued raw talent and at times, selected players who were maturer, or who made less mistakes, or who had better attitudes but were missing that extreme levels of skill. Daniel Anderson was definitely very big on this and I don't think its necessarily the wrong approach but you need five years to make that level of change. And given the way our juniors are setup I don't know if even in that time if he could have succeeded.
I think to a certain degree you have to accept that a lot of young, talented footballers are going to have issues - and that part of being a great club is that you have the right balance between discipline but also giving them support so that they can grow up into the type of young men you want them to be. I kind of see Kearney as someone who can do that. Certainly, Melbourne has been very successful. Bellamy has a very strict culture, but its also very much like a big family.
It's a really difficult issue and I'd be interested in people's thoughts.
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Does the name Chris Walker ring any bells?
Did OK at Titans AFTER they mentored him - seems to be going pretty well for us - so far.
Tim Smith?
It's a pretty long list for all teams.
Got to agree Phil - hope SK has learnt from Bellamy (and Bennett)
I will be very interested to see what people think about the Eels by the end of this season.
We don't really have enough quality in the first team to be able to carry trouble-makers. Per our well planned pre-season, this year we need to play as a team and play for each other.. We can't afford to have people pulling things apart. I expect this is why we'll have people eager to play, people who show the right attitude, being picked over those who we are used to having on the team sheet without question.
Inu and Mateo were good examples of raw talent in a shell of laziness and ill discipline. Ben Smith is also one of the former, and Fui the latter. Can see both being dropped for games in the second half of the season, if/when we have everyone, including Poore, Matua, etc, available.
I think your blog illustrates 2 things Phil - but first let me say - great blog
I have been bewildered over the past 10 or so years as to WHY Parra has GONE from being a local junior powerhouse of the 70"s and 80's....where there was always a steady stream of local juniors with REAL TALENT coming through.......to NOW (last 10 years at least) being the type of REACTIONARY footy club that spend lots of unneccessary TOP $$ on players nearing the end of their careers....instead of investing time & patience on RECRUITING and NURTURING young guns with high skill levels...........big big mistake - and Parra are paying the price NOW
Parra has been blessed with Hayne - he is the exception, not the rule. Parra have an aweful history of letting em (local juniors) go & then OVER PAYING for so called big names at the end of their careers
So back to your point about undervaluing RAW TALENT - I actually think it is worse than that - I don't think Parra has enough genuine TALENT EVALUATORS......why hasn't Parra had an EFFECTIVE long term half back / playmaker since Sterlo ???? ........we don't know how to find em....and when we get em, don't know their long term value
KKeating is an obvious blunder, no matter who the coach, surely, the footy brains trust would step in and argue the case instead of allowing lunacy to prevail.....Johnathon Wright, Kingston...Albert Kelly....even as far back as Willy Tonga, Andrew Ryan & Paul Gallen....these are just are not your average first graders (& yes I include KKeating & Albert Kelly here with Tonga, Ryan Gallen)....these are players that you can build a team around - it's the quality of our juniors we allow to leave that is shocking....and this has been a weakness at Parra for YEARS - our inability to locate,and worse even identify & nurture talent
I think Fitzgeralds alienation of Parra greats like Price Sterling Kenny etc made Parramatta's MORAL AUTHORITY weaker than it needed to be. By moral authority, I mean the CLUB CULTURE - where the legends and legacies of yesteryear are PART of being a Parramatta Eel..........the Club spirit
I'm not talking about the spirit of the fans - but it's a known fact about male behavior - than MEN respond to STRONG LEADERSHIP.....and all the fans in the world wont have the same impact on a young talent than a proper role model (Club Leader/ Legend) has
It's the lack of genuine LEADERSHIP & ROLE MODEL groups from past players & great clubmen. Their role has be UNDERVALUED and has been only entrusted to the CURRENT senior players to form those leadership groups....For years Parra had a missing level of clubmanship, and worst of all, it was THE most important level of ANY club................Sadly - and well done by Ozzy for changing this - we have only just began to rectify this in the short term - Our Club Culture that took Parra to the holy land in the 80's was forged on very hard graft by finally starting to WIN games from 1975 onwards as well as having a wonderful junior football development programme to draw from.
Winning.....above and beyond all else are the bricks that form Club Culture - but Leadership groups & role models is the CEMENT.........
Now finally to MY POINT - I would argue, that had Parra had a better HISTORY of internal Culture made up of Stronger Leadership groups & Role Models - maybe young Albert would not have gone off the rails...it's obviously impossible to predict such things - but it certainly improves the odds
For mine, in summary, I genuinely believe Parra does not have anywhere near enough EXCELLENT Talent Evaluators within the club.....and the family or TRUE CLUB SPIRIT we are rebuilding is still recovering from the Fitzgerald Ego when he alienated & ostracised OUR Legends......only Time and WINNING football will solve that riddle....that will allow NEW Leadership groups and role models to be effective for the generations ahead
But Parra CAN address the immediate future by finding better evaluators of talent within the club - oh how I wish that job belonged to Peter Sterling
Good stuff Phil and tele1. Agree 100%.
Hang on tele 1 - what happened to that scary feeling of yours?
Well constructed piece mate.
You speak passionately about the rebuilding of our core culture - of the slow but inexorable return of the mentors and legends
Recognising and nurturing talent.
You point to the start of all this and the proccess that is now underway.
Mate - if people cannot see the foundations that are being laid and picture the final outcome (perhaps still a few years away) then where is their hope?
This is the hope and belief I have referred to - this is the foundation and the beginning of the posible return of the "Glory Days" which we all crave.
Most of us currently have "uncomfortable" feelings because we are in fact in some very uncharted and possibly dangerous waters - however I have this underlying feeling of excitement that is telling me - HANG ON MAN things are about to explode and once again we will cheer and shout like maniacs for the club (as a whole) due to our success.
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