This heading is probably something we don't like admitting to. Yes it implies criticism but I don't want to start looking for blame or scapegoats, just accept it and move on.
The main issue in my mind is the "Pezet" experiment. It hasn't worked and the future has to be now. If its not, then it is a pointless exercise.
Back to Pezet. It occur's to me that just about everyone is in concurrence that he is not up to the 5/8 role.
The fact that our Reserve Grade side is struggling and do not have a proper half, it is a good opportunity to let Pezet fill this role and see what he can achieve, and how our long term 5/8 potential reacts to having a "proper" half!....????.
After all the real point of having Pezet was a backup half for Moses and the developing of our junior 5/8 talent. Well the 5/8 role ain't working.
He has no speed. His defence is poor. And he show's me nothing much as a link man.
I believe all the rhetoric and dislocation, not to mention the poor form of Moses is directly related to covering Pezet's shortfalls. That included the positioning of Williams at lock and the dropping of JDB to provide cover defence for the Pezet shortfall.
We are in a remarkable good position with 2 out of 3 games, whereas we could be zero and 3 and in deep shit.
Lets not abuse our good fortune. Let's act now.
There is no way we will beat Penrith going forward with this current make up.
Finally, I expected with our back ups and juniors coming through that we were good things for Reserve Grade. But we are now showing issues there. Our junior's are struggling as well. The issue is our upcoming 5/8's are not exactly killing it!
Have we overated our position and personell?
How does this happen? Well, we, Parramatta, are total optimists with the exception of a few and we always want to see the positives.
All that being said, I continue to believe in Ryles and our coaching staff and the reality is he is still learning as well.
Just a smokey to end this discussion. Bevan French.
I do not know the contract implications, but if we get cap dispensation on Hopgood, how about making an offer for French to take the 5/8 position? He hasn't played for Wigan yet this season and I would be not against making an offer he "can't refuse". Obviously this could simply be too hard, but we are a long way short of what we want to be!
Please don't bring up the "French" defensive issues, he is now one of the best players in the world and a lot stronger defensively than when he was with us.
Replies
We rate ourselves LB, is just a case of how you approach it, when you get older and a little wiser you will realise that everyone gets rated.
Yes I believe French has proven that and knowing the way he was treated in the NRL, why would he want to come back (Cappy's point). Also how do you know 18 NRL teams are not looking to bring him back!
In my "punt" I was hoping he may like to say " prove I can do it"
Make your point by the way....are you supporting the persistence of Pezet or do you "rate him"?
I just remember French getting absolutely ragdolled in defence out on the wing. Imagine how he's going to be defending in the middle.
Defending on the wing can be more difficult Clint i.e. 5/8 is more systemized and you can be effective in that environ or steam rolled on the wing.....just looking at perspectives.
Poppa can you please stop with this older wiser crap. You have a lot of times said some dumb you know what, that is not wise. Who was the one after we got hammered by Canberra in Darwin going on a rant on how bad Ryles is and he is a nobody and will not be good etc. Then proceeded to delete it and act like it didn't happen. Didn't seem wise to write that Poppa's corner didn't?
As for French, if he is the best and has been great in SL for over 5 years why hasn't one club tried to get him back? You say how the NRL treated him, please if a Melbourne came calling for good money he takes it. How do i know? The fact he is still in SL since 2019. He ain't getting younger either. Dolphins came in looking for talent, didn't go for him. Perth havent gone for him it seems. He said early last year his goal is to get back to the NRL, yet nobody is interested it seems.
I am realistic in that Pezet is here and will play a lot this year. Do i support it? No, i have always said i found the deal odd. But i will support him to do what's best for this club and hope it allows Lorenzo time to develop further before being thrown in. If i was going to market, i would do with Clintorian said and go for Purdue.
I don't rate Pezet, i think he will be a servicable Halfback in the league. He will play over 100-150 NRL games.
LB, I deliberately do that because it really "irks" you.
Remember something I tried to teach you, just because you are older doesnt mean you are wiser, but you are definately wiser than you once were as you get older.
How that compares to your wisdom is your problem.
Just to settle something and I think Wiz ran with my blog about Canberra in Darwin. I deleted it because I thought I was wrong and overreacted. I explained this after the deletion, I never have denied it or acted like it didn't happen.
Finally you don't know who has approached French and it is highly likely it never would have been Melb, but don't let any potential facts harm your version of events.....he was horribly treated in the light of BA and his lack of development in players like him.
You are having a bit eachway with Pezet, as you tend to do.....you say you don't rate him but then say he will play 100-150 NRL games......make up your mind!
PS I lead with my chin, which means you get knocked out fair bit.....to say I acted like something didn't happen is unusual for an "arrogant prick".
With the Darwin blog, i brought i up once and you said "I don't remember that" then with more pushing you admitted "It could have happened but can't remember".
Well you don't know if anybody has approached French. But fact is, if a player is claimed to be one of the best in the world, a club worthwhile would have at some point in the last 6 years would have tried and more likely got him since he was on record saying his goal is to get back to the NRL. That is not potential facts, that is facts. You knock Blaize Talagi, yet when they were on the look out for a 6 why did they not go with one of the best in the world with French? Instead went with Blaize. I used Melbourne as an example as you said he was so badly treated in the NRL referring to he might not want to come back to the NRL. If a club like Melbourne came calling he would drop everything and go there. So you said he might not want to come back over how he was treated yet said a goal of his is the return to the NRL. So again no potential facts, there are facts that disprove your assumption he might want to return.
You can not rate a player and they can play 100 NRL games as a decent half that you can use to get by. Rating a player means they are a star. Pezet can be a player that goes to certain teams that need a stop gap or be in a team that has cap space heavy in other spine areas and need a middle of the range cost 7 so they use Pezet. There have been a host of players that are not great or average that have played 100+ plus games. Matt Keating played 130 games for us, he was ok but doesn't mean i rated him. So yeah i do not rate Pezet as the next superstar half, but he could be just a fine NRL player that can do a job for you.
Beautifully responded NOS, your summation is just about perfect......and like you and Coryn I have no answers.
One thing I will say is that we know that Perth and PNG are going to place a large drain on overall playing talent, I think our lack of recruitment vision has been our valuation of players, I think in this environment and the salary cap being raised substantially in the light of TV rights etc then we need to be more adventourous with "offers too good to refuse' I now fear we have missed this boat as well......French could work btw.
I think some of us are massively overreacting. St George are always going to be a tough team to put away. Melbourne and Bulldogs both struggled to put them away and everyone is expecting those teams to be top 4. It's early in the season and we have heaps of improvement in us not to mention I think most teams are adjusting to the way the referees are controlling the games and how teams use their interchange benches moving forward to combat/exploit fatigue. I suspect we still have a lot of tinkering to do with our starting lineup/bench rotation. The form lines read Melbourne beat us, we beat Brisbane, Brisbane beat Melbourne. This weekend says a lot about where we are. Penreff have been the standout team so far. If we are close to a result (even if we lose but lose a tight one) 2/4 with one of the worst possible draws to start the season becomes a pretty good result. 3/4 is phenomenal with improvement still left in us. Whilst our pack you can argue has been dominated so far to start the year, last year we were able to combat that with fantastic ball movement which we will get better at as the year goes on. Yes Pezet's defence hasn't been good at all but he's had some nice touches in attack. We are not the complete package yet but there's heaps of improvement in us and yet we are 2/3. Absolutely no need to overreact right now, just like there was no need to compare Ryles to Kearney 2 weeks ago.
That's the spirit !!!!
in my mind a player that has been recruited for a year is always a risk in " protecting " their investment for their " real " club signing for the following year 🤔
even if it's subconsciously not putting themselves fully into the fray to avoid injury
that's why I don't like it
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