Eels Blogs

Without much fanfare, Mickey Beaini — a successful property developer with over 20 years of experience and a fervent Eels supporter — has recently joined the footy board.

Mickey Beaini is not as widely recognized as Mark Bouris, who has served on the Roosters’ board for over 22 years, or Bulldogs chairman Adam Druissi — a billionaire IT mogul co-founder — but most successful clubs involve business owners in their boards or at the core. Even the Panthers, who like us don’t have billionaire tycoons, include Rob Wearn on their board, who runs a successful local quarry enterprise.

While it’s taken time to rebuild business relationships and attract TPAs after the cap scandal, we’re now starting to see more green shoots off-field.

For years, I’ve advocated business owners on our board. Their involvement brings not just operational expertise, but also opens doors for player and post-career opportunities, as well as other potential business ventures. A footy head with real footy nous would be another good addition.

Sure, some businessmen like Roy Spagnolo didn’t prove as beneficial as hoped during the dark eras. And fans may ask what about Aland or James Hardie?

But it's crucial we stay on this course, moving forward, regardless of whether Beaini proves instrumental or not — especially when we consider that TPAs nowadays, due to their risk exposure, aren’t as lucrative, game-changing or widespread as many fans assume. The cap is largely circumnavigated by other means.

The Ryles Era: Bold Step and Green Shoots

Initially, I was against Ryles’ appointment. Rookie coaches usually fail and rarely last. But he and his team have shown significant promise — in tough circumstances. Against the odds.

Ryles’ willingness to make tough decisions has been key to this transformation. He showed the courage to let go of some of our oldest and most experienced from the Arthur-built squad—Big Reg, Gutho, Sivo, and Makatoa — knowing that short-term pain could lead to long-term gain.

Importantly, he seems to have a good nose for talent, with most of this season’s standout players being new recruits. 

Isaiah Iongi, Jack Williams, Dylan Walker, The Fox, Kitione Kautoga, Joash Papali’i, and Jordan Samrani to compliment Zac Lomax have all been excellent acquisitions. This is a team built on non-starters, discards, rookies, emerging talent, the unnecessary and underdogs — players who reshape fans' notion of “Neville Nobodies.” Moneyball 101.

We’ve also seen promising development from Ryley Smith, Sam Tuivita, Luca Moretti, and Dean Hawkins—a Bennett discard. While Volkman still needs time to adjust, he shows potential.

Junior Paulo, once thought to be in decline, is enjoying a resurgence—fitter and playing more minutes than he has in years, no longer spending an inordinate amount of time on the wing catching his breath.

It all signals a cultural shift and re-build towards a younger, faster, fitter, and a more dynamic team. 

Ryles has demonstrated a club-first, team-first mantra. It's not about your name, or what you've done, but what you're doing right now. 

He’s fostering a culture centered around the “champion team” mindset, where constant improvement is the goal, rather than relying solely on a “team of champions.”

Looking Ahead: Maintaining Alignment and Momentum

Will it pay off? I don't know. Potential is never good enough. And let’s not sugarcoat it: there’s a long road ahead.

Right now, we’re still third last—only above Souths and the Titans. We've also often been our own worst enemy with errors and poor execution — and we're not out of spoon conversations.

The other bad news is: this stuff takes time even when good decisions get made. Gus Gould — arguably the game’s wiliest and most connected administrator, backed by billionaire tycoons — didn’t see results at the Bulldogs until 2024, nearly four years into the rebuild — Ciraldo's second year. And that’s quite quick. We're in our first year.

For long-time Eels fans — the ones who’ve ridden every false dawn, worn every heartbreak, and watched rebuilds fizzle into excuses — hope comes hard-earned. Talk of alignment and process sounds good, but we've seen that movie before. We don’t need miracles — just progress we can feel, and a club that refuses to accept mediocrity as inevitable. I'm not certain what will happen, but hope that maybe, just maybe, we’re heading there. Towards one day being a destination club.

But observant fans are seeing more defensive resilience than previous seasons and promising shapes in attack.

There is a palpable sense of internal alignment at the club — something not seen in years, arguably since the Fitzy-Smith era. We're now locking up our best juniors long term, and removed all POs from all contracts in a process started in early 2023 soon after the grand final. We aren't going to pay ridiculous overs as we too often have. We aren't looking for quick fixes, and are re-building critical relationships.

The next 18–24 months will be crucial as we're reshaping the cap and cleaning the roster. What we need now are a few astute signings — particularly more punch in the forwards, a six, and a nine to support rookie Smith.

That could be make or break.

We may need to do it the hard way — without Big-Name recruits fans drool over given we're rebuilding and lack billionaire sugar daddies to buy our way out of the hole. Players looking for opportunities and a bit of love. Old-school. Also, asuming Dylan Brown goes to the Knights as per his contract, the club will have a significant war chest to work with and hopefully offer more opportunities for players to go along with the spanking brand new COE.

In between hope and hardship, Ryles often says: it's all about day-to-day, constant improvement. The momentum must continue. Fall Down Seven Times, Get up Eight Times.