So much for BA & the club not been able to produce young talent.
With another young player in Parry coming through our system to debut for us on the weekend I think it's about time we acknowledge the hard work BA and his staff have done to turn around our junior/pathway system.
We've gone from letting our best talent slip through the cracks and join other clubs to having Mahoney, Brown, Salmon, Parry, Niukore, Kaufusi, Stone, all make their debuts with us over the last 12 or so months.
We have an even more exciting crop of youngsters about to be ready for first grade too. The hard work put in by BA and his staff isn't seen by too many fans but its been a huge undertaking and the rewards are about to be reaped by the club. Combined with our much improved recruitment program it's looking like a bright future for the club. Finally.
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It's not about how many players get a chance in first it's about how they are coached and developed. The eels have and will always have young talent in the lower grades purely because of the size of their junior base , parra as a club has not developed a junior player into a rep player in nearly a decade , Mahoney, Brown, Salmon, Parry, Niukore, Kaufusi, Stone have all achieved nothing and are just players with a lot of potential and nothing more for now .
French had 13 clubs chasing him such was his talent yet under BA he turned into a bum , Tepai Meoroa was meant to be the next big thing as far as backrowers went and under BA jas been a bum .
When these young players actually achieve something and help the club to be successful then by all means praise the coach.
There is just no pleasing some. At least the supporters are happy.
Parra dice is it my fault some are more easily pleased than others? And tell me how what I've said is wrong?
Spot on Fong
Frankie, surely you can at least admit that the junior program has improved under BA. Before French we debuted what, 2-3 juniors over a 4-5 year period. We have more than double that this year and next. Double the debutants in half the time is an improvement. Rep players is a bit of a number game as well as coaching improvements, if you are only have 2-3 players with a debut in 4-5 years odds are extremely unlikely to get a rep player in such a small sample, but if you have 2-3 players debut each year, your changes increase.
I will certainly concede that I am uncertain of BA's ability to improve players to rep quality, and would love to see a halves mentor engaged. I think we have some young guys with the raw talent to reach rep level, but that raw talent needs to be shaped and honed into rep qualities and consistency.
I am reserving my judgement on BA until next year and if this level of team improvement we have seen this year continues into next year, and we are serious top 4 contenders than I will sing his praises. If you are not top 4 you are not premiership contenders.
Abe all I'm saying is that before people blow inside their pants wait to see how things pan out ,wait and see if BA can develop these players .
Been quiet for a few weeks Frankie. Silence would be better. All of the youngsters used show a lot of promise. But that would be recognising a BA success.
John, a promise to be is still not a success until we experience this success and these coming 8 rounds and the finals will either reveal this success or not. Otherwise we have to wait until nexr season to see what comes and if the success is still not forthcoming, ideally this season. we need to move on from Brad Arthur.
Agreed to a lesser degree because of the Eels circumstances going back over the past 8 years. It's true that we have not produced any jumiors who have gone on to great success while playing for the Eels in the top grade. The new culture is now changing this horror period and these juniors and more coming through over the next threa seasons have the pottential to bring back the great glory that's been missing since 1987.
The key word you used is Potential , the usual strugglers are prematurely blowing like they always do. We are yet to see how these players will develop under the bush coach , the eels have had a number of youngsters who had all the talent and potential only to fail.
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