As we transition with our rebuilding phase, I'm wondering if we have gone about it the wrong way around.
We have a great Home ground, we have great fans that will support the club, we have a world class training centre, we have the new constitution and Leagues Club to rival most others, We have the shiny new coach and assistant coach's, and we have a world class Halfback, with a new culture developing.
It appears that we have been checking off for some time all the ingredients required to have a winning club. This brings me to what I see as a major fault within our club.
It appears we are able to identify the players we wish to sign, there are many examples of that within our system right now, none better then Iongi, Lomax, Addo Carr and Walker. However there also appears to be a problem with getting classy players that are being courted by other teams over the line and sigining with our club. The 4 players I mentioned were not being courted by any other club.
So how do we fix it. If we are identifying where the club was falling behind with all of the above and we set about turning it around and fixing it, to the boards credit, then surely the same Board can see we are seriously lacking in the art of getting a quality player that other clubs want to join our squad.
What is it that is lacking in this area. Is it a lack of understanding of what makes the player tick, are possible recruits issues, fears, not being addressed during the negotiations, is it a stigma that players don't like our club, Is it the rookie coach might not be good, is it a lack of third party deals or investment clubs etc. Do the player managers not get on with our club. There must be something that is turning off potential recruits. Over the last couple of years we have lost so many players and potential coach's for that matter, that the club has identified as wanting or wanting to keep, and we havnt been able to get them accross the line.
So I do wonder who at our club is identifying the problem, and what needs to be done to turn this around. Over the next 12 months, we as a club have a huge war chest of salary cap $$ to be spent, but it won't matter if the club cannot sign the good 1st choice players they are targeting.
It makes me wonder, what our club would look like if we were to recruit say Gus Gould. Would that even be possible. I do wonder what type of $$ would it take to hire someone like him. We seem to be very light on in the reputation and signing power of our current head of football. I'd happily pay Gus Gould $2m a season to be our recruitment spokesperson, the man that makes the deal, that courts the new player. Surely someone of his experience and stature would be a crucial and club defining signing. Perhaps the very last piece of the Eels puzzle.
Im no fan of Mark O'Neill head of football operations, I have made that very clear. So how do we get the club to at least review what mistakes have been made or continue to be made that turns so many players away from us.
I think it's crucial for any future success, more so then any one player. We should be going for the best of the best people out there to be working on our contract negotiations and selling our vision to new recruit prospects. We search high and low for the best layers, then why don't we do that at Boss level, at management level.
Im not sure of whom we should even target if we were to replace Mark O'Neill, but i am of the strongest opinion that the club to move forward must as a matter of urgency delve very deep into what is going wrong at this level, and fix it. We have an oppurtunity with our war chest to really go after some serious talent right now,
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Yep development is a massive way for us to progress, use from within. I have no problem with that. I would argue that not all signs are positive. I do have a problem with the club in recent times not being able to secure a lot of our juniors that they wanted to keep. The recent track record is not so great with signing juniors that are exceptional talent and other clubs have come in and courted them. We are even losing juniors transitioning to top 30 when another club gets involved.
Sure we are signing juniors but no other club had come knocking for them. Seems we can win a 1 horse race but we can't win if another club gets involved. So the same problem still remains with how we are negotiating with talent and what are we doing so wrong, and whom is not doing their job to the standard we need.
We develop them, they improve massively, we become a top four team.
Their next contract they get offered a share in a pub on top of their contract on the cap.
We start rebuilding again.
Good blog, Bluey & good post SP.
Agree with the drive for junior development, of course, but you also don't win premierships with 3 of your 4 spine members having played under 50 games (which looks likely until 2027/2028).
We also can't rely on juniors to fill an entire squad at first grade level, some highly touted & skilled juniors, inevitably won’t make that step up.
Which needs to be identified early with some level of foresight. The ability to recruit and fill those gaps, before it is too late, is vital.
Over the past 12 months, I agree SP, we have recruited really well & very intelligently using the Storm blueprint that Ryles has clearly adopted.
Jack Williams, Iongi, Walker & JAC especially, have been such strategic & brilliant moves, and, have come without huge hits to the cap. Walker has been game-changing.
The other aspect of the Storms successful blueprint has been outlay of $$ into their spine. They save $$ recruiting workers for the positions that require attitude & commitment more than elite skill, so they can spend on their spine.
That is where the concerns are for the Eels, imo.
Those great signings we've made recently, have all been on Ryles watch, except for Lomax, who BA courted & signed.
The two players who we were in two horse races for in Dylan Brown & Galvin, who the coach wanted both of, we’ve missed.
We can make a case in the clubs defence for both specifically, absolutely, but as others have said, when was the last time the Eels recruited a player who had more than 2 clubs interested?
Have we ever under the current recruitment team?
Everything is trending so well on the field under Ryles, we now boast the 2nd best defence over the past 5/6 weeks of footy - that is an incredible indictment of the defensive & attitude improvement Ryles & Co. have delivered.
But as Bluey has asked in the blog, is there a need for improvement in recruitment that perhaps is beyond the experience & ability of who is there.
Because at some point, Ryles is going to rely on recruitment of an in demand player he believes he needs to be successful.
Im with EA & others, there is serious talent in our juniors, but they aren’t ready, and considering we are developing Iongi & Smith (brilliantly), im just not sure personally we can develop another inexperienced player at 6…
and if we do, our investment in Mitch Moses has essentially been for a rebuild. Thats not great foresight.
The five-eighth position will tell us everything we need to know, imo. Whether Ryles believes in a junior, or, whether he looks externally, and importantly whether the club can deliver that player to him.
...and genuinely competiting in the next 2/3 years likely depends on it.
Just opinion, good work Bluey.
Nailed it I think Nos, very well said.
It's why I'd slot Dylan Walker into 6 next year purely for what your describing.Mutts brings up a huge problem around inexperience and especially in the spine.
I also believe Walker slots straight in unless they feel there's a better option.
Good question BE. We have a cake shop and other related products in a small bakery in a small town in Alstonville.( If you are around Adam you should be interested) .The bakery is called "Home" and has about 8 staff crowded in a tiny area working non stop. The shop is always full of patrons waiting 10 to 15 minutes to be served. Visitors are often seen taking photos of cakes in the window... Another bakery across the road was quite well attended before this bakery came into town. Hardly anyone is to be seen there now.
What is the magic this new business has to draw so much interest? Who would wait 15 minutes to be served to buy some cake when there is a similar shop with few customers across the road?
Quality of product and word of mouth maybe.?
How do you replicate something like this in a footy club?
I don't know. Maybe something to do with finding what is the quality product and let word of mouth play out.
It's a vicious cycle but winning definitely helps. "If I go there I'm a good chance of playing finals / GF and therefore rep honours". It's a similar story with retaining young talent. "Why leave when I can stay and win a comp?"
Short term: No doubt Ryles and his team are doing their part but they can't shoulder all the responsibility. Dylan Walker showed how desperately this side needed experience. After Penrith got flogged last week Ivan Cleary said 'you can't run on potential forever'. To be a genuine threat you need that experience in amongst the rookies. Even a few 50-100 game players added to our pack would make such a massive difference.
Longer Term: Hopefully this year's rookies are sticking around to be 50-100 gamers for us and we're adding more and more juniors rookies to bolster the squad and so the production line truly begins. That's when we're flying high.
But for now we need experience. We're asking too much of rookies to go an entire season. And unfortunately it seems we'll be forced to take players no other club wants.
My dad passed away at the beginning of this month so I was in Alstonville a few weeks ago. I've got to say these days I'm not overly familiar with the all the eating spots in the main drag through town. There's the old post office which is now a cafe, across the pedestrian crossing is another and mum mentioned the old Thai restaurant further up the street is now one as well. The only bakery I know of is the old Macarthy's bakery around the corner (which is now called something else). I haven't lived there for over 30 years so things change. Let me know which one is yours mate and I'll take mum down and check it out.
Sorry to hear your Dad passed away mate . It must be especially tough on your mum. The shop is called Home Just past the petrol station towards the school. The butcher across from Home is also a very high quality Shop with a great selection of cold meats as well.
Tad It is great to see you adpopting capitalist principles, you just explained very simply why socialism doesn't work and enterprise does. (gee I hope the succesful one wasn't backed by a big business enterprise, that would create a different feeling about the product, would it not, especially that business employing the 8 people. lol).
Bluey, I think this answers your question as well, word of mouth and trust has not been good for 20 years for Parra, that word "stigma" is the problem.
Poor management represents the "shop" on the other side of the street that is not doing so well. They may have found a "rat"out the back and the "stigma"prevails.
Parra's management is going through that evolution and still has "rats" like Spagnolo running around the fence trying to get back in.
You know my views on O'Neil, I think he is more a possum than a rat and I wrote on a blog an alternative about his retirement.
The management is restrictive in term's of momentum because of the nature of a licenced club operating in such an environment as Parra has evolved. We haven't a Politis, Launday, Broco's Businessman, Storm Tripp etc.
This can change and the style of management will be based on long term planning that we are witnessing at present.
O'Neill obviously has been kept for a reason, the nature of our board makeup would not tolerate fools. Fong would argue they are fools, I would suggest that OTHER THAN A DICTATORSHIP that no better system is available. New and further recruitment with sporting type backgrounds and an association with business will also evolve.
I'm less worried about losing the Blaizes, Sanders and Galvins by reputation that is created by the perception of their being failures. That's why a lot of our punters are so dirty, they may be used to losing, but they don't like it just the same. WHO DOES.
Frankly the one horse races are the best, they mean you get something, rather than winning the lottery by buying the most tickets. We can only buy or development so many players to have a strong 2nd and Ist Grade set up. The purchase of say someone like Sandon Smith could be an exceptional opportunity because we gained experience by losing a race. I always try and look at reasons for things to happen and remain an optimist (Unicorn) by choice.
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