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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I would prefer an optimist Pops, they are more fun to hang out with, have a beer and chat with. However, the take charge and lead ethos within me always wants to know, who if anyone is looking for and identifying problems that are holding us back and what are they doing about that problem.
Like I've said many times before the players are subjective and people will have their preference and opinion on each one.But for us to improve we must find out why a host of players and the two high profile coach's were not interested in coming or staying at Parra. I think it's crucial.
Perhaps the reason as you suggest is that we needed to lose those players for the problem to be picked up and now the Board are looking at the Big question. Why can't we attract players in a multi horse race and what or whom is not up to negotiations.
It strikes me as truely amazing that we have heard on 3 occassions how the Board / Management of our club honestly thought we had certain players all but signed with definite commitments. I think Marty Taupau we had him here, all but starting on Monday, they lost him to Brisbane at midnight, They proclaimed that Blaize was good as, done and dusted, he was staying , will sign on Monday, once again he was gone within a blink of an eye. Galvin, last Friday they were telling those close to the board and Management that they had their man he was signing next business day, then gone. Something is amiss within our Head of football dept and or Contract Negotiators me feels.
Poppa I don't have an issue with Capitalism. Cottage Industry Capitalism is fine with me. My issue is with Capitalism centred around Monopoly and the background work done to remove genuine competition. Capitalism in the extremes manipulate the system.They don,t like boundaries.They don't like payinga fair share of tax and are interested in profits only and greed. The Communist system as it is in Russia is filled with privatization with Oligarchy self interest much like monopoly Capitalism. We have a record flood on the mid north coast with thousands of people in despair.Would monopoly Capitalism or Oligarchy be interested in looking after the welfare of those affected. Would they be willing to repair infrastructure like Roads,Hospitals, Energy infrastructure etc. Would they be interested in free education pensions, health care, defence services etc. Socialism looks after those community services. Are you happy to dispense with those commitments to our general progress as a liveable society?
So you're telling me that the Galvin's really aren't Parra fans? Nooo
Ps , I understand Walker isn't development, but he'll go close to buy of the year if he keeps his form to date
My daughter has a friend who recently visited us. She is in her 50,s driver's an old car and struggles materially. Has spent a fair bit of time in India studying Buddhism. She is currently doing a Buddhist Master's degree in Buddhist philosophy. I asked her if Buddhist mental practice and discipline would be an asset for something such as football. She replied " definitely".
Money can be a powerful incentive for many as bait. For others a bigger bait is a sense of being a master of your craft. It's all about getting the right incentive with the right mindset for the particular person you want on board. We all have different needs .
Yes Tad, very good points.
Recruitment now recruitment shouldn't just be about improving the playing roster for FG for one if we want a strong club we should be recruiting the best in every area of the club.I think this is where we are to insular in how we think.
Administration is a place we should be recruiting better not just players.
Its been touched on here but for the clubs future we need to build the best pathway system in the comp.With a new CoE online now is the time and I'm not 100% convinced we are close to this but this is where the hard work starts.
Right now we aren't a destination for the Galvins of the world we just aren't the latest is back flip in the news but the fact we've gone back to the table twice with initial and a improved offer and Galvins PA and the man himself still chose the Dogs about tells you where we are at as a destination club about ends the conversation he's not for us.
If I'm honest I'm still livid we are losing DB because of poorly negotiated contract but he's gone now and he's someone else's player.We just cannot continue along those lines around our top tier talent.We can't let PAs strong arm the club like they have hopefully this is a thing of the past.
I agree Coryn, it's becoming a glaring problem. If we are to reach higher, we must have better administration.
Correct you mention not getting players over the line it's because at the end of the day we don't have a closer.
Using Baseball pitching as a guide you have a starter the approach to a given talent.
Secondly once interest is gauged enter middle relief converted we present our offer and pitch our plan for the mentioned
The CLOSER this is the key lock him in no distractions finish the transaction this is the part we are missing we are seemingly get most of the way and fall over at the end.Like you've mentioned this CLOSER could be JR as an example but this is where we are deficient.
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