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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Coryn I know this was for Pops, but I was curious and did some research. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the buck did stop with Mark O'Neil as the General Manager of Football. His role is overseeing the football department, including recruitment, player welfare and training facilities. He is responsible for list management and is supposed to look at the big picture, the long term viability of the team / player list. He reports to the CEO Jim Sarantinos.
Now what is really interesting is BEN ROGERS he is the Head of Recruitment, and part of his duties are listed as contract negotiations.
At the Eels we have a 4 man Recruitment and retention committee made up of Jim Sarantinos, Mark O'Neil, Ben Rogers and Jason Ryles. All recruitments must go through the committee, no one person is able to act on their own, and all 4 bring differing personal angles to the committee. ie Ryles whom and type of player he needs now, Mark O'Neil is supposed to keep an eye on the salary cap and list management with a long term view over time. Ben Rogers is apparently the man to find the player and is listed as the contract negotiator. I would assume with Mark O'Neil as Manager he would be participating in the negotiations as well. This part is a bit murky in finding the right information.
Having said all that, I'm none the wiser if there are multiple negotiators / closers at one time or just one. But whom ever is doing this part, is perhaps not the best in the business at this role, and the club need to audit this process, having lost so many players at the last moment over the last couple of years.
BE how you've described it is what I think he really is and what his role is you've described it to a tee.
I use the nfl model of thought around this where if your recruiting and retention of players your head coach JR and GM MoN are joined at the hip then it's passed onto the sub roles where Rogers receives the message from above and they go find that talent.Jim as CEO you report to after the process from the the fore mentioned has taken place.
I don't know if we work like that at all but this is how my thoughts are around our R and R committee.
I assume you didn't like my explanation Coryn.
Last point I have no idea what Rogers actually does, never have heard him comment on anything or one.....responsible for negotiations I find hard to believe.
I expect that a list of duties exists for everyone, practically how they are practiced we are never loikely to know....pretty confident though that Ryles has the buck stopping with him in "his" roster......how much we actually pay comes back to the CEO and the strength of Ryles arguments to go further than expected in price.
It's not that I didn't like it at all mate it's just BEs explanation struck more of cord with me is all.
Fair enough.
I was thinking more about Roger's role and I tried to picture a meeting of the R&R committee meeting (how often they meet, who knows).
a 4 person group would be simple to communicate in, with no self interests, you would imagine. i.e Its not like representatives from all over a company looking to get a slice of the action. The goal would/should be common.
So my guess is that everyone will have an opinion in a group like that with probably little weighting from the CEO in regards to a players ability.
This is where a comonsense factor comes into being, if the CEO was a ex footballer with standing, he probably would be more vocal. In Saratinos's position it would be more cap and the size of the payment in a relative sense. Some meetings may not even have him attend at all as Mon may sit down with Ryles, and his coaching asistants and Cayliss from a cup perspective. Rogers from his perspective.
I suppose I am saying Rogers would have input and the opportunity to put cases. Just cannot believe he would carry a lot of weight in the upper end categories.
Two bobs worth Coryn, that's all....we can only guess but don't get lost on the formalities of list's of duties, this would have been initially structured by the review process and it would change with inertia as the personalties change.
One final thing is Bluey makes reference to audits etc of the R&R Group. Unless it could be done externally it is hard for a group to be objective about itself.
The alternative is a lateral approach from Saratinos or the Chairman saying to himself that this doesn't seem to be working that well and that message may come from board members themselves.
Pops I was told Elpaso is running tomorrow
In think it is El Rocko Tad....I have looked through Melb where its been racing and Sydney where its a heavy track and I could not see his name.
Just a bit of advice, I would not back him if he is on a good track, he needs a soft 6 or worse to bring out the best of him.
My daughter got the tip from a guy who has been in hospital for some time.He says he is not a regular punter but gets some good mail.y daughter said he was going to put a couple of hundred on it. I went to Alstonville pub tab and couldn't find him running either. She said she was 100% it was called El paso. I don't really punt anymore.
So sorry that Karen is in the situation she is in.Hope your family are coping ok with this.
Poppa There actually is a horse called Elpaso in Victoria . Maybe worth while keeping an eye out for him
We offer about as much as most clubs except TPAs Parramatta being a CBD and with all its fan base numbers none to throw money support behind it
The Dogs since Laundy got on board can offer a bit more so can other teams and it matters.
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