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"Think Smith Warner and Bancroft - same cheating bs tampering to gain advantage. "
"I did say if he trimmed down. If he was proper fit and kept in shape I am confident he could handle cup level footy. I am not saying that will happen"
"If you're not first, you're last. We were never going to win a comp in 25. Are we on a better path than.the previous decade, I'd say it's early days but yes."
"Mate c'mon. He's 48 years old and 20kg over weight. Maybe Hindy could get a start?"
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I don't think Parra are the only team feeling the pain. A number of clubs have had players come through the junior ranks, play in the NRL and then head off to a higher paying club. We seem to have more quality juniors and due to salary cap constraints, poor management or lack of foresight we send them elsewhere to bite us on the tail at some future time.
I have a lot of faith in our current administration and think there is a time to put sentimentality behind us so we can look toward the future. Luke Burt has been a fantastic club player. He has never been sensational but he has been solid and quite consistent over a long period of time. His greatest asset prior to this year has been his goal kicking. This season he found some new legs and mastered a sensational 1-2 punch with Jarryd Hayne, chasing kicks and scoring tries or trapping defenders. He has never been my favourite player but I do recognise his value and long service.
In saying that though, wing is quite an easy position to replace and it's not as if we couldn't find another bloke to slot in to Burt's place. I think Grothe adds more due to the important metres that he gains each game but I'm sure there's someone out there who could do his job quite capably for less money.
Keep going with the salary cap argument. Hopefully one day the NRL will see the sense in the argument and begin rewarding teams who do the hard work. Wouldn't it be great to have salary cap exemption for Burt, Cayless and Hindmarsh? That would definitely open up some big bucks and possibly pay the wages of our big 3 recruits for 2010.
In the meantime I think things have already begun to change at the Eels. Players are enjoying playing here and that means they will be willing to accept less money to continue being a part of the special things that are happening. It's hard to stay successful for any long period of time. In '01 we were awesome but lost a big chunk of our playing talent for '02. It wasn't until '05 (after some very astute recruiting) that we were again successful. Teams seem to be able to have 3 good years and then some time in the wilderness. Let's hope we can have a good 3 years and then buck the trend and keep the momentum rolling. Perhaps by that time we'll have some reasonable rules allowing salary cap exemptions.
this would mean players like hindmarsh,burt,cayless would be candidates for such an exemption on their nextsalary renewal(yeah???)