Eels Blogs

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  The Captain April 28, 2024 at 11:12am

  Great read HOE. I think realistically there's an option for us to have our cake and eat it too.

  With the squad we have (with a few obvious tweaks needed) Bennett would have a good chance of giving us a premiership. The reality is we have an ageing squad and if we're not going to push hard for a premiership then we may as well throw the baby out with the bathwater and rebuild with a youthful squad now.

  Or, we take Bennett for 2 years, let him give us a crack at breaking a premiership drought, and whilst he's here we work on the "what next" which is going to need a much more significant structural change (board tweaks, new HOF and probably new football organisational structure, hunting down some cashed up experienced operators who can become invested and involved in our long term success).

  I'd like to see us move to make a short term play for Bennett, but Sarantinos and the board have to realise that a sugar hit ain't good enough and that, unfortunately, Gus was right - we need to evolve as a football organisation, we need to build success and excellence into our DNA, our processes, and ALL of our processes (front and back office, on the field and off of it).

  But I still think we need to try and take what BA has managed to build and have a crack at the big one before Gutho, Jr, RCG etc age out.
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    LB > The Captain April 28, 2024 at 1:46pm

    Well Moses is still there for 3-4 years at least. Try and win it with a Halfback. Brown also. Can reboot quick. Gus is right in the idea of building pathways like Penrith but it is funny how BA avoid blames when he blamed Barret for Dogs issues.
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    Hell On Eels > The Captain April 28, 2024 at 2:13pm

    

    Thanks, Captain. Well said, and a measured voice. I agree with you. All that you say is possible. We could have our cake and eat it too, to a degree.

    If you were drawing out a mud-map of our missing ingredients, this could be a five-pointed, broad-brushed road map.

    1. New head coach with more footy nous and inspiration. Bennett the obvious choice. If we don't get Bennett, we're in a bit of sheet. IMO guys like Ryles or Holbrook (a little better), would be huge risks.
    2. New leadership and reshuffling up top. We need people that want to create legacies, prepared to roll the dice, and think big. Essentially, we need better big-picture-structural decision-making which is the foundation of everything that happens in the club. You can't have the Eels' club decline without the biggest decision-makers in the club owning some accountability for that. So, IMO we need people with a bigger stick, more financial clout, more pull, more connections with a "business owner" mentality. Whether that is CEO and HOF or how that looks is a big question. Ponisini would be a great start. We don't need to throw all the baby bathwater out. Potentially, we could keep large parts of the current banker-based board in some bean countering capacity as that's what they're most competent at, while they're learning their footy-side. However, we need better decision-making on cattle and pulling power with business clout or connections to attract higher talent and work around the cap aka "manage" it (look at how much talent the Roosters or even Dogs have attracted lately). Also, we need more gutso, more passion and footy nous up top. Look at the Panthers' die hard board, the Broncos business groups, or even Politis at the Roosters. This "die-for-passion-for-Eels" is tricky for us to find despite our huge fan base. Perhaps this factor is the most difficult part to get right, and the most critical in the big picture. Yet,  outside or Fitzgerald or even Gurr, we haven't had much in terms of leadership up top. 
    3. Improved mental toughening programmes. Need top of the line psychologists and tougher mental programs: Bennett's Dr Jauncey would be a good start. Look at Bennett's army camps or what the Panthers do as examples. Even the Roosters who travel to the ends of the earth to get new ideas and build players between the ears. Let's get creative here. Do something nuts. Get David Goggins, ex Navy seal, some taut the toughest man in the world, to help out. Keep trying looking at the ends of the earth, until you get results. But, again, all the decision-making here rests on the guys up stream.
    4. Improved Pathways. We needs new leadership to resolve the disconnect between successful juniors' teams to NRL transition need some new ideas. Again, up stream decision-making.
    5. Improved roster and staging for ageing issues in next 1-2 year window. We need (1) more potency and speed in the backline to compliment Lomax signing, (2) more tough-nuts (hard to find Beau Scott types these days) and (3) to start planning to counter the aging roster in a near-future window - especially fullback, front row and also second row later. Hopgood, Moses, Dylan, Pensini are probably the core around that of the new rebuild we need. It would be great to resolve the hooker issue but you'd keep depth guys guys Hands, and Lussick you'd keep until you resolve the engine room and fullback problem. Maybe MA will work. Time will tell on him. Sorry, I don't see Talagi as the heir to Gutho.

     
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      Tad > Hell On Eels April 28, 2024 at 9:06pm

      

      Good blog HOE and post 

      "Let's get creative"  Fitzgibbon Cronulla coach had an awkward introduction to coaching and now has been doing well.A future coach of note maybe. Cleary has done exceptionally well. I think the selection of new coach would be a great task for someone like a Dr  Jauncey to be heavily involved in the selection process. He would be able to identify a lot of skills required with man management to be able to get the right talents. I would be looking for a person who can better the top coaches around. Introducing a coach who can be original in the style of play using the individual talents and abilities of the players recruited to coach the coach how to use them rather than the coach to coach players neglecting players unique strengths. .Players playing like robots lose their instinctual skills.

      Selecting a new coach may not be as risky or frightening as many are thinking if done by someone like a Dr Jauncey who probably could identify skills required from his vast experience with working in coaching much better than most.
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        Tad > Tad April 28, 2024 at 9:27pm

        

        Empowered players who own their performances need little motivation. Disempowered players  who don't own their performances by playing to someone elses instructions need alot of motivation. A good teacher has to learn from his students 
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          Hell On Eels > Tad April 28, 2024 at 11:46pm

          

          Thanks, TAD.  Well said! And it's so good to see you posting buddy. I haven't see you posting lately.

          Spot on. Ultimately, a good mentor or teacher's aim is to make the student independant of the teacher. Self-sufficient: For the once dependent, vulnerable sapling to grow into a strong oak tree able to weather storms with its own strength and accord.

          I found it intriguing when Arthur said (earlier this week before the Manly loss): he didn't "ask" or "talk" to the players about a "bounce-back" following the Dolphins debacle.

          He said he had left it up to them to decide. In a sense, a similar idea to the one we discussed, suggesting they should be "mature" enough or have enough clout to act and do something about it of their own accord.

          And then, in the pressor after the Manly loss, he said words to the effect: "I know we haven't lost the footy team..." or "there's still a footy team there."

          Interesting. The thing is, after 49 blowout losses, if I were Arthur, I would be thinking, "Sheet, Houston we have a serious problem. My mentoring ain't working. Whatever we've been doing it ain't working. We need some serious changes and a heck of a shrink."

           
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            Tad > Hell On Eels April 29, 2024 at 6:30am

            

            Good response HOE. I like your Oak tree analogy.  

            Give the players the rope and see what they do with it. No excuses. See how the leadership emerges.See howr the natural talent and independence plays out. They are not kids. It will need time for players to work out what is needed to get consistent outcomes and how a coach can fertilize their growth.. Nothing to lose at this stage of the ladder 
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          Tad > Tad April 29, 2024 at 8:23am

          

          How do we learn to do things differently? If you ask someone to look at what you did that could be done better or differently and you verbalise a response you go through a learning process.If you tell someone what they did wrong they get into ego defence mode and learn nothing other than blame and scape goating some one else for what they may have stuffed up. Simple psychology 
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            Hell On Eels > Tad April 29, 2024 at 9:33am

            

            Great question TAD. I'm firmly in the Lombard & Jauncey school of thought when it comes to "how" we create change. Focus on what you can control. Habit patterns. What you do. Not thoughts, feelings & moods - nor others - which are all largely out of your control, and Mercurial.

            Blame, guilt and all that are largely useless feelings and ideas IMO. Even though as a society we rely on it for some kind of order, I suppose (look at our legal system). I suppose they have some practical merit if someone is doing sociopathic or psyopathic things - our of control - well, something needs to be done about it. Sometimes guilt and your conscience informs you what you have to do or change.

            Anyways, back on change by doing. I suppose it's akin to many psychologists' idea of the importance of daily structures and routines. Not that far removed from the ideas of "structures" and fundamentals in footy too. You need those to be done well to be able to build pressure and create opportunities to attack (if you have enough nous to spot them and skill to execute) the things you can't control - what the opposition plans to do.

            That's how you know when a team isn't doing fundamentals well, there are some issues with their habit patterns before and during the match - their processes. They're not doing the right things, but it starts before they step out on the field. And it's what leads to culture by consequences.

            Jauncey calls it "positive doing." He's not into the modern day idea of "positive thinking" or "motivation" - which are beautiful"ideas."

            The doing part comes first, not the how you feel or think about things. For example, I might feel like crap today, and like I want to hide in a hole because something crap happened. So, I don't feel like doing anything much. I don't want to work or talk. I want to drink. I want to use some drugs to feel better. Stuff that makes me feel (hormonally, physiologically better right now). Now, you can see where this example is heading.

            It's also related to what we've talked about in the past: watch what the priest does, not what he talks about. You're watching your own priesthood. An observer of yourself not just others.

            The old mantra, "we don't control our futures, we control our habits, and our habits control our futures."

            It's also related to the tantric Buddhist idea (you hear the Dalai Lama talk about it) of the sky and the clouds. Or even the ocean and the waves. The sky or ocean is unchanging, despite all the temporary waves, clouds and storms that come and go. The temporary and Mercurial storms and clouds are our current feelings, thoughts, moods and sometimes impulses and all the things we can't control - which is a hell of a lot. Part of that is also created by past habits. The sky is what you do. And what you do, moulds your character or nature in the future a drop at a time. The thing about higher tantric Buddhist ideas I like it that ultimately it's very optimistic: they believe all sentient beings are Buddhas by their true nature (the sky). Being the embodiment of wisdom and compassion. Here, future and last lives come into, because people or sentiment beings don't become all that they really are or can be in one lifetime.

            What's interesting is that when you improve your habits, your thoughts and feelings about things eventually start changing more permanently. That's what I have found in my own experience. Empirically.

            Maybe, it's partly because you feel better about yourself on a deeper level when you're looking after yourself, growing, learning to do new things and healthy. It's also about being more aware of consequences not just your intentions about things; avoiding the road to hell paved on good intentions and warm and fuzzy feelings. You end up feeling more confident about your own "inner strength", regardless of what comes your way. When you fail, it's okay, you get back up on your bike.

            The caveat with this is what I call the 80/20 rule. You need to give yourself 20% naughty pleasure time to do more unstructured things to break the routine. Like for example, if you try to eat healthy for 5-6 days of the week allow yourself a day or day and a half to splurge a bit. Eat whatever you naughty stuff you want like chocolates, pizza and the like.

            You also have to be prepared to change your "structures" habits and routines if they aren't working in the future to adapt to circumstances beyond your control.

            So, it's a bit of a never ending dance.

            Just my two cents.
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              Tad > Hell On Eels April 30, 2024 at 3:21am

              

              Excellent Post HOE . Expressing what you just wrote is a great way of internalizing learning which is the point I was trying to say.When we say or write out thoughts down the way you just did is also relevant in players processing different ways in how you respond to different situations so that they become part of your automatic/ instinctual responses to your onfield  behaviour. I have started doing a wonderful old school Korean martial arts activity and have a wonderful coach who approaches his sessions much like you have described. Don't overthink what you do ---- learn your responses so that they become an automatic  habitual response to what's Infront of you. Telling or blasting someone when they do something "WRONG" is not productive but destructive