Firstly I would like to apoligise to all the fans that i might have offended with any of my comments throughout my blogs and replies, and sometimes emotions and frustrations fuel this reaction. But i dont regret and take back most of the things said, and believe if you dont speak up then why call yourself a true supporter?
No disrespect to the 1eyedeel fan page, and we should always encourage positive vibes to our beloved EELS, and besides any personal discrimination or racial attacks towards individual players everyones comments are justified to some extent. For e.g my view and comments towards Burt's missed penalty goal today was not meant to disrepect him as a person or to show hatred against him. I believe he is a great person and representative of our club on and off the field, but i couldnt hide the fact or my view that the missed goal cost us a chance of winning the game and that he is no longer a great winger in attack or defence compared to other wingers in the NRL.
I havent given up on making the finals for 2010, but we all can agree that its a long shot. So looking forward to 20EELEVEN, and hope we can make a dramatic improvement and reslove any issues which have made us fail to this day in 2010.
I believe we can all point out many problems and what we lack in key positions to help become a genuine title competitive team at the moment, but at the same time we have the best player in the world and we are in a transition phase were we are seeing out the old, and looking to build the new. I honestly think Cayless is not the only player that should see out his career out our club this year, but i would leave this debate to the coaching staff and club to decide and hope some hard decisions are made promptly.
I wouldnt like to see a major overhaul of the players and game plan to. I think our style is unique and as proven if we play it right we can make the GF and even go 1 better hopefully. But minor positional changes for e.g Hayne at No.6 in MY OPINION and a recruitement of a couple of new players in key positions could be a start. I mean we have alot of talent already in the team, but we just havent got it to click and the lack of experience and quality in the key positions, plus the exit of usual suspects and the old legs could fix the problem and help the team to gel better.
In my view at the moment it is crucial we sign Horo and keep faith in Mortimer. We should also be looking to recruit another quality winger/fullback and a quality dummyhalf/halfback. The rest should take care of itself.
I also hope we can give DA the next season to get things right, because i believe he has taken the side at a difficult stage were he has had hard decisions to make towards ageing players and young players coming through. It is not as easy to get the timing and mix right when it comes to getting rid of players and when to bleed new young blood. I think he is doin ok, and deserves to see out his contract to finally get Parra moving in the right direction. We dont want a 1 year hit wonder team, and we dont like to see many changes as we have experienced in the halves over the past 2 decades. I think the long term solution and with the experiment of DA's move of Hayne to no.6 early in the year and Mortimer to no.7 is a hint that this could be something special building as a long-term option.
With all this said, the players attitude and culture next year would need to improve. We may have the best player in the world and best looking team on paper but without a hard working attitude and passion this means ziltch. The dragons are a perfect example of this and they have half the skill level and quality of our team. We should also learn to hold back a little, and hopefully with another year past under Hayne & Mortimer's career the maturity and patience can start to develop. Less errors, a better kicking game, more dynamic dummyhalf runs from the hooker and wingers, should go a long way to bringing more success. The rest i leave to us the fans to show the support our team requires, and to keep faith in the whole organisation including the coaching staff.
Go the EELS in 20EELEVEN!!!
Replies
Some very thought out points.
Well said.
Attitude and culture is a major factor and yes the whole club needs to pick up in that area.
The clean out DA needs to do is only half done, we await for the final results with baited breath.