Its hard to look past the storm when you think about successful teams. Hate them or hate them, they’re bloody successful.
How do we learn from them? What makes them so bloody good?
NRL favouritism?
Salary cap roughting?
Getting lucky with the big 3? no sorry, make that big two now cronks at the Roosters.
Their assistant coaches sell like hot cakes, yet there’s no guarantee of success as we’ve seen.
The quote below from Smith might be part of the puzzle...
"Being in Melbourne my entire career I understand the situation ... the need to be around family or loved ones, those who are closest to you, and there are are not too many guys in Melbourne who have the luxury of having close ones nearby, parents or any type of relatives.
We're all from interstate or overseas somewhere. We're all down there together looking after ourselves.”
Its an all consuming football culture in Melbourne. Where they live and breathe football. Guys like Norman are turned into football players.. take a look at Munster. How would he be going at Parra?
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Just like the Roosters, they invest millions in the right places and that's not with the players.
It starts with the right board members, skilled in greasing the right palms In the right places.
Judiciary costs money, Officials cost money, agents cost money etc etc etc..
The football game on the Sunday is only 20% of the production.
You want the Eels to become a major player? ... Get the right board members, with the right Connections or even make it privately owned.
Until then.. We will continue to be gun fodder.
1 of the wallabies did extensive research on winning cultures over huge variety of sports, and found close playing group and overall team environment including coaches and support staff is huge factor in successful teams.
The fact that Melbourne players are isolated from family support etc helps players, staff and their immediate families bond.
Also the consistency of having core group of players and coach meaning they are not doing major overhaul every few years is huge factor as well as they learn to read each others game and play on instinct. They can adjust with small changes each year because they are so well drilled over any years.
That is why nrl has allowed storm keep the international spine and an international front and back rower on their books nearly every year for over 10 years with little questions. Tell me how the storm have highest registered TPAs yet are in smallest market of overall interest despite being in huge city.
Yes they have huge profile players but they have bigger profile in Brisbane and qld where cost of living is a fraction of life in Melbourne. Not to mention the number of players who have extended family yet still choose to stay in Melb. It all seems bit off when add it all up.
I reckon you could put those players in our team, with our pack, and our wingers and they’d be better ... but still let down by the players around them. Especially in defense, how many tries were scored on the wing against us? Lots! Melbourne recruit or develop class across the board with few weak points
1. They know how to manage a game. They set up their attacks and wait for the right moment and play the odds correctly.
2. They are immersed in football and don’t think about much else. That is how you become the best at anything.
3. They are ruthless
4. They know that refs are an important variable and know how to manage them
5. They demand perfection.
etc
All good points Wile.. especially managing the refs. We got hammered week in, week out by the refs and never seemed to learn. Many games lost as a result