Eels Blogs

The deal is done. At first glance, it seems to be a bad idea. Real bad. Weird too. Like we’ve betrayed the Future Is Now mantra and sold out the Parra Badge for a short-term fling with the future Broncos bride walking down the aisle in 2027. How could we help the Broncos? Like they need our help. It almost feels like we’ve been, well, done over. Cuckolded. But then I stopped to think. To consider the idea further. It made sense. Still, the continued fan backlash intrigued me. Some supporters have gone personal, calling Ryles a liar or a con man of sorts. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised? Social media mob mentality, mixed with forty years of galvanised cynicism with that old loser-victim complex forty-year-title-drought albatross we wear, created the perfect storm. I’ve worn the cynic badge plenty of times. We all have. And it usually ends in muddied swamp lands if not gutter trash. Even TCT and 1EE were Siamese Twins for once: united in a majority vote against the idea.

But that’s only because it hangs on three naughty assumptions.

One, Papali’i is the future, right now.
Two, New faces on short-term deals can’t fight for the badge; sending mixed messages that might compromise culture.
Three, Ryles is the sort of coach who rigidly sticks to treasured fan ideologies set in stone over winning.

The Future is Now, It really Is

Let’s start with Papali’i. He has shown passion and defensive application, no doubt, but he’s still only played four NRL games at six. That’s not exactly “case closed.” If he goes down, or form drops, who’s next? Lorenzo isn’t ready. What happens if Moses goes down? Hawkins did not leave because of Pezet. He left because his path was blocked by Moses, Papali’i, Lorenzo and Lincoln (the future), well before Pezet came into the equation. So Pezet gives us something the spreadsheet currently doesn’t: depth and competition. That aids winning possibilities, not undermines them. 

Fighting for The Badge

And this old chestnut about “outsiders not fighting for the badge”? It’s fiction. Passion isn’t linked to postcode or contract tenure. Matto’s long-term. How is that working out? Lane had two years left on his contract before he realised he was burnt out. Meanwhile, the new kids on the block either juniors or developed elsewhere — Iongi, Lomax, Walker, Williams, Fox, Kautoga, Papali’i, Samrani, TDS, Ryley — breathed new life into the joint. Moses, our most important players, was developed at first grade by the Tigers. If we’re only signing players we developed, or naive enough to believe some of our juniors won't leave, we’re on a one-way trip to Spoonsville. Permanently. Players come and go. Ryles’ job isn’t to run a finishing school. It’s to build a squad that performs.

Ryles clearly rates Pezet’s character and competitiveness, saying he "gravitated" towards him, and that matters more than where he did his juniors or where he is going next.

Competition in Pathways

Which brings me to “competition”. Did anyone have an issue when Hawkins was pushing Papali’i for the six? No. Papali’i won that battle. So why the meltdown now that Pezet’s arrived to do the same? That’s sport. It’ll test Papali’i. Maybe sharpen him. Competitive people get jealous. They respond. If you’ve ever played chess, you’ll know you only get better by playing stronger opponents. Papali’i might just pick up a few tricks from Pezet and become our permanent six solution, which is still up for grabs.

Cuckolded

Now, about this so-called "we lost the deal" to the Broncos. The cuckold theory. If it were judged purely on optics, sure, it holds. But Reality Check: we couldn’t offer Pezet the long-term future he wanted.

Pezet wants seven. Ryles knew it. The Club knew it. He wasn’t going to wait four years behind Moses, or Hughes at Melbourne for that matter. It’s why he had that PO get-out clause at the Storm in the first place. What does that tell us about those yelling “good clubs” like the Storm, not losing promising juniors and players through POs or the front office? Ponisini is highly respected.

Long-term vs Short-term: which camp?

As for Ryles, I used to wonder which camp he’d fall into when backed into a corner: the culture-first, long-term ideology guy, or the winning pragmatist?

Turns out he’s gone the way that keeps head coaches as in the game: the winning way. Sure, he wants to rebuild the Parra culture with Parra people who fight for the badge. But he's also got to build a squad, right now, that has the most potential to win right now. And sure, there are a few holes to sort out, like the long-term six.

And honestly? Thank God. Ideologues don’t last in first grade. He will be judged on wins, not how the pathways might look in ten years or how Pezet might be temporarily on the nose for some. We have others working full-time on that. He can’t juggle both simultaneously nor please everyone. Not really. If the first-grade team wins a spoon next two years? Bennett said it best in the documentary The Rise of the Dolphins: “I’m in the performance business.”

So no, signing Pezet isn’t a betrayal. Sure, Pezet could flop and be the next Brody Croft and struggle. Time will tell. But either way, it’s a reminder that the badge is earned, not inherited. Depth isn’t betrayal. It’s survival of the fittest. Adapting. And if a few temporary outsiders help us climb further, I’m all for it.

Fox: Ryles on Pezet: A Win-Win All Round

SMH: Why Ryles Signed Pezet

Who could forget the start of the season when we lost five on the trot? Ryles was criticised and people questioned his 'rebuild' for going too far, and for letting go of Gutho, RCG, and what was happening with the likes of Matto and Carty.

Optical illusions: Which square is darker, one or two? If you're "sure" it's one, you're not alone. That's what I thought when I first looked at it. But reality, the truth, tells a different story.