If there's one thing the best sporting sides have, it's balance. In any sport, a well-balanced team is going to perform well consistently over a side with one or two brilliant players and the rest being mediocre.
In Rugby, you see it in the All Blacks. They have players such as SBW and TJ Perenara who are individual game breakers whilst also having guys like Beauden Barrett and Kieran Read who are a constant 8/10.
In the NRL you have teams like the Roosters and Storm who boast brilliant game breakers like Cameron Munster and Latrell Mitchell while having very reliable players such as Cam Smith and Cooper Cronk who will always turn up for 25 games a year.
For the Eels, this is something that has long been missing from the side. Too often they've had potential game breakers without the reliable 7 or 8/10 players. Those game breakers like Jarryd Hayne or Corey Norman are brilliant when they're switched on. But if they don't turn up, they may as well be invisible and their team looks headless.
I could go through all the ways the Eels have tried to rectify this issue in years gone by but we've all been down the well-trodden path of the 2016 salary cap issues and its impact on recruitment/retention.
In 2019, the team seems to be leaning more towards the balanced side of the scales.
With the squad at full fitness it has a healthy mix of game breakers and reliability.
Guys like David Gower, Shaun Lane and Nathan Brown have established themselves as very reliable players, turning up every week and putting their best foot forward. Likewise Clint Gutherson while Reed Mahoney has shown his ability to be a consistently performing dummy half with young half Dylan Brown showing his calm head in the early stages of his career.
These guys are offset by game breakers such as Junior Paulo, Michael Jennings, Mitchell Moses and Blake Ferguson. When these guys are on, as they were against Brisbane, they put teams to the sword. The ultimate challenge for these players is putting in a constant 7/10 performance or above. These players perhaps best personify Parramatta's 2019 season so far. When they're brilliant, they're brilliant. When they're bad, they're terrible.
Getting the right balance in a team is difficult. Your game breakers often command top wages. If you pay these players too much, you limit your ability to recruit high-quality, reliable bit part players like your Christian Welches or Mitch Aubussons. Those are the players that become indispensable to Premiership contenders. Similarly, too many Mitch Aubussons and you end up having a team unable to break the shackles and put teams to the sword.
The question for Brad Arthur and his recruitment team is, what is the right balance for Parramatta? Is the squad already there and it just needs to mature a little more? Or are a few more reliable middle players needed to add a more bulletproof underbelly?
Replies
We have had a few halves combinations this season which will always make being consistant week in week out hard, however we were predicted to be wooden spooners again this season but we are in the 8. I don't think the Eels are far off and if we do finish in the top 8 it's been a good season. Still have Dylan Brown to return & although he is young, he showed good composure & was very good in his 3 games. A couple of tweeks & we will be looking good.
Semi was also a game breaker
Players like Timmy M have a place in a balanced side
Yes they do
Nice read super. Parra are close to having a nicely balanced side. One more of each of the types of players you've mentioned would be great. N. Brown has been missed and D. Brown will be a welcome return. Maybe the purchase of a Waqa Blake and someone like Stefano Utoikamanu stepping up might be enough. BA and his coaching staff working on getting our team up for every game especially away from home plus toughening up our middle D will certainly have the Eels competing for a top 6 spot.