Gee there is a lot of rhetoric and motherhood statements in the current blog's with the inevitable "fixers" who have no idea how a sports team operates.
Gould did a job at Penrith which was not recognised and only assumed on the basis he caused the revolution.
I have heard enough of Gould's comment's to accept his expertise but he is no genius.
I think we have been a team with a heart and the team had bonded, look at those teams still behind us, we were ahead of most of them and setting a foundation......BUT.
At present the Panthers are riding a wave of a young group that have come together and it is a once in a generation situation where they gell and bond, not unlike us in the 80's, which I am sure we hate being reminded of.
Roosters are a manufactured side but have managed to build character and culture and how it has worked is obviously a recommendation for benevolent dictatorship with Nick Politis literally owning the culture. Notwithstanding Easts being probably 5m over the cap (one way or another and yes it can be legal) they still play with unbelievable commitment.
Melbourne are a freak of nature and a credit to the coach and administration, maybe being the only team in a state where many have not even heard of them I suspect has enabled the isolated development. Manly are going through a 2009 experience with Turbo in a world of his own, they were always a better side than what they produced at the start of this season. They were actually going worse than us then, than we are now! There culture and I hate to admit this is one a lot more committed to winning than we have ever created outside of the 80's.
The other team that are still capable is Souths and this is a different type of culture again, but still one that has lots of cracks in it. Imagine if we had the Sam Burgess situation within Parra and the resulting skeletons that would be lying around. Guess what ?we did in 2014 and have risen from those ashes, problem is this "Phoenix" has broken its wings and just like we got the spoon in 2018 and put our renaissance back, then 2021 is going to be one of similar memory and yes the Phoenix will rise again, I have no doubt and the way to do this is take the Medicine. The coaching structure at FG level is gone or has to go. No Band Aids or quick fixes, back to a plan of accepting the set backs, getting up and going again.....Forget the rest of this year, we are kidding ourselves. We need to start now!
It's no coincidence that the coaches of these successful sides stand out, but all with different styles and personalties.
Canberra got to where we are and have folded like us, likewise Cronulla.......Bronco's will be back because they have the drive.
It is now time that the Adminisration which is fundamentally sound shows the necessary resolve to fix the ELEPHANT in the room.
WE all know who the Elephant is and in trying to understand this I had to look at the physcology of why Brad Arthur has failed. Mainly I believe it is his limited lateral intelligence, he just has not grown with the teams evolution. He still coaches as if he was dealing with 2014 and working with broken parts, those parts are not the players but his own coaching regime, he is an autocrat and probably doesn't even know what that means.
He is/was loved by his players and the players gave him everything but BA in turn gave them nothing, not because of punishment but like a parent with good intentions and poor parenting skills.
I don't think the players have changed from loving him but all of a sudden they realised that he is not what they need to go forward with. It's like a subconscious withdrawal.
Now everyone lets sit back and hope like hell the Admin can see this and do something immediately. I would bring in Shane Flannagan for the rest of this season, for no other reason than to judge how he goes, we will lose half of our roster if we sit back with a "wait and see" attitude.
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Aree 100 % with what your saying popps. Well not quite, I think the Eels board are a little slow to look for change.
I think Brad Arthur will see out his contract, and we will have the same squad next season.
WE cannot judge the board yet Graham, they have not been tested, That said because they are professional business people they will more than likely be slow and considered.
Its one thing for us to have a professional board full of businessman with nounce, but as a form of management it can be bloody painful. Good example would be if we were some teams like say Roosters, Politis would be ripping off the bandaid so quick the rest of the board will still have the memo in their in box before the coach had left the building.
You may be right, but if BA see's out his contract it will put us back 3 years, let's hope and pray it doesn't happen.
If Brad Arthur remains in 2022 with the same squad then you can basically guarantee either a wooden spoon or not far off
Flanagan is a MUST!!!
Yes, I had not felt strongly about it, but after last night, I see no alternatives. He has a strong history with Parra being an ex player and a long time reserve grade coach and maybe the enforced break, the vision with St George last year are all the latest things any new coach could bring. The peptides thing has never been issue with me.
It's like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic hoping it won't sink.
It seems like the team has switched off for the season and waiting to play in the first week in the finals.
Until they're coached to mark their man we will continue to be scored against on both wings.
Drop Sivo,add Penisini and Niukore as centres, Blake to wing. Rotate all the forwards and give cartwright at least 40min.
Just clutching at straws. Roll on 2022!!!
Maybe not just yet, if the coach goes first, keep the status quo and then ease in the changes.
The club's entire focus is now the performance of the NRL side. I can't see BA surviving this. The Board and CEO aren't morons.
Whatever the reason it's now very clear that the players are not buying what BA is selling. Who knows why? It could be boredom of hearing the same messages over and over with zero evolvement. It could be simply personalities clashing because of living in the bubble. Who knows?
I feel the Board and CEO can see what we all can too. I'd prefer they ripped the bandaid today so we can publicly begin the recruitment process asap. However I'd suggest they'll be working in the background and will allow BA to finish the season. Either way I reckon he's history.
As long as working in the background and letting him finish the season doesn't derail key player retention conversations. We need to keep building on what we have, not knock it all down and start from scratch again. I don't think any Eels fan has the stomach for that.
This season is done. If it's better to rip the band-aid off now I say let's just get it done.
Yeh! your seeing it the same as me Cappy!
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