Eels Blogs

Well unless we pull off a miracle, we are pretty much done for 2023, well top 4 is done for sure definately, which in history means it is over since you cannot win outside the 8. We have bought nobody for next year, not even close. Bird and Su'A seem to be on the market and they are both linked to Newcastle and Manly respectfully, teams that do not need back-rowers are favourites to get them!!!!

We are in desperate need of a culture change, i mentioned it in my blog earlier in the week. We are a club that thinks we are better than a lot out there, we look down upon other clubs, making a GF makes it worse as it masks the descrepencies of the club as a whole, we got absolutely embarrassed, yes nobody would have beaten Penrith that night but others may have held their ground better. They apparently walk around arrogant also, as based from people who have worked there, myself knowing one person who used to work within the leagues club and mentioned they had an event with about 10 players and they had arrogance about them. They need a shock to the system. Imagine Bennett with this squad? He would do wonders, someone new with a proven record would shut them up and tell them to grow up. We have done well of late under BA, but we are always a team that seems to hang on by a thread, just scraping by. We are never feared and as a fan every week, even the year we finished 3rd in 2020, never felt comfortable for a win. Media never give us respect cause we are not a great mental team. We have big heads and come down to reality when we get embarrassed then come back to training and the ego resumes again. 

Is sacking BA the answer? Well honestly right now definately not. At the end of the season? Well i am still an advocate for let the season play out, but if we finish bottom 4 i am more than open to him leaving, finish say around 11-13? Yeah i am happy with it too, BA will not walk either as why should he? He has 2 years left on good money, why give up the money? Now i wonder if 2025 has some performance clauses involved, but if not i doubt Parramatta are happy to fork out 2 years of a deal for nothing. When you invest so much into 3 out of 4 spine members and only produce 4 wins from first 11? Well yes close games and injuries but they just do not step up when needed. Slow play the ball, opposition usually score their first set on our line after we had 3-4 straight sets on theirs, constantly playing catch up footy, no leadership really at all, teams making metres through the middle simply by running on an angle. Us? Well we go down like a sack of potatoes most runs, take out time getting up, have our five-eighth take hit ups on the edge, have our wingers get pushed back on kick returns.

We hit lightning in a bottle with the likes of Papali'i, Niukore, Mahoney and Kaufusi. Though we leaned on the development of them too much to decide our recruitment moving forward. We go for Davey at first, he goes to Canterbury from the Gus chinese meal. We get Doorey instead to see if we can get anything out him? Turns out, in BA's mind, we cannot, so get Davey later on and Doorey is forgotten about. Su'A and Bird could be available, but no thank you as we have both Doorey and Davey, who i think wouldn't start for about three quarters of the NRL right now, signed til 2024 so we more likely have no cap room. Hodgson i have been an advocate for, but when offered Liddle and Robson and make a quick decision on Hodgson it rings alarm bells. Having players constantly all off contract at the same time, most in 2025 when Brown, Sivo, Hopgood, Hands, Gutho, Penisini, Russell, Dunster and RCG all off contract, same year funnily enough as BA. We are in need of a player like Jack Bird, some mongrel and angst. We are soft, when we do get aggressive we get reckless.

Onto BA again. He, as is the backroom staff, are all squeezing the preverbial lemon so much the pips are not falling out. Though as a few drops continue to slowly come down, all of say "There are a few drops left". This club is in need of a face lift. We have no identity and BA has lacked giving us that of late. Penrith are known as a well oiled machine. Melbourne are fierce and determined. Souths are fast and confident attackers as well defence. Brisbane are fast and flambouyancy. Cronulla are known for their edge work. NQ known for their young talent. We? Well second phase play when we want to, when the game lets us. instead of saying "Well it is not going that way, we are going this direction" We go into our shell til somone makes a run or a break then we think ok lets just see what happens. That is all well and good but not every week. Again, BA is accountable for some of this. We are an easy team to read most of the time, we have our souls crushed too easily, then we pop up out of nowhere to clinch on but it is too late. If you look at us in our only non close game of 2023, against Newcastle, we looked bored in the second half up by 30 odd. If we need to be on the ropes to be motivated then that is a sackable offence from the coach alone, with match preparation and motivation alone being a main part of the job. Who is the answer if not him? Well who knows, sometimes you pick someone who looks perfect and they are average, Michael Maguire or Stephen Kearney. Then you get someone who you think how they hell did they get the job and turn out well, Andrew Webster. O'Neill i feel is doing a good job, in terms of his signings? Well i want to know how much of an imput BA has in the recruitment to really decide if blame is warranted or not. BA is a good coach, but it should not get to mid way through every year where i, along with other fans, start to think is he the man for the job. Yes he made a GF, a tremendous effort, but was it a bigger player effort than coaching effort for all the boys together before moving on? Did they do it for each other more so? Not saying in spite of BA, but it was more so going that extra mile and step for their mates to go out as a group on top? As that urgency is just not there.

This club has a "it is good enough" mindset for too long, now a bottom 8 season beckons, recruitment and trust has failed, pathways has failed and the big players have failed. Is it worth rebuilding? Well you cannot technically rebuild with big money players still at the club, but a new culture, focus and identity? I think we can do with that to be fair. Something is not right, i do not think there are coach and players issues, or backroom infighting or anything like that. Just things are not happening and i do not believe it is a bump in the road, especially with the recruitment, what is available and how our players are developing. We need someone like a Mike Cannon-Brookes, Nick Politis, Frank Ponissi or Russell Crowe. Someone feared and can rule with an iron fist. Madge won a comp and three years later he was gone due to the club going backwards, then from there onwards they are on straight and narrow making prelims ever since. Would a Hasler work? It would be different for sure and that is not a bad thing, he would rule with an iron fist and say it like it is. Flanagan would do the same, there i said it. BA shows glimpses of that hard nose approach but then seems to go back in his shell a bit as he doesn't have the street cred to win guys back if he loses them. We are not a big hitting club, for a club that seems arrogant we seem hesitant to make the big moves like we know nobody will come here.

The inevitable is shining at them and they are putting on sunnies to ignore it. A reboot is necassary, a culture shock is needed, an identity is crucial. But can the current establishment wake up to realise it before we head to another decade of obscurity. Each year we wait to pull the trigger, is another year further from glory.