I have been reading much of the emotional commentary on this site over the last few days. What we need to do is a full review to work out what has happened and why. We did this a few years back with the juniors and it is now beginning to bear fruit. Yesterday we beat the no 1 team in Jersey Flegg with most of the team being underage. This squad is coming along nicely but are more than a year away from being ready for first grade. The reality is that we are not able to attract and retain players. This must be central to the review. We also had a number of players coming back from serious injuries especially in the backs. Some of these are or will be career ending. In the main these players where outside backs but also a hooker. This must never happen again. We must also do an honest assessment of the current team. This team on paper is not a grand final winning side and making the GF last year was a serious over achievement. The team this year on paper was worse than the team last year. The team simply could not overcome injuries and despite trying could not for some reason attract players even mid season. No coach could win the GF with our current team. Look at the Dolphins who on paper have a side not that different to ours and you would have to say a poor year for them even though they supposedly have the number 2 coach in the game. The question to answer in terms of coaching is can the coach attract GF wining players to the club and if not are they capable of taking our current batch of under 19s to a GF like Jack Gibson did. Also how do we get someone on our board with the connections that can attract real third party player sponsorship's.
You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!
Replies
Watching Newcastle at the moment. Before the Eels worry about coaching, player retention, attacking shape how about they focus on defence. Knights first up contact is brutal. Their line speed is excellent, they're swarming in defence. Get that bit right before literally anything else.
I agree but it is very difficult to defend when you have a backline that is small and not quick. How much better are the Knights with Ponga at fullback. Newcastle have 3 players that can change a match and very big strong and fast backs. If you look at Melbourne they recruit big fast athletes and the coach turns them into footballers. We really need to look at our recruitment. The one thing I am unsure in our juniors coming through is out and out speed. They played well in the GF from great teamwork but I would love to see the speed of the young players coming through. Modern outside backs need to be big strong and fast. Our current backs are none of these.
Then in attack look at the meters of the back 5. It's like panthers and broncos
Also we should note the 3 tries all scored by a Parramatta junior.
To be fair I could have scored those. Ha
Marzhew still has many defensive issues. Knights just take the good with the bad.
Apparently thats what we focussed on in the off season mutt. Yep we identified that we needed to defend better to go to the next level ( to win the comp) and this was the outcome 🤦♂️
Now in my opinion that is even more concerning !
It's my opinion that since the salary was introduced player input per dollar they receive is huge. It becomes nearly impossible to succeed when you're best/ highest paid players are receiving market value or above. Going of reported salaries the Eels top 5 or so players are all on market value or above.
Another thing that hurt the Eels this year was injuries and suspensions during key parts of the year. Sure, all clubs must deal with this throughout the season, but the Eels had key players unavailable during their tougher parts of the draw. Playing bottom 4 sides whilst suffering with injuries and suspensions is totally different than playing top 8 sides.
As for the coach. I agree BA has had plenty of time. His voice and message must be getting old. Obviously he has done a good job this far but does he have what is needed to deliver a premiership? I can't think of many players who haven't produced career best football under BA. Also, unless you have a better option, moving BA on doesn't make sense. The club must identify the coach they want next and don't just replace BA with whoever is available. The next coach appointed is a decision that must be made correctly.
My main concern at the moment is that we do not have a single signing for next year when we know we have an outside back issue. In reserves the Roosters had multiple first graders waiting for a chance, the sharks bought in 2 great players in Trinidal and Tracey. For some reason we can not sign players and that has been happening for 30 years. That is what needs urgent attention. Or we give up on that a focus purely on juniors.
Rushing out and signing players immediately to fill spots isn't the answer. Identifying the right players and having the ability to sign targeted players more often than not is the key. Hard working consistent players at the right price are way more valuable than the big name players on huge dollars that provide 3 or 4 9 out of 10 games a year but most games are 5 or 6 out of 10. The no nonsense 7 or 8 out of 10 every week type player is usually on half the money as the big name player yet his contribution over the entire season usually is greater than the big money player.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next