Who pays the ultimate price for not having a recognised back up 7 at the club. Is BA mainly at fault?
Sarantinos threw Arthur under the bus concerning our roster, and you could say that he deflected the responsibility somewhat on the powers Mark o'neill had over retention and recruitment saying that " Brad Arthur had the strongest voice in retention and recruitment ". This basically means that every player in our top 30 was hand chosen by BA.
Surely the football operations manager - mon, cannot be fully exonerated for the poor choices concerning our current roster. No team should go into a season without a back up organiser period.
*Why did we have Jordon Rankin at 7, 6 or 1 in cup for many years taking up a critical back up position. Rankin had next to no hope of pushing for a top grade position .
* why is cup full of players who were basically unwanted by other teams - cini, luemi luemi, momosia, Cini, Harper, Asi, Werimu, Makatoa, Murchi, Mitch Rein - when we could have taken the development route?
* not all development players need to come through our jnrs, there's plenty of up and comers in q cup, other clubs and country areas.
Does Brad arthur take most of the blame for the situation were in ? "The loudest voice" sure, but the only voice?
Replies
Good questions, probably a combination of BA and the front office. Team was built around the power game and most of the cap used up on the stars of the team during our run. Most the older players out of form now and need to hit rebuild
There is no doubt after 11 years, this is a BA built squad and i believe the blame should mostly be on him
When you have several players on large deals ($600,000 and above per season) it leaves you with a roster that is unbalanced and lacking depth in key positions. The Eels depth in the key positions are bottom of the barrel type players. If they didn't jag a deal with the Eels they would be playing a grade on the weekend and probably driving a forklift Monday to Friday.
It's not so much the amount it's more the length of the contracts and then to rub a bit more little salt the ridiculous options - If Gutho and Jr retired this season then the club could have gone to market, identifying and developing talent can also ease salary cap pressure
Unfortunately, developing juniors in the key positions such as half-back and hooker is something the Eels have failed to do pretty much for ever. I've been watching Rugby League since the early 80's and it would only be a very short list if I was to name the quality half-backs and hookers produced by the Eels. When you think about it, the Eels have been major failures in this area. When you consider the large number of junior players in the Parramatta junior competitions as well as the regular success of the Eels junior representative teams. Either the way players are developed from junior representatives to 1st graders is wrong or the coaching staff in charge of development have failed badly for a long time.
It's all BA for the roster and everything else these last few years. Time to move on and get back on the paddock being a competitive team.
The thing I found interesting when BA was let go, they stated BA never signed off on a player he didn't want. I wonder how many players BA tried to sign with the retention committee not agreeing to it. I agree that BA had to go, but to say he was solely responsible for the roster isn't 100%correct.
I also think MON should be gone once Ryles gets a feel for the club now he's coming early, and a new fitness trainer as well. The team just doesn't look fit.
Also with a bit of luck, Ryles can teach the dark arts of the wrestle and getting away with it. His boss has mastered it, so hopefully he's learnt something.
Chief, all valid points and questions.
I think it's all a combination as don't forget following cap issues of 2016/17, the board changed how we recruited and when MON came in they had this 5 man group.
Mistakes made from Coach / Board and HOF but BA ultimately took the brunt as he was there for a long time. Ultimately for me the players or most were not putting in consistently and that took its toll.
Recruitment is another issue....with player managers
I think Brad Arthur and maybe MON put alot of faith in Jake Arthur as our backup half.
And that's where someone -ANYONE should have given BA a damn shake abd said " we know you're his dad and have rose coloured glasses about his ability but ....."
no one was brave enough to 🤷♀️🤷♀️
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