Will Fergo be re-signed?

Andrew Johns says Blake Ferguson still a valuable NRL asset despite being dropped

4 hours ago

 Andrew Johns believes Blake Ferguson's axing is all part of a wake-up call for the winger
 

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns says it's up to Eels winger Blake Ferguson to earn his spot back into the team after being "put on notice" by coach Brad Arthur.

But he added that Ferguson's career was far from over, claiming he off-contract winger should be snapped up on "$350,000-$400,000" a season, despite being dropped to reserve grade last week.

Ferguson bagged five tries from the opening four games in a strong start to the season, before a shocking defensive performance against the Rabbitohs prompted Arthur to swing the axe, spectacularly dumping the former NSW star in favour of rookie Haze Dunster.

 

Making matters worse for Ferguson, Dunster impressed for the Eels last week by scoring a try during Parramatta's win over Newcastle and for the second week in a row the rookie has been given the nod to start on the wing.

Johns said Ferguson, who he believes was in contention for an Origin recall earlier in the season, only has himself to blame following a poor defensive outing against South Sydney.

 
https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046bhttps://imageresizer.static9.net.au/ed6L0WQXzSDtdomOFbK1zzjZPSM=/128x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":256},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/CDfjTsT2n35_BTqSq-JF1KIKK4Y=/256x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":268},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/NKwNxUQMUkZO9Ka_j6eQ6DER-nE=/268x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":342},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/k0k6sOelVW1fT6rkOBGgAVRW2mA=/342x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":512},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/MxD8sEMDyjMWqRNRLnxbIftUS9c=/512x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":700},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/HJivTtDY489aRUAdqZ5RxJhauRw=/700x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":1024},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/QphRgcroWzhVGuI72WjLqYVi5pc=/1024x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":1440},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/po06niakkZ4G22zqydjehuBvbyw=/1440x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"},{"size":{"width":1920},"src":"https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/UVHIlz6IcKkRG9BadVLY80DSqbQ=/1920x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b"}]" data-aspect="null" data-orig-url="https://prod.static9.net.au/fs/0f73c324-e1ba-4933-94fa-386217d5046b" data-loaded-x="700" />Blake Ferguson (Getty)

"I think they were talking about him in Origin, but against South Sydney defensively he was poor," Johns told Wide World of Sports'

"He's obviously been sent back to reserve grade to work on his game. I watched him closely on the weekend and he played well [in reserve grade], really strong which is a good sign.

"It's not only Ferguson on notice, it's every player. It doesn't matter how big a player you are, Brad Arthur said, 'If you're not performing and doing what I expect of you I'm going to drop you'.

"The young guy who went in, Haze Dunster, he went really well. It's put Ferguson on notice."

 

While Ferguson may be out of favour with the Eels and coach Arthur, Johns said he's confident the off-contract 31-year-old still has plenty of footy left in him and can still command a hefty salary.

"I think it's Brad shaking him up, it's not acceptable," he added.

"As I said, defensively there were some reads Ferguson got wrong against Souths. It's been happening in bits and pieces during the year.

"He (Brad Arthur) changed Tom Opacic, who's a good defender, to go on the other side and they still looked vulnerable [against South Sydney]. It's just to put Ferguson on notice and say, 'you need to work on your game'.

"When he's on, he's like an extra front-rower, he gets the sets rolling forward.

"At this stage of his career, and I don't how they manage the salary cap, but he would be a $350,000-$400,000 player.

"I think he still has a couple of years to go. When he's right, he's the most damaging winger coming out of trouble."

You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!

Join 1Eyed Eel

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • I think it depends on Haze. If he steps up and plays well I think he might take that spot. Interesting times. 

    • Haze needs to eat some burgers and put on some weight. He's too skinny to be a damaging NRL winger for a full season. He can easily make a good cameo in first grade and play a few good matches but if he was asked to do it for 24 rounds his body would not handle the contact. BEEF UP young one. You can do it!

      • Rednax, how much do you think Dunster weighs, and in comparison to many other wingers in the game. Also how does he compare weight wise to all the eels players on the Eels Team Web site?

  • From what I have seen of Fergs is that his first year was excellent at the eels, 2nd year was in lar lar land, this year he's thinking lar lar land is gunna give him a great head start to a new career probably in SL.

  • Once BA drops experienced players to reserve grade, they don't tend to come back. It seems there could be more to the Fergo story than just a bit of bad form.

    • Why's Joey pushing Fergo's barrow?

      • Same IQ and they are both grubs plus ferals always like to  stick up for each other .

        • LOL

        • Agree Fong

    • Does kinda feel like preparations for life without Fergo...

This reply was deleted.

More stuff to read

Cumberland Eel replied to Cʜɪᴇғ -'s discussion Big News On Lomax
"Can anyone actually see this happening. Lomax at the Eels? "
4 minutes ago
Electric Eel 2 replied to Poppa's discussion Players and Values and Judgements to make
"Hardly the point that I was making!"
20 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Poppa's discussion Players and Values and Judgements to make
"Yes Bup makes a compeling case...."
30 minutes ago
BEM replied to Prof. Daz's discussion R4 V TIGERS: FREUD SAYS ‘WORK THROUGH’ IT, DEAR EELS
"Pretty sure the Sharks lost all of their best forwards before and during the match and finished with no reserves on the bench.
Not taking anything away from Wests as Api was outstanding but I don't see them running through us as easy as they did the…"
34 minutes ago
More…