The Cumberland Throw

From The Stands – What A Week!

From the Stands is more often than not reflective in its approach. It regularly looks back on the last match. But after reflecting on this past week, there was far more to consider than just another victory.

On Sunday, we witnessed a team that demonstrated the will and smarts to win.

When they absolutely had to get to a kick and hold the ball, they did.

When they had to scramble and defend their line or defend a mistake, they did.

Anyone who knows our team, our club, circa 2020, knows games like Sunday’s are the games that historically, we didn’t win. Our memories from recent years had been of watching a team who’d find a way to lose.

So, how have we arrived at this better place?

The great Arthur Ashe said, “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

This past week our club made the decision to extend Brad Arthur’s contract by an extra year. While some may argue one year was too little, I back the club.

Don’t confuse this with me doubting Arthur. I don’t and never have, but something tells me he will have no problem being judged on what lies ahead. After all, his words and actions have shaped the Eels journey to become a team that knows how to win, even when that winning is ugly.

At Parramatta, we named our problems, we were transparent and collectively owned our mistakes. We took the good, discarded the bad and left it behind. We moved forward without playing media games  and looked to the future as one.

The King

Consider the Eels recent recruitment and retention. We began with keeping the good; that is the good players and the good team members. Even at the depths of 2018 we could all see the good, in fact the outstanding potential that players like Gutherson, Jennings, Nathan Brown and Moses had. We had to be honest, calm and move together as one. We had to be “All In.”

Consider how our team embraced each other after the game on Sunday, that is what ‘All In’ looks like. They don’t care who stars or who scores as long they win. There is no superstar seeking adulation, there is a team seeking victory.

 The next step of bringing through skilled, respectful, highly driven and committed young players was shaped by naming who we are – a development club.  The fact that players like Dylan Brown, Marata Niukore , Reed Mahoney, Ray Stone and Oregon Kaufusi have never looked overawed or out of place from the moment they made first grade tells me that we are preparing players to be first graders. They are not exposed too early and are not expected to immediately be game changers. They have come in, been given a role and as they are gaining experience they are given more responsibility.

Witness Dylan Brown as he stepped up last Sunday – he was not playing out of structure, he was simply fulfilling his role, using his skill. Just as Stone, Niukore, Kaufusi and Mahoney have all done in previous games.

The Prince

Parra kept the good, brought through the young players and utilised clever recruitment. Would Moses be as good without RCG or Junior Paulo? Would Dylan Brown be as good without Shaun Lane? Would Gutherson have developed his leadership without Ferguson?

From The Stands, the best way to describe our recruitment is thus: we recruited players with excellent skills who also made our good players better. 

Watching other clubs go through the media pressure that our club went through for years if not decades, I see some making the mistakes we made; such as sacking coaches, gutting playing squads, exposing young kids before they are ready and finally turning on each other to save their job. Despite the rivalries, I don’t wish such things on anybody.

So how did we turn it around, how did we get off that vicious destructive cycle? We started where we were, used what we had and we did what we could. 

The club had the fans ready to jump on board, so they engaged them. They had the players, they just needed the environment to succeed. They had the juniors, who just needed the structures around them. In other words Parra used what they had and in my view the best asset was Brad Arthur.

BA

Some coaches suit certain clubs and some don’t. Brad Arthur suits Parra. He understands us supporters and all our craziness – some might call that our bipolar tendencies – and he sticks solid. BA is loyal. Parra fans generally respect loyalty because the truth is most of us would not still be Parra fans if we were not loyal. That is Parra and that is our biggest strength. I laugh when I see Broncos fans complaining. I often think come and see me in 20 years and then you can complain. 

To those clubs struggling, my advice is this; get the right coach for your club. The one who can create and instil an “All In” mentality, whatever that looks like at your club.  If you get that right you have a good foundation.

Reflecting back on this past week, the biggest news was knowing that Brad Arthur is staying at our club. It will be worth far more than 2 competition points.

Arthur’s retention reinforces the Eels foundation so that the club can build and become bigger and stronger. The Eels can progress from a team that knows how to win to a team that wins big games. That is the next big step that Parra needs to take and Brad Arthur will be an important factor in taking that step, after all he has always planned the next step to be taken. That is what he did in 2018 and that is why we won last Sunday – because he, along with others, have created “All In” and “All Together” philosophies and that is our club’s greatest strength.

BA knows and understands Parra. He gets our club because he is and always has been part of it. 

Shelley

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9 thoughts on “From The Stands – What A Week!

  1. Darryl

    Thank you Shelley. Well written and well thought through. Good to see Fergos contribution recognised. Every successful team needs a Fergo, someone who will exude confidence that is based on ability, care for his team mates and put in. Witness his concern for Matto, his joy for others, his training example and, even though he is playing injured, in my opinion, the graft he does for HIS team. I doubted his coming to our club but he has coated my face with so many layers of egg that I resemble a walking omelette. This is a well assembled team. If we win a GF, to me, it’s a bonus. To have a happy team that finds joy in each other and is more than competitive week in and week out means I’m a happy supporter.BTW, The Cumberland Throw is consistently, the best read on the WWW and the level of intelligence behind each post leaves most, if not all, media hacks in the shade.

    1. sixties

      Darryl, very kind words about TCT – thank you very much (on behalf of everyone). The positivity and good vibes in the team are great building blocks. Fergo has brought energy to the team from day 1 of his first preseason. Great signing.

    2. Shelley

      I doubted Ferguson’s signing as well and have been proven very wrong. He is not perfect and has mistakes in his game but he has a winning mentality. I remember last year when we lost a few games in a row and after the Panthers game he said in an interview ‘ I hope the team does not accept or get comfortable with loosing’. That is what our team needed. He does not accept defeat, he expects to win and believes he will. That self belief can sometimes produce mental lapses, re the pass on Sunday, but it gives us far more and we just have to cover the occasional brain snap.

      I don’t do social media myself because I see daily the damage it can do to young minds. TCT is balanced and fair. As a fan it is legitimate to criticise the team style, retention or football player etc but never the human being, who is a brother, husband, father and or son. That is what I liked about TCT from the beginning.

  2. BDon

    You make a great case that the club now operates with purpose and direction.
    I’m always a bit baffled by the business model for an NRL club (ie across all clubs) but we are definitely putting our house in order, on and off field working in unity.
    A random question…is there a correlation between exorbitant player contracts and club disharmony? Did we incur that in the Hayne days and are the Broncs in that mode now? High payments and losing could be a toxic mix.

    1. sixties

      You will always get some level of disparity in contract sizes, but there is possibly more parity amongst a larger percentage of the Eels top earners than there might be at other clubs. We have no million dollar players.

    2. Shelley

      I think a top or million dollar player has to be very good but also be a team leader. Don’t get me wrong because I loved Jarryd Hayne but there were games you could see he just was not really interested and the rest of the team would pick this up and we had no chance to win the game.

      I don’t believe you can high paid players like that anymore because the salary cap does not allow clubs to have too many highly paid players- they must be good leaders. That is why Moses is improving , he no longer yells and screams at the other players on the field but is leading and directing the team.

  3. DDay

    Well written, reflective peice Shelley. It is reassuring to look back on the mess that Parra were and you can see the calm steps taken to move forward. We’ve become professional in the decision making & it gives every confidence there’s happy days ahead.

    1. sixties

      It proves that the process does take time – well at least the time required to get off field and on field houses both in order.

    2. Shelley

      So true- we are now professional and I think we can see that the players and managers know this. You never see player managers play games with the Roosters or if they do the Roosters let the player go, like Latrell M. The team comes first- professional clubs get this.

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