This training report was commenced on Monday afternoon, following the completion of the morning field session. It was before the news of Ray Stone’s move to the Dolphins was broken.
I will include a brief comment on that at the conclusion of this report, then add further opinion in the next Bumpers Up column.
As far as the training vibe is concerned, from the sideline it still appears to be full steam ahead. The laughs, the cheers, the banter is all typical. If there are any unhappy players, it’s not evident in their demeanour or their application.
I wouldn’t suggest that if there are any disgruntled players that it would manifest early in the preseason, if at all.
Nonetheless, I can only report what I see, and at this stage it looks like a happy, cohesive group.
And in keeping with the moving theme, though not the Ray Stone kind, I have my observations about the fastest players in the squad.
Monday
Firstly the answer to the question many people are likely to ask.
There were no new arrivals out on the field on Monday – at least none that I could see from my vantage point.
With that now out of the way, the session was an interesting study in loading.
The entire squad warmed up together then worked unopposed through a small collection of sets.
At this point the squad was split into two groups – the early returnees and the experienced NRL players.
It would be easy to assume that because the experienced blokes had only just returned to work that they might have some catching up to do with their conditioning. Perhaps they might need to do some extra kilometres?
On the contrary, it was the players further down the fitness path who were given the greater load this morning. They continued with their running whilst the late returnees engaged in ball work.
This makes sense when considering the loading program that the squad would be following. Those back at training the longest would be more advanced in their fitness and loading than those still effectively in the first seven days of their preseason.
Diving into recent sports science studies, there is a greater chance of injury when overloading athletes who have had a recent period of less activity – ie an off season.
Reg and Billy Ray Greig
The big forwards who are hitting the fourth week of their preseason are to be congratulated. Watching the likes of Dave Hollis, Wiremu Greig, Oregon Kaufusi, Caleb Tohi and Toni Mataele keep pace within their group so that it remained a relatively tight cluster was impressive. There were no players tailing off.
However, at the risk of sounding like a broken record (hopefully that reference is still understood) Ray Stone was ultra-impressive. He even matched Gutho on shorter distance runs.
Likewise, Brendan Hands appears to be one of the fittest in the squad. Should he put himself in contention for a bench utility spot during the season, that may well put him in direct competition with Stoney.
It goes without saying that Dylan Brown always pushes up near the front with his con, but my current surprise packet is Waqa Blake.
Waqa has had to rehab at the commencement of previous preseasons, so perhaps that’s why I’ve noticed his efforts this year. He’s always looked and moved like a supreme athlete, and seems to glide effortlessly across the turf. However, he’s obviously ahead in his preparation compared to past seasons, and this augers well for 2022.
The last part of the morning involved the entire squad completing 4 on 3 grid work. There’s nothing complex about this – it’s using the ball to draw and pass with the blokes literally playing what’s in front of them. The action is fast and provides footy skills and fun to go with the fitness.
What was most notable about this drill was the competitiveness and the banter.Plenty of woohoos, cheers and laughs were echoing around the ground throughout.
I’m not sure how close we’re getting to full contact opposed, and there’s only a couple of weeks until the Christmas break, but I get the sense that some of the fellas are champing at the bit.
Wednesday
This was a massive conditioning session. Even the ball work in the grids (4 on 3 stuff) has a conditioning component.
The squad was split into two groups and alternated between fitness with Trent Elkin and grid work with the coaches. And there was no shortage of “Malcolms”.
Most of the time with the coaches was on the far field, away from my vantage point, so I’ve decided to focus on my observations of the players’ sprinting.
Firstly, the vibe during this acceleration drill was outstanding.
Gutho was absent today but that didn’t diminish the banter. The players were ultra competitive, not just giving themselves a wrap within their own group, but also cheering on their “favourites” in other groups.
The talk, the laughs, the woohoos, echoed around the Kellyville fields.
So to the observations of the players’ speed off the mark.
Oggy
As far as the big men are concerned, it was Oregon and possibly Marata who stood out. That said, Reg had his moments and did claim the spoils in one contest.
When it came to the backs, Haze was consistently quick off the mark, winning every short sprint. Likewise, Prince Moey and Dylbags seemed to have the edge over their opponents – not too surprising.
Matt Komolafe seems to be deceptively fast. His technique is far from conventional, and I wouldn’t suggest that he glides across the turf, but he might be one of the fastest in the club.
If I were to rank the fastest players over 100 metres, and this is without any inside knowledge of times, I’d narrow the list to Moses, Brown, Blake, Dunster and Komolafe.
I saw glimpses of Sean Russell outpacing Waqa Blake at preseason training last year, so he’d probably be in the mix. Even Jake Arthur might feature with his pace in the back 50m bringing him into calculations.
There was one new face at training today, but it might be a bit unexpected for some.
Jordan Rankin is still involved with the club, and his experience and communication skills will be utilised in mentoring Parra’s Junior Rep players.
However, he is also completing a preseason and might yet be a part of the squad, or at least the NSW Cup team in 2022.
Final Comment
For the Stone contract to be announced on Tuesday, it’s obvious that the negotiations had been taking place for a period of time beforehand.
During that period, Stoney has been busting his arse at Eels training and, as I observed in an earlier report, providing encouragement for the younger players. Having a future home elsewhere hasn’t deterred his efforts so far this preseason.
Whilst I’m disappointed that the upcoming season will be Ray’s last with the Eels, I’m also pleased that he has contract security until the end of 2024.
Stone has never given less than his all, and indications from this preseason are that 2022 will be no different.
Eels forever!
Sixties
(All images courtesy of Bocko, Eels media)
I don’t think I’ve seen Dunster at speed yet except maybe against Penrith in the semi. I have no idea how fast he is. And I’d love to see Billy Ray Greig take his chance. All the makings of a cult player.
I think Billy Ray is even a cult figure within the squad!
I agree mate. I feel they need to get him nice and aggressive though.
I appreciate the read of the reports and the effort but unfortunately I’m just not getting pumped for next season I feel this off-season of dissapointment is breaking me.
When Juniors departure is announced in the coming weeks and the media crap that will follow itwill possibly be the straw that breaks the back.
On Stone glad he’s getting a 2 year deal and with a coach like Bennett who will get the best out of him I feel we have only ever got glimpses of what he can bring to the team in his 3 years of 1st grade good luck to him he’s worked hard for this chance
He does deserve his chance Offside.
Regardless, I will continue to report on what’s happening during the preseason and I’m looking forward to 2022.
Offside, we don’t see eye to eye about Parra but you are entitled to express how you are feeling on TCT, be it positive or negative.
We see eye to eye sometimes.
I’m concerned for the future of the club I’m not seeing much long-term hope.
Holding hope that we can get a win next year then I’ll happily wait another 40 years for another
I wouldn’t be concerned. 2023 can be a rebuilding year. I think we have to trust the coaching staff to know what players and talent are coming through and having more ey to keep them along with bringing others in.
Marata,Papa, Stone where not wanted by most clubs. I don’t see why we won’t be able to find 2 or 3 more good players. Plemty of time to prepare.
I don’t like the idea of a rebuilding year we are a unsuccessful club we have been rebuilding for a long time
Offside and Gary, I believe that retaining Junior is critical. If he stays, 2023 doesn’t concern me. If he is lured away, then I tend to agree with using the “rebuilding” term.
A loss with Jnr will hurt the club and supporters I tend to believe, but I am also optimistic that Jnr will stay, & I can’t see him playing at the dogs, or wests either. A move to the dollies may be somewhat tempting, but it will be a big move that has a lot of uncertainties to him and his family, although they may desire the move as a new beginning as a family.
In saying that, I would think that Jnr has a good relationship with his front row partner, RCG who has signed for 3 years, something that Jnr may consider as far as contract length is concerned but he could also sign for 4 and that would be a good boost, even a PO end of 3rd year.
While I am unable to get down to see the training and players, I believe that we have a good team, with none of the 4 that are leaving we do have enough in quality players to fill their spots, and with the likes of Oregon, Carty, Nathan Brown, Matto, Lane (despite many knocking him) Hollis to name just a few should be able to take us forward without too much pain.
We also have some quality T&T and young players coming through that are bonuses.
That’s ridiculous to say we are not a successful club. We consistently finish in the top 4 to 6 and are on track for having best year for a long time.
I don’t see failing out in week 2 of finals as Success.
It’s good but there are zero premierships in 35 years that’s not success
But u can’t hold today’s players in anyway responsible for that .
Well offside didn’t ask whether he is entitled to say what he feels. Of course he is entitled, he doesn’t need to have anyone constantly overseeing his thoughts.
No one did ???
Chief, (Hank 🤣🤣🤣) my reply to Offside was also an indirect reply to your comment as “Eeltopia”. we welcome different opinions – just not those of an obsessive with a VPN who will not accept that he is not welcome on this site. I’ll leave this here but will remove your other comments.
I’m very bullish re parra 2022. That penriff semi will prove seminal for us. Dylan brown is going to explode out of the blocks. Matto will have his best year and if marata , makatoa, papali , stone oregon And lane all fire then we may not see much of brown , surely because of his size and how he plays time is catching up on him. I’m not worried about 2023 , let them magnify all there efforts on 2022. Thx 60s for your must read training reports.
Putting a contrary view forward – we’ve had a consistent squad for a long time now, and it hasn’t delivered a premiership (yes I know there have been some changes – eg Ice and his break out season 2021). During the season a bunch of fans were very critical, particularly of our late season slump (and rightly so in many respects). But, edge defence aside perhaps, that was on the players, not the coach. So shedding a few now shouldn’t come as a surprise.
On the players: Will Smith and Ray Stone have been genuine fringe first graders for quite some time. Marata has been a consistent 14, not starting 13 player. Ice has had one good year and his game is far from perfect (he drops off a bit in defence, but because of his effort and effect in other areas this is overlooked). Reed was building into a good player in 2021 but is not a finished product, only played about 2/3 of the season and has an injury cloud.
I don’t say this to be disrespectful or offensive, they all have great attributes too. But we seem to focus on their flaws in the season, and happily forget this in the offseason. In a perfect world they probably weren’t the players to exit, but I don’t know what everyone is paid to assess their relative worth (only the club knows this). And even then, for people who want to chop Lane, Matto etc instead, those contracts probably don’t allow it or at least not without bringing a whole set of other problems which aren’t going to close us in on a premiership. No one had a crystal ball when any contract was inked …. and at the time we signed these blokes, everyone thought it was a positive move.
The way I try to think about (when I’m mot caught up in the emotion myself) it is that in any given year premiership chances should on avg. be 6.25% (1/16). That will move around though, with clubs like the cowboys, dogs and broncos imploding and enhancing everyone else’s chances. If I ran the club i would work to windows and stack odds and hope the cards fall in your favour (a good year probably has a 25% chance). Then you probably have years where it’s a lot lower than you’d like and you try and jag one occasionally. Sure it sucks when you’ve been waiting for 35 years, but waiting that long doesn’t mean your odds in future years are any better.
If 60s reports are indicative of the attitude and with what should be a strong roster and as much motivation as ever, hopefully 2022 will be the year for Parra. If not, as much as it is a bitter pill to swallow, we probably do need a bit of a reset and refresh on the squad. Not to a Broncos level, more like a Roosters reset (unfortunately minus their much more recent success).
Any update on Curtis Scott? The last I heard he was signed by the Eels but his contract had to be ratifiedby the NRL. Could he be training with the Eels while the NRL makes its decision. I think this has been the case with other players
No sign of him at training Mark
Isn’t it an insurance issue if they are not signed?
I think most if not all players and coaches etc. leave when the training ends….
Thanks again for the reports Sixties, and greta to hear about the players speed etc, and also Waqa.
I am also happy for Stone, and know he will do well up in QLD.
Billy is looking fairly fit to me….
I thought W Blake would easily be the quickest at the club.
Forced to pick one, over 100, I’d probably take Waqa. But Haze has his admirers within the club and has early acceleration. Dylan and Moses both have form on the board in matches – Mitch has notable long range tries and Dylan has cut down speedsters
Is Dantoray Lui training with squad? There was talk he had signed with us.
He signed but not at NRL level
Great read Sixties,
I’m hearing player merry-go-round is at full steam. I’m happy about Hodgson and Simmonson good signings. I would have preferred API, but Hodgson has been trying to get out of Canberra ever since he stood up for George Williams… I won’t be surprised if he lands here in 2022.
Having said all that the merry-go-round continues; Simmonson moving will enable Cotric’s move and possibly/maybe result in Junior signing at Bulldogs?? I’m thinking Ricky Stuart will be wanting someone else. Perhaps the English prop? A few player swaps could be in-order.
Anyway if we resign Junior I’ll be pleasantly surprised. If we don’t I’ll be glad to be rid of another Ayoub client. And what ever happens it isn’t the end of the world.