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A stunning second half rout has seen the Parramatta Eels collapse from a 10-4 lead against the Dolphins to a 44-16 loss. It is Parra’s second capitulation in three weeks and pushes the club right back to the precipice for the season outlook.
As with the Canberra loss, the Eels have clearly failed themselves at multiple levels in Round 7. From the coaching and preparation, to the players failing to execute a straight forward but effective plan and the same holes in the roster fans have been banging on about…it has all added to another catastrophic breakdown.
Sixties and Forty20 sift through the debris above and look to at how, if at all, the team can turn around for Round 8 where the take on the Sea Eagles at Brookvale.
I sent this to Parra HQ today:
I write in relation to the team’s terrible second half effort in Darwin last night.
BA said it all in the presser & it has become increasingly more obvious that some players “pick & choose when to turn up” for games & in parts of games when pressure is applied. There looks to be only a handful of first grade players who are focused in any given game, home or away. Clint Gutherson is always consistently 100% focused & reliable.
I have been a Parramatta supporter since around 1963 & a season ticket holder for the past 25+ years.
I’m sure you that will be receiving lots of feedback about last night’s game.
I cannot believe the absence of Mitch Moses can be an excuse for the team’s inconsistent performances this season, currently sitting in 13th spot on the ladder. Whilst I may have privately been critical of BA’s team selections & game plans in the past, it is ultimately the responsibility of ALL players to perform to an NRL standard & expectations of fans EVERY week.
I don’t profess to have the ‘silver bullet’ for the team to turn things around against Manly next Friday night, or for the rest of the season, but am just registering my disappointment as a long-term fan. I switched off the TV after 15mins of the second half last night.
I feel your pain. Well expressed mate. By the way. no matter who plays for the Eels, let’s end the Darwin fixture now.
I honestly don’t know what Parra gets out of playing a home game in the heat & humidity of Darwin. I know it’s a sponsorship deal but when the UNE were sponsors Parra didn’t play any games in Armidale in country NSW where League Groups are dying. Why?
Money, they get lots of money. It was a pretty big sponsorship deal. It was a terrible decision for our football department, but probably a good decision for our short term bottom line.
I’d like to know what our win rate is up in Darwin….and why it’s always against QLD sides that are more acclimatised to the conditions. Time to end this yearly fiasco if we want to stop saying all the same things again next year.
Apparently last night’s game was Parra’s 9th in Darwin. Parra have won 6 of the 9 games. Hopefully next season’s 10th game up there will be the last ‘home’ game with no NT Tourism contract renewal.
Actually it was our tenth game. Won 6 and lost four, but we’ve lost the last three games. We’ve played seven games against Queensland sides, losing four times, including those last three games. We have won all three games against the non-Queensland sides.
6/10, but lost the last three that have been in April
I don’t have a problem playing in Darwin but it should be played in July and against a Sydney based club.
It could actually be a positive for the team if held in July/August and handled correctly. They would be getting a week of warm weather in the middle of Winter which would have to be a morale boost.
Our problem is a grossly mismanaged roster, terrible defensive structures and Brad’s game plan never changes.
You can’t win the Premier Rugby League comp in the world by “chasing the collision”.
Bronco’s first try last weekend – the 6 and 1 using ultra speed to create a gap out wide- we simply don’t have the roster to create that try or to defend against it. The world of rugby league has passed us by.
George, I became an Eel in 1967, when my mate and I were 10yos, cooking some chips in a bin ar Parra park. We heard this roar & thought that sounds interesting. So we walked up it was half time. You could walk in for nix. Parra playing Cronulla in their 1st year in the comp. Got beaten that day, but I became a fan. Our efforts recently have really questioned my loyalty. All grades simply not good enough 😕
Gil, that was my tactic if I was low on pocket money as a kid at Cumberland. Walk in at half time for nix.
The best defensive forward we’ve had since Ray Price was on the firld but, unhappily, he was playing for The Dolphins. If Ray Stone still was on our roster (and if Brad had been willing to pick him) Mr Marshal-King would not have had sich a pleasant time waltzing through our ruck. Had Tom Opacic been around the wide defence would have been better organised. Neithrr man commands a fortune. The Phins took a group of hungry young men lookking for oportunity to the jot noryh; we took m oore than our share of rich old men.
Don’t get me started on the roster and allowing particular players to walk. By the way, it was never a case of not selecting Ray. He had poor luck with injuries. Every time he’d establish his place in the team he’d get an injury
Appreciate the effort putting this together after such a poor game by the eels
Cheers
Thanks for the honesty, thoughts have gone to the faithful that made the journey to Darwin to watch the shambles. The club was offering airfares, accomodation, game and some NT specials for I think $4,000. They should offer to refund 50% of that directly back to those who paid and went, it was that bad and unprofessional that it’s more than a jesture, it’s acknowledgement that it was unacceptable.
The roster management is basically a debacle, and it’s difficult to make changes when there is less than minimal depth. I’m an advocate of not making changes for this sake of it, and maybe Sanders needs to get a shot at 7, because Dylan can’t be expected to play like a Moses clone which is not in his playbook.
This game and the Tigers loss are headshaking disgraces, until we get some speed and NRL level backups expect to see more of the same. Stale tactics and terrible recruitment are obvious.
Hats, ties and shoes off to anyone prepared to pay $4000 to go to Darwin.
I would pay $4000 to avoid the trip.
Where are the post game grades? We didn’t get them 2 weeks ago either.
Happy to summarise to save the time of writing the full article:
F-
Honestly for the mental sanity of the awesome folk who produce all the content on here, I hope they don’t subject themselves to writing too much about yesterday’s game. It brought joy to no one.
As to grades, no-one has the right to expect massive voluntary effort from bitterly disappointed people, and TCT folk are as heavily invested in the club as anyone. Still, the overall F is unfair to several blokes who tried their hearts out; they tended to be the lowest paid on the rostet.
Noel, I agree about some of the players who busted their arses. I thought that Simonsson and Harper gave their all.
I wouldn’t blame Gol if he didn’t want to waste his time.
Well he should bother, its irritating that he only shows up when the team wins, not everyone should get Fs, he can see some having a dig and give some Cs and Ds, if he can’t be bothered when they lose get someone else to do it.
Then you do it..he can post if he wants.
Here I’ll do
They were shit are shit will continue to be shit.
No highlights on the cold abyss of a long NRL season
I thought Dylan was comfortably our best, Bailey always tries hard, Penisini was good but his one on one defence needs work. None of our forwards earned their pay cheque, not even Carty. I’m rapidly falling out of love with Hopgood , his defensive work is atrocious. Instead of plugging up the middle ala Jurbo or Yeo, he’s a turnstile who ends up on his back far too often.
Penisini is very very ordinary in defence when Moses isn’t inside him. We saw this last year as well with him. He typically defends too tight to his half and it’s only when Moses is there he looks better because Moses is a good talker and is quick (giving pension confidence)
Harsh call on Hopgood, Brett, but worth a look at his current form, I’m trying to understand wtf is happening on the park. I don’t think it’s just one bloke tanking, and I get a feeling our very thin roster has some injury issues.
O
If the scote recotded with four and a galf minutes to go held up we lost all three grades again this weekend. That will leave us with four wins from 21 senior games, Jersey Flegg nil from seven, Cup one from seven, NRL tjree from seven
For a club with all of our advantages this should be impossible.
Some of the names we’ve had that now are playing elsewhere – French, Opacic, Fogarty, Salmon, Niokare, Papalii, Kaufusi Mahoney, Rodwell, Ukainmoro, Radradra… Thete is something deeply wrong with our retention policies. ER lose far more than we recruit.
I would say they all get B’s for busted with the exception of Bailey who gets a A for At least he had a go.
This seems like a shot Butters. People volunteer their time to contribute content, and something like Grades is hours of work. After we won last Saturday, Gol didn’t post grades till Tuesday. I thoroughly explained numerous times why there was no grades after the Raiders match. Eels didn’t turn up so I told Gol to not waste his time. I’ve made no such call to Gol this week. He’ll post grades when and if he feels like it.
Good emotional intelligence response.
Coaching showed how clueless they are by playing one hooker in the tropics.
Once Lussick fatiques, his service deteriorates. We make errors and lose momentum.
Anyone can see that.
Spot on Woody.
Surely going to Darwin every year he would know that all forwards should be rested. Hands should have been there.
Same game plan doesn’t work every week. He needs to think about what he’s doing
Tks men. I have a similar attitude to this, I tend to focus on the here and now, the games each week, our action plan, because that’s what accompanies me through half of the year. Our strategic plan looks to be in a mess, and if those in control don’t get this, then they should be considering their contribution to the club from a football perspective, not a commercial or balance sheet view. Two out of three ain’t bad, except a football club which can’t play football will soon have commercial and balance sheet issues to deal with as well, but hey it’s not the end of the world. There’s more to life.
So what’s the action plan for this week? Who knows? Only BA and the players know all the relevant information, but if they aren’t already on to it today , then confusion will take over. Get a plan, crowd around it and grab the opportunity, right now.
The fact we are at this point shows that whatever strategic plan parra had was not worth the paper it was written on. Failure at every level and we are heading in the direction of bulldogs after their unsuccessful gf appearances. I don’t know when we will wake up from this slow walk into the bottom 4 but I fear it’s too late to arrest it, for this season at least.
BDon, our improving balance sheet could be found in a team that qualified for finals footy for four straight years. As you noted, a football team in decline is not as attractive for sponsors.
The Eels went into the sheds in front – it’s the second half that is both indefenseable and inexplicable. They had seven sets in the second half. Forty minutes of football and seven sets. This doesn’t explain the lapse in defense but, let’s be fair here – playing high intensity football in hot humid weather is not good and the lads couldn’t handle it particularly chasing possession. They were exhausted before half time. Scoring tries is always a motivator and the dolphins got their share.
The NRL should hang their head in shame making teams play in those conditions. How is this a duty of care and player welfare. They should have a drink break each half.
Having said this our season is now walking a tightrope. Soon if doesn’t improve then a real clean out will become the vogue – starting at the top.
End the Darwin fixture. Now!
Or consider scheduling it in July/August when the humidity and overall heat is considerably less, go back to 4 drinks breaks. I played a season of rugby in Katherine in the wet season 6pm ko. It was almost always 38 deg 100 % humidity, it was insufferable but after a month u do acclimate.
Difficult times ahead!
Watching Raiders, Dragons, Tigers, Manly and Bulldogs improving. Eels are still going out with the (2022) tide at a rate of knots.
We hit our decade highpoint 2022 GF! Don’t expect anything for another 10 years except disappointment! We are lead by fools with No idea! No strategy or understanding of the game.
Titans are probably the only ones stopping us from getting the spoon in 2024!
Who cares who comes in next week? Cannot get any worse. We simply are bottom feeders. My Gran could organise better defence and probably tackle with more venom.
Darwin = poor coaching same old game plan doesn’t work up there?? Year on year same game plan? Iplaying Parra is so easy and predictable. Darwin is pointless leave it for Cowboys!
Pre season camps were a waste of time that clearly meant nothing! Just a talk fest and hiding someone’s bag? Money well spent..
MON has created this mess asleep at the wheel. Just collects a pay cheque and steals oxygen!
BA is out of ideas. His players are laughing at him and not listening.
BA has either got the team he wanted or too gutless to go and get it!
Empty seats and empty club after games is the only thing the club understands. This will get worse before it gets better.
I’m not ruling out the spoon either. The team should be nowhere near it but I don’t like how lifeless and quick to drop their heads it has become. They all love to feel sorry for themselves instead of simply hardening up and building games on defence whilst our half is out
We’ve always had the soft underbelly.
Stinking defence!
Teams know if they stay with us at the start they can get us at the backed.
BA has zero memory of every year in Darwin. The forwards struggle and need a hooker on bench. Yet he put Blaize. Dolphins had SOS but he and others can cover At 9.
Just no planning or awareness.
BA blamed the players. But it’s mostly his doing for preparation of the team.
BA is painting himself into a corner.
MON will survive and BA will be the sacrificial lamb.
That would be worst case scenario for me. If mark oneil and other admin who have contributed to this mess and not addressed the deficiencies in the squad that have existed for years somehow survive I don’t know if I have much hope left. Those above are most culpable in my opinion. Brad is party to blame no doubt but one coach doesn’t cause all the issues we have seen across parra’s nrl, nsw cup, flegg and down + nrlw pre Georgallis. Those above need to hang their head in shame for their incompetence and negligence at the wheel.
The success of SG Ball last year has masked a general lack of football mouse immediately below NRL level. The lack of success at Cip and Flegg level is as concrrning for long term prospects sd the NRL petformance.
Pressure always lands on the coach. HOF knows that.
Lomax cannot come until next year? Is that BA ? No it’s the HOF. Maybe he wants BA gone to save his own skin.
I turned the game off once they got to 26-10. As a Parra fan you can just tell when the game is over, and unfortunately, that has happened quite a bit in the last few seasons. I think BA has done a great job for us, but I think it’s time the club and him parted ways. Not only for the clubs sake, but for his. I think he could do with a fresh start. Our forward pack is aging and I can’t fathom why we decided to sign so many of the older heads and let guys like Papali’i go. 7 weeks in and it’s looking like our season is toast. Not a great feeling. Ughhhhh. I’m depressed!
Whether it was too cold in Canberra or too hot in Darwin these goldilocks excuses are more pathetic than the performances. We are contracted to Darwin until 2026 so nothing is changing there however what must change is the elephant in the room and that’s the coach and his systems which the players are obviously not consistently responding to.
In addition Mark O’Neill and whoever is in the recruitment committee should be relieved of their duties.
However our club will be too gutless to do anything because Brad Arthur has them all conned despite continually making rookie tactical decisions and bewildering bench selections. Yes, carrying one hooker in the tropics was a brain fart of epic proportions.
Avenger you are spot on. The club is taking the money because a strong balance sheet is what they see as success.
It’s time.
Two teams played in Darwin. 1 gave up. Pathetic pea hearted performance.
The first half was the most boring half of football all year. The mountain of possession we had and couldn’t capitalise.
The lack of accountability in this club will never change while us as a bone headed supporter base keep spending our hard earned dollars supporting them through memberships, ticket sales and merch.
It’s time to start rebuilding with a new coach, new HOF, new CEO and a roster refresh from top to bottom.
A contract is a contract, but why are we playing Qld Teams who are acclimatised to heat and enjoy more crowd support for our ‘home game’? I don’t know the particulars of the agreement but as a club I would be represented as intending to hold the NRL in breach for engineering the draw in this manner (April as well; why not July or August?) – surely we don’t just bend over and accept these circumstances changing within a long standing agreement to now bring in QLD teams into the tropics year after year? If the NRL are not doing all they can to ensure we retain some sort of equity to try and build a fan base there, and placing locally favoured teams there for crowd receipts, I would be looking for exit clauses as it should not be in the spirit of the agreement.
It’s academic for last night though. I am sure I have been this disgusted with my team before, but they have this uncanny skill of making it feel fresh and new every time they sink to new levels of buffoonery and mediocrity.
Your last paragraph is gold.
Thanks for the effort boys. I could hear the pain, frustration and disappointment in your voices.
Tough assignment after what you just witnessed.
Lost for words, it’s hard to believe what we are witnessing, and frustrating to know our issues cannot be resolved with a single action.
Seeing the crowd cheering for the Dolphins and doing a Mexican wave when we were 30 points down, gold, talk about driving a knife through an opened wound.
I hope the club made a tidy profit, it would help pay for the bandages and the professional mummy wrapper needed to strap our players.
We all vent in our own ways, and you know how much I love the Darwin idea. The condition were ridiculous and didn’t help the cause. I too would have given the conditions a high priority for our loss if not for our performances against Canberra and the Tigers. They to went through our front door and more so in the Canberra game, our team just gave up, last night was the Canberra game mark II
Jobs are on the line and rightly so, this is not good enough from a club that was in a grand final only 2 years ago. This is a collective problem created by a collection of people, it’s going to be interesting to see who will ultimately be held accountable.
Forty20 and Sixties, I was 16 in 1981 so I lived through the good times. Jeez I miss them. Right now it feels like we are the only fans in the NRL with one insanely seductive and important element: hope. When you said “I’m DONE” Sixties…I think you spoke for ALL of us.
NS – I was 20 in 1981. The run from 1975 to 1986 was golden. Eleven finals series in 12 years. We only missed out in 1980 due to Pricey’s late season injury, but we won the midweek cup that year. Seven grand finals in those 12 years. Four titles.
Little wonder those years are referred to so often. But damn, we are heading backwards right now.
Sixties, you and NS are channelling Jackson Browne who told us in 69 he was 21, at the top of his game, but now didn’t know what road he was on, and was running on empty. Close to the mark I’d say.
There have been better times for what we do.
Thanks for making the effort to stick around and record the pod gents.
We’ve been awful 4 weeks in a row, albeit jagged 1 win against the Cows in spite of that. As I said after the Raiders loss, we are cooked. A team that plays like that, can’t be competitive at the business end of the season, even if they somehow stumble into September. What’s worse is, absent some fairly drastic changes to the roster and possibly coaching staff, I can’t see it getting better in the next 2-4 years.
As for Darwin, I agree. We need to walk away from it. Absolutely nothing about it works in our favour. We have slow, big team, it’s played in torrid conditions at an awful time of the year, against teams more suited to the climate and closer to their own fan bases. Parra isn’t good enough or consistent enough to cede this sort of advantage to opponents.
On Zac Lomax – geez he must just really love playing centre to have signed with us on supposedly less money!
That comment – I’ll borrow it. Parra isn’t good enough or consistent enough to cede that sort of advantage to opponents.
it’s spin from the football department he’s coming for less? I mean when has it ever happened? He’s on $900k. We are so desperate to sign something.
Well, not much to add here after the podcast and comments here but I will add.
Players or some not playing for the club / team / coach, says a bit. This is amplified by a lack of depth coming up knocking on the door and a roster that is not full.
R and R as others have said has failed – it’s failed us and the club. We lack depth in key areas and have lost juniors elsewhere and we keep hearing our next in line half wants out. Not sure what to believe.
The club has made some silly calls and playing up in Darwin is one but it’s no excuse for last nights second half. Defend sets.
We have little depth coming through and I believe the players know this. Well BA has had two piss poor games now and needs to pull the trigger for a couple.
We must ensure we keep our best kids coming up / have good junior coaches and not chop and change and also link with an identified country area / mid north coast area etc and link with them. It’s not bloody rocket science.
Kellyville area is changing with non traditional footy types living there – some here would know this. Therefore the club must think outside the square and look at building another area.
We have some decent kids coming up but a few are not ready for NRL.
BA is he able to get us back? Not sure tbh as it seems some players have picked games to put in and not.
Players make coaches often and some coaches make players too. Time will tell but the season is starting to crumble
It’s an impossible situation when players have leverage over a coach and the club, the coach has no leverage over recruitment decisions and recruitment has no leverage over the board.
We are no chance while the ones with the least football knowledge make all the footy decisions. This club is run arse backwards.
You have just answered many questions here.
Milo, I wish I could be more positive, but it’s near impossible after last night.
I fee your pain mate…It’s a sad sad situation that’s brewed for a two yrs. No roster development/ recruitment bad decisions all round
At this point I’d almost prefer a complete bottoming out so changes can be made at the club. This team, frustratingly, has the potential to win just enough games to maintain the current regime at the club.
I think BA is a good coach and his contribution to Parra should be looked at positively for where he built us back up from, but it’s time for a change. The only thing I’d add is our HOF needs to go first – our roster management is shambolic and a disgrace.
I feel like the relative “success” from 2019 onwards when compared to the disaster that preceding it after the 09 GF has held us back from really going after true success and being ruthless in that pursuit. We’ve played it safe and over estimated the strength of our system, and now that’s come back to bite us.
The NRL in 2024 is played with more speed, ball movement and multi faceted attack than it was 2019-2022. Unfortunately we have kept the same squad and philosophy, and are now being found out playing a style of footy that isn’t relevant anymore. Our team is slow, we lack impact from our outside back out of yardage and our known defensive frailties are being exposed by the lateral ball movement and speed the top sides have.
If Parra were ever going to lose me as a supporter it would have happened by now, I’ve seen plenty of dark days following them the past 30 years. This is another tough period and unfortunately it will take some time and tough decisions to get us back on track.
BP, my fear is the time it might take to rectify where we are at. I agree about speed and from a roster perspective it must be addressed. But we were just smashed by a Dolphins side that were missing their speed men. There was a capitulation through the ruck.
Long time reader / listener – rare poster (maybe lockdown 2021 after that manly loss?). Given all the doom and gloom, I’d just like to say thank you to Sixties and John for turning up for the poddy after such a performance – indeed thank you to the other TCT content creators. You da MVPs week in, week out.
#ENDDARWIN – no other Sydney club would contemplate sacrificing player welfare and competition standings for commercial gain. And yes – I truly do feel like the players are let down by this annual masochistic adventure by the club executive.
Thank you DWP. To be honest, I got out of the house for most of yesterday to try to escape the footy. Didn’t listen to the radio. Didn’t watch the games on Fox. Just checked in here late last night and looked at the highlights of other games and a couple of pressers. So I guess I do have limits to the pain I want to endure as a supporter!
And yes, #EndDarwin
Good on you. As much as the loss hurt I also decided to stay off the socials and do other things that are enjoyable yesterday. Life goes on.
Yes Shaun, have to keep footy in perspective.
BTW #EndDarwin
60’s, serious question, is there a way for members to contact the club other than the membership office or reception. I’ve tried the reception, it’s a brick wall, probably by design. My biggest issue is that the board and senior management are just pictures on a website, the club never makes any honest and frank statements, everything is management speak, nothing authentic. I can only speak for myself, but I’m sure I’m not alone, the silence from the club is deafening. I’d be pissed if I was BA and I be was copping all the blame publicly. There’s got be a two way conduit to contact the club other than quarterly messages that basically pat the members on the head condescendingly and told to be a good boy and go away, don’t ask hard questions.
Right now there is nothing.
Fair to say no grades will be given after that shit show
That’s up to Gol and how busy he is or how he feels like addressing it. Remember, after last Saturday’s win, the Grades were posted on Tuesday. I keep saying it, win or lose, creating content is voluntary from our writers. It’s not a five to ten minute process. Let me also assure people that there are many times that what we do is not a pleasant stroll in the park.
Wasn’t having a go
I wouldn’t waste time grading that.
It was shit pure shit.
Hopefully the 1st nail in BAs coaching coffin at this club
Probably not we seem to just accept that this is what we are.
If you have ever been through a corporate restructure you’d be familiar with the concept of getting rid of the management first.
It’s time.
Correct – we needed some ex Parra people in the club for varied roles. I keep saying it but we needed a guy in the club like Matt Cameron who was an ex coach of the club. He’s now got a head role at Penrith. The clubs made too many poor decisions off field that relate to Darwin / recruitment/ players.
Second year now we have not filled the roster.
Start with moving on oneil and then work through some of the higher management. At end of year reassess brad.
For instance, I dont get why Matt Arthur hasn’t been promoted into top 30 and resigned when both hookers we have currently are in bottom hookers of the league. Or Talagi – If you’re a young gun, Roosters don’t play you in grade until you resign. They are much more proactive and effective. We just bumble along giving out options to players and then sitting on our hands
I agree about Matt. He should be upgraded. I’d also be tempted to blood him, but it would have been throwing him to the wolves in Darwin. And it would probably be the same for the rest of this season to be honest.
I think upgrade and resign asap then blood him when Moses is back and we play a team weakened by origin.
Guymer is another one that should be blooded. We need to move on lane and put guymer in at left backrow. Then I’d also move on matto and use matto cash to upgrade elsewhere in backline, resign Talagi and focus on tuivati, Parker or trying to recruit a genuine bench utility.
We’ve released some players on lower salaries who would have been very useful last Friday night. Ray Stone is the obvious one. I was a Ky Rodwell admirer; he would have given far more effort than several of our forwards. The reported offer to Tom Opacic eighteen months ag o, $200 for one seaon was an invitation to move on. It does seem to me that a few of our current roster have achieved all of their goals in The NRL and are serving time.
Sivo is another that should be moved on. Parra signed him to a ridiculous extension and he has never had work ethic. Don’t need a bench forward and a winger who both play like Jane despite being built like Tarzan
Matt might know his dads time is coming to an end and is reluctant to be upgraded and signed beyond a certain timeframe
Maybe or not
Well in fairness, you can’t blame the club about being gun shy in promoting MA after the crap that went on with Jake. The vitriol around that was appalling. I imagine the club is going to be much more conservative on that front now.
I totally get that. How a small minority of fans treated Jake was nothing but disgraceful. We had senior players letting down the team and those “fans” would rather single out a rookie half trying his best. Truly pathetic stuff. But Matt has real talent. Not even that small minority can deny that. We just need to blood Matt at some stage because Lussick is terrible and shouldn’t have been signed from the bench in super league and hands is not much better. Start Lussick and bring Matt off the bench at some point this year.
Sounds good to me mate I think he will be a goer at least give some game time to see if we need to buy a hooker.
Lussick is a tough, competitive centre forward; he is not a good dummy half . Maybe a presentable bench player.
And of course, the moment that Jake left he was immediately needed for Dylan’s suspension and then Moses injury last year. Now Moses is injured again.
Again thanks for always turning up after a loss even in an empty bar.
I agree with ending Darwin but the shadow of the salary cap scandal is still with us which partly explains recruitment/retention. It is one think to manage risk but to become so risk adverse to the detriment of the club and continued success is another.
While the top 17 is when fit is potentially a good team the injury crisis has ripped the off the bandaids off depth etc. Alas, I fear a painful rebuild is needed.
Yes, I agree that there is potentially pain ahead.
I’ve had the same thoughts Shaun for a long time – the salary cap scandal led to us losing Radradra. It ripped my heart out when I heard a rugby commentator in the Northern Hemisphere describe Semi as the most complete footballer in the world – that hurt. We lack genuine speed in the backs – don’t start me on Bevan French too!
Radradra was treated incredibly well by Parra, in ways that were never publicised, and offered an extremely good contract. I can be critical of the club over many player deals or non deals, but not with Semi.
Matt Cameron would be a great pick up.
How did they let him move away.
Imbeciles
He left a long time ago went to the tigers 1st.
He left for opportunities can’t blame the club for that