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Clint is back for this week’s news podcast as The Tip Sheet jumps into a massive Team List Tuesday that is missing both Clinton Gutherson and Mitchell Moses.
Blaize Talagi has been named to the coveted #1 jersey but the news comes at the same time as a breaking story that the young Eel will go to the open market. What does this mean for the club and who are the real threats to Parramatta when it comes to keeping their young star?
The club debuted its 2024 indigenous jersey, styled around the rugby league story of J’maine Hopgood. The boys share their thoughts and look at the unofficial alternate strip. The rest of the Eels’ news focuses on a new corporate partner, the Flegg getting a win in Fiji, new female pathways and a change to the NRL board of directors.
The Round 9 NRL wrap yielded some close games and very controversial calls as the show breaks down all of the action. Aidan Sezer wasn’t sinbinned but is copping a 4-week ban for a hip-drop-adjacent tackle. Was it the right call or is the NRL back to its inconsistent worst?
The biggest flow on from the wrap up is the criticism leveled at officials following a dreadful round of calls. Kasey Badger has been the primary target of abuse and The Tip Sheet breaks down what is fair game and where lines have been crossed.
There is a massive player transaction on the horizon as both the Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters hunt the signature of David Fifita. The Titans’ backrower has a clause in his contract to void the next two years of his deal if he opts out by Round 10 and the two Sydney powerhouses are hungry to boost their stocks with the game breaker.
I haven’t seen Talagi play for the lower grades much to know how quick he is, as it seems now more than ever, speed is key in positions 1 – 5 unless you’re an absolute work horse as gutho has been.
Does anyone know what sort of pace Talagi possess?
Have seen his highlights which suggest he’s more of a ball playing 6 rather than a fb/ centre.
The real threat to keeping Blaize Talagi is the club he’s playing for .
Ok so it seems his Manager is the same one who’s held us to ransom before.
The club needs to make a stand here and maybe just maybe some players could have a chat with Baize too. I don’t get why the NRL have systems in place for such pieces of work.
But our club needs to aim up here
Milo the Eels have more players on PO’s than any other NRL club. This title previously belonged to Broncos.
They changed culture and went away from PO’s and are now the only club in the NRL with no PO’s. Blaize Talagi manager is big on player options.
I have been through all the reasons before about why PO’s are bad for clubs. In essence it gives all the power to the player and their manager.
As Sixties points out here the club is commercially sound. However they are not doing their job until they deliver a GF winning squad.
The job is not done until a GF is delivered. Thirty eight years is a long weight to get a GF winning squad recruited.
Correct Milo.
Sixties pointed out that with the recruitment of an elite player like Fifita signals that the conveyor belt of junior elite players at the Panthers is slowing. At least for the time being.
One place the conveyor belt is chock full of quality juniors is the Bulldogs. Boys and girls. Good recruitment happening there.
Indeed John. They don’t have a significant Junior league. Only about ten clubs I believe. But they scout for their rep teams in a big way. That’s not to say that Parra doesn’t. There is an influx of Queenslanders in our system and the odd Kiwi. But the success of the Dogs recruitment investment is evident, especially in female pathways. To be fair, the Roosters have long invested far and wide for their elite pathways. Again nothing much locally for them, but they can’t be criticised about the players who have been the product of such work.
The notion of the “local junior” is overstated anyway. Even the Panthers get at least half their juniors from elsewhere. Get em from wherever you can at age 14. I couldn’t care less if the come from Wenty or Walgett or Wellington. Just get ‘em.
I doubt you will find anyone disagreeing with you on that point
Until the nrl creates a mechanism which helps clubs retain their own juniors (ie 5-10% off contract value) then i couldn’t care less if it’s a junior or not. We are in business of winning and someone who is a junior is always nice but we have spent too long relying/overstating certain juniors at parra. Get a player in to meet a need by any means necessary.
Not necessarily. What it says is that they want to keep winning now. Winning is addictive. You can only bring in so many kids before the hard edge starts to fade. Essentially they are chasing Fifita because they want to milk the Cleary, Yeo, Edwards years for as many titles as they can. The talent pathways at the Panthers are as productive as ever, but the Panthers are in win now mode, not win in three years time mode.
What I appreciate about The Throw is the considered and thoughtful comments on the burning issues.
Parra should not be in such a situation with Talagi. But we don’t need another comment on the well known the issues with R and R. It does add the frustration.
I remember a game at the Olympic Stadium during the Parra stadium rebuild where I sat in front of a lovely older couple. Until kick off when they suddenly became feral and spent whole game yelling abuse at Kasey Badger who was running the sideline. It was bizarre and disturbing. She has been copping it for years and a lot of it is purely sexist.
That said, I appreciate the need to hold refs accountable. But that needs to be balanced with understanding the demands of the role. If it was easy you’d have those noisy negative keyboard coaches lining up to become a ref as they apparently could do better. But you’re right re the needless rule changes and weekly change in interpretations. It doesn’t add to the game.
As for Friday the head says the Donkeys but the heart hopes for a mighty upset. Go Parra!
I just read on Fox Sports a good article by Alex McKinnon on BA. Another perspective and a good read
Think there is a need for new blood in the R&R area, from the allowed dismantling of the GF NRLW team, to the failure to replace any of the players leaving after the NRL GF there is obviously an ability issue.
Coupled with the ongoing issue of not filling the top 30 roster and the absolute failure to add any backline players just underlines the problem.The R&R team are earnest but seem to lack anyone dynamic and that possibly flows through to negotiations with player managers, where we seem to be on the back foot. Going into 2024 without any further close to elite additions to the roster is close to failure in their ultimate responsibility.
Some good outside backs have come up in the last couple of seasons such as Dominic Young and Turuva . There have also been others maybe not quite so elite. With the exception of Lomax who has been a great get. The Eels have not come up as prospective landing spots for these players. That maybe the way our club operates and they were really interested. Not sure.
However we have vacancies that need to be filled and filled quickly.