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The Parramatta Eels have finally selected their new head coach. Problem is, only the board knows! The Tip Sheet lock in their picks to start this episode as Sixties, Forty20 and Clint all put their cards on the table.
There is plenty happening in Parradise beyond that with Charlie Guymer and Jake Tago to make their NRL debuts this week. Throw in Parramatta’s inaugural Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership team and we are cooking.
The weekly recap covers another crazy NRL round as well as crucial results in the Origin arena for the men and women. There have been plenty of transactions at the Roosters as they lock in a convert and retain Angus Crichton while they farewell Sitili Tupouniua to the Bulldogs.
Does the game need a 5min sin bin? The boys have a hearty discussion about the merits of the hypothetical and contrast that against how it would play out in reality.
We really need more contact from board to members on a regular basis
These board members are ruining our great club
New coach asap and sort our recruitment and retention as we are falling behind
Someone sort this mess out
Some thoughtful comments in the podcast, perhaps the most succinct one was the manner in which teams like Roosters and Dogs move on signings. That really puts a focus on our R&R being far too cautious and behind the game.
Then the comment re the good relationship that Gould has with player managers, something that is obviously lacking at our club. Until that is corrected and someone with a real vision and is supported to act accordingly, we will continue to struggle.
The ongoing delay in announcing the new coach, presumably to not impact on preparation prior to Thursdays game seems to confirm the attitude of our playing and support staff. Certainly not as robust as we see elsewhere.
Can’t be confident re the game this week, if there is concern re concentration and feelings.
The concern that we are somewhat behind most clubs regarding football decisions continues, a refresh seems necessary to get the club on a close to similar standing as our peers.
Simple enough , the salary cap is completely botched , unless players are moved on the cupboard is bare ,lomax took most we had then people that come into top 30 next year, sam tuivati , charlie guymer ,luca moretti ,bailey simminson not signed, matt arthur ( if he stays ) tago maybe ,they all go up in price or they will just GO . This board and the pair of clowns running it are completely out of their depth with zero footy nous , most of the players that people are complaining about are 1 season older and no one wants them, issac moses will milk them with blaze talagi to and they completely botched ethan sanders , good luck 2025 were going to need alot of it .
I notice Joey Lussick is not named in either the NRL or Cup teams and not on the injury list. Begs the question.
Let’s say Hannay is announced after this Thursday’s game (which I’ve got to admit is an odd time to announce given the impending Origin decider and where Hannay will have to have his head and his body). But I’ll tackle the optics separately.
If he’s announced on Thursday – does he start immediately (post Origin)?
It would be strange to make the announcement for Season 2025 and not give the new coach runway to try and overhaul the roster and the coaching staff.
As for the optics – we really need to be smoother at PR. Whilst the admin and board have done an excellent job of completely eliminating leaks, this tactic of simply refusing to offer any narrative isn’t doing us many favours. Don’t get me wrong, no PR is better than bad PR – but GOOD PR is better than both of them.
As much as I don’t love the guy, watch how Gus has set the narrative on the Bulldogs. He’s weaved the entire narrative from beginning to end, constantly spouting the party lines, never straying from the cause.
Compare this to our current Head of Football.
We need someone who can manage the PR in what is an extremely “perception is everything” industry. If we don’t have an outspoken and persuasive CEO, then we need an outspoken and persuasive Head of Football, or Head Coach. If Hannay gets the nod, he definitely ain’t that.
I really hope we get to keep having this conversation, because whilst the new Head Coach will quell the convo around coaching for a while, the rest of our club (besides the excellent finances and governance processes) really needs a shot in the arm.
The absolute key to any signing and one that I’m sure is weighing heavily on the boards mind is the starting date of the coach.
Ideally we want an immediate start so that the new coach can work in the background organising roster, assistants etc..
Trent continues to coach for 2024.
If one is selected and can’t get a release from their current duties, then that’s an awful lot of work they have to do considering the mess we are in at the moment.
Personally and from my VERY limited contacts and I stress I know nothing but had a conversation with a colleague who does know is the problem is that they want a hybrid.
They acknowledge that Hannay is probably more analytical and smarter than Ryles but is worried that he doesn’t have the discipline to rein in the players.
Whereas Ryles has the discipline but not the analytical smarts of Hannay.
Therein lies the problem.
They don’t want a coach who is mates with the players but want a smart coach.
They may even go opposite and appoint Young who has the discipline and the smarts but not in the degree the others have.
Who would you pick ?
All this talk and criticism of the board is unfair regarding the time they are taking.
The board are damned no matter who they chose.
Hey spark, did you see moses get those two tries on the weekend when he was playing at centre in attack with brown etc feeding him the ball out wide?
All it was is moses fast acceleration being used to burn players out on the edge in attack near the try line (like good teams do with their fast fullbacks or centres do for example) in attacking situation.
This highlights how close we might just be from being able to sting together wins regardless of who the coach is.
All it took was a fast accelerating runner outside like Moses and get got 2 tries from it.
The coach probably identified moses is quick and would burn the opposite centres and instructed this play.
It highlights – our team could be simply a few very fast accelerating backs away from scoring trys and defending with fast legs.
Our bloody half back had to go out to centre in attack to run to get it done (lol)
But it highlighted the fact our old coach and not just him the club in general has been so power & size focused our teams slow and has had zero X factor.
All X factor players are fast in top speed pace of have significantly better acceleration than defenders opposite them – like in the moses situation.
We might all be over thinking this situation of the team and a new coach might just need 2 or 3 really fast players & ones who can actually defend.
All the sudden our teams scoring extra Tries per game on average and better defensive scrambles with the added foot pace.
Moses only went there a few times (centre) as ball runner and scored for us two times.
Imagine someone like the hammer running the ball off us out wide like Moses?
I don’t think our club realises how close we are from making a huge come back / general Improvement on win %.
All we need is some fast backs and forwards who actually aren’t fat or old.
I feel with our halves and general ability in key positions.
That fast acceleration our wide and all the sudden we start winning games again.
Mitch moses standing at centre and bagging 2 tries like that sums up Parra perfectly.
Our half back had to go out there as a runner instead of first receiver.
Because parra has this obsession with power players and I’m not bagging ba.
But they also kind destroyed Russel (imo) in an attacking & agility sense.
Remember he used to be a try scoring wiz especially coming through cup, etc?
Them they bulked him up Into another big power parra player who’s got no speed advantage 🙄
We lack speed our wise, stop with the fat power focused roster.
All the sudden we start to win games.
If anyone goes back and watches Moses two tries Vs knights.
He goes out there to run it himself because our centres are useless in terms of speed.
It’s a positive we identified what could happen.
All the new coach has to do is get rid of the old slow forwards and employ REAL speed out wide.
All the sudden we start winning close games again that we are currently losing and it’s largely due to lack of speed and too many old slow forwards.
Muz, I agree. If there is one thing that we can do now that will change our fortunes is the injection of speed.
I honestly think, even if he had no idea of playing league, we should have just played Martin on the wing early on.
But, deep down, it went against everything BA stood for as he appears to still believe in big bulky (alas slow) power game players. The game has moved on from that. It’s all about speed now.
Bevan French would be a sensation at 5/8 in any NRL team now but he was to small a few years ago. This shows just how much the game has changed.
Gutho , one of my favourite players is too slow for a fullback in 2025.
That’s the truth.
He’s fast between the ears but physically he struggles we need a nimble fast fullback and no, Talagi is not that player.
Even the addition of Josh Addo Carr into our roster would make all the difference.
Spark mitchel as we saw has gone out to centre to be a running outside back for the Eels because our players are too slow to score a try.
It’s honestly in shambles.
Moses literally had to go from half back over to do his backs jobs from a set play and not be first receiver.
Because the club literally had no speed and most of our backs could not get a starting position at any NRL club.
It’s beyond a joke and I’m not going to make just our eels board or HOF this time.
The power / bulked up players and roster is BA’s power game set up.
I think it worked while paulo & RCG, lane & matto were 100% at their peak and the game had different rules and was slower.
But it’s not at all a successful blueprint playing style or roster for today.
I’m also looking at Seam russel.
The kid was lean and fast and could find the line – he had a habit for years in all grades of finding that try line.
Now he has bulked up 10-15 kgs and can’t find the try line or beat players with speed or agility at any point in pretty much any game.
I know it’s easy for us to Judge in “hindsight”
But honestly – tell me one truly successful team who wins a comp with a slow or lazy roster?
You look at Penrith their whole team in defence are bouncing on their feet ready to attack even in defence.
There’s a spring in their step.
Same as broncos last year and the storm this year.
We have the opposite of a spring in our stem and our own half back is faster and a better ball runner than any of our backs.
Can you imagine Nathan Cleary, Reynolds, or Munster.
Having to tell their backs to piss off out of the way and go out to play a backs role and run the ball to do their jobs so we can score?
It’s almost unbelievable.
I don’t think people realise how much of a shit show our roster is.
And I dont like when people say there’s no backs available or BA could never get anyone.
As soon as forwards came up BA & the eels always seemed to land their man even during mid season.
But how many backs or fast players have we seen come up and parras nowhere to be seen on the potential signing of them?
I’m 100% confident this team now and for years simply focused too much on forwards.
Could you imagine a Selwyn cobbo or a Hammer, maybe a Reece Walsh running outside of Moses and Brown on attacking plays?
We honestly could have had players like that instead of signing so many stupid forwards.
I’m a hopeless parra fan for life, but honestly.
How can all of us fans who have watched the game for many years see it?
But our coaches, leaders, board, cannot see what we see?
You only need to know 3 basic principles about football and you’ll be able to see a clear pattern of what a successful roster looks like.
1). They have hard working forwards who can defend well and play generally long minutes aka good fitness so you don’t let loads of tries in, not overly slow or overweight or they will let in too many tries or msg get on side fast enough & lose the ruck when defending,
2). At least 1 or 2 high level organising play makers on the roster who can manage other players and set up attacking formations, and have a long + short kicking game.
3). Players who are fast accelerating and athletic in your backline who ideally have speed or height advantages who can both tries consistently or can defend exceptionally well and save tries regularly.
At the moment and even last year:
1). Our forwards are way too slow in the Ruck and flat footed in defence, they tackle and can’t get back on side. Leak length of field trys every single game, too big & tired to hold down the middle. 2/10 in 24’
2). Our halves are actually strong except we do not have a backup legit halfback to organise the team when Moses is injured, browns a good #6, but we need a specialist back up #7 so we can be competitive in games when Moses it hurt. Halves are not at all our issue, 9/10 when Moses is healthy.
3). Our backs are always very low quality compared to most clubs in the top 8, we constantly have the slowest backs, besides a ‘healthy gutho’, most top NRL clubs would not have a spot in their top 17 for any of our backs. People wonder why our defence for years has been laughing stock on the edges? It could be due to the defence coaching BUT the elephant in the room is we never ever invest much cap into highly regarded NRL backs who are (example) origin, kangeroos. NZ kiwis level. I’ll give our backs depth for years a 2.5/10. They simply have no speed or athletic advantages over other teams.
Now how can we all sss this but they can’t?
How could we all see over the last few years all these forwards they kept announcing (and no backs), it was a bad idea?
Is this because of BA & his power roster?
Is it because forwards were simply easier to get?
Wasn’t the other decision makers there to vote on this being a bad idea?
Surely it’s not just BA or HOF let’s say who decides.
From my understanding they are involved – but surely other people in the club pointed out this was a bad idea?
How can we try win the comp by not investing at all in even average standard NRL quality backs?
I’m blown away by how this has even happened.
How could a club with a Giant supporter base and tens of millions of dollars in revenue yearly.
Not have the common sense to see the net positive result of employing players in the back 5 who have speed?
It isn’t rocket science.
I am yet to see evidence of 1 team ever who’s been successful without fast or athletically gifted players in the back 5 of any NRL team.
Somehow the eels thought they could do it.
It’s mind boggling.
Backs are the players who defend against most attacking sets near the red zone.
They are also your main players who score the tries for your team.
It’s just insane to me that this club thought you could over look that and think it’s going to be ok.
Absolutely unbelievable.
How can you believe having a speed disadvantage in your back 5 compared to every single other NRL team.
Somehow give you the audacity to believe your teams roster is sufficiently man powered to win the competition?
It doesn’t add up.
How could they not see any of this like we all do.
The board deserve all the criticism they get , mcelduff and sarantinos have created this whole mess , they’re making a laughing stock of the club , take your head out of the sand spark .you sound like board members might know who you and your paddling their canoe for them .
Ed, I’m on no one’s side but we can agree it’s a mess.
As to who caused this mess, I personally believe EVERYONE associated with the club is responsible.
I don’t buy the easy option that the Board is 100% liable, that’s just rediculous.
I’m a big fan of McDermott. But it sounds like he’s not in the running if the media reports can be believed.
Given the hold up is around Origin- I’m guessing Ryles most probably won’t be appointed. And with this delay around Origin it seems Hannay will be most likely. If these two are last men standing.
But a left field thought is Madge appointed as
Football director a board appointment that would allow him to complete his Origin contract and strategically rebuild the football team with authority. Remembering Bennett was offered a similar position earlier this year to which Bennett and BA refused. That being said it is a possibility. I believe this appointment is essential. Because clearly we are in a bad position and zero football knowledge on the board. This could allow more robust decision making in the football department. And would allow a rookie coach or a previously less successful coach to be appointed. It would dramatically improve recruitment credibility.
I could be completely wrong. But if we waiting for a simple coach announcement. Surely we should have been told by now. That’s what makes me think it’s a more complicated decision. Are Qld that weak they cannot withstand a couple of questions?
Brian Smith director of football
If you read the recent Wayne Bennett article on the problems with the referees . I thought it was a great piece and he has put a lot of thought into his arguments
Secondly I think that the 10 in the bin is overrated and in most cases a penalty and on report with a long suspension is a better outcome.
I have said this many times video referees are a specialist position and there should be a dedicated team of video refs handing down consistent decisions. The video ref is not a place for hiding referees. At the moment it is in line with handing out participation awards. The spot in the bunker needs to be earned.
I speak to an old referee most mornings on my daily walk. He still has connections and let me say from what I hear it is not a happy camp.
Apparently according to my nameless source there are two factions and a big divide.
Good info mate. It certainly seems that the refs are making it up as they go.
I can’t remember a time when we have had more baffling decisions.
I’ve always said that I can forgive the on field referees but never the video referees, they should never get things wrong.
Yeah the refs calls are seemingly worst than ever before
It’s like you said, seems like some are making it up as they go
It beggars belief that we have over the last few years let quality forwards go and recruited journeymen forwards and backs. yet for two years have have not filled our roster.
If we were a listed company the share holders would sack the CEO and recruitment personnel and rejig the Board.
Supporters are treated like dummies and with complete disdain.
This week we should clap the players onto the field, then turn towards the Members and Boo and Boo these clowns.
Les from Bega
I can confirm that those who applied for the Eels head coaching role and where unsuccessful have been officially advised. While I don’t think a court order was necessary or an appropriate means of letting me know I didn’t get the job I’ve accepted their decision to choose someone else.
Gents, some feedback…
I listen to the podcast through Spotify and the sound levels seem very off. Forty20 comes through loud and clear, sixties levels are down on that and can fade in and out. The third member sound is not good. Either can’t understand him or he sounds like he is down a well.
Not criticism, just offering feedback