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The news cycle does not sleep in the NRL with another loaded episode of The Tip Sheet covering everything happening in the code. Sixties, Forty20 and Clint look at the latest happenings in Parradise alongside big news for the rugby league Hall Of Fame as well as troubling trend creeping back into officiating.
Nathan Brown is set to be announced as the right hand man to Jason Ryles in a major step forwards for the coaching staff. Brown, of course, is very familiar with the club and the boys discuss how he will fit right back in at the Eels. Team List Tuesday and the weekend wrap round out a busy week for the club.
There was plenty of spicy action in the NRL and NRLW as the show looks at blowouts, close contests and everything inbetween. The hall of fame has some cracking new inductess but Forty20 doesn’t agree with the timing of one individual with a slam dunk resume. The boys then fire up about serious consistency issues from officials when it comes to calling obstruction. What exactly is going on and why has this crept back into the game?
Shaun Johnson has announced his impending retirement and the boys pay tribute to one of the most exciting playmakers of this current era. The episode rounds out with a look at Justin Olam’s controversial high shot – was it a send off?
What odds a Blaize Talagi backfilp?
He’s got today or tomorrow to do it – and this announcement of Brown returning just seems to me to be beautifully timed. Brown has a relationship with the family.
Who knows … can we dare to dream?
Nah, he’s gone, but I wouldn’t rule out him coming back in 3 years
Jeronimo, was we discussed in this pod, the return of Brown is good for pathways players. As for Blaize, the Eels were able to offer a deal during the cooling off period but I reckon the chances of a backflip aren’t great.
Since we haven’t heard anything this morning, there’s now no chance. That is disappointing, because it means we’ve had a chance to either up our offer, or resell our vision to him, and he’s knocked us back again.
Part of me wants to respect him for this move – he’s knocked back more money and a promise of a position he wants to play, to go to a club he thinks will be better for his longer term development.
But then there’s the absolute disregard for everything we’ve done for him. Which is bog average to be honest. Isaac would be well aware of what the club has done for Blaize and I can’t help but feel he’s done this deal to suck up the Cleary’s and Panthers heavies to curry favour in the future – time will tell.
I just can’t see how Blaize and his family have so coldly dismissed our offer, unless he really doesn’t care about money. It’s almost unheard of for a 15 gamer to reject a rock-star deal with their junior club to sign for less elsewhere.
A friend of the family on another forum claims Talagi senior wants him to stay at Parramatta and to repay the loyalty the club had shown (apparently he’s been reading the forums and is really disheartened to see how fans have reacted). Wielder was also reporting in the weeks before the deal was done that Isaac had been acting against the will of Blaize’s dad – so perhaps there is something in that. I guess we’ll see if there is any truth to that if Ryda jumps ship – because there’s nothing blocking his path to first grade in three years time.
Maybe he was also reading some forums while deciding his future and was disheartened by some of the comments before he even made a decision…just saying!! Plenty of armchair critics lambasting his talent.
Hey fellas, has anyone got any more info on the disagreements between BA & incoming (returning) browny?
Some people have suggested there was a slight rift between the two. Some have mentioned it was regarding pathways and BA not listening to him / them both having disagreements. BA had beef with him, MON, and apparently other people at the club. Media Reports suggested a few years ago BA offered MON out for a fight once. Lol!
Apparently browny had suggested parra would risk losing their best elite pathways players if they didn’t make a clearer path towards first grade for younger players, and that basically younger players would continue to leak from the club unless BA changed his ways on persisting on older players and more or less permanently blocking positions from smaller younger players even if they like they would become better players with sufficient first grade experience.
It’s also alleged Browny did an audit / report on our pathways which was never released (that any of us have been about to see or find). Which may of entailed some of the suggestions made above.
It’s also alleged browny touched on possible nepotism as being an issue and perceived negative viewed by other players in the system (at both pathways & NRL level).
Nathan brown (another brown lol), apparently said to BA once Jake should not have been in the team or that he is not ready. Leading to Nathan’s falling out with BA and his departure.
I’m of the belief BA was a good coach for us for most of the years with a good win % for a lot of years. But it sounds like (even 1/5 of what what was said is true). BA had some significant differences with people who expressed their concerns for the club which seemed to be correct if we are being serious.
The clubs wasted years of development on JA & MA, who would have just left as soon as thief father was sacked. As we saw with Matt. That’s a huge loss for us Eels fans. We could have had Jnr halfbacks & hookers now being developed for long term parra eels players as backups for Hands & moses – instead we have neither. I’m not suggesting that’s all BA’s fault. I’m not anti BA. But it sounds like the club and him made some questionable decisions for our club, if his kids couldn’t take the heat of his dad being coach (or him being sacked), they should never have taken up years worth of Eels development & financial investment into them. Plain and simple.
There’s countless other young gummy halves & half backs who are of similar ability and cannot hardly even get a NRL debut, I’d argue there’s 5-10 + young half backs & hookers more talented (or of similar ability*) to both MA & JA who would of killed to have the opportunity with us at parra and not tied into their father being coach which creates a huge liability if the club decided to sack him?
Either way, the club moves on. But im starting to wonder if the clubs been left in a shit position due to some of these factors. Most of what browny suggested these issues in pathways, we lost all the best talent. If he said it, it’s came true.. Im grateful for BA being a good coach for most of it, but I’m afraid the club has been left in shambles both roster wise and our clubs culture even inside the team has been damaged. I don’t know if this was because they got too comfortable with BA, or the players dropped their standards due to a grand final hang over?
Either way.. let’s hope for positive changes to come. Brads kids taking up all the development & opportunity space with no long term ROI for us is a legitimate disappointment. But I still feel Like Hands has become a good dummy half. We just need a solid back up #6 & #7. We don’t have a decent back up halves pairing or back up dummy half. Our backups besides Asi really are not NRL quality and do not have much upside potential. That’s where BA’s sons were supposed to come in. But we invested years into them, gave them experience & opportunity, and they left us.. So I guess the clubs back to square 1 on developing NRL level back up halves & hookers from within, which could take years again.
The board wanted the report and it was duly presented to the board by Nathan Brown.
I’m sure other organisations commission similar things so I wouldn’t be making too much out of it.
I heard there were some specific points that were uncomfortable reading but they were the opinions of the author.
BA as head coach, had the ability to accept or reject them at his leisure and I personally believe that he deserves that right.
The board obviously saw some good things in Brownie to get him back and I think he’ll be a great foil for Ryles.
Yeah I think it’s good he is back in an assistant role with us. Ryles trusts him, he has experience already inside our club, relationships with younger players and their family’s. Ryles is showing some maturity here getting brown back in. Brown has experienced the highs and lows of coaching and apparently has a very good football brain. People often judge you by winning %, some trainers are significantly valuable but just are not overall best suited for head coaching roles. This can also be largely determined by a clubs roster too as you know. Rumour is browny was coming back to slap Barrett one more time (lol) just joking. BA didn’t have to agree with everything I agree, that’s fine. I’m just hoping whatever was in it they’ve have learnt from now (if what I posted above has some truths in it) regarding what he apparently had disagreements with BA over RE our pathways..
Some fans have questioned Ryles assistants. Here’s the thing the common public doesn’t understand either. A coaches assistants are like their business partners, their closest team mates, their trusted advisers. You can’t just go snagging other aspiring head coaches who have good reputations. They can snake the head coach or work behind their back to try to get the head coach for his position by undermining him. We need people who are going to put focus on helping the eels club (and Jason) become successful, and not out their own needs & desires above the success of our team. Jason’s gotten in highly deserved people he knows & trusts that he believes can help us. So far I am happy with the decisions Jason is making. Also great news today Jake Tago got extended. Great backs depth for us + dirt cheap probably. And probably could significantly improve with a full NRL pre season and some more game time. Onwards & upwards for 25’ 🤞 Boys are playing decent the last few weeks. Any luck we can finish the year with some confidence with some wins with our younger players on the field.
You know I’m loving the fact that we haven’t heard anything from Ryles.
Others are arguing that he should be front and centre especially with the assertions from that dope Hooper, but considering he isn’t the coach until the season is finished, I think he’s showing great restraint and maturity.
Kudos to the board for not engaging in dialogue with Hooper. To comment on everything that dope says only gives him legitimacy.
We are undertaking a massive change.
Lots of moving pieces.
LETS GET EXCITED ☺️
I 100% agree that hopper is a low class clown. Good on them for not entertaining him. Just wish Mitch could say something directly to shut him up + give all eels fans some confidence as we all love him. Also Jason’s staying out of the way. Good on him. He isn’t in the media or making it about himself or trying to be a hero / saviour before his offical time commences. Shows maturity and respect. The360 clowns showed no respect to our win over NZ, instead blabbed on about moses with fake news. I’m of the belief Moses is a true eels man and will stay with us at least another few years. Unless the club completely collapses and continues to decline, I think he will be there. He is originally a local boy who grew up around the corner from where I grew up / not far away. Moses loves parra. This is an intangible these buffoons aren’t taking into consideration. Eels would have to be a long term absolute disaster admin & on field wise for him to jump ship. Moses probably won’t say it out of respect for Baz & BA. But he probably respects Jason and thinks he can help us lift our clubs game in many respects (if given the man power / depth). I agree, onwards & upwards. We are showing some positive signs last few weeks, younger players gaining experience this year is also a HUGE benefit for us going into next year.. Tago, Guymer, Kier, Moretti, these are going to be some very handy depth & even starting players for us in 25-26 I believe and due to their ages they could significantly improve out of sight if given sufficient game time and another full off season. I’m not at all pessimistic about next year. The only issue I see is that if we lose Dylan brown, gutho, or moses, then obviously we become significantly less likely to make the 8. If we can avoid mass injuries, I think with a new fitness & defence focus in the off season under Ryles our club could improve. Look at dragoons this year with added fitness and a new coach. They look remarkably fitter, and it’s largely the same roster. Jason will have his hands full, but I still have faith in our parra eels. We still have world class halves and a work horse fullback. We still have some key players other clubs would kill to have on their own roster.
Muz, I had not heard anything about issues between Brown and BA. As we discussed in the pod, the return of Brown should be good as far as pathways players are concerned.
Muz, unfortunately you’re relying on another site for that information and I can guarantee you 90% of the stuff you’re reading there is absolute tripe with zero facts behind it and the other 10% is more than likely a massive twist on what actually happened. For a start, Browns downfall was due to poor form and then his off field incident on the drink with Hayne. There is no factual evidence of anything being said about JA, it’s pure dribble by those with a BA agenda – remember Brown and JA are at Manly together now.
The report by Browny was definitely presented and the nepotism claims were addressed and said to have nothing to do with BA – again, the conspiracy theorist, BA haters on that other site will not believe that – if the club said anything positive towards BA it was total BS and if anything could be remotely twisted to a negative that was the narrative to run with.
The blocking of juniors is something they always run with as well as the Rouse Hill Rhinos getting inside runs angle. Strange considering the number of juniors that debuted under BA – Dunster, Penisini, Dylan, Russell in the backline alone. I won’t add JA into that list as they were happy to boo him – he’d never get signed by any other club, ummm no, wrong again!!
I can tell you nearly every head coach in the NRL has bugger all to do with pathways. They are there to coach the NRL squad. I’ve seen it firsthand at a junior club affiliated with an NRL club, you never see the NRL coach there, nor his assistants, nor any staff for that matter. Just consider the time they need to invest into the NRL team and you’ll quickly understand pathways are a long way down there list of things to concentrate on.
Muz, mate I suggest you stop listening to anything mentioned elsewhere, or I can advise you the literal handful of people on that site you should take any notice of – the rest are a lost cause. I mean anyone saying the day after BA was sacked he had the best sleep he’d had in 11 years is a moron. And now the same bloke is whingeing about Ryles and Brownies appointments. It was all BA and the squad was good enough but now he’s bagging the players after a loss – hypocrisy reigns supreme!! Nothing but negativity, hypocrisy and stupidity, mate – by all means do what I do, visit the site, read it and laugh, it aint worth posting there and definitely do not believe most things you read there.
Thanks for the show gents, as usually a very entertaining listen.
Brown is a great appointment, TCT perfectly summed up why Nathan makes sense as an assistant to JR and the perfect link between our NRL squad and our juniors.
Forty, mate, without doubt you are astute, well researched and a highly intelligent individual which is why I’m surprised you quoted an incorrect statistic. David Middleton would confirm that 95% of Bulldogs supporters are dirt bags, 96.75% of the remaining 5% are under the age of 2.
3.25% have Dementia and can’t remember how to be a dirt bag. 100% of all Bulldogs supporters will or have been dirt bags.
True mate. Bulldogs supporters are the worst in Australia, absolute flogs. Dirt bags. Shameful and many supporters even supported those bullying actions as being “well deserved.” I’m glad I’ve never seen any of those things happen after an eels game at commbank.
Muz, Clint summed it up perfectly. It’s not friendly banter when a supporter is surrounded by a bunch of Neanderthals. As Clint said, things could escalate very quickly when a person is backed against a wall.
I took my nephews to a game at Homebush stadium many years ago, the Eels lost that day, we were bailed up in the stairwell of the car park by a bunch of bed wetting Bulldog supporters. My nephews were under 10 at the time and were terrified.
The big talker of the group was one step away from being shoved down the stairs.
That’s a crazy story. That’s honestly why I personally wouldn’t go to a Homebush game if I could help it. I do not trust those bulldogs fans. I’m glad you guys were ok tho mate. Scary story, particularly with children there.