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Fittingly, episode 100 of season 2024 is of the special variety as Sixties and Forty20 are joined by former Eels CEO Bernie Gurr to debrief a singularly difficult season for the club and look at what lies ahead with a new era being ushered in.
Bernie discusses the review process every club undertakes every year and the obvious factors that played into Parramatta’s struggles this year. From there the boys look at which players we should be expecting to turn it around in 2025 and what can the team salvage from their spirited end to the difficult campaign.
The departure of Reagan Campbell-Gillard leaves a monstrous hole in the roster and Gurr isn’t so sure it can be filled in the short term – so how do the Eels handle it? What does new coach Jason Ryles bring to the team and how does he make it so the Eels undergo a retool as opposed to a rebuild?
Gurr finishes the show with his overview of the NRL this year, a quick look at the finals series as well as some administrative insight into what looms ahead for established clubs with big time expansion coming to the code.
Great pod, always good to hear from Bernie. I dont think we would get the same level of interview from Jim
Unforrtunately, you’ll have to change your intro of Voss saying what a shot Campbell- Gillard.
Injury- happens every year to every club. The difference is we didn’t think we needed depth last two years. Other clubs have depth and win without key players. Coaches get the best out of their players.
Cap – was mis-managed and is hard to rectify the mess.
Junior- was lazy. Stop with the worlds biggest first receiver. We need 20 hit ups 20-30 tackles. At 110kg. 10 hit ups is a joke and won’t wash.
Reg a family favourite. Bye Reg.
Lane our new captain of reserve grade 2025 or released.
Matto a colossus and needs to play like one. Mobile middle
Carty was good and needs keep it up. Tackle tackle tackle.
Sivo – not sure. He’s been playing well below his potential last few years.
Gutho- hope he blitzes next year. But I can see the reasons for change in position and captaincy. I really applaud Ryles for not being held to ransom or being rushed into a premature decision. He’s giving Gutho the chance to prove himself. If Gutho just wants a pay day he’ll test his value. If he loves the club he’ll stay. All reports say he’ll do whatever for the team.
Need to bring back Bernie we need this footy IQ.
Pete I think one of the larger issues parra fans often don’t mention is along the lines of what you said. Just replacing some players isn’t easy, as we we have seen. The issue is we don’t get enough out of certain players and THAT should be the focus.
Since we aren’t able to move some players on the ground rules need to be set on players like Junior for next season. Ryles & co need to set him a benchmark standard, clubs like melb etc push players to make so many runs & meters. If you don’t make them, they drop you to reserve grade or shop you off. We can’t have this mindset where we allow high paid player’s on field standards to drop and think it won’t effect the rest of our team, because laziness & mediocrity spreads thru the team like a cancer.
Like you said Ryles needs to tell junior. Mate.. you need to make 15+ hit ups per game. I’m not going to leave you out there exhausted. Just give me that, tackle hard and hurt people with your body. Then I’ll throw Joe in there once your target metrics.
Another issue is Ba used to leave Jnr used to leave him on SO long. I think this has shortened his football career prematurely. He would often hold back because he would conserve his energy. Paulo needs to be trained now long an old prop. Short stints, high impact. Like roosters JWH. NO first receiver BS. Throw your body at them. Exhaust yourself for 10-15 mins. Then Joe O’ or matto will take your place and grind out big mins.
Paulo has been allowed to play lazy, like a big half back. Hit ups often minimal. Often it’s like he has been trying to hold back to save energy, or avoid pain by playing physical. He is one of our highest PAID players. Somebody needs to tell him “mate, you are a top 2 paid player at parra.. if you do not play like this, our teams simply going to suffer, your pay takes up 2 prop forwards salary’s” and legit- that’s how highly he is paid. It’s up close to 900k to 1m apparently.
I know gutho cops the focus, moses, even brown. While I’m pretty sure paulo is on more than all of them besides moses.
I know this sounds highly critical of him or mean. But the new coaches need to get former on him. Show paulo a film of JWH last night throwing his big body into manly players. He took out two of Manley best players in the first two tackles.
TWO players in two runs im pretty sure were sent off for HIA’s, he took out manlys best X factor back like player FIRST hit up and took him out of the game. I feel like JWH won them the game right there and then. In the first two runs of the game.
I know this sounds radical but paulos just as big as JWH in weight I think. Show him in the off season old videos. Bring up old tapes of paulo smashing people running over them like ants. Show Jnr what he used to do for us and why he gets paid so much,
If we can get even 1/2 of what we used to get out of paulo. Then I think we can pick up some slack from us losing RCG.. if paulo comes back catching & passing, and doing under 10 hit ups per game. We need to tell him he either needs to meet certain metrics or leave the club. You cannot have your highest paid players on a roster who’s delivering less than blokes who are fringe first graders.
Charlie Guymer for example I’m 100% convinced would deliver more meters and impact for us in the middle than how paulo was playing. And he is on probably 10% of the salary. This would not fly at other clubs. If jnrs lost his hunger or physicality, we need to make moves fast. It’s my opinion Jnrs salary could buy is 2 young forwards and one good young back for the same amount. We need a physical advantage like Bernie is saying. Paulo needs to provide that for us. Or shop him off, pay part of his salary even. We need more aggressive roster management. Players can’t think you can sign up here I’m big bucks and drag your tail. Or it will continuously happen every time we upgrade or extent contracts.
P.s pete lane I agree has declined but I still think he is a decent middle. I feel like as a bench middle he can still maybe offer us something? I
Yeah Muz
Looking forward to Hopgood, Moretti and Gymer really firing in 2025.
A few new judicious signings to strengthen the squad and help the depth. Is long overdue.
If we get things right off the field it will help on the field.
I don’t want discussions to go down the path of comparing Bernie and Jim. Jim is the Eels CEO and will be in that critical role moving forward. Bernie still follows the club closely and Parra will remain part of who he is. That means we can get informative opinions from Bernie as he’s now on the outside looking in.
As for the other points you made, yes Bernie points to getting the best out of Junior, the virtual impossibility of trying to find another Reg, the classy players that remain and the recruitment priorities as he sees them. What was interesting was his views on the wider impacts of expansion – how up to three more clubs will not only be finding players but also experienced staff and administrators.
We need to get our moneys worth out of jnr especially now with RCG going or we will struggle immensely. I’m really hoping jnr can thrive under some new voices and a refresh in mindset for him hopefully. I know parra fans all blast our team when we lose. But people don’t realise how much cap is tied up in jnr. It’s apparently close to a million. We cannot afford to have any player on that amount playing at 1/2 of his capacity. Or out injured all season. If we can get more out of him it would massively boost us. Like Bernie is saying, we need our big physical bodies working hard for us. Without RCG there we will need a huge lift from our other forwards on the roster. Hopefully paulo takes the lead again and winds back the clock. We will desperately need that from him.
Muz, it’s not an excuse but fact that there was a huge chunk of the cap was sitting on the sideline late in the season
Yeah it was unbelievable how much cap was sitting out. But regarding jnr I think they need to address a new strategy in terms of game time or what to expect. We severely need his impact now, and we do not need him out there for long mins trying to page himself like he seemingly has been and taking minimal hit ups. We have Joe, matto, and lane now who I think all looked tidy in the middle. Joe & matto who CAN play those bigger mins and keep on defending well in the middle. The coaches know more than us idiots, let’s just hope they can make jnr work. Because he is on money similar to mitchel moses. The parra eels 25’ campaign needs the big fellah to set sail and set the tone in the middle. We desperately will need leadership up the middle with big RCG leaving us. We honestly may not get another prop as RCG for 5-10 years. In my opinion, he was an absolutely Elite prop for us. He had the #1 starting set run in the biz (imo). I really hope This break helps jnr come back fired up again or we will really struggle. Parras brand of footy always thrives when our middles are on fire. 🔥
Thanks fellas,
Without a doubt the most enjoyable podcast of the year for me! It reminded me how much we lost when he left the Eels. It was so good to get a macro view of how a club needs to operate and how all the pieces, and people, need to be able to work as an integrated whole.
Bernie is able to explained in simple terms, for simpletons like me, how to do it. I really enjoyed listening to his perspective on how the coach, HOF, CEO will look at recruitment issues differently and how that is important for a club. Also enjoyed listen to his thoughts on AFL in western Sydney and how other NRL clubs are performing.
Thanks again, really appreciated.
Thanks Namrebo. It’s always informative for us too.
Always a pleasure listening to Bernie speak, as you say we come away smarter after hearing him speak. Forget about what Parra may have lost when he left, the NRL lost a great operator when he left. He should be NRL CEO. Knowledge about the current game, the history of the game, the business aspects and a great communicator.
In saying this I’m not sure I agree that we need to replace Reg directly. Next year our middle will consist of: Paulo, Hopgood, Matterson, Ofahengaue, Moretti, Lane, Guymer, and potentially Gutherson. Given there is only 240 minutes we need to fill adding in another highly paid middle will only shorten minutes of the battlers we have who have earned their minutes in the middle. I think the more pressing issue for us is finding another outside back who is capable and willing to run the ball 15-20 times a game to get us on the front foot earlier in sets.
We have a near elite winger in Lomax coming across who averaged 171m last year, his worst game was still 109m against penrith. And Iongi who has spent a great time in reserve grade averaging 161m across the 60 games he has played there. Simonsson and Penisini have made decent strides in becoming work-rate backs but the best teams their 1-5 all want and get the ball early in sets to start their team on the front foot. This is where Sivo lacks. For his unreal try scoring rate teams still kick in behind him as he is slow to turn, slow to meet the defensive line and slow to play the ball. This makes the next 2 hit-ups that much more harder than they need to be. I’m not sure if we can get a winger like that this late in the year, we may have to “unearth” one in our own pathways which I think we have in Mohammed Alameddine. Hopefully Moey gets to spend a year or 2 playing against men in reserve grade and not spent in Jersey Flegg.
Unless there is something wrong with his character I’d have a real hard look at Tesi Niu. He was almost untouchable in the QLD cup final. Dynamic runner with pace . And apparently not contracted.
Yes, Sivo can squat 285kg but takes 4 seconds to play the ball?? He should be getting up in about 2 seconds and giving us a quick play the balls and a huge advantage. He’s been cruising for too long.
Ham we definitely lack that punch to start sets from our backs like you see from all other good teams as you mentioned. Lomax and iongi are obviously Jason’s plans to try to address this in 25’. Sivo either had a sprinters type body and gas tank who’s not naturally inclined for high fitness & endurance, or he is lazy. Mate there is SOO many young backs in nsw cup, other teams back up backs, QLD cup, or even Mo Alamedine who you just mentioned who could offer significant value to our back Stocks if we got them and gave them time to develop.
Like Bernie was saying – we need to plan for the future. The club needs to assess if they believe Sean Russel, Will P, Sivo, are honestly our best options for the future.
There is players in the QLD cup like premethues just mentioned, or Wilson who we are linked with, that honestly have miles more speed, upside potential, and X factor than those players i mentioned above.
I don’t care if parra players are our jnrs. If the coaching staff determine the ceiling isn’t high enough on some of those players – we need to start cutting our losses and replacing them. This next year is make or break for Will P & Russel in my view.
If we can’t get much more out of them next season even with new coaching, and another off season. Then the Eels need to start going after legit X factor, FAST, young players who WILL improve over the next 3 years at parramatta.
Like Pete said too with sivo. The bloke squats 285kg. We can’t have players that big and strong running the ball back like a mouse. There’s backs at other clubs half of sivos size rhar run the ball back with 20x more intensity than sivo does. We can’t settle on these types of players and just expect change to occur. I can guarantee we will not be a top 8 side if Sean Russel and sivo are defending out on our wings for even half of next season. They let in tries so easily near our try line we would have no chance.
An excellent interview. Great insight. Well done.
Agreed! Bernie is all class. Well spoken, composed and objective.
Interesting that Bernie emphasised time and time again the need for a competent head of football to plan 2-3 years ahead – as well as do the basic such as fill out rosters in short term.
Our Hof has done anything but that. We have got older, slower and worse on his watch with no tough decisions made early to avoid the current mess. We have juniors continuing to leave, option contracts out the arse and an ageing roster.
And now we are expected to believe that the Hof will suddenly decide do his job properly? If TCT is getting the Hof on for interview please put some direct questions to him. Last one he did was pathetic and full of spin. He should be on chopping block but somehow has escaped.
Don’t hold your breath. I can’t see Sixties doing that.
I Can’t have real positivity for future until i get some semblance of accountability for the here and now. A nrl team doesn’t end up 15th 2 years after a gf appearance unless there are serious failures by Hof, coach etc. the appointment of a new coach is a Band-Aid without accountability of others. fans aren’t as gullible as they use to be
Agree Ron and most of us identified even before coach Ryles was signed that a new head coach will only be half of the problem solved
We still have the same ppl there who caused this mess and blaming ba solely is not realistic
At no stage did I feel that was part of his narrative,
I am as critical of our HOF as anybody, and I do not believe MON should be in that role any longer, but I strongly disagree that Bernie in that Podcast said or implied such a negative.
I can only think that you are using an agenda that has no implications other than your personal criticisms and whatever objectives you have.
Shame on you!
This is why people like you make social media the ugly prerogative that it has become.
I’ll just respond to the first bit of your comment as the second part is baseless and not worth addressing.
As to the first bit, i don’t believe the comments Bernie made about needing to fill out a squad and not giving up such a basic competitive advantage were just general comments. This is especially so in a context where parra have well documented issues over last 2 or more years re: filling out our roster + issues with depth more generally. You have to be ignorant to close your eyes and trot out the line you just tried to trot out.
Bernie also spoke about the need for ceos and hofs to plan ahead 2-3 years. He said he is upfront with a coach and tells them that he won’t give them a player they don’t want but won’t give him all ther players they want either. Again, put that in context – our Hof signed an old/broken Hodgson and brought back Davey and Lussick for ba. That’s the opposite of what Bernie is talking about re: a hof that plans properly for future and knows when to say no to the coach. A lot of us criticise the hof for not giving Brad better signings and that’s very valid in my view. But equally, I criticise the hof for green lighting some of the signings that Brad likely pushed for (Lussick, Davey, Morgan Harper, Hodgson). The Hof is not up to the job whichever way you slice it.
So, when you take those comments, from a parra man and in the context of talking about a poor period for the team (even past this year) – then it’s an implicit way of saying we need to be much better, especially in the footballing department. That of course falls at the feet of the Hof first and foremost.
Maybe next time you can try explain your comment rather than baldly asserting something and thinking that’s enough. It doesn’t fool anymore and it’s a weak approach
Great response there Pops and shows you have not lost any of your spot on posts either — Keep up the good work that you are doing and showing the reality of those who do know what they are saying is correct.
100%
Ron your post in response was basically like taking the guilty plea and not understanding what you pleaded guilty too.
All the things you said were about the failures of certain people. You ignored the comments I made about it not being Bernie’s narrative.
You decided to take it upon yourself to create an agenda that had no application to what Bernie was saying. Yes of course he made implied critiques, he is too much a gentleman to say it in other ways.
Ron you maybe should write another blog explaining all your vitriolic and explanations of what he didn’t and justify by quoting someone other than Bernie.
Thank you for your support, Colin Hussey, there is always wisdom in age, and you also identified the theme well.
I hope your health is holding up in these times, you will be interested to know I still take on the haters on the other site. Much to their chagrin LOL
Poppa, keep up the good work.
One of your best gents, thank you so much.
Bernie is one impressive man, thank you to Bernie for sharing his knowledge and insights.
You’re welcome Joseph. I always appreciate being able to catch up with Bernie whenever he’s back in Australia.
Tks forty and sixties. Bernie was across the detail, communicates so well, and I got this mental picture of him on a sun lounge in the Californian heat checking his IPad for Parra info (how does he keep up?). He expresses negatives in a factual, not critical, way and doesn’t start gibbering if he doesn’t know something. Is he retired or just in between roles? With his skills and connections, you get the feeling he’ll always be involved in something. So what did I learn about Parra? It’s people and their decisions that stuff things up.Their response to external and internal factors define success or otherwise.
Great reply BDon
Cheers BDon. I’ll have to speak to Bernie about your mental image.
Finally listened to Bernie and a very even handed look at the season just gone and what is to come. Thanks gents, Bernie is always worth a listen. I do like what he said about injuries and the influence on a season. A nicely nuanced narrative.
Some work to be done on the field and in the front office. But I do think Parra is a good chance of returning to the eight if all goes well as long as the team does not need to go deep into depth.
November 1 is not that far away.
Yeah, I thought that Bernie was very balanced in his appraisal Shaun. There are positives for the club, but it’s also important for the Eels to be self reflective about what needs addressing.
Thanks for the listen in fellas – can this be sent to the powers in charge? Maybe a professional learning exercise can then be completed.
It’s not rocket science – you just need to look at how Bellamy has Melb firing and the key players that lead them. That’s on the field – and is backed up by smarts off the field.
While it’s good news we’ve resigned some development players I just prey our leaders have learnt something from the last few yrs or we will be back where we are now in 2-3 yrs time.
Bernie is all class and no waffle.
Cheers Milo. I think Bernie was informative about a number of topics in this – the processes a club goes through at season’s end, issues and strengths for Parra, and interestingly what the NRL clubs face when expansion hits. I hadn’t considered the recruitment of club staff and execs, yet it’s most obvious.
I think that was an outstanding talk given by Bernie. To be honest I am surprised that no other club has pursued him.
I think that he made it clear that he liked the recruitment of JR but also I get a sense that there are other parts of the football club that needs to be improved. I still can’t accept that the last two seasons are all down to BA.
What I like about Bernie is that he can break down a complex narrative and feed it to you in bite size chunks. I could have listened to him for another hour.
Based on listening to Bernie, what I have taken in from commentary and from my own understanding of our club I feel that we will next year be aiming for top eight. This more so than top four. I feel that is a realistic expectation.
They have to have such ambitions, even allowing for supporters being realistic in our hopes. John, I always end up with a new or enhanced perspective on footy after spending time with Bernie.
Ron your post in response was basically like taking the guilty plea and not understanding what you pleaded guilty too.
All the things you said were about the failures of certain people. You ignored the comments I made about it not being Bernie’s narrative.
You decided to take it upon yourself to create an agenda that had no application to what Bernie was saying. Yes of course he made implied critiques, he is too much a gentleman to say it in other ways.
Ron you maybe should write another blog explaining all your vitriolic and explanations of what he didn’t and justify by quoting someone other than Bernie.
Thank you for your support, Colin Hussey, there is always wisdom in age, and you also identified the theme well.
I hope your health is holding up in these times, you will be interested to know I still take on the haters on the other site. Much to their chagrin LOL