Round 11 has wrapped up, and the “Not So Magic” Round, an Eels home game, has resulted in yet another lopsided defeat.
The current NRL ladder has the club occupying 15th place with only the Titans and the winless Dragons sitting below them. Parra’s supporter base is understandably at their wits end, especially with the magnitude of most of the losses.
The Undeniable Truth
There are three facts that cannot be denied.
1. Parra’s squad was hit by significant and long term injuries at the start of this season. Statistically, to this point in the season the Eels have had more games missed through injury than any other club.
2. Moving forward, the Eels squad needs an injection of “top of the roster” recruits if they are to have realistic premiership ambitions. At full strength, the Eels can be competitive, though perhaps not on a consistent basis. An analysis of the player rosters of the Premiership-winning teams from the last 10 seasons (2016 through 2025) indicates that the Premiership teams consist, on average, of:
– 8 Origin level players in their 17-man squads; and
– 10 international-standard players in their 17-man squads (Australia, New Zealand, England, plus elite players from other nations such as Stephen Crichton, Viliame Kikau, Jarome Luai, Brian To’o)
3. Defensive frailties are exposed on a weekly basis. In their seven losses, the Eels averaged nearly 40 missed tackles per game, versus 27 for the opposition team. Amazingly, the Eels had more missed tackles in all four wins! That stat truly emphasises that they are currently the worst defensive team in the NRL. The much quoted “effort” is non-negotiable in the NRL. To be a consistently competitive and gritty team, the “effort” in defence must be far greater than holding the position of worst defensive team in the NRL.
After highlighting such negatives, the question must be asked, how will wins be achieved for the remainder this season?
The squad won’t change. Future recruitment needs to be the subject of a dedicated post, and I’ve already expressed my opinion in a video posted to our social media platforms.
Matt Doorey
As for the 2026 squad, there will be some returning players, but season ending injuries have put the line through J’maine Hopgood, Bailey Simonsson and Matt Doorey. Maybe they wouldn’t have moved the needle in terms of premiership success, but their unavailability does impact the competitiveness of the team.
The return of players such as Sam Tuivaiti, Gideon Kautoga and Isaiah Iongi might provide some improvement in defence, mostly as it could result in some re-shuffling of positions. However, my expectation of a significant lift in defensive performances remains low.
Negative Plays
An examination of the Eels wins reveal that total Negative Plays (errors + penalties + ruck infringements + 10 metre indiscretions) is a key factor.
In all four wins, the Eels had less negative plays. In total across those victories, the count stands at 57 to the Eels against an opposition tally of 93. In six of the seven losses, the Eels have had more negative plays than their opponents. It averages out at five more per game.
High Negative Play counts, like that against the Warriors, have proved significant
The anomaly was Saturday’s loss to Storm. Melbourne made 27 negative plays to Parra’s 25. As I offered in the Instant Reaction podcast, it was a case of when and where the Eels negative plays occurred.
Completions Are Key
Breaking down the negative plays into their individual components, one stat stands out like dog’s wheels. Completions.
In every win, the Eels completions were above 80%.
* vs Broncos – 88% vs 75%
* vs Dragons – 86% vs 74%
* vs Bulldogs – 82% vs 75%
* vs Cowboys – 91% vs 71%
Here now are the completions for the losses:
* vs Storm Round One – 63% vs 85%
* vs Panthers – 73% vs 82%
* vs Titans – 64% vs 76%
* vs Manly – 76% vs 87%
* vs Warriors – 70% vs 86%
* vs Tigers – 79% vs 83%
* vs Storm Round 11 – 77% vs 71%
Every loss featured completions under eighty percent.
I positioned the Tigers and the Storm at the end of that list. As previously noted, making fewer errors than the opponent made the loss to the Storm statistically anomalous, but it was still consistent with all losses featuring completions under 80%.
And so to the Tigers, where completions came in at 79%, just below the required mark. Unsurprisingly, the outcome was a tight, and arguably unlucky, defeat. That Golden Point loss featured two late and critical errors that proved decisive in the result.
Completions feed into the other negative plays. If a team completes their sets at a higher percentage, they spend less time in defence, which means less likelihood of penalties, set restarts, and of course missed tackles.
High completions against the Bulldogs delivered the victory
The Eels defence is a mess, but every time the team completes above 80%, they win. Go figure!
Without question, the quality of the opposition can force errors. So ultimately, the talent of the Eels opponents is a factor in creating the type of pressure that produces errors. Finding that equivalent talent for the Eels roster is the subject of recruitment discussions.
To that end, supporters understand that the Eels 2026 roster, especially with its injury depletions, does not (respectfully) contain the anything like the number of gun players that the leading premiership contenders boast.
But even allowing for that, in this small sample size of wins, the impact of high completions cannot be ignored. It would be a certainty that this would be the messaging from the coaches.
Any Eels ambitions to move away from the bottom of the table this season can only be realised through minimising errors.
The quest for eighty percent or better continues.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Why is the defence such a mess? It is a miracle we aren’t last given we are conceding 34 points a game. That is unacceptable and not to NRL standard.
My observations are we lose the ruck easily, allowing quick play the balls which in the current PVL ball era is catastrophic. We also have no go forward in our pack so are constantly battling out of our own end in attack and an already poor defensive system is working under fatigue.
It’s hard not to be pessimistic, but I don’t see what we are trying to build with our roster. There are gaps in every position group and our front office has proven they can’t land the top level talent required to address this.
BP, as I stated the defence is a mess and therefore all of those things you say are true, but I’m saving those for another post. For now, the constant for increasing the odds for a win in the short term is completions.
I think that the realisation has finally drawn on most of us that we are indeed a very poor club.
I was one of many who had faith that with Ryles and Matthew Beach and the new board etc that we could finally get our shit together and become what we should be and that’s a competitive force in this competition.
Alas for me at least, the loss against Melbourne really opened my eyes to what an ineffectual poor club that we have become.
That loss was pitiful, there is no other way to address it.
The Storm were abject poor but we were embarrassing.
What is also plainly clear to me is that all this talk about injuries is just a way to excuse the poor performances.
Typical Eels. We grab excuses like drowing sailors.
The facts are that Hopgood is a decent first grade player but Doorey and Simmonson are borderline in ability and would indeed struggle to find decent paying time at other clubs.
Any attempt to infer that the loss of these players in any way should alter our season is plainly ridiculous. ( Sixties I’m not saying you are inferring this in your narrative but others are)
The bottom line is, to grab an old saying,
‘you can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear’
We just don’t have the cattle. Pure and simple.
Mitch Moses is at this point , far and away our only representative quality player.
We have a couple of good players in Iongi and Williams and perhaps TDS and Ryley but the rest are pure dross – Reserve grade /Ron Massey Cup quality.
Those in Cup are truly Ron Massey quality !
NSW Cup should be a breeding ground for NRL players not a place where players who can’t achieve that standard are left to play a substandard competition and take spots from those that may achieve this standard.
Most of the rubbish in this Cup side should be kicked to the kerb and the 19/20 year old kids promoted.
The worst part about it is that we spend the same amount as the top clubs in our salary cap!
We havent played final football for years and won’t do it again this year.
Whilst I never had the privilege to play for this club, I’ve always deeply loved it and followed it for over 60 years, just like my old man but I’m afraid the stark reality is that we are light years away from any success and probably will never get there again.
That’s very hard to take.
Sorry just had to vent.
Spark. I’ve gone into the roster situation in small detail here, and noted that with all available we are at best competitive and not in the race for a title. I’ve added a link to my video on the topic. The club knows my thoughts on the need to recruit at the top end. But the point of this post was about what is the best avenue for the rest of this season to eke out whatever wins we can. It begins and ends with completions.
I don’t agree with your assessment of our roster, more specifically of guys like Simonsen, Doorey, Hopgood, etc. the issue is not that they aren’t good enough to play in the NRL, they are, the issue is that they are too high on our depth chart. With better quality players around them their performances will improve and be more consistent. Our issue isn’t with the players we have, rather with the players we don’t have. 60’s is right, we need to start targeting top 25 players and pay whatever we have to.
Doorey and Simonsson would not be automatic selections in the top teams – that’s a fact.
if you are looking at ranking wingers and forwards across all teams, both would be well in the bottom half.
That’s no shame though but as you know I was referring to those who were using their absence as an excuse like it had created a massive hole in our roster.
I did note that Hopgood was a decent first grade player.
It’s quite obvious that I agreed with what Sixties was saying about the need to find elite players.
My issue is that we tend to hang on to potential far too long and flood our Cup team with players that will never play NRL.
Look at Ritchie Penisini, how long has he been in Cup ? 3 or 4 years ? And still hasn’t made NRL.
What about Sam Louzou? He played his only NRL game about 4 seasons ago.
These were my points.
Agree, we have kept hold of these players based on potential for years who just don’t have the bodies to support the intensity of rugby league, Will Latu, Richard Penisini, both miss more games than they play…. How many chances can we give them..
Thanks Sixties, and some great observations and it seems a simple issue; but without the good depth of players, it can be a v long season.
The game has always been simple – complete your sets; get to the kick; defend them in the red zone etc.
Injuries and PVL changing the game via structure / refereeing aside, we all knew at the beginning of the season that if NRL team suffered key injuries that we would be relying on young players to come up.
The club knew this – and I go back to that club forum on that warm afternoon that I was lucky enough to attend. They were all there. We lack size in the middle – its the teams with a decent spine and some mobile forwards who are doing the damage.
They should have been pro-active in a middle at least and a centre – and I mean some experience. As it is now, we could lose Williams, JDB and more by seasons end with less experience up front than we currently have. We cannot solely rely on juniors.
Within 6 games our roster was lost – and we are without Doorey and Hopgood for the year – not the clubs fault but the lack of back up is.
You guys mentioned this – as did every second fan on this site.
Now we will have Moses in at least one origin game which they also would have known about and if he comes out injured again…..then its groundhog day again.
The issue of R Matterson again rears its head – I understand he has a contract here but this again seems to have dragged on and on.
Agree with all of your observations Milo. There will be no fix on them this season. For the rest of this season, eking whatever wins we can starts and ends with completions.
Agree, we have kept hold of these players based on potential for years who just don’t have the bodies to support the intensity of rugby league, Will Latu, Richard Penisini, both miss more games than they play…. How many chances can we give them..
It’s looking very grim at the moment.
I’m not advocating for a spending spree because ultimately you are in a comp to come first. You’ve got a bunch of teams all in on their rosters with their cap at breaking point and are no where near to winning a comp. I maintain kids need to be the base but having them win one a game a month can’t be fun.
They do need to start moving the needle though. We are actually losing players next year and whilst some aren’t big loses it’s almost at a point of needing warm bodies for 2027.
This can slide very quickly and much further.
As a glass half full you can say at least we aren’t locked into any outrageous contracts like Holmes for example. The opportunity is still there to bring guys in, it’s just how long this club can hold its nerve.
And the fans for that matter.
Luk, the roster situation is really the subject of a dedicated post. Since your reply I’ve added a link to my social media video on the topic. For now, with who we have, completions must be high.
We can look at the Roosters as the pinnacle of how to recruit and bring through juniors, obviously it’s a high mark given their recent success. Unfortunately we now resemble the old pre Richardson Tigers, no idea on recruitment, no support for good juniors coming into grade and a lack of understanding the modern game and market place. Smaller and slower than any competitor.
The club needs a reset basically immediately, and unless they start now, the next couple of years will be fruitless. Not going to comment on the Tigers issues, but we have stacked important positions with ex Tigers and it probably shows.
Frustrating and sad , losing 2 intl players and not replacing them in an already paper thin squad is the reality A roster weaker than it’s been since 2022 seems impossible but true despite opportunities to sign and recruit.
Hey mate, as we have spoken about before, I agree with a future model that is similar to the Roosters, but they buy at the top end with the advantage of a strong performance and post football career reputation. We don’t. We have to face facts and spend on top of the roster recruits first and foremost. But that isn’t the focus of this post. We have what we have this year. What do we need to do on the field to maximise opportunities to win? Completions.
Yes we need to target the top end of the market, the issue is we don’t appear to have the people in position to actually achieve it. Not going to argue that they don’t work hard, just don’t appear to have the people with ”it” in the elite signing space. Needs addressing yesterday, as well as athletic profile speed and size. Too any average size workers and not enough difference makers, you pay for what you get. Papering over the issue with better completions doesn’t resolve the major problem, although it may help the after game dumps.
Still hope for improvement and it’s needed. To be perfectly honest, the club isn’t going anywhere this season. losing Lomax and Dylbro put a massive hole in the team and performance, somehow it wasn’t addressed.
We started the season like we have done since 2022 with open roster spots in the hope that players become available. We have continually had to get dispensation to allow the likes of Lumelume and Tago to play in recent seasons – as early as Round 1. We have players like Richard Penisini taking up a spot on the Top 30 roster and has yet to play a game in three seasons not to mention the fiasco that is Ryan Matterson.
The recruitment and retention committee need to start accepting that lowballing offers or hoping that players become available isn’t going to fix the roster we have.
Changing the coach is t going to help one iota when you continue the same recruitment process that has been adopted.
Greg, I’m not going to dispute any of that. I’ve gone into detail in a linked video. But all that aside, things are as they are this season. What can we do to get any wins in the remainder of the season? Completions above 80% are the common factor in all wins
Mr Sixties, the straight out answer to your question is this. Drop the players who cannot hold onto the ball.
Kelly
Moretti
Pensini
Volkman
And anyone else who cannot hold onto the ball whether in a tackle or running.
That miss by Kelly was a game changer. A walk over try sacrificed because he didn’t show enough concern.
Sixties, I appreciate the time and energy you have put into this, thank you.
That being said, the eels are in an absolute shambles currently and there needs to be a level of urgency from management to address the situation which has been absent for some time now.
The onfeild stuff with completion rates is interesting and relevant and something that the coaching staff can address but that’s only 1 slice of the pizza of mediocrity (a pizza analogy because I’m hungry), another slice is recruitment, another is attitude/apathy, allocate another slice to the officiating (Storm game aside)in which we definitely got dud calls and Ryles has been reluctant to call it out all year(and last season)
Matto is another slice too, the fact we are in this situation we find ourselves in is an indictment on the managing of the team
Bring back Carty !
True completion rates are terrible. There’s a few reasons leading to this:
– Our forwards are small and lose the wrestle / tackle against larger or more powerful players which gives fast play the balls to our opponents
– This makes the ruck free flowing and our players are on the back foot which drains their tanks gasping for oxygen and rushing to get back onside
– The 6 agains inevitably come partly because our small or less effective forwards can’t stop the momentum so they stay on tackles for longer and give 6 agains
– We then get gassed out and its often only 10-25 minutes into a 80 minute match and struggle to recoup our energy enough to attack
– The errors always flow after we give away 6 agains or get stuck in our own end (partially due to weak forwards) and over play hand trying to get upfield
I’m not blaming just individual players for errors – that’s a symptom to a larger problem which is roster
No injuries are not only to blame we were weak at full strength unfortunately
If the rumours are true, we are in the process of signing Josh Schuster on a train and trial for next year.
He wants to play second row and is almost unrecognisable after losing a bucket of weight and appears to be motivated.
Manly are paying $250 of his contract for next year, so it’s a low-risk gamble. If he signs, he’ll train with the squad for the rest of the year but won’t play until 27.
Apart from that, don’t be surprised if we don’t make another significant signing for 2027. The Bear and Chiefs will blow even our most competitive offer for any player right out of the water.
I can assure you Adam we won’t be surprised. Since the game started in 1908 the game was set up to win by forward domination then the backs finished it of. Does this sound like our team?
Re post contact metres: their significance was recognised by defence structures being trained for the second and third man in to hit the carrier’s legs. Sin bins and suspensions for hip drops have made some reluctant to do that. As a result, post contact metres are as significant to-day as line breaks. The poor old Tigers have been conceding twenty, thirty metres a set in post contact metres – you can’t win a game with figures like that.
Post contact metres represent a major issue for our defence patterns.
Please tell me you are joking Adam, surely
I listened to James Grahams chat with Schuster, Josh is adamant that he wants to be wearing the 6
Worth a look as a train and trial; one of our juniors who had a terrific reputation as a junior; very strong apparently.
We could go back three or four years and poor Sixties would probably have been making similar posts about our recruitment, doing his best to stay optimistic and find solutions.
The reality is there are no easy answers with this current setup. I say setup because everyone, from the CEO to recruitment and retention, has failed. The results speak for themselves. I genuinely feel for the coach because he simply does not have the players to compete.
The completions data in your post is similar to what i identified on the weekend – We’ve had 4 games with 10 errors or fewer and won all 4. every other game has been a loss. In part because we don’t control the ball and then because we are incapable of defending errors.
While it all comes back to roster construction, your question is what can we do about this year with the current playing roster.
Ans: Not much,. We can hold the ball better. That’s fine. It means we defend less, so concede fewer points. But our attack is pretty one dimensional and relies heavily on an opponents poor defence, or a single moment of skill from one of our guys (which is few and far between). Its not built on structure, or a clear strategy. So we’re not going to score loads and we’re not going to win many games.
At this point, who cares if we win or lose? It doesn’t matter. It is about morale, building player ability and finding out what we have.
Create an identity, play to that identity, make mistakes, have some successes, and use those success to build morale rather than focusing on wins and losses. Help the players believe they are playing toward a brighter future that they can control.
That said, The injury list has meant very few players get dropped for poor performance and because there are invariably so many poor performers it is also hard to drop one or two individuals.
But ultimately we need to start making some changes, see what we have in these youngsters – even if that means a baptism of fire – so we can make some calls.
Players need to learn the style, learn the identity, work toward it, or step down. Accountability.
And, sorry i can’t help it, but what better way to show the players that the clubs stands for accountability, than by holding people accountable. The only way the 500 players in the NRL and their managers believe that Parra is going in the right direction, is if they change the direction. We all know where that accountability needs to start, and it needs to happen now so that we’re not having the same conversations again in 2027 and 2028.
Maybe if the players see some change, it might bring about some change.
Another stimulating analysis Sixties; thank you. To sum up, if we can complete at 85% or better and miss fewer than thirty tackles Mitch will quite possibly get us home.
I want to support the club, not attack but we need to confront this fact -leadership has placed its faith in a pack of several smaller, mobile forwards and that model has failed; I mean no disrespect to the players named, who are all brave and skillful, but Guymer, Maretti and Doorey all have contracts for next year and play whenever they are fit; Mataele, a bigger man and heavier hitter, is uncontracted, could sign with someone else for 27 to-morrow and struggles for game time.
That is a judgement call by management; their judgement was wrong in this era when post contact metres are like gold.
Consider the players we have lost and their success at other clubs and the talent that played in our local teams but went unrecognised and this is the reality that confronts us: we don’t need better players; we need a new leadership.
Consider the players we have lost and their success at other clubs and the talent that played in our local teams but went unrecognised and this is the reality that confronts us: we don’t need better players; we need a new leadership.
Can you tell me about the talent we lost?…..I will say that Brown and Lomax stood out, but well documented and discussed…….blame who?
Blaize Talagi, Sanders are going ok, but it is hard to argue that we could have brought them on as well as the clubs they went to, Blaize is just a cog in a machine and a defensive liability, Sanders had the opportunity of playing under a half back coach and was completely blocked when he left. BA’s tenure. We also lost the Arthur boys, not much in our control there.
Utoikamanu is the other one we like to point out, when he left us he was pretty ordinary after looking the goods through his junior rep days, we lost him to Wests who lost him to Storm…..that was in BA’s tenure…..there is a list that goes on Noel but the reality is we seem to miss people like Galvin (take him back at half the price now and play him at 5/8) Galvin was a set up he was locked int the dogs 8 months before we bidded and chased, KKK has been a disaster for Souths this year, glorified bench player, lost his Origin spot, we were the underbidder at 1.2m …thanks but no thanks. Mitch Barnett was never coming to Sydney….relatives in Brisbane, highest ranked Children’s hospital in the country etc.
So Noel where do we end up in this process and lay blame on?
It is really hard to find scapegoats, strong arguments against MON and Ben Rogers but really Ryles makes the real decisions and whilst I would replace both, you have to have someone suitable to do so…..they could be on the drawing board, but we have no right to know that for all the obvious reasons, the same reasons 60’s doesn’t talk about significant moves at training.
One thing Parra is pretty good at is not leaking much, so us unwashed just have to sit back and hope and and wait!
Finally I would go on record of fully supporting Jason Ryles and Jim Saratinos, they are both respectfully good at what they do…….
I think we will see some purse strings released between now and the beginning of November.
Our defence and conditioning is nothing short of park football standards for large chunks of games. So many of the players look like they are struggling to play for 20 minutes without dragging their feet.
There is next to no line speed for consistent periods and our kick chase is some of the worst I’ve seen in years.
I watched reserve grade yesterday and the lack of respect for any of the fundamentals was in there game aswell. The amount of no look passes from our halves just flat out hitting the ground.
There’s absolutely no doubt we need to be better in recruitment that’s a given but players and staff need to have a real hard look at what there doing. Look at manly right now people had them collecting a wooden spoon after 3 rounds. There squad is absolutely mediocre with two or three good quality players but they doing three major things really well: completions, line speed and contact in defence.
Start of the year no one had them in there 8 they turned there season around because they are competing on everything and not beating themselves.
Foran is making coaching look easy on simply doing the basics well we on the other hand are making everything harder for ourselves.
Solid analysis there1990, Parra staff need to take a look in the mirror and find some accountability
Surprised that they hired the S&C coach from the Knights who were woeful last year. They got burnt in the second half of most games and had numerous soft tissue injuries. Maybe as he was previously ex Tigers and could have been cheap as well.
Nothing surprises when our football office signs anyone ., if you don’t buy the best you don’t get the best results is the mantra we should use
You are right on the money 1990 about fitness. Like most things these days, we are far far behind everyone else..
Can’t agree with you re Manly. They have a terrific roster.
Their best attribute is their terrific speed in their backs.
Speed is everything these days.
Any team who has Professor Seibold as their coach will struggle.
The conditioning coach, I know the story and I have no idea how the current one was selected. I know he came from Newastle and they ran last, last year.
BUT I find it incongrous that Parra would have no trouble paying for the best available.
So I cannot really coment on his performance to the extent of the commentary being made.
Ryles and his coaching staff are professionals, there must have been a reason why he was selected over other candidates (what was’who was available?).
All our coaching staff are in a position to judge the fitness of their/our players.
When we came back against the Cowboys, no one questioned their fitness, same against Bronco’s, same preseason.
I think we need more understanding of the problem than by someone saying on a social media site that their conditioning is no better than park football?
We all have seen throughout the season that 6 agains build up and take enormous amount of effort to recover from.
On the site I am mostly on we have a poster that deliver’s a AI produced graph that explains what he calls the dead zones, you have enough of them combined and/or a player in the sin bin and that side will struggle as momentum flows and exaggerate’s the perceptions of fitness and fatigue.
60’s make mention of “completions” on his blog and there is no doubt the negative effect of not meeting certain parameters has an enormous effect on the perception of fitness.
It is always easy to be critical of certain aspects, we should check to see if facts are also used when we talk about the emotional perceptions of being a Parra supporter.
I will bet London to a Brick on that the our fitness looks like park football when we lose the 6 agains, penalties, missed tackles and ERROR’s and the same goes for other sides as well.
In response to Poppa:
My nomination:
Lock Jaemon Salmon, second row Haumole Olakau’atu and Marata Niukore, props Taniela Paseka and Stefano Utoikamanu, hooker Reed Mahoney + all were local juniors in our system, or local juniors, unrecognised by our system but recognised by Manly or were brought into our lower grades pre NRL and debuted for us; my personal view is that they would overcome our present starting pack. A couple of others who would have been very useful and were lost – Oregon Kaufusi, Sean Keppie, Tui Kamikamika.
The loss of backs has not been as profound. Still, Ethan Sanders and Blaize Talagai to my eye are doing remarkably well for twenty year old half backs and this last off season we lost the New Zealand 6 (also a previous Eels junior) and a current Australian test winger.
This talent drain may seem negligible to you, Poppa; to me it is simply remarkable.
In response we have placed our faith in, generally, smaller men who are no doubt talented and very brave but who, as a group not uncommonly gets overpowered in the battle for the centre when post contact metres are vital.
Your loyalty to current controllers of player selection and retention is admirable; the point I’ve wanted to make is that the supply of elite player talent is so limited, competition for it is so fierce that we need leadership that recognises it when we produce it ourselves and contrive to retain it.
I think we know we have troubles Noel, some of those players may fit the bill but Salmon came from Cronulla, Mahoney from Canterbury, Marata home to NZ for family reasons related to his wife…..I could go on and on, the reality as a development club, we will continue to supply players to the competetion from a general supply based on just the huge number of juniors we produce.
The names and numbers are probably much greater than outlined here. hindsight is wondeful but the facts are we are going to lose some players, whether their origins come from Parra and their greatness came from somewhere else becomes irrelevant when you have a cast of 30 players and a salary cap to match. I understand we maybe doing more in the TPA field shortly.
With the consitution we have brought in via the administration process we are probably the most policed and managed clubs in the system. This does not allow for some of the “shonky” deals we see done under the guise of “sombrenos” and rich benefactors….learn to live with that!
The point’s you were making were lacking of leadership and without going into the whole story, we are only 10 years out of being a club in administration and possibly losing our licence. Our leaders are very conscious of the correctness of our requirements.
We have gone through a couple of renaissance’s and we are in a down turn now with most of it out of our control, through some extraudinary injury circumstances, the worst I can remember since I started following them in 1960.
You either have faith in the current leadership (yes it can always be better) or make suggestions and realistic choices for a better one.
This would seem impractical to me because we have good people in on the football side who are struggling, but doing their best and we have administration team headed by Saratinos which places us no 3 in the most profitable club arena.
We have built a membership that is only bettered by Brisbane and Souths.
No one wants more results on the playing field than me but the reality has to be had, we have come a long way and we need to get better. I do not want a sugar hit of bringing a Bennett in, winning a comp and going back to 1987.
I think our current supporter base is both naive and overly sensitive to what is happening……I maybe dead before we win another premiership but at the same time I would prefer to die knowing we were a top end club being competitive every rear…..I also believe when we are that, that premierships will just happen and this slumbering giant will eventually start fulfilling the opportunities that it is positioned to make.
Somewhere in all this discussion we get led back to Zac Lomax and Dylan Brown! And while I agree with some of the principals around our loss of these two, I have to ask two more things
1. Where there no other options in the way we approached them?
2. What has the Club learned through the loss of them?
I will say that while the recruitment mantra is easy to say, it is difficult to do!
And now I will ask a different question. Has the Coaching staff changed Dylan Walker’s game plan? Where are the off loads? … And Sixties I know you will say it’s to do with completions, and I agree, but I think the question is still there.
Ive often wondered about the role/influence/strategy that manager/agents play in these situations. It’s easy to assume they are just middle dwellers acting under instruction but it’s something I don’t have much direct or ‘inside’ knowledge on.
When are Mark O’Neill and Sarantinos going to be held accountable. Its all well.and good saying the club need to do this or that, but there’s individuals here that have failed to hold up their end of the bargain
Both cup and 1st grade needed major clean outs when Ryles arrived. What does that say about the state of the roster knowing O’neill has been the head of football operations for 8 + years .
What will they be held accountable.
Thanks for the thoughtful analysis Sixties.
I understand, and agree, with your point about getting our completion levels to a certain percentage to improve our chances of success. It’s logical and supported by the stats you’ve provided.
I am more pleased that you and others acknowledge it’s not the only thing. So many on here have identified issues affecting our level of play. Some feed directly into completions some don’t. We have to look holistically at the problem to identify how to fix it. Why are completions poor – opposition skills, fitness levels, our lack of skills, lack of the right type of player (size, speed, skill sets, goal kicking), refereeing etc. Each is like one of the slices of pizza from Big Bob’s post.
To address that comes down to breaking it into those various components, completion rates being one. Then as some above have done link those components to each other to figure out a fix. Like most of these things the links and fixes are not linear but circular and cross linking with each other. That is really what the coaching and administration staff have to work out because just fixing one thing might put something else out of alignment. For example, we could improve our fitness levels out of sight only to die at the back end of the season because we went too hard.
Completion rate is a good start but it really is only the beginning of the analysis and solutions needed to fix the Eels. Are the coaching and administrative staff willing and capable of doing that? Some on here have already given their opinion. Only time will tell.
Other sites have Dylan Walker on his way to England and Thomas Flegler signed. Anything in that or just another example of pest net postings?
yes sixty we do have to have high completion rates but if the opposition also has a high completion rate the 1 with the best defence most always win and that is also something we need to improve on drasticly.
The conditioning coach, I know the story and I have no idea how the current one was selected. I know he came from Newastle and they ran last, last year.
BUT I find it incongrous that Parra would have no trouble paying for the best available.
So I cannot really coment on his performance to the extent of the commentary being made.
Ryles and his coaching staff are professionals, there must have been a reason why he was selected over other candidates (what was’who was available?).
All our coaching staff are in a position to judge the fitness of their/our players.
When we came back against the Cowboys, no one questioned their fitness, same against Bronco’s, same preseason.
I think we need more understanding of the problem than by someone saying on a social media site that their conditioning is no better than park football?
We all have seen throughout the season that 6 agains build up and take enormous amount of effort to recover from.
On the site I am mostly on we have a poster that deliver’s a AI produced graph that explains what he calls the dead zones, you have enough of them combined and/or a player in the sin bin and that side will struggle as momentum flows and exaggerate’s the perceptions of fitness and fatigue.
60’s make mention of “completions” on his blog and there is no doubt the negative effect of not meeting certain parameters has an enormous effect on the perception of fitness.
It is always easy to be critical of certain aspects, we should check to see if facts are also used when we talk about the emotional perceptions of being a Parra supporter.
I will bet London to a Brick on that the our fitness looks like park football when we lose the 6 agains, penalties, missed tackles and ERROR’s and the same goes for other sides as well.
I think we know we have troubles Noel, some of those players may fit the bill but Salmon came from Cronulla, Mahoney from Canterbury, Marata home to NZ for family reasons related to his wife…..I could go on and on, the reality as a development club, we will continue to supply players to the competetion from a general supply based on just the huge number of juniors we produce.
The names and numbers are probably much greater than outlined here. hindsight is wondeful but the facts are we are going to lose some players, whether their origins come from Parra and their greatness came from somewhere else becomes irrelevant when you have a cast of 30 players and a salary cap to match. I understand we maybe doing more in the TPA field shortly.
With the consitution we have brought in via the administration process we are probably the most policed and managed clubs in the system. This does not allow for some of the “shonky” deals we see done under the guise of “sombrenos” and rich benefactors….learn to live with that!
The point’s you were making were lacking of leadership and without going into the whole story, we are only 10 years out of being a club in administration and possibly losing our licence. Our leaders are very conscious of the correctness of our requirements.
We have gone through a couple of renaissance’s and we are in a down turn now with most of it out of our control, through some extraudinary injury circumstances, the worst I can remember since I started following them in 1960.
You either have faith in the current leadership (yes it can always be better) or make suggestions and realistic choices for a better one.
This would seem impractical to me because we have good people in on the football side who are struggling, but doing their best and we have administration team headed by Saratinos which places us no 3 in the most profitable club arena.
We have built a membership that is only bettered by Brisbane and Souths.
No one wants more results on the playing field than me but the reality has to be had, we have come a long way and we need to get better. I do not want a sugar hit of bringing a Bennett in, winning a comp and going back to 1987.
I think our current supporter base is both naive and overly sensitive to what is happening……I maybe dead before we win another premiership but at the same time I would prefer to die knowing we were a top end club being competitive every rear…..I also believe when we are that, that premierships will just happen and this slumbering giant will eventually start fulfilling the opportunities that it is positioned to make.
“our current supporter base is both naive and overly sensitive to what is happening”
I would agree with that statement if it weren’t for the mismanagement of letting good players leave, signing up mediocre players on long contracts and letting potential top signings slip through our fingers- there much more too, there’s a general apathy in some games, we are on track to have the worst defense in the NRL era ect ect
Fans have every right to expect better, we buy the tickets to games we buy the merch we bet on them we wear the jerseys when we pick up the kids from school
In the private sector mismanagement usually results in termination of contract, I would like to remind you of that. It’s not unusual for fans to scrutinize and criticize, we expect accountability.
I didn’t expect the fans to catch a stray, not when we all want the best for our team, the fans are not an issue
As for Marata, I see he’s back in New South Wales next season; still a member of the same family so far as I know.
On a brighter note, I see Luke Burt has a major coaching role with New Guinea and no doubt will.play a role in their recruitment. He did magnificent job with our under twenties in 2017, was recruited to The Titans thereafter and has worked wonders with Burleigh Heads; I’d be very keen to see him back with us as soon as he’s free; maybe the goal kicking would improve; he could certainly give us a right winger who knew to hold his width in defence.
Yeah, it would of been disgraceful for Bennett to come in and organize our footy department and win us a title in the short term. Let’s just consolidate for the next ten years. What a load of rubbish.
With you there Seth, making excuses for mediocrity is piss weak