They thought they escaped the nightmarish rut with a tense win over the Canberra Raiders but for a fourth straight game the Parramatta Eels have found themselves drowning in the same errors and defensive lapses. Tonight it saw the Rabbitohs ease out to a 32-12 victory in the second half as the Eels collapsed shortly after forcing the game back to parity at 12-all.
Sixties and Forty20 discuss the torrid loss and where it leaves the Eels ahead of the transfer deadline.
That was pretty bad!
Isaiah needs a few more weeks back in Cup to get his mojo back.
We need to get Rylesy to stop training them to throw intercepts.
The good news is that Mitch’s form has confirmed that he will not be selected for SOO 3.
Brian Kelly can hold his head high, Talyn was fine.
That was a putrid performance. But what do we expect with mostly Reserve grade players. Moses played one of his worst games for his 250th. And how does Kelma continue to keep his spot???
I tip my hat to TCT, having to continually talk about these performance’s, I can’t see any upside for this club, gee whiz we are bad, even Brian Kelly must be thinking what have I done.
I’ll take a listen in the morning.
If you are looking for some positive comments, scroll on.
Let it sink in folks.
We lost at home to Souths by 20.. 6 tries conceded (and not even including the obligatory Johnson try), we scored 2… off kicks. They had no Latrell, a halfback who is just a passenger and Brandon Smith could play 68 minutes straight and we didn’t fatigue him! We can’t break tackles or create line breaks. Our ball control is horrid, our one on one defence is just as bad and we have no football iq.
I miss cranky Mitch. Cranky Mitch plays with intensity. This Mitch doesn’t. Tonight he wasn’t just quiet, he stunk. Both sides of the ball.
BTW: those non Parra fans who used to use Gutho and Mitch yelling matches as evidence they didn’t get along, let them know 2 years after they last played together Gutho was there for his 250th.
Brian Kelly is our best player …. that should ring alarm bells.
JAC runs his decoy runs with more intensity than Big Sam has on his hit ups.
Kelma runs side on. It exposes the ball to be knocked out on impact….as happened multiple times.
Volkman and TDS make too many poor decisions for spine players
Katonga kicked the ball on the last tackle with the halfback standing right next to him. No tackle breaks for him tonight…
JDB isn’t a lock. Play him in the prop roll if you have to convince yourself we need some experience. But enough with the lock play.
We need a creative player. It’s stating the obvious but outside Moses (if he is in form), we have nothing. Iongi. Look good player. Will hopefully get better. But he will only be more threatening if the defence are worried about a dangerous 6, 9 or 13…. and we are poor in all 3 positions.
I don’t know the answer to getting an attacking, creative player unless one from another club becomes NRL teflon because of an off field incident or is a culture killer in house, because they are the only players we can sign…. So bring some rookies in and let’s see what they’ve got
This team and club are just pure average there’s no denying it. We re in no doubt a bottom 4 club everyday of the week and I have no idea how this is possible.
There’s a lot that needs to be aimed at the players but some serious questions need to be asked of our coaching staff and what direction they are attempting to take the players down. Errors have been at the forefront of our problems since day 1 and I would argue now it’s the worst they have ever been. Ryles looks visibly frustrated right now but I think something has to give it’s not working what there doing.
There is one player in form at the whole club in Brian Kelly and that’s it every single player has either flatlined or gone backwards. This is damming report card on the coaches because we re actually making players play below there potential.
Ryles has really one year in 2027 to send us in the right direction or I’m afraid he’ll fall on his sword and so should many others above him. I think he needs to shake up his coaching staff for next year and bring in some quality operators or winning experience. Nathan brown Sam moa and strength and conditioning should all be shown the door it hasn’t worked
I reckon we’ll see Ryles walking away next year. He has made it clear he is not getting the players he wants, yet the club management are incapable of getting him what he needs. That is a disastrous scenario, as we’ll be without a coach, won’t have any quality players, yet the same management will remain in place. That’s a recipe for perennial wooden spoons with no way out.
I haven’t gotten that impression I have to say. He’s certainly frustrated, but I’ve never gotten the impression he wants out. If that were the case I’d say the club wouldn’t wait till next year.
Yes we were bad … but the quality of our play reflects the quality of our squad. Unless we improve the squad we will continue to be a bottom 3 team. Worryingly, we look like having basically the same squad next year.
There’s no way around it, this team is just not good enough.
Our fundamentals are so poor – first contact in defence, catch and pass, line running intensity to mention a few are reserve grade level.
I still don’t see where or how we get better.
What a sad state of affairs.
2 years ago the board and club decided to sack the coach whilst maintaining the staff that built the squad he had to train to get better. Fast forward to now and we’re in no better position than we were back then. I don’t believe in changing everything every season or 2 but we have to recognise that this isn’t working. Matthew Beach needs to move heaven and earth to either get Bernie Gurr back or bring in someone to the CEO position with a rugby league background. We’re too scared to make an elite purchase as to not disrupt junior pathways but we don’t even have those elite juniors signed up. It’s been painfully obvious to us plebs for years, surely those in positions of power can see this too?
As for the game, it was there to be won. Souths were awful, we were just worse. How can you throw 5 intercepts and not understand you need to put a grubber in behind to keep them from coming up and in? The only time we kicked in behind was not when Kosi who is as wide as he is tall was in the defensive line, instead we kicked in behind when he was subbed off for a young but extremely quick Dayne Jennings.
Things need to change and they need to change quickly. We cannot go into another season with only 1 recruit. I’d honestly be embarrassed if I were in charge of our recruitment and retention.
You’re 100% right Hamsam. It is so plainly obvious what the problem is to us plebs.
But what can anyone do? Head of Football can’t hold coaches accountable unless he is held accountable. He isn’t held accountable unless the CEO holds him accountable. And the CEO needs to be held accountable but who so going to do that? The Board? They’re not held accountable because the footy club Directors effectively can’t be voted off.
Unless someone pulls their finger out at the top of the tree, nothing changes…. Oh we’ll get a new Social media intern – they seem to advertise for one of them every week… Maybe they will help….
I’ve had a look on the Parra Eels website for an email for the chairman Matthew Beach and yet there’s nothing. Unfortunately for those at the reception desk they will be first to see my first ever email complaining about anything to do with the club.
No, there’s a massive firewall between the club and fans.
The more research I do into our pathways, the more I’m hearing that they are on the nose with a lot of people. I keep hearing stories of unqualified coaches who are more interested in promoting their own kids, a complete lack of resources or support to most clubs, I’ve heard stories of at least 8 junior clubs wanting out of the PDRL because of a total lack of support, kickbacks from managers to certain junior club officials for favourable treatment to their junior clients, Eels officials are basically non existent at local competitions unless they know there’s going to be cameras there. The culture under the surface is absolute dreadful from everything I’ve heard. The board has shown zero interest in fixing the problems, but it’s not going to be able to be hidden for much longer as the quality of our kids coming through is already reflecting these issues. In all honesty, the entire club needs to be burned down to the ground and a completely new organisation needs to be built in its place.
I should also point out that a lot of parents can’t believe the contrast in the culture of the Panthers system in comparison to the Eels system. It’s night and day.
I’m not as pessimistic as you, Brett Allen but clearly our pathways has missed some elite talent
When you’ve had a fast giant, State of Origin forward identified by the Manly coach as someone he wouldn’t swap for any other forward while, for us, he couldn’t get a run in any of our junior rep sides, something clearly is wrong. My own view is that the greater problem has been out inability to keep the talent we developed. For example, I seem to value Toni Mataele more highly than current leadership (and I do realise that he was suspended this week). Maybe he soon will be another talent lost
We are just a poor team currently
There is nothing else to it – a weak roster & limited playing style
Moses is not in form either this year
Eels may go into 2027 as near favourites for a wooden spoon if this continues
Especially if the dragons have recruited far better than we have
Just wanted to thank Jim Sarantonis, Mark O’Neill and Ben Rogers for the demise of our club and the insipid effort in recruitment. Hang you collective heads in shame.
Why so angry, I’ve called since start of season our squad is a reserve grade quality. These are the most likely results so stop stressing people as it ain’t going to get better soon. Thank the saints for no spoon but next year we are in trouble
What is the club doing with Dylan walker? If we lose him for next season I can only see us going backwards. Our attack is first to second receiver hit ups and predictable block plays when he is off the field. There is at least some creativity when he comes on.
So much that I would lose a lot of belief in ryles if he doesn’t extend. He is one of the only players that consistently gets the expansive ryles footy philosophy.
. If its to super league that he goes to it would just be salt to the wounds.
He’s confirmed as leaving, muni fo is it was his choice
Rubbish mistakes that result in tries to the other team has become a part of EEL’s DNA. That’s very depressing
Terribly disappointing. Injuries no excuse – South’s were worse affected than we were.
We seem to be playing better without Moses this year, I’m concerned that his antics with rep footy has lost him respect within the club- if so then Moses has to go, and do it while he’s still worth something, I don’t know what his current value is but it’s not 1.3M, we could get a few good trades for him. I would like to see Lorenzo get a few games in first grade this season, saying he’s not ready is bollocks quite frankly when you look at who we have promoted this season but the future is not Moses that much I know.
Williams should have been captain last night.
For me There’s little to no enjoyment in watching this rabble. And it’s been like that since round 1 – the season was written off there and then by these players. So many basics get stuffed up week in week out. Hold the ball and make one on one tackles is a pipe dream for this lot. It’s startling how bereft of talent the squad is. So many plodders and net negatives who get a run week in week out with zero accountability Ryles. Kelma should have been hooked at walkers second try. Moses clearly doesn’t trust him in defence and other teams know he is the easiest target with how quickly he plants his feet. Williams is okay on an edge but I’m always awaiting for a crucial missed tackle and/or a crucial dropped ball. The centres are putrid – they try hard but first grade isn’t about merely trying hard. Reserve graders can try hard but don’t have the talent to really make it their position. Anyway, we will probably see the same team list next week as usual from Ryles and the cycle of in game disappointment with same main culprits will repeat
I watched the first half and thought we had every chance to be leading or at least be level by half time – we didn’t take the chances and from memory had about 5 six agains. We bombed at least one try and possibly another when Kit Kat kicked for himself; and then another error earlier on when Moses dropped the ball. Those moments we need to be better.
The second half – possession told the story.
Very disappointing and I include Moses in that as well. Only a few aimed up for the 80 mins – Kelly, Jack W and I thought TDS did some good things with Samrani.
Recruiting etc is another story I am afraid.
Listened to the Pod so a few additional thoughts.
100% Agree with 40/20. There are two issues one is Recruitment, and the second is around match day performance.
The boys, understandably, are frustrated with the basic errors. The 65% completion rates and frustrated with players who perform decent one week, then have poor performances the next. Kelma and Edwards were two examples given when talking about execution and basic errors.
This is where the two issues cross over.
From time to time every player will have an off game or go through a dip in form – Moses stunk the bed last night, his form hasn’t been great all year, but no one would deny he is a top tier player.
But reserve grade players are reserve grade players because they don’t have good football IQ, or they have too many errors in their game. They can’t perform consistently. We’ve all watched enough NSW Cup to know that you get lower completion rates and more poor decisions, in attack and defence. Harrison Edwards has essentially been a reserve grade player his whole career for a reason. He can’t consistently deliver. Williams has played the vast majority of his career off the bench – for a reason. Kelma wasn’t a first grade player before coming to Parra – for a reason. Volkman, too many brain explosions for a game manager of a halfback – and a reserve grade player, for a reason.. You can live with a young player learning on the go. Well you should be able to. We weren’t willing to be patient with Blaize, but he’d be a huge upgrade right about now given his weakness was defence and it is certainly no worse than Volkman (or Pezet before he was injured). But TDS, ok his decision making in the moment routinely stinks. But he does back up well and he can pass the footy. So there is something there, we just need to teach him the game/ and he needs to be willing to listen.
That is where the cross over lands. Of course you can’t have a squad with 30 NRL ready players, but we recruit these reserve graders to be our first grade players, and in some case, difference makers, and they are just not. Even the injury “crisis”. I know the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And if every one of those injured players was available it would probably look a bit better on the field. But look at those parts? Would it be that much different? Hopgood, Will, Bailey, Jnr. We value them, but if any of them came on the market tomorrow do we think there would be mass bidding wars for any of them at this point in time?
On other notes from the pod. I agree JDB isn’t the root cause of the problems at the moment. But. If you are going to use a lock as a link player, they need to play big minutes and I would double down that JDB, is not a good link player. He did that role in a very poor Dragons but it was never his strength. Play him as a prop while rotating young guys around him but he needs to step up and be a leader, whether he likes it or not as he has played 250 games in tis league.
I agree with the boys comments (paraphrasing) that Brown is the only forward running good lines. Seems the comments section were high on Big Sam. Again, all for him getting minutes and reps, but he needs to go harder and work harder on the ground. Too many times he gets pushed sideways, slowing down his PTB, too few tackle busts and for a guy his size he should be commanding three defenders getting drawn in to him at a minimum, and too often they tackle him in two’s.
Kelly was the stand out 3 point winner. I would have struggled to give extra points. I thought Dylan was probably the only other guy you could give a point to
I think the issue is that we have an oversupply of high floor but low ceiling type players and undersupply of high ceiling type players. I don’t agree that many of our players are “reserve grade” talents, they are almost all NRL calibre talents, but most aren’t top 50 talents except Moses and maybe still Addo-Carr. Have a look at a guy like Luca Moretti, you could see him flourishing at a club like the Storm or the Panthers, and even last night when he came on he did some really good things, as he does most weeks, but he’s already as good as he’s ever gonna be. How many guys on our roster have headroom left in them ? TDS, Tuivaiti, (maybe), Iongi, KitKat (maybe), Pezet, and we’ll have to see with guys like Talataina or Ryda Talagi. We simply don’t have enough players who can play better than they are at the moment. This is why Ryles is persisting with Tuilagi, because the potential is there, but it’s becoming increasingly unlikely he’ll ever grow beyond what he is. The one I feel sorry for is Mitch, he’s copping the flak but he’s being asked to do way too much out there. The answer isn’t to ask less of him, the answer is to give him some real help. Say what you want about Dylan Brown, but he gave Mitch genuine help out there. As it stands right now, Mitch pretty much can’t take a set of six off to catch his breath, and at age 32 that’s not good.
All subjective obviously. What “reserve grade talent” is i guess is changing as we get too many NRL teams.
See i don’t think Luca is a first grade player. Certainly not a starting 13 player. Fringe at best. Doesn’t have the motor to play long minutes and his short bursts aren’t impactful. He’s 27, He’s had 4 years. He is what he is. Maybe a change of scenery helps him, but his next stop is Perth or the UK IMO.
TDS, Tuivaiti. Absolutely have to play these guys. They’re fringe players at the moment, by league standards, but lets see what they’ve got and put some people around them to teach them.
Kelma. We’re is 3rd stop. He has now played 40 games for Parra. In his career he has played 80 odd games with a win % about 30%. He is what he is and what he is is not a player who will be a member of a premiership team.
Kautoga. Same deal. We’re his 3rd stop and ok he is young so I get some people may still have hope, in which case, get him reps. But in my opinion, that is a low footy IQ player who needs elite talent either side of him and that isn’t coming anytime soon.
In my mind we have now given Brown a little taste and he has done well, so lets give him more than a taste. Get him out there and see what he can do. Stick one or both of the other edge backrowers on the bench and lets see what we’ve got.
As for Mitch. I feel for him in the sense that he has nothing around him, i certainly agree on that front and if you are relying on the same player every single week to win you the game, it isn’t going to happen. But we are not seeing the fire in the belly we’re used to from Mitch. He isn’t kicking these boys up the backside the way he would have in the past, particularly under B.A. I don’t know if that is a direction from Ryles, or a defeated attitude thing from Moses.
Right now we don’t have a no 6 for next year. We just don’t. And the likelihood of one (another one) coming on the market is low. Is it this Talataina kid? Hope so, but lets find out! Get him out there with Mitch Give Mitch a project, someone to lead and develop and show him how you do things at NRL level.
I know some people had high hopes for this year, i couldn’t see us making the 8 before the season but i hoped through giving players a run we would see some potential future players. Right now, when you factor in our inability to sign players as being next to non existent, anyone thinking we are a chance in 2027 (respectfully) has rocks in their head. The only way we have a chance short term is with an immediate change in front office. Long term, as you elude to in another comment, there seems to be issues throughout the entire program and it seems like the whole club needs a reboot, but that isn’t going to happen under the current regime.
So short term, lets create a plan and start putting these kids in the deep end and working with them.
My point is they can play in this league, but they need better standard of teammate. I could see Moretti absolutely thriving at the Storm playing with Grant, Munster & Hughes.
I 💯 agree with you Brett
Sixties, I was just looking at a stats page…Completions 58% on this one. Errors 18, but I reckon what qualifies as an error would be worth checking…18 seemed light. Souths were 73%/12.
Williams should play second row/edge and Tuilagi/Kautoga should not be on the park at the same time.DeBelin in the middle rotation.
Parra Press release 08/07/24 – Says it all i guess,
We are delighted to welcome Jason to the Parramatta Eels”, said Eels Chairman Sean McElduff.
“Jason’s proven track record in winning environments, combined with his passion for developing young talent perfectly aligns with the direction we are taking our Club. We have a strong NRL roster and a group of exciting young players coming through our pathways programs. We believe Jason is the ideal person to build a strong connection within the playing group, across the Club and with the passionate Parramatta Eels fanbase.”
“We are entering a new era for our football program, and we’re thrilled to secure someone of Jason’s calibre as the leader of our NRL team moving forward. He is highly regarded as a coach, and we believe that he has a huge future in the NRL. We are confident that under Jason’s leadership, our Club will be challenging for premierships in the years to come.” said Eels CEO Jim Sarantinos.
Unfortunately it’s a team of reserve grade level players signed and it’s no surprise they can’t compete with every other team that recruits and bring through NRL skill level players. Until we align our so called front office with the same experienced and credible staff as our peers, what will change. Ryles identified Kolo’matangi who smashed our fwds, and the FO squibbed it as usual to a team like Dragons. Not the first stuff up made by them and won’t be the last given their track record.
Sorry guys, have to lay the blame on maintaining a flawed 3 in charge , who should have been replaced when the move was made on BA.
Finally, how the heck can they justify spending the cap with the current try hard roster,
We are watching a sub par team , trying hard but bascially not good enough and getting exposed frequently due to their basic playing level, signing multiple reserve graders has an outcome, and here we are.
End result, can’t blame the players, blame should be speared at the those who oversaw it all.
I have been one of the greatest admirers of Mitchell Moses. Simple facts – against Queensland he may as well have taken a chair out with him. We improved sharply with Dean Hawkins at half last year. We have shown improvement this year with Ron Volkman at half, though there have been problems with Ron’s defence. He made 24 tackles against The Raiders. Last night he made 35 tackles and didn’t miss one. Mitch missed 5.
Mitch was directly marking Cody Walker, who scored two tries.
Mitch is 32 month after next; press reports hold that his contacts with (perfectly legitimate) inner Sydney property developers have left him a very wealthy man. He is married to a very beautiful young woman, has two lovely children who obviously he adores and a as I write a third is due; he has played 250 NRL games, has represented New South Wales and Australia.
He is contracted to us for the next couple of seasons for a reported one point three million dollars a season. Ron Volkman has no contract for next year and could sign with someone else to-morrow.
Food for thought in my opinion
Agree with your sentiments there, any player on 1.3M should be under more scrutiny than a player on 250k, Mitch is taking a huge chunk of our salary cap and I’m sorry, he’s just not worth it. I would be happy if the club gave him permission to negotiate a release at this point because every origin we get a circus and have disruptions for the period that no other origin players impose on their club. I’m spewing we did t make a play for Drinky and we are crazy if we don’t go for Dearden.
On the positive front congrats for slotting a conversion from out wide this week is in order, congratulations to all concerned.
“Wont beat a park football team” Jason Ryles quote after last night’s shambles of a game.
Says it all doesnt it.
I’m not sure I understand your point here? You’d rather have Ron Volkman contracted to the club than Mitch Moses? Moses hasn’t been in great form and yes against Souths he overcommits to the outside twice leading to 2 tries but he is still easily the best footballer at the club. Volkman can’t tackle. His initial contact is shithouse.
Moses is a competitor – he might have a nice house and family but he still would be burning to have the eels be a successful footy team and he’s honestly the last bloke you’d turf out of the club
He shouldn’t be paying origin from here though
A response to one assertion – Volkmann can’t tackle. His defence has been an issue in the past
On Thursday night he made 35 tackles and missed none. Not bad for a 6 who can’t tackle
I do think, for whatever reason, there has been a significant falling off in Mitch’s performance this year. To me it’s obviously a matter yto keep under close observation
Well whoever came up with that stat is just plain wrong because I can recall a very bad missed effort by him for one of Souths tries in the second half. No way I’m going to go back and watch the highlights of that abomination of a game to better identify the try but I can clearly recall the attempted tackle
Have a look at the talis Duncan first try.
It’s probably not considered a miss but it was an embarrassing effort by Volkman to almost want to get out of the way and drift an arm out rather put any of his body in the way of a hard running player
It happens a lot with him
Yeah I think that’s the try I was thinking of. He literally just sticks out an arm if that’s not a missed tackle I’m not sure what it is.
Look you don’t want to crucify a young half for substandard defence – and for a long time we were absolutely spoiled with Brown at 6 – but Volkman is light years away from Moses as a complete footballer. I’m all for retaining Volkman if the price is right but you certainly don’t do it at the cost of Moses being at the club if it comes to that.
Two weeks ago we didn’t want Moses selected for Origin.
Now we do.
Funny that.
Roosters have signed another sevens players: Dietrich Roach. We have bloody Samrani and Russell at centre and plodders in reserve grade. The talent id at this club stinks. Every other club has good young backs coming through and we have been scrambling for backs for 4-5 years. Roosters and other clubs lose backline players year on year and find replacements while we feel sorry for ourselves and are happy to be merely linked to players. What do the front office actually do? They don’t seem to be able to improve the squad nor anticipate weak spots and move proactively. everything is slow, slow and reactive.
It’s no surprise eels struggled with the tweak to rules this year – we struggle with everything and have never been agile enough to adapt to anything. We won a spoon in 18 and blamed it on difference in rule interpretations. Excuses on excuses
Look at Jake Aveliro. Would he be our first choice centre in 2027 if he signed with Parra? Of course he would. But he has signed with the Tigers. The Tigers?! If we can’t even win the signatures of those sort of mid tier players when competing about the basket case Tigers, what does that say about our front office and club reputation…. c’mon.
Did we even make an enquiry as to his availability?
There are massive issues at this club at every level. We are a systematic failure everywhere you look, and as fans we’ve reached the point where we’re just hoping the next wave of juniors can save us and this is not a process to gain success.
Right now, what is this club’s identity? Other than 20 years of underachievement, with only the occasional brief moment of success, it’s hard to point to anything.
We haven’t had what I’d call a genuine top-four roster on paper since 2005. How is that even possible? We’re not the only club that’s struggled, but that doesn’t make it acceptable.
We’ve also been talking about leadership issues for years, and two players have consistently been at the centre of that conversation. Our two highest-paid players by a significant margin, Paulo and Moses, have both been well below their best for some time and nowhere near providing value that matches their contracts.
They are both outstanding footballers, but being a great player doesn’t automatically make you a great leader. There’s a big difference. I’ve held the view for several years now that, as leaders, they simply haven’t been the answer. At some point the club has to seriously review whether they’re the right people to be leading this team forward.
To tell you the truth, when Moses was negotiating his last contract and the were suggestions he might head back to the Tigers I wrote we should let him go and sign tricky Trindall. Half the price and just as good. Moses should not rate against Cleary who rarely, very rarely has a bad game. Moses is good but at times inconsistent and goal kicking has become second rate. I like the suggestion we chase Deardon or even Sam Walker. The Roosters are hedging with him. Whatever, someone in the FO should do some chasing. We could even try and get Ethan Sanders back.
I think this whole game is more of a reaction of how much of an impact Moses had on this team in a complete negative way.
This is a major concern when your best player affectively makes the team significantly worse. His body language in the press conference and on the field was a really bad look. Slumped over and disinterested at times he looks completely burnt out.
Is he the right fit for us in a rebuild I’m starting to think it’s taking its toll and his out of answers. His backend of the year will give us a read into were his truly at but if he can’t break this funk questions need to be asked his on way to much money to not be affective.
We can simply not afford a player of his salary out of form or injured constantly it affectively kills your club
I have been a great admirer of Mitch Moses, one of our greatest players and greatest contributors. He was awful on Thursday night. His reaction to the two Cody Walker tries, when he stood and watched Cody stroll by, will not have helped morale – he threw back his head as though to say “Someone should have tackled him.”
One game in a very inconsistent season but a matter of current concern. An exciting feature of his game has been the magnificent acceleration, the long range individual tries It’s a while since we saw one of those
Probably last year last game vs. Knights.
Xerri signs with storm… shock. Parra front office will pat themselves on the back for being interested
And we also miss out on Jesse McLean
This is embarrassing
In the eighties we didn’t make many recruitments and we.mizsed some – Pearce, Vautin, McCabe – but we also picked up some very big names -Bugden, Lindner.
With profound respect to some recent recruitments who have become major contributors – JAC, Kelly, Jack Williams – we have mainly recruited promising players from Cup. In fact, probably more NRL quality has left the club than joined. A journalist to-day has published that a prop promoted as signed is no sure thing to be coming.
Is it possible that we are not seen as a great place to advance a career in NRL?
Xerri was as quick as lightning at Cronulla, then he got onto the ‘roids and now he lumbers around like a muscle bound prop. As others have already mentioned, we badly need speedy backs…Xerri is not what we need. Averillo would have been a better target.
There’s a player just sitting there and has been for a couple of years..Tyrell Sloan.
Lightning quick, great try conversation rate. Play him on the wing and can fill in at fullback.
It’s a no brainer and considering the connection that Ryles has with him, I just can’t understand why we haven’t grabbed him.
Yes such an easy get NOW.
Some may say oh he’s defence is poor but come on – he a massive upgrade to anyone we have at the club now coming through.
Who are we waiting for to fill that wing spot ????
Allows BK to take the centre spot.
At the moment Sloan will probably end up at the Super League and given our track record on recruitment, we will see him half decent there and offer him a huge pot of gold to get him back !
There are heaps of players out there at other clubs just waiting for a bit of love that are better players than the rubbish we have at the club at the moment in reserve grade.
But why are we wasting our time ????
Those running this club have no ambition and little foresight to win anything.
They are happy little vegemites if we are a steady 14th /15th for the next decade as long as we turn a profit and are a community service.
Winning is absolutely secondary whereas winning should be all that counts.