Parramatta Eels Juniors

[Obscene Assassin]

What position?

Best part about Dylan Brown is he might be ready by time Moses and Normans contract is up. Means we can retain him and not get caught in a bidding war for the other two.
This is the way to take advantage of junior system. It suckes losing guys but no point developing them if have better options at a young age in first grade under contract. I can see guys like Stone offering value for when Scott retires.

Id prefer not to worry about developing a fullback for a while. Bevan and Gutherson are both young and excellent. A hooker, front row and half is what we want. Sounds like we have that covered so some good years ahead.

Tupou is a middle forward.

We should always be trying to get the best players in every position whether it be from our local competitions are external signings. There's no way we'd "not worry about developing a fullback for a while". You contradict yourself a bit there, you said previously that we can take advantage of the junior system by going with them instead of getting into a bidding war to retain the more senior players. What happens in the future when we get into a bidding war for The King and Bev and we have no fullback because we decided we didn't need to develop one?

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Tupou is a middle forward.

We should always be trying to get the best players in every position whether it be from our local competitions are external signings. There's no way we'd "not worry about developing a fullback for a while". You contradict yourself a bit there, you said previously that we can take advantage of the junior system by going with them instead of getting into a bidding war to retain the more senior players. What happens in the future when we get into a bidding war for The King and Bev and we have no fullback because we decided we didn't need to develop one?

That's all fair enough...you certainly try to develop and keep players in all positions. But, at the end of the day, there's a salary cap for senior footy, and if you've got 2 equally promising players in different positions/roles, and they are each offered generous deals at other clubs you surely have to consider the balance of your senior squad when deciding how to respond.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

There is also some limit on spending (and therefore recruitment/retention) in the lower grades. The NRL 'development squad' probably put the brakes on junior spending even further.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So our SG Ball side won the comp and the national championship last year. But for all their talent I would be surprised if more than half a dozen genuine first graders came out of that squad.

As an example, the 2006 Panthers SG Ball side won the comp, and only these blokes went on to play first grade:

Junior Tia Kilifi (10 NRL games)
Michael Jennings (235 NRL games)
Tim Grant (184 NRL games)
Lancen Joudo (3 NRL games)
Shane Blackett (1 ESL game)
Siosaia Vave (95 NRL games)
Willie Isa (6 NRL games, 151 ESL games)
Masada Iosefa (57 NRL games)
Mitch Cahalane (4 ESL games)

I chose the 2006 SG Ball premiers because the oldest of them would be 30 this year and the youngest about 28, so if they were going to play first grade they would already have done it. Also because I go for Penrith.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

So our SG Ball side won the comp and the national championship last year. But for all their talent I would be surprised if more than half a dozen genuine first graders came out of that squad.

As an example, the 2006 Panthers SG Ball side won the comp, and only these blokes went on to play first grade:

Junior Tia Kilifi (10 NRL games)
Michael Jennings (235 NRL games)
Tim Grant (184 NRL games)
Lancen Joudo (3 NRL games)
Shane Blackett (1 ESL game)
Siosaia Vave (95 NRL games)
Willie Isa (6 NRL games, 151 ESL games)
Masada Iosefa (57 NRL games)
Mitch Cahalane (4 ESL games)

I chose the 2006 SG Ball premiers because the oldest of them would be 30 this year and the youngest about 28, so if they were going to play first grade they would already have done it. Also because I go for Penrith.

Yeh, but surely half of Penrith is in jail by the time they're 22? Obviously, that's not a career stopper, but it can't help.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Looking at the 2010 Roosters SG Ball premiers (because I go for the Roosters too, but mostly because I was able to find their team), there are only five blokes that have played a full season in first grade (including Miller's ESL career):

Tautau Moga (59 NRL games)
Cheyse Blair (74 NRL games)
Asipeli Fine (8 NRL games)
Jacob Miller (9 NRL games, 93 ESL games)
Kane Evans (74 NRL games)
Brendon Newton (1 ESL game)
Boyd Cordner (126 NRL games)

The oldest of these merkins are only 26 this year, with the youngest about 24. There might be a couple more NRL debutants from this team but probably not. Anyone likely to have a long (100+ games) NRL career would certainly have debuted already.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

That's all fair enough...you certainly try to develop and keep players in all positions. But, at the end of the day, there's a salary cap for senior footy, and if you've got 2 equally promising players in different positions/roles, and they are each offered generous deals at other clubs you surely have to consider the balance of your senior squad when deciding how to respond.

My issue was with gouldy's hypocrisy saying we can probably not worry about developing a fullback for a few years as we already have Gutherson and French but earlier on saying we can let go of either Moses or Norman if the price was too high as we have Dylan Brown coming through.

To say we don't have to worry about developing a fullback from the junior grades just because we have strong players in that position in first grade is ridiculous.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Not necessarily. I’d say that by the time they’re in SG Ball, all the potential NRL players are known, and clubs would already be working hard to recruit and retain them. This would go some way to distributing the talent, but mostly it would mean that NRL clubs would know they can only have three or four future NRL players in each age group, so a maximum of 18 or so from Harold Matts through to Flegg.

So you’re right that this could mean a club has an upcoming NRL player at every position in its pipeline, but a third of these would be eligible for under 16s, with another third in SG Ball. Even most Flegg graduates aren’t ready to walk straight into an NRL top 30 squad, much less the top 17.

Sometimes you just need to match big offers at some positions, while hopefully being able to save money at others (because you have a young bloke ready to move from NRL backup or even Flegg to top 17).

 

[hineyrulz]

My issue was with gouldy's hypocrisy saying we can probably not worry about developing a fullback for a few years as we already have Gutherson and French but earlier on saying we can let go of either Moses or Norman if the price was too high as we have Dylan Brown coming through.

To say we don't have to worry about developing a fullback from the junior grades just because we have strong players in that position in first grade is ridiculous.

I'd argue anything posted from Gouldyhasabiggen111 is ridiculous.

 

[rugby league fan]

Some fair points above.
Our club is in an extraordinary position inrelation to junior development and future Nrl stars.
Most clubs will be very lucky to have 1 or 2 players a year progress or be identified as a potential Nrl players.
The biggest headache for our club is knowing which ones we keep and which ones to let go.
I had a conversation with Anthony Field not long ago and he indicated the amount of talent that is in this junior club at present is mind blowing and un herd of.
Never has he ever seen so many players coming through a club at the same time.
Look at our teams

You try and pick the players you will keep and who you think will make it. Very hard thing to do.!

Jersey Flegg - Fonua, Dunster, Parry, Aukafolou, Tui, Tipari, Brown, Salmon, Mahoney, Topou, Cronin, Salesi, Keppie, F Utoikamanu, Dresler, Valu, Kaufusi,

SG Ball - Jp Norah, W Kei, Field, Schneider, Harris, S Utoikamanu, Tasipale, Doorey, Hughes, Hollis,

Sorry if I have forgotten anyone, I'm just trying to make a point how hard it will be to decide who stays and who goes.
Obviously a determining factor would be who is currently playing 1st grade and how old those players are.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

I had a conversation with Anthony Field not long ago and he indicated the amount of talent that is in this junior club at present is mind blowing and un herd of.

Well done.

 

[rugby league fan]

Well done.

.?

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

.?

I thought it was a reference to Bovine University.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I reckon by the time they're turning 20 I can pick the potential first graders. And not by watching them play, but just following their milestones (age at NYC/Flegg debut, junior Origin teams, etc).

Early last year I tipped the four graduates that would pick up NRL contracts for 2018 (Aukafolau, Leleisiuao, Dargan and Stone), and there's no guarantee any of these will play more than a dozen NRL games. I knew Tonise and Layoun wouldn't, and I was surprised Dean Matterson got a contract with the Chooks.

Of the current youngsters (born in '98 or later), we know some are already near certainties to pick up top 30 contracts, because there is the development squad list. Mahoney (20 this year) and Salmon (19) are sure to be on full time contracts in 2019. It doesn't take a genius to tip these two. Plus strong rumours that Keppie (20) has signed with Manly.

The other near certainties to score an NRL contract in the next year or two are:

Afualo (19)
Brown (18)

After these five it gets harder. Of the rest, the ones I would say are most likely to end up on NRL contracts are:

Dresler (20)
Kaufusi (19)
Schneider (18)
Tupou (20)

Three of these are middle forwards, and probably the reason we couldn't/wouldn't match Manly for Keppie. Finally, these guys are possibles for getting NRL contracts within the next two years:

Aukafolau (19)
Cronin (19)
Dunster (19)
Fonua (19)
Taipari (19)

The following dudes are 18 this year, with a bit of hype but not quite the credentials of Brown and Schneider. I wouldn't be surprised if any of them ended up with NRL contracts in the next 3-4 years but it's too soon to say:

Field
Kei
Nohra
Utoikamanu

 

[T-Boon]

Parramatta have benefited from Newcastles failures to recruit, retain and manage players correctly.
I'm sure there have been more but recent players that come to mind are
Jesse Cronin
Kyle Schneider
Harry Duggan
David Hollis
Charlie Murray
Henry Halll

Mitchell Johnson

 

[rugby league fan]

For anyone wanting to watch today's game.
SG Ball
Livestream
Parramatta v West Coast
Kick off 2pm Our time
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...ArNE9o5l5_xV5WfJlB-VEdWQMM_rDGB1JGl61M3PY&s=1

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

.?

They're referring to the content of another thread (the 2018 Salary Cap Info one), which has turned into 6 pages of puns about cows, bulls, beef, steaks and anything else vaguely related to cows.

 

[Twizzle]

a legal live stream ?

gee, didn't think they existed

 

[Belmore_boys]

Mahoney Afualo Utoikimanu Brown Schneider out of the current bunch i think will pick up nrl contracts
Because they have an x factor the rest are awesome players that work well within a system
And just wondering if there's any truth cabra JRLFC are the new feeders for Canterbury bulldogs im aware cabra had a relationship with cronulla

 

[ALX25]

Hughes very impressive so far. If Keppie is leaving, no need to look anywhere.