Remember The 2001 Eels And How Good They Were Going To Be?

[League Freak™]

Watching Parramatta games these days is just sad. Imagine what might have been...

Imagine being Brian Smith...

He spent years building a great side. He got close to a Grand Finals a few times....but just couldnt get his team over the last hurdle.

But 2001 was different.

In 2001 the Eels were one of the greatest sides in League history. Their attack was record breaking and while it got alot of attention, the real strength of the Eels was their defence.

Parramatta destroyed a number of teams and never looked like losing the title.

We all know what happened. One dreadfull half of football...and the rest is history. The Eels never recovered.


Now having said all that, remember how good we all thought the Eels would be? How many Premiership did you think they would win?


This isnt a thread about re-writing history. This isnt a thread about hindsight. I really want to know what you were thinking in 2001 about how good the Eels were going to be once it was all said and done.

Im not an Eels fan so Im not trying to scrape for some lost dream.


How did you think history was going to look at the Eels. Were they going to be one of the great sides of all time. Were they going to be a dominant champion for years to come.?

 

[weasel]

Eleven

 

[Matt23]

Under achievers who lost a grand final everyone (except Knights fans) expected them to win.

 

[League Freak™]

I thought they would win about 3 or 4.

I KNEW Jason Taylor was a terrible player to have if they wanted to win ANYTHING.

 

[t-ba]

They reminded me alot of the Eagles 1995 outfit. I thought they'd be a top side for a few years.

I thought they'd bounce back after the GF loss too...

 

[Kaz]

I went for none.

Any team with Brian Smith as coach will win NO Premierships.

 

[raz]

I knew it couldnt be a dynasty but i expected 1 or 2 but it ended up being one of the biggest disapointments plus the last two seasons.

 

[simon says]

I thought they were going to be there for quite a while.Most probably the best season by a team I have seen.Still scratching my head at how they lost the GF,and then crumbled the next year.Sometimes losing a GF can do that to ya.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

I went for none.

Any team with Brian Smith as coach will win NO Premierships.

Exactly, 3 Grand Final's and no premierships.

Couldve done it in 1993, St.George were favourites against Brisbane, but they weren't fired up for what was to be their title now that minor premiers Canterbury were knocked out, it was their chance, they weren't prepared for a rock solid Broncos line up that outclassed the Dragons on the day.

1992 was different St.George were a good team all year, but were lucky to make it, Illawarra was robbed the week before. Brisbane were always gonna beat the Dragons no matter what.

2001, Parramatta had just one game to prove they were premiers, they were a bit rusty the week before but knew they would bounce back from that they were the best team all year, but again like in 1993, they werent prepared for a fired up Knights team, they thought all they could do was just turn up. Didnt muscle up. And blew it.

Since then Parramatta hasnt been the same, if we kept some of our juniors instead of signing rejects, then we wouldve been a top side. Injuries killed 'em in 2002, but thats still no excuse now.

 

[Parra_Eels]

this might sound trivial but it was stage fright. the knights had many backing up from '97. i wonder if some were still eternally scarred from that! match ('98 preliminary vs canterbury) and losing to storm by 2 points. and then the broncos...

 

[Goleel]

I don't think they'd carry many scars from those games, simply because most of the 2001 side didn't play in the 98 and 99 semi finals, it would have been Cayless, Vella and Hindmarsh (who were rookies at the time) and that's about it. Amazing how the makeup of the side changed so much in 3 years, and now, 3 years on, the side looks completely different again, only Cayless, Hindmarsh, Vella, Wagon, Vaealiki and Burt left.

Smith's preparation for that 2001 grand final was messed up. The 'just another game' attitude, stuff that, its not just another game, its the bloody grand final! The only dead weight in the side (Alex Chan) was also a great reason for the loss, every other player in the team was top class, except Chan, who made two very nice errors in goalline defense. It might have been more, but I haven't watched that game since, and don't intend to. It was a great year, there were some great wins, they were a great side, probably the best I've seen, but it wont happen again for a long time.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

I don't think they'd carry many scars from those games, simply because most of the 2001 side didn't play in the 98 and 99 semi finals, it would have been Cayless, Vella and Hindmarsh (who were rookies at the time) and that's about it. Amazing how the makeup of the side changed so much in 3 years, and now, 3 years on, the side looks completely different again, only Cayless, Hindmarsh, Vella, Wagon, Vaealiki and Burt left.

Smith's preparation for that 2001 grand final was messed up. The 'just another game' attitude, stuff that, its not just another game, its the bloody grand final! The only dead weight in the side (Alex Chan) was also a great reason for the loss, every other player in the team was top class, except Chan, who made two very nice errors in goalline defense. It might have been more, but I haven't watched that game since, and don't intend to. It was a great year, there were some great wins, they were a great side, probably the best I've seen, but it wont happen again for a long time.

Yeah there was one bit it where Chan attempted to shoulder barge Kennedy close to the line, which lead to the Kennedy try 24-0. :x

I cant understand why Smith picked him in the GF, I recall the game before against Brisbane where he made some crucial errors, but Parra hung on to win 24-16. Unfortunatley for Danny Sullivan and Chad Robinson, who had blinders against the Warriors semi final, were both overlooked.

But there were others who had shockers that night.

 

[Big Panther Cool]

I'm still hoping to be able to attend the Ultimate Grand Final match one day - Penrith Panthers vs Parramatta Eels!!!!

 

[League Freak™]

For me the ultimate Grand Final was Roosters vs Panthers.


Im sure 90% of League fans just loved all the story lines involved in that game. East vs West, Silvertails vs Battlers, Champions vs New Challengers... you could go on and on.

 

[Raider_69]

i thought they would be good for 2 or 3

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Thinking about it now i'd thought 3 or 4??....Injuries in 2002 & 2003 destroyed us so did a massive turn over of players.

Our biggets loss was David Solomona & Ian Hindmarsh IMO.

 

[Iafeta]

I don't think they'd carry many scars from those games, simply because most of the 2001 side didn't play in the 98 and 99 semi finals, it would have been Cayless, Vella and Hindmarsh (who were rookies at the time) and that's about it. Amazing how the makeup of the side changed so much in 3 years, and now, 3 years on, the side looks completely different again, only Cayless, Hindmarsh, Vella, Wagon, Vaealiki and Burt left.

Smith's preparation for that 2001 grand final was messed up. The 'just another game' attitude, stuff that, its not just another game, its the bloody grand final! The only dead weight in the side (Alex Chan) was also a great reason for the loss, every other player in the team was top class, except Chan, who made two very nice errors in goalline defense. It might have been more, but I haven't watched that game since, and don't intend to. It was a great year, there were some great wins, they were a great side, probably the best I've seen, but it wont happen again for a long time.

Yeah there was one bit it where Chan attempted to shoulder barge Kennedy close to the line, which lead to the Kennedy try 24-0. :x

I cant understand why Smith picked him in the GF, I recall the game before against Brisbane where he made some crucial errors, but Parra hung on to win 24-16. Unfortunatley for Danny Sullivan and Chad Robinson, who had blinders against the Warriors semi final, were both overlooked.

But there were others who had shockers that night.

Are you sure Sullivan played in the semi against the Warriors???

Can't believe neither of those players were persevered with - Chad Robinson is a very talented player for mine, and I have this feeling at the Warriors in the next 2-3 years Danny Sullivan with begin to live ouy that untapped unbelievably enormous talent he has. If he's got enough guts to fight that tragic injury of his to play first grade for the Warriors two weeks ago, he's got the heart to be the cornerstone of a premiership and perhaps go onto representative duties.

 

[Parra_Eels]

i know jason cayless didn't play

 

[The Colonel]

Are you sure Sullivan played in the semi against the Warriors???

I think you'll find the player was Daniel Irvine as opposed to Danny Sullivan that was left on the bench.

I wish Parra had of perservered with Sullivan however the doctors basically said the chances of him playing again after his second knee injury in 12 months were close to nil after he contracted golden staph. It wasn't until they actually operated that they had realised that it wasn't as bad as first thought.

 

[parra_princess]

The thing is with Parra, we SHOULD have won it 1998, 1999 and 2001. So my answer is three. IMO we were capable of winning it every year in those I just mentioned. We beat the premiers in those three years and were always won of the heavy weights. Unfortunately the finals are what seperates the wheat from the chaff and we were shown that it takes a lot more to fulfil the premiership dream.

And as much as it pains me to say it, we will never win a comp with Brian Smith. Sure when he came to parra he got our assess off the bottom of the table, but its now time for someone to step in and take us beyond the phase of mediocrity, bring on the new era of Brett Kenny/Peter Sterling.

Now I don't want to re-live the days of being drop kicked in my f**king heart.