The sudden realisation...

[Mr_Knightside]

I've always been a defender of Mullen, at his best he was one of the best halves in the comp but lack of consistency both game to game and even first half to second half was his biggest downfall.

The timing of his career was pretty unlucky, his debut was when a lot of club legends from our golden generation had either retired, left the club or were on the verge of retirement and then he was left to carry the team over the next decade whilst being labelled "the next Joey" which can't have made it any easier for him.

On top of all of that the club was an absolute shambles through much of that time and our recruitment and retention was an absolute joke, players who would be lucky to make the bench at other clubs were given upgrades year after year just to be shit on the field and our club just became a good retirement home for guys who weren't being re-signed elsewhere.

So it's not as if Mullen ever got an extended period of time playing in a really good team, maybe towards the back end of '06 when we made the top 4 but even that was only one season and he didn't even get picked in that team unless there was an injury. The rest of the time since then he's played in a team with no dominant forward leaders and usually behind a powder-puff forward pack (guys like Dan Tolar and Antonio Kaufusi being starters in our pack still gives me chills) and even then I still feel like we would have picked up a couple more spoons during that time if you take him out of that side.

The guy has always been branded a failure or a wasted talent but to be fair to him he played over 200 NRL games which is still better than most. If he had landed at a well run club from the outset (Broncos, Storm, Roosters etc.) then I have no doubt he could have become a genuine superstar but unfortunately that didn't happen.

Hopefully now that our club is in better hands and we are making some good steps forward then some of our younger guys (Ponga, Lamb & the Saifitis spring to mind) will fare a bit differently and hopefully in a decade from now we'll be talking about how great their careers have been for us and hopefully at rep level too.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Im sure the 750k that mullen was earning per year will help ease the pain of not reaching great heights.

 

[mozza91]

Im sure the 750k that mullen was earning per year will help ease the pain of not reaching great heights.

Not sure about that. He could of coasted for a couple of years constantly injured and continued to get the cash but he chose to take a massive risk to try and get on the park. I can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. The bloke damn near crippled himself for the club and rightly or wrongly will be remembered by most as a cheat.

 

[Dave_]

Mullen had a lot working against him... more than any other player I reckon. Terrible injuries, the next Joey tag, a dud forward pack all his career, a dud side in general, playing out of position all the time, no decent halves partner... ever, Blues selectors letting him down...the list goes on.

That said, I was well over holding my breath for him to come good by the time we speared him. The ultimate case of "what could've been..."

 

[perverse]

Not sure about that. He could of coasted for a couple of years constantly injured and continued to get the cash but he chose to take a massive risk to try and get on the park. I can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. The bloke damn near crippled himself for the club and rightly or wrongly will be remembered by most as a cheat.

We would have a lot more games during his tenure at the Knights if everyone around him had played with even 80% the effort he played with, too.

I'll always defend the bloke as a player, even if he didn't make it to the heights we thought him capable. I don't believe it was all on him that he didn't reach those heights. His career is a bit of a modern day NRL tragedy, really.

 

[gUt]

your young forwards now have 2-3 seasons under their belts, as a unit. Plug in a good halfback and a fullback who appears to be a special talent with plenty to prove - good stuff.

 

[Pedge1971]

Truthfully, we’d look even more dangerous if we had Mullo pairing Pearce instead of Watson.

No. Mullen is no longer part of. I think the suspension just accelerated the culture clean out to be honest.

Not his fault but the coach wanted and needed to move forward.

 

[Pedge1971]

Mullo is actually a really good example of how lucky or unlucky talented young players can be depending on what type of environment they come into.



He got thrown into the deep end as an 18 year old when we were getting smashed every week, he was incredibly small and his body and confidence took a lot of hits they shouldn't have at that age. We didn't have a choice at the time but then when Joey retired less than 2 years later he was expected to do it all himself from that point on. He was only 19-20 but we never tried to get another experienced half in there to help him keep developing. It was just all handed over to him. We heard all these stories of him having to have 9 injections into his sternum before games because the club knew we were no hope without him. What kind of irresponsible management was that? No wonder his body fell apart.

The likes of the Saifiti brothers, Sione, Lamb, etc. were thrown into a similar situation 2 years ago when we again didn't have a choice. The difference was that Brown acknowledged from the get-go that they were forced into a position they weren't ready for well before their time and he went out and recruited experienced blokes to help them learn as soon as we possibly had the means. It was eye-opening just listening to Brown talk on NRL 360 about it earlier. He was saying he brought in Heighington and Lillyman to help the Saifitis learn, he brought in Pearce to help Lamb, etc. They didn't just recruit to fill holes, they recruited to support the young blokes that were already here busting their arses for the past 2 years.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that I bet Mullo wished he was 10 years younger and had have debuted in the environment Brown and co have created now. I mean Mullen never had Ponga like potential but he was still pretty f**king good when he wasn't completely crippled by pressure or injury.

Totally agree. The club let Jarrod down. But habits learned are hard to bite and whilst sad, I have no doubt he had offers to leave over the years.

I respect his service. But no ways would I let him near the player group now without some solid checks and balances.

Completely agree with posts above, our club culture contributed a lot to Jarrods not reaching the heights we thought he would. But life is full of choices, he took marquee money to stay in Newy on a good life and he needs to own the career consequences.

He could have taken a challenge elsewhere and bettered himself.

 

[aqua_duck]

No offence to Watson or Lamb but if we had a 21-22 year old Mullen now we'd be a genuine contender

 

[Pedge1971]

No offence to Watson or Lamb but if we had a 21-22 year old Mullen now we'd be a genuine contender

Fair call. But the 26 yo Jarrod was sadly not the same player and carried a lot of baggage.

But as they say you make your own luck...

 

[aqua_duck]

Fair call. But the 26 yo Jarrod was sadly not the same player and carried a lot of baggage.

But as they say you make your own luck...

His career definitely stalled for a number of reasons, firstly injuries killed him, secondly we never really surrounded him with the best team for him to realise his potential and thirdly he allegedly didn't keep the best company off the field.