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6 eels juniors in granny this weekend

Pierced Soul

First Grade
Messages
9,202
They are also rubbish at developing the players they do keep.

i rememebr Phil Gould saying this a few years ago - they lose players who go and develop themselves at other club, then the eels spend heaps more to buy them back.

every club has juionrs they lsoe for whatever reason or let slip past but i think parra may have a knack for doing it more than other clubs
 

firechild

First Grade
Messages
8,097
David Williams was looking at giving up playing rugby league when he was at Parra. If Manly didn't sign him, that would have been the end of his career. Within 12 months he was a premiership winning Australian representative. Parra bought Jeff Robson from Manly and let Manly come in and buy Hodkinson (admittedly he was untested and still a year or 2 away from playing 1st grade but that's where talent recognition comes in).
 
Messages
3,741
Bred not bought.


But seriously, Parramatta have so much talent in there junior ranks, its shocking that they haven't been able to take advantage of it.
 

firechild

First Grade
Messages
8,097
According to the SMH, Buhrer and Robinson weren't considered good enough to stay at Parra. While the jury may still be out on Robinson, I think Parra well and truly have egg on their faces with respect to Buhrer. He's still a rookie but he has shown that he has massive potential and can be used just about anywhere on the field with the exception of fullback or prop.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...s-all-the-way-to-homebush-20110927-1kvjb.html
 

H.H

Juniors
Messages
1,294
Off the top of my head

James Maloney
Jamie Buhrer
Tony Williams
Feleti Mateo
Krisnan Inu

don't know the other one.

EDIT: Tim Robinson
So what constitutes a local junior these days?

I could be wrong but I thought Maloney was from Orange and Lyon from Wee Waa?

Easts are always slammed for their lack of juniors, but under this definition we can claim Minichiello, Perrett, SKD, Pearce, FPN, Mose, Friend, Kennedy, Aubusson and others.

This is great.....we're flush with local juniors!!!
 

badav

Bench
Messages
2,601
In fairness to Parramatta on this one
- Tony Williams got offered big money after playing hardly any games
- Inu seemed to clock off and didn't look like he was going anywhere

Not sure what happened with Mateo at Parramatta though. I've seen some Parra guys on here say he wasn't worth $400K to them, but the best backrowers in the game can get that, and the way Parramatta played in attack this year Mateo would have been worth half a million and then some to them.

But yes, Parramatta has got one of the best junior bases in the league, what they need to do to turn that into success remains a mystery.
 
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firechild

First Grade
Messages
8,097
In fairness to Parramatta on this one
- Tony Williams got offered big money after playing hardly any games

Actually, he was offered decent money before he had played any games. He wasn't signed until he had played a couple but he had agreed to terms before making his debut. Unfortunately for Parra, Manly could see what they couldn't. It still goes to show that Parra don't have a clue when it comes to a players worth once they have been developed.
 

PARRA_FAN

Coach
Messages
18,280
In fairness to Parramatta on this one
- Tony Williams got offered big money after playing hardly any games
- Inu seemed to clock off and didn't look like he was going anywhere

Not sure what happened with Mateo at Parramatta though. I've seen some Parra guys on here say he wasn't worth $400K to them, but the best backrowers in the game can get that, and the way Parramatta played in attack this year Mateo would have been worth half a million and then some to them.

But yes, Parramatta has got one of the best junior bases in the league, what they need to do to turn that into success remains a mystery.

You're right about Inu, he was awful in 2010

Williams was offered a big contract for someone who never played FG.

As for Maloney, wouldnt class him as a junior but he spent two years at Parra very promising, but Melbourne aka the cheats offered Maloney a big contract like Tony Williams'. Unfortunatley we couldnt keep him, so Melbourne only had him for a season then punted him to the Warriors.

Its debatable with Mateo, yes he was offered a big deal with the Warriors, but Parramatta couldve kept Mateo had we known about Tahu's walk out of his contract and Osbourne not wasting his time trying to sign Quade Cooper.

I wouldve wanted to see Tim Robinson stay at Parramatta just like his brother, but unfortunately we couldnt keep him.

Hopefully next year it'll change with our new development program.
 

1 Eyed TEZZA

Coach
Messages
12,420
In fairness to Parramatta on this one
- Tony Williams got offered big money after playing hardly any games
- Inu seemed to clock off and didn't look like he was going anywhere

Not sure what happened with Mateo at Parramatta though. I've seen some Parra guys on here say he wasn't worth $400K to them, but the best backrowers in the game can get that, and the way Parramatta played in attack this year Mateo would have been worth half a million and then some to them.

But yes, Parramatta has got one of the best junior bases in the league, what they need to do to turn that into success remains a mystery.

Manly signed T rex before he made his debut at Parra. Inu just wasn't putting in.

As for Mateo, put simply, if we kept him we would not have signed Sandow or Tonga. We would have been shit this year with or without Mateo. I feel more comfortable with a more rounded roster now, even at the expense of Mateo. (if he were willing to stay for what we offered, great, stay)
 
Messages
3,097
All of them got good money and the opportunity to play first grade regularly. They would not get that if they stayed at the Eels.

A nothing story........
 

B-Tron 3000

Juniors
Messages
1,803
The problem for the Parra club is that they have no idea who they should keep and who they should discard. They are also rubbish at developing the players they do keep.

This isn't exactly true, but has some merit.

Since Brian Smith left (he was/is great at developing player's skills, he built the team up a few times) we haven't done so well at development and/or keeping the right people.

However, in 09 only 4 players in the GF debuted elsewhere. That tells you that the "system" was doing something right.

But yes, Parramatta has got one of the best junior bases in the league, what they need to do to turn that into success remains a mystery.
We need to have a top quality halfback. Simple really. We can develop all the centres, fullbacks and forwards we like, without a halfback / five-eighth it's pointless.

Next year we've bought a decent halfback, and unfortunately we had to let a great attacking backrower go to be able to afford a decent halfback. So we'll see how that turns out.


** Also, if we're talking about parra not turning their juniors into success, let's not foget that in both 07 and 09 we were the closest team to beating Melbourne, and the cheating merkins also knocked us out of teh race in 06, so we could very well be talking about a club that has won two premierships recently. Then we'd all be singing a different tune - it'd be the old "the salary cap pulls apart successful teams" claim instead of "Parra, the team that can't keep their juniors".
 
Messages
10,455
As for Maloney, wouldnt class him as a junior but he spent two years at Parra very promising, but Melbourne aka the cheats offered Maloney a big contract like Tony Williams'

Really? I would've thought Maloney was on SFA. And absolutely no way would his figure have been in the same ballpark as T-Rex's. No chance.
 

firechild

First Grade
Messages
8,097
This isn't exactly true, but has some merit.

Since Brian Smith left (he was/is great at developing player's skills, he built the team up a few times) we haven't done so well at development and/or keeping the right people.

However, in 09 only 4 players in the GF debuted elsewhere. That tells you that the "system" was doing something right.

You're right, to a point. Parra has a wealth of juniors almost unmatched in the NRL. Since 2001, Parra have really done very little outside 2005 and 2009. In 2009 Parra won 12, lost 11 and drew one in the regular season. They did make the GF but that took their season tally to 15 wins, 1 draw and 12 losses, still only marginally better than a 50% record.

So the fact that they only had 4 players that debuted elsewhere means they are generally loyal to their players, regardless of whether they are performing or not.
 
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