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Stuart must share some of the blame for Eels' woes but wasn't equipped to do the job

El Diablo

Post Whore
Messages
94,107
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...nt-equipped-to-do-the-job-20130909-2tff4.html

Ricky Stuart must share some of the blame for Eels' woes but wasn't equipped to do the job

Date
September 9, 2013 - 1:29PM

Brad Walter
Chief Rugby League Writer

Winning Starts Monday

The Parramatta Eels under coach Ricky Stuart conceded 50 or points on four occasions in 2013.

The Parramatta Eels under coach Ricky Stuart conceded 50 or points on four occasions in 2013. Photo: Adam McLean

After being hailed as the best Parramatta coach since Jack Gibson when he signed a three year deal, Ricky Stuart's departure is set to be met with a bitter response from players, officials and fans amid claims the team has gone backwards in his first season.

But results aside, it is difficult for Stuart and other members of the coaching staff to measure exactly how bad the Eels side as they lack many of the resources that the top teams have.

Besides the disharmony in the team over Stuart's refusal to commit beyond this season after axing half the playing squad and the "dysfunctional" board he referred to following Sunday's 56-16 loss to Newcastle, the wooden spooners are being hampered by the worst facilities in the NRL.

Not only do the Eels train on a field adjoining Parramatta Stadium that is 70m x 40m, or about two thirds the standard 100m x 65m measurement for rugby league grounds, they have had to resort to running raffles to buy new training equipment.

Fairfax Media was told that Stuart and his staff had been unable to obtain funding for any basic infrastructure or technology, and a FirstBeat heart rate system described as the best of its kind was returned to the suppliers.

While some of the weights in the Wests Tigers gym are said to still be in pounds, the club at least has access to GPS, altitude training equipment and on field cameras for video review at their outdated Concord training base.

The Eels not only have to share the facilities at Parramatta Stadium with A-League's Western Sydney Wanderers, they have to book lanes in the ajoining public swimming pool for recovery sessions after matches, while their physio is located outside the stadium in the club's administration offices.

In contrast, Sydney Roosters even have access to an MRI machine at Allianz Stadium so muscle tears can be diagnosed almost immediately, while Melbourne, Cronulla and Canterbury have their own high performance centres.

South Sydney recently received funding to build one at Maroubra and Manly train at Narrabeen where the NSW Institute of Sport is located.

In the United States, the famed Notre Dame University identified the establishment of a high performance centre as essential to the success of their college football program.

Oregon University also recently unveiled a new Football Performance Centre, which includes a two-story weight room overlooking three practice fields.

The weights at the University of Kentucky even have the Wildcats logo on them, whereas some of those in the Eels gym have rust as they they are so old.

By failing to keep pace with other clubs, Parramatta's performances are getting worse and they won just four games this season - compared to six in 2012 when Stephen Kearney got the sack.

But at least during Kearney's two year reign, the worst roster in the NRL proved competitive in most games whereas this season they conceded 50 points or more in four of their 24 matches and Stuart must accept some responsibility for that.

Regardless of training facilities and board room politics, what happens on the field is usually determined by how good the players are and how much they want to play for their coach.

After telling up to 12 of his squad they were unwanted next season, Stuart lost the support of much of the team and his failure to pubicly or privately quash speculation he is heading to Canberra next season has created a climate of uncertainty for the players, staff, fans and new recruits due to join the club.

Should Stuart leave, there will be some glad to see him go but fixing up the mess at Parramatta is going to require more than just the appointment of a new coach.
 

spiderdan

Bench
Messages
3,743
i find it baffling that under brian smith our training facilities were among the best (if not the best) in the nrl. if the article is right about how crap our training, recovery and sports science facilities/departments, then the club needs to pull its finger out and sort things out.
 

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
19,581
. After being hailed as the best Parramatta coach since Jack Gibson when he signed a three year deal, Ricky Stuart's departure is set to be met with a bitter response from players, officials and fans amid claims the team has gone backwards in his first season.

He hasn't gone yet
 

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
19,581
Wasn't it only a few years ago we had an amazing state of the art running machine that could stimulate what Hindy did on the field? It was reported fui was using it to get fitter I think.
 
Messages
17,033
Rusty weights should not affect the way we defend. No excuses.

Saying that you'd think the leagues club could afford to fork out for some decent gun equipment and training facilities instead of funding that dumb useless club at dundas.
 

PARRA_FAN

Coach
Messages
16,988
After being hailed as the best Parramatta coach since Jack Gibson when he signed a three year deal, Ricky Stuart's departure is set to be met with a bitter response from players, officials and fans amid claims the team has gone backwards in his first season

:shock:

Not sure if it was Parra fans that quoted that.
 

natheel

Coach
Messages
12,137
Its just a bashing after bashing for the media. We are easy targets and its just not letting up. I think its going to be a long off season because I think more shit will be written about us despite what our club does to fix anything. Until another club has 3 bad seasons like we have we are targets for the media to shit on
 

Delboy

First Grade
Messages
6,810
Hey Jake. if we didn't have the Vikings then we would have the cash, but then we would still have most of the old board.

I heard their intention was to sell the redundant club and fund the football team, but they became important in the vote at the change of board and now we are stuck.

At least we have Parrafirst :(
 
Messages
12,134
even if there was some kind of secret deal between stuart and the raiders why not admit it?
the cats out of the bag now (if there was ever a bag and/or cat to begin with)
why not just say 'yeah its true im off at the end of the year'
 
Messages
17,033
Hey Jake. if we didn't have the Vikings then we would have the cash, but then we would still have most of the old board.

I heard their intention was to sell the redundant club and fund the football team, but they became important in the vote at the change of board and now we are stuck.

At least we have Parrafirst :(

Yeah I heard the Vikings members voted for FITZYFIRST just to save their club. Sharpie did a good but sneaky deal!!
 
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