The dawn of a new era!

[Parraletic]

I think everyone is looking forward to a new start, we don't want to hear about the infighting we just want to support our team proudly like we have in the past. I love what BA had to say in his last interview & it looks like his the man to bring the pride back to our club.

C'mon you mighty Eels!

 

[MickRad]

Mate. Best post I have seen in ages.
Well written.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Since October 01 we have been f*cked save for 3 years when we suddenly kicked into life in July - 05 (Taylor), 07 (Hagan) and 09 (Ando). These 3 coaches did better than Smith in that JT debuted Hayne, and held the club together after Smith's tantrum, Hagan had us firing and not choking in September (F*cking Olympic Park being an inch wider and we win the comp - our backs were brilliant that year) .

Smith coached us in 2005 and got us the GF qualifier

 

[Loudstrat]

My thoughts on Fitzy to clarify - from 76-79 we had probably the 2nd best side in the comp.

From 81-86 we had the best team in the comp - and probably since.

Since then we have had too many down seasons for a club with our resources. Even at our best, we were always seemingly one gun player short of whoever ended up premiers. Since the in the first 13 post SL seasons we saw 9 different premiers, including f*cking Wests and Penrith ffs.

Who ran the club during those times? Fitzgerald.

 

[Loudstrat]

nice rant but.... i would've thought that a key part of what separates a good coach from the average ones is that a good coach can identify things to make good game plans.

Player man management - useless.
Recruitment - ok
Selections - abysmal. Anyone who lost form had 6 months notice before they were considered to be dropped.
24/7 "Are you focussed" texts
Whiteboards
Motivation for big games - utterly diabolical.

 

[strider]

the whiteboard comments never fail to crack me up :lol: :lol:

 

[spiderdan]

Player man management - useless.
Recruitment - ok
Selections - abysmal. Anyone who lost form had 6 months notice before they were considered to be dropped.
24/7 "Are you focussed" texts
Whiteboards
Motivation for big games - utterly diabolical.

the dude has his faults but he's hardly average. he made five grand finals in the space of 19 years (including esl), made a fair few average players look good and knows how to set up structures for depth and success.

2001 he should've had his first title but i think most of our players were a little complacent and thought it was a matter of turning up, combined with the fact andrew johns had a late season rest due to an injury which was a blessing as it allowed him to come back pretty fresh against a tired comp. anuone as good as him will carve it up if they are fairly fresh that late in the season, which is what he did.

2005 we were looking good but the problem i saw was that most of our players were too pumped, which can lead to poor performance and heaps of errors (look up the yerkes dodson inverted u)

my opinion is that brian smith is the type of guy that i'd want at the club to oversee pretty much everything while giving advice to the head coach about tactics when needed, but leaving the final decisions of running the team to the head coach, who would be someone that the players respond positively to.

 

[Eelogical]

I am not sold. The SS Eeltanic hit an iceberg some years ago. Only difference between this and the Titanic is that it has taken several years for the Eeltanic to flounder, and Captain Smith didn't go down with the ship. Lets move some more deckchairs around.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I didn't think that the Parramatta River got that cold. Are you sure it didn't just hit a shopping trolley?

 

[Eelogical]

I didn't think that the Parramatta River got that cold. Are you sure it didn't just hit a shopping trolley?

Maybe something more substantial.....a stolen Commodore driven into the river off James Ruse Drive(aka Rydalmere Avenue).

 

[Loudstrat]

I am not sold. The SS Eeltanic hit an iceberg some years ago. Only difference between this and the Titanic is that it has taken several years for the Eeltanic to flounder, and Captain Smith didn't go down with the ship. Lets move some more deckchairs around.

The future is yet to be revealed. Yet we have the resources - financial, juniors and supporters - to be one of the clubs always near the top. I think we have to be positive that we have finally got the crap behind us. Lets review this in 12 months. I'm damn certain we wont win another spoon for a long long time.

 

[Casper The Ghost]

however i agree with your sediments, its time to be positive.

Did he shit in his pants?
And if so what are you doing down there?

 

[Casper The Ghost]

I didn't think that the Parramatta River got that cold. Are you sure it didn't just hit a shopping trolley?

Something as piss weak as hitting a cigarette butt would have been sufficient.

 

[Loudstrat]

Now we are a full cigarette. We are tougher!

 

[Casper The Ghost]

Now we are a full cigarette. We are tougher!

OK, but will we get to be a Cuban Cigar?

 

[attamarrap]

OK, but will we get to be a Cuban Cigar?

Not sure but a cigarette is better than a crack pipe

 

[Daneel]

Not sure but a cigarette is better than a crack pipe

I don't think so. I see health warnings all over cigarette packets. Yet the crack I buy has no health warnings at all. It must be better for you.

 

[Schiltzenberger]

I'm normally just a voyeur around here, too many arguments with idiots years ago, and I often don't agree with Loudstrat.

I must say though, nice post and thank god someone is being positive for a change. I too saw this week as a major turning point for the Eels.

I agree with Smith's faults but he wasn't that bad a coach, the list of Smith's dodgy things is spot on but IMO he was a good coach that just got nervous before the big games and that rubbed off on his players. A few days before the 2001 GF he mentioned something in the papers about not being able to sleep, players don't want to read or hear that.

2005 he was unlucky though, correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that the year Hindy did his knee against the Broncos near the end of the season? Parra without Hindy back then were a bit like the Knights without Johns, not as extreme but similar.

Hiring Hagan was one the dumbest things the club has ever done.
I liked the Ando signing, but he was up against it from the get go with Mr Pirtek already pushing for Kearney.
I gave Kearney the benefit of the doubt after his first year, not a great record but the team looked better and they just had a lot of bad luck with a lot of close games. His 2nd year Parra went so far backward that he had to go.
Never liked Stuart as coach but just hoped he would fire up our marshmallow pack.

The Arthur signing I'm very happy with. I was ready to be dragged along watching a struggling Parra under Taylor for the next couple of years until the backflip. Then I felt like doing backflips.

I'm very optimistic about Parra's future now. Will we win the GF next year? doubt it.... make the top 4? probably not.... top 8? if we're lucky....
but modern day RL is so reliant on momentum and confidence, the answers to those questions could change by round 10 next year. If the coach builds the confidence and the team can get momentum early on then anything is possible.

 

[Wise Old Eel]

I'm normally just a voyeur around here, too many arguments with idiots years ago, and I often don't agree with Loudstrat.

I must say though, nice post and thank god someone is being positive for a change. I too saw this week as a major turning point for the Eels.

I agree with Smith's faults but he wasn't that bad a coach, the list of Smith's dodgy things is spot on but IMO he was a good coach that just got nervous before the big games and that rubbed off on his players. A few days before the 2001 GF he mentioned something in the papers about not being able to sleep, players don't want to read or hear that.

2005 he was unlucky though, correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't that the year Hindy did his knee against the Broncos near the end of the season? Parra without Hindy back then were a bit like the Knights without Johns, not as extreme but similar.

Hiring Hagan was one the dumbest things the club has ever done.
I liked the Ando signing, but he was up against it from the get go with Mr Pirtek already pushing for Kearney.
I gave Kearney the benefit of the doubt after his first year, not a great record but the team looked better and they just had a lot of bad luck with a lot of close games. His 2nd year Parra went so far backward that he had to go.
Never liked Stuart as coach but just hoped he would fire up our marshmallow pack.

The Arthur signing I'm very happy with. I was ready to be dragged along watching a struggling Parra under Taylor for the next couple of years until the backflip. Then I felt like doing backflips.

I'm very optimistic about Parra's future now. Will we win the GF next year? doubt it.... make the top 4? probably not.... top 8? if we're lucky....
but modern day RL is so reliant on momentum and confidence, the answers to those questions could change by round 10 next year. If the coach builds the confidence and the team can get momentum early on then anything is possible.

Well said, mate. You should post more often.

WOE

 

[Loudstrat]

Cheers. I used to post a bit few years ago, but those who wanted us anchored to Smith/Fitzy for the next 50 years picked on me too much lol.

That, plus many are closer to the club than I am, and I only really see my club through the media living so far away and without much disposable income in recent years.

Still, I have my copy of the "wonder years" novel to keep me warm over the summer months.

Re Smith - he was a good coach in that he seemed to mould struggling clubs into pro clubs. Those four season ending big game disasters though - 98, 99, 01 and 05 - just should not have happened under a coach able to get a side so deep into the finls so regularly. I still recall Mark Tooky doing a Footy Show thing during training for a finals match. Everyone he interviewed gave brief, positive comments as expected. Then he asked Smithy "How do you feel about our chances?". Smith replied "You are putting too much weight on" and walked of. If thats the "positive" input he gave his players in crucil times, no wonder they played like they were carrying the world! I noticed Cayless smile for the first time ever when the side scored in the finals series under Hagan. I still think that was our sharpest finals side in the last few decades. Yet 09 was simply a miracle on the back of Hayne and Fui.

We have been too good for too long to see this club descend into something resembling the long term squalor of pre-merger Wests and Pre-Rusty Souths. We dont need the massive business acumen like Easts do with Politis. We simply need a coach and board to set it up, start it up, maintain it and let it happen.

Its worth remembering that we could have been premiers in 98,99,01,05, 07 and 09.