Armchair Coach/Selector time

[Chipmunk]

I guess my point is there's no good reason to give a player $100k if he's not worth it. You need 26 such players and you might have to make do with them all being worth $150k or even $200k.

That said, I reckon the following would all be on no more than $100k.

Aukafolau (dev contract)
Davis
Gennings
Gower
Leleisiuao (dev contract)
Mahoney (dev contract)
Niukore (dev contract)
Salmon (probable dev contract)
Smith
Stone (dev contract)

In the context of the salary cap there's no difference between $75k and 100k, though the difference in quality between the two price points could be significant.

In addition, these guys would be earning less than the $300k mean (IMO):

Alvaro
Auva'a
French
Hoffman
King
Matagi
Pritchard
Terepo
Vave
Williams

That leaves these merkins on more than mean, in some cases more than double:

Brown
Edwards
Evans
Gutherson
Hayne
Mannah
Ma'u
Mennings
Moeroa
Moses
Norman
Scott
Takairangi

I think we should spend a maximum of $1million on players 21 to 30, probably $750k on 16 to 20 and $1 million on 11 to 15.

That means $6.75 millon for our Top 10.

Our Squad balance is not even remotely close to this, but I dare say the last 3 Premiers isn't far off.

 

[Gronk]

I got nothing. So many players out of form. What do you do. It starts with defence and discipline.

Players dropping off tackles and giving away penalties/possession need a holiday at Ringrose.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

I think our biggest problem is that we can't score tries. One or two last night would have changed the composure of the game when the momentum was swinging our way. Our defense isn't that horrible (although, like Gronk says above, our discipline is).

So, basically, to make it as simple as possible...

Drop Norman.

Gutherson to five-eighth, Hoffman to the back. Probably don't have much choice but to leave French on the wing until Hayne comes back.

 

[Gronk]

I think our biggest problem is that we can't score tries. One or two last night would have changed the composure of the game when the momentum was swinging our way. Our defense isn't that horrible (although, like Gronk says above, our discipline is).

So, basically, to make it as simple as possible...

Drop Norman.

Gutherson to five-eighth, Hoffman to the back. Probably don't have much choice but to leave French on the wing until Hayne comes back.

I can’t believe how have lost the wonderful set play shape that we had in 2016/17. They are like lost sheep.

 

[hineyrulz]

We just continually lose the ruck which causes us to give penalties and only tires us out even more, it’s a snowball effect.

 

[Gronk]

We just continually lose the ruck which causes us to give penalties and only tires us out even more, it’s a snowball effect.

Yes quick play the balls and poor marker D help teams get a roll on. Also when we have the ball, why does not Kaysa dart out and steal 10 and have merkins in support. Their nuffy hooker carved us.

 

[Joely01]

This team is an embarrassment!
Mannah, Terepo, Alvaro, Avaua and Gennings can all go.
Gutho captain!
Scott needs to start (only forward having a go apart from Brown)
Go after Fonua or a similar current reserve grader ASAP so we can get a big body on the wing.
The discipline now is a massive issue, and I said it after round 2. It speaks volumes of a lazy and don’t give a s**t attitude when you give so many penalties away each week. And instead of fixing it our players just sit there arguing with the ref. Focus on fixing it, not arguing you clowns!

 

[Gronk]

This team is an embarrassment!
Mannah, Terepo, Alvaro, Avaua and Gennings can all go.
!

Mannah had best on ground stats last night. Alvaro worked hard made good yards and tackled his heart out.

Gennings is solid but not Semi. Is hardly the problem. The try scored last night by long pass from BJ at dummy half was hardly his fault. His team mates left him isolated.

 

[Joely01]

Mannah had best on ground stats last night. Alvaro worked hard made good yards and tackled his heart out.

Gennings is solid but not Semi. Is hardly the problem. The try scored last night by long pass from BJ at dummy half was hardly his fault. His team mates left him isolated.

And that’s the problem...
Well done.
Games aren’t won off stats.
They offer nothing. Get gang tackled cause they never look to offload or try and break a tackle.
And very lazy in D.
Watch the first try again Mannah stops Running and is part of the reason why there is such a big gap for Austin to run through.

Continue to be happy with players stats, it gets you nowhere.

 

[Gronk]

And that’s the problem...
Well done.
Games aren’t won off stats.
They offer nothing. Get gang tackled cause they never look to offload or try and break a tackle.
And very lazy in D.
Watch the first try again Mannah stops Running and is part of the reason why there is such a big gap for Austin to run through.

Continue to be happy with players stats, it gets you nowhere.

We’ll agree to disagree then.

We get into the red zone and we can’t score points.

We give piggy back penalties away far too often.

We allow teams to get quick turnover and marker defence is poor.

Far more important than focusing on Manah and Alvaro IMHO.

 

[Twizzle]

but Gutho was going to be our saviour

 

[hineyrulz]

We’ll agree to disagree then.

We get into the red zone and we can’t score points.

We give piggy back penalties away far too often.

We allow teams to get quick turnover and marker defence is poor.

Far more important than focusing on Manah and Alvaro IMHO.

They aren’t totally responsible but they are part of the problem. We continually lose the ruck and they are two of our front rowers.

 

[emjaycee]

The thing is you're talking about signing all these players from other clubs. It's a lot of players, and their own clubs will be offering at least what they're worth. If they're being offered what they're worth to stay, how much would we need to offer to get them to leave? The answer is more-than-they're-worth. You just can't afford to pay overs for too many players in your squad. Make the call. Prop, wing and hooker are the three players we need to bring in from outside. But how many of our current squad are on overs? Jennings, Norman, Moses and Ma'u are all strong possibilities. Plus we have three blokes whose best position is fullback - a fairly expensive position.

Overs we have i reckon are Mannah, Scott and Mennings.

 

[Happy MEel]

Overs we have i reckon are Mannah, Scott and Mennings.

We can simply not re-sign Scott at the end of the year which solves that one, I’d try to offload Mau, Norman and possibly French, but we’re probably stuck with Mannah until his contract is up as no one is likely to pay the overs to take him off our hands.

 

[Noise]

Just had a look at the stats. Mannah has only 3 tackle busts all year. Alvaro has 1 tackle bust. The problem with these 2 is they are piss easy to tackle.

 

[Gronk]

Just had a look at the stats. Mannah has only 3 tackle busts all year. Alvaro has 1 tackle bust. The problem with these 2 is they are piss easy to tackle.

Matagi was channeling Fui last year. WTF has happened to him.

 

[Joely01]

We’ll agree to disagree then.

We get into the red zone and we can’t score points.

We give piggy back penalties away far too often.

We allow teams to get quick turnover and marker defence is poor.

Far more important than focusing on Manah and Alvaro IMHO.

They are quite a large part of the problem at the moment

 

[Noise]

Matagi was channeling Fui last year. WTF has happened to him.

We need 1 of either Matagi or Vave in the side for some impact in the middle. Evans, Mannah and Alvaro do not provide it and Brown can't be expected to do all the tackle busting on his own....particularly when he is the only one playing big minutes

 

[Matty Bhoy]

I’m not sure I’ve ever been more depressed at the state of our team and as an Eels fan, that speaks volumes. Bevan French absolutely can not keep his spot next week. You can’t return two runs and expect to play NRL the following week... surely?

 

[Gronk]

I’m not sure I’ve ever been more depressed at the state of our team and as an Eels fan, ?

Oh rock bottom is far worse than this. At least we have an upside compared to the days when Corey Pearson was our 6.

Bring back Brian Smith, as some here say.