Daily Telegraph August 10, 2001

[JKS]

Smart buying reason behind Eels' success

PARRAMATTA coach Brian Smith has finally revealed the secret of the Eels' record breaking success this season - smart recruitment.
His comments come as the Eels are on the verge of becoming the greatest pointscoring side in rugby league history after more than doubling their tryscoring strike rate from last season.
"The new players we've brought in have made a huge difference, there's no denying that," Smith said.
"We deliberately recruited that way. We felt we had pretty good defence at the end of last season but what we needed to do was complement that with some attack."
The Eels have scored 124 tries this year - 67 more than they had after 22 rounds last season and are currently siting on 732 points. They now appear poised to break Brisbane's record of 812 points in a season set in 1998.
Asked about the history making year. Smith said: "It's a tremendous achievement for our club. A lot of people say we should not get too carried away with records until the season is over but I think that's wrong. It's a real credit to our team and something they should be proud of. Defence is a team aspect and for us attack is at the moment too. Right across the board all the guys are making a contribution."
Smith believes the influence of veteran playmakers Jason Taylor and Michael Buettner has added an extra dimension to the Eels. Then enter the young guns Brad Drew and David Solomona - arguably the best purchases made by any club last season - and you have a potent attacking artillery.
Not content with what has been a remarkable year for Parramatta, the Eels have already begun recruiting for next season. They have bought Sharks five-eighth Adam Dykes and fringe Roosters Jamie Russo and Dean Widders.

Wouldn't have been many BS knockers back then ...

 

[The Engineers Room]

Yes but Smith is still searching for those budget buys again and they are not coming off.

Another note is that he is still tactically the same but the game has gone past him.

 

[parra-matters]

Yeah Smith was good then but now?
Well you be the judge.

 

[JKS]

I guess the point is that there's some excellent talent coming through the ranks. Couple that with some smart buying and we could truly be back on the radar in the not to distant future - the emphasis is on 'smart buying'.

 

[Twizzle]

Those were the good old days.

"the greastest point scoring side in Rugby League history"

 

[Pazza]

what wrong with our recruitment?

We have picked up some real stars in Cannings, Stapleton and Grothe. Mckinnon, muspratt, langi and thorman have been fine. The only dodgy purchase parramatta made was Wise Kataverata.

 

[Eelectrica]

I think our purchases for this year for the most part have played the role they are supposed too. Injury has robbed us of a couple of players when they were starting to look good.

I can see our long term starting forward pack being:
8. Cannings
9. Morris
10. Tsoulos
11. Armitt
12. Cayless
13. Hindmarsh

If we could develop and keep that pack intact for a few years, I could see us being a force again.

 

[AlexTheEel]

Yeah Smith was good then but now?
Well you be the judge.

You cant be a good coach one day and a bad coach the next. He either is good and always has been or isn't good and never has been.

 

[El Diablo]

Yeah Smith was good then but now?
Well you be the judge.

You cant be a good coach one day and a bad coach the next. He either is good and always has been or isn't good and never has been.

Why not?

If you don't keep up with the times it's quite easy to do so.

 

[parra pete]

Yes but Smith is still searching for those budget buys again and they are not coming off.

Another note is that he is still tactically the same but the game has gone past him.

Brad Drew, Adam Mogg, Alex Chan, Lee Hopkins, Shayne Dunley, Scott Donald, Craig Stapleton, Fui Fui Moi Moi, >>>>not bad buys, These guys are now making a living out of Rugby League thanks to the opportunity given to them by Brian Smith...
Would be pulling beer, cutting nuts outta sheep, or chipping burrs if it wasn't for his keen eyer for talent. They should say a prayer before they go to bed EVERY night for the opportunity he provided.
True. Facts ARE facts..
On their behalf I say THANK YOU Brian..You have created another batch of good footballers AND good citizens.

 

[strider]

what wrong with our recruitment?

We have picked up some real stars in Cannings, Stapleton and Grothe. Mckinnon, muspratt, langi and thorman have been fine. The only dodgy purchase parramatta made was Wise Kataverata.

Exactly!!!

Wise didn't set the world on fire, he dropped balls and got caught out of posistion like so many others have been - maybe he's not up to 1st grade standard.....but lets face it Wise is probably not making a mint.....someone bagged Smithy for not getting Amos Roberts instead of Wise - does that person know any of the facts of the situation? Are their contracts even comparable (I doubt it!), did Amos see the chance to go to the Premiers and jump at it above monetary rewards (yes - I saw an interview with him).

 

[stuke]

one thing to look at from that article is that only 2 players from that article remain at the club - dykes and widders. the others have left for various reasons but 2001 was an exceptional year that will be a long time to be repeated by any club.

yeah smith wouldn't have had any knockers then....but that was 2001. we are now in 2004 and sadly we seem to be going backwards.

its alright to compliment the team with a few selective buys in order to finetune it...unfortunately we seem to be in need of a major overhaul....players, coaching staff and tactics.

 

[Pazza]

I think our purchases for this year for the most part have played the role they are supposed too. Injury has robbed us of a couple of players when they were starting to look good.

I can see our long term starting forward pack being:
8. Cannings
9. Morris
10. Tsoulos
11. Armitt
12. Cayless
13. Hindmarsh

If we could develop and keep that pack intact for a few years, I could see us being a force again.

Hopefully something like that Eelectrica! i am sick of seeing the teams roster being choped and changed every off season. Parramatta definately have the personel and youth to keep this pack for a while. Armit is 20, Cannings 23, Cayless 26, Hindmarsh 25, Stapleton 26, Tsoulos 20 and Vella 26. Hopefully Parra can keep these players together, and build a solid pack around them.