My question that nobody is able to give an answer to is
Why didn't that 2009 team with the great momentum leading into the grand final say together for 1 or 2 more seasons?
I do think if this was the case the eels would of won the premiership in those seasons.
Don't say oh because of the cap & upgrade to some players, please just look at manly & Melbourne the bulk of their team have been there for a while now.
Out of the 17 grandfinal team there are only 4 left.
In my opinion, and it is only my opinion, mentality let this club down.
To support that, there are a large number of people that would call the 2009 run, a flash in the pan, we captured lightning in a bottle for 10 of those 11 weeks and we went far. However that does not explain round 26 of that year.
Some will tell you Daniel Anderson didn't know what he did to make the side click as it was a much reported line. However the line after that was "They started to listen to me" is far more telling.
In 2010, we did not start well but by Round 6 we had won 2 and lost a few narrow ones. The team flew to Townsville to take on the Cowboys, and while on the plane, the Storm scandal broke. There was a team meeting in Townsville I am told that explained to the boys what happened, and Caylo was interviewed saying we don't want to win the cup this way, we want to win it fair and square.
They went on to beat the Cowboys away, and came home to smack the dogs leading into the bye, out of the bye we beat the Sea Eagles again and were sitting in 6th and things were building, we lost by 4 at home to the sharks and got smacked the weekend after by 30 to the Dragons. The week after that we came home to play the storm. The only time we would play the Storm that year.
That game was a war. The fans were out in the stand with fake cash waving it at the Storm players, and you could tell the side was fired up. Hayne gave Slatter a Liverpool kiss and almost missed Origin. We won and went into the Bye in 8th.
But that was it, the intensity had gone. Their next game against the Knights in Newcastle in terrible conditions was lost on the bell with a converted try. We lead that game 4-0 at the 79th minute I believe, it was a heart breaker, but we should have been better, we then lost to the Broncos at home, and the Warriors away. This is when scuttlebutt around the club started to talk about replacing Coach Anderson, The boys went on to win their next 3 games, against the Cowboys, put on a wow of a display to come back from an early deficit against the Panthers at Penrith, and then beat the Bulldogs on a Friday, keeping us in 10th spot one win out of the 8.
We lost to the Roosters at home, and then the Titans away, a game in which the Rumours of the coach being removed gained momentum, with SK touted as the new coach. There were also the sightings of the CEO, Chairman and Hayne at a Brisbane establishment co-owned by the chairman, speaking with Quade Cooper, whom DA didn't want.
The boys beat the Broncos in Brisbane, and then loos a heart breaker to the West Tigers on the bell with a missed kick to Burty and a break by Tahu called back which would have scored. That game would have put us into the 8.
We still had a chance against the Rabbitohs, but the boys turned in a Lack laster performances and we ended up going out with a whimper at home against the Warriors.
I still say DA's biggest fault was letting them lose focus after the Storm game, they were a top 8 side and should have played in the finals that year without a doubt.
After that, the incompetence of our CEO linked with the Coaches inability to manage a full year campaign saw more issues. The rumour that our "Old Boys" were not getting on with the "New Wave/ Polynesian contingent" continued to surface, and as such, the old boys were quietly told they were not needed, in favour of the new talent. Some said this would mean we would get better, but we still have failed at that.
The club has been on a downward slide since that Storm game in 2010. I honestly believe that was our grand final and we played it and left everything on the park, including a will to win any further.
