Eels in the media

[Avenger]

They were all weak because they lacked experienced leaders on the field. Not because a single person needed to get the sack.

The Canterbury 4 played then and they all won premierships you silly merkin. Dean Pay was a natural leader. And who said we needed to sack anyone?

Can I sack you from the forum?

 

[Avenger]

The problem isn't the players in the team, it's the players not in the team that means we couldn't compete with the big boys. And this year I reckon we shat the bed because our edge defence was torn apart by injury.

I'll give you that.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The Canterbury 4 played then and they all won premierships you silly merkin. Dean Pay was a natural leader. And who said we needed to sack anyone?

Can I sack you from the forum?

Pay only played in three finals series, and we won about half our games (3 from 7). Likewise Jason Smith. Dymock won exactly half (5 from 10). Not bad for a squad built moneyball-style by Brian Smith. But even back then we struggled to recruit/retain star players and by 2001 they were all gone. The team that year overachieved all the way to the grand final where we were blown away by a team full of Origin and finals experience.

 

[Gronk]

https://www.foxsports.com.au/news/n...s/news-story/3587e618808b6d1ca065422ab5fed7c5

Questions every coach must answer

EELS - How does Brad Arthur make Mitchell Moses into a premiership winning halfback?

It is not fair to put all the blame of the Eels’ 2020 season fade-out on Mitchell Moses, but Brad Arthur needs his halfback to be consistent all season.

There are a number of factors that go into developing a premiership winning playmaker.

Part of it is getting the right squad around him and the right halves partner and the other part is getting him the right coaching to take his game to greater heights, especially in the pressure-cooker of finals football.

In Dylan Brown, Moses has a halves partner that compliments his game nicely and they will be better for what they went through last season.

In Andrew Johns, Moses has the ideal coach that can get the best out of him, but unfortunately the COVID-19 bubble interrupted the pair’s ability to work closely together in 2020.

There are also doubts about the Eels’ lack of strike centres and whether they have the depth in their squad to challenge the top sides in September.

However, if Brad Arthur can address these three areas then Moses will have no excuses and he will have the opportunity to end the longest premiership drought in the NRL.

 

[hineyrulz]

The problem isn't the players in the team, it's the players not in the team that means we couldn't compete with the big boys. And this year I reckon we shat the bed because our edge defence was torn apart by injury.

So it isn't the players in the team??? But it is??? LOL one of your best.

 

[84 Baby]

Fans? Some Parra fans have a defeatist/pessimistic attitude, some of those even love to promote that they have it

I believe there’s the reason why the most successful teams of the modern era, Queensland, Scum and to lesser extent Rorters and Hasler v1 Moanly, was that they had this cultish self belief permeate through them that bred a wilful ignorance of anything other than them being the best. It’s why Scum still claim those premierships and Queensland “get Origin”.
Unfortunately we’ve foster the cult of the “soft underbelly” that is perpetuated by fans and Gussy the Hutt

 

[Gronk]

Well there are technical reasons which most of us are aware of like playing roster, coaches, staff, recruitment and retention, but copying Gus's rhetoric like soft underbelly has no technical meaning, its just rhetoric.

Agree with this. It's like how they say that the Storm has the "wood" on certain teams. No Storm generally beat everyone.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So it isn't the players in the team??? But it is??? LOL one of your best.

There isn't a single player in our top 17 that isn't good enough to win a premiership. The problem is there's too few of the players needed to win.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I believe there’s the reason why the most successful teams of the modern era, Queensland, Scum and to lesser extent Rorters and Hasler v1 Moanly, was that they had this cultish self belief permeate through them that bred a wilful ignorance of anything other than them being the best. It’s why Scum still claim those premierships and Queensland “get Origin”.
Unfortunately we’ve foster the cult of the “soft underbelly” that is perpetuated by fans and Gussy the Hutt

Here's a question plenty of nice merkins won't want asked: how much time do these premiership winning teams spend at places like Ronald McDonald House brightening the kids days and shit? Genuine question. I honestly don't know because I rarely look at other clubs' websites but I suspect the players that drag their team mates to premierships are selfish, single minded merkins who don't want to spend their time serving hamburgers to fans. They don't want to be at clubs that expect them to do that stuff.

 

[Twizzle]

Agree with this. It's like how they say that the Storm has the "wood" on certain teams.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Agree with this. It's like how they say that the Storm has the "wood" on certain teams. No Storm generally beat everyone.

Yep. What would Brad Arthur's finals record be like if he hadn't faced the Storm 50% of the time? It would surely be better.

 

[84 Baby]

Here's a question plenty of nice merkins won't want asked: how much time do these premiership winning teams spend at places like Ronald McDonald House brightening the kids days and shit? Genuine question. I honestly don't know because I rarely look at other clubs' websites but I suspect the players that drag their team mates to premierships are selfish, single minded merkins who don't want to spend their time serving hamburgers to fans. They don't want to be at clubs that expect them to do that stuff.

It’s likely somewhat a factor but it may be a bit chicken and egg.
I reckon all clubs would 100% be sending players for PR work but the likes of #CAMgetf**ked or a Tedesco being the ones to do it seems super rare to the point where either the player is saying no or clubs not even bothering to ask because they’ll say no. But it’s also possible that they’ve built that up over time and had done it when they weren’t rep players and can avoid it now being the elder statesmen

 

[Noise]

Here's a question plenty of nice merkins won't want asked: how much time do these premiership winning teams spend at places like Ronald McDonald House brightening the kids days and shit? Genuine question. I honestly don't know because I rarely look at other clubs' websites but I suspect the players that drag their team mates to premierships are selfish, single minded merkins who don't want to spend their time serving hamburgers to fans. They don't want to be at clubs that expect them to do that stuff.

Imagine you order a double cheeseburger at Ronald McDonald house but then AFL guy comes out with a salad.

 

[84 Baby]

Imagine you order a double cheeseburger at Ronald McDonald house but then AFL guy comes out with a salad.

Well those sick kiddies need a healthy diet

 

[lingard]

1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009 and the last two years were all teams that were more than capable of winning the competition yet because of our piss weak mentality/soft underbelly we didn’t.
It’s not rhetoric it’s fact.

I seriously don't think 2009 had anything to do with a soft underbelly. There was a lot of bad luck in that game. AND we played a team that was like a billion dollars over the cap. AND we came soooo close to winning it. No soft underbelly that I could see.

 

[Incorrect]

I seriously don't think 2009 had anything to do with a soft underbelly. There was a lot of bad luck in that game. AND we played a team that was like a billion dollars over the cap. AND we came soooo close to winning it. No soft underbelly that I could see.

Tend to agree. We came with a shitty game plan and executed poorly a couple of times...

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I seriously don't think 2009 had anything to do with a soft underbelly. There was a lot of bad luck in that game. AND we played a team that was like a billion dollars over the cap. AND we came soooo close to winning it. No soft underbelly that I could see.

Yep. How can you judge the team's 'underbelly' (or tactics or motivation) when their opponents aren't evenly matched?

 

[Gary Gutful]

Yep. How can you judge the team's 'underbelly' (or tactics or motivation) when their opponents aren't evenly matched?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

If Alfonse Gangitano doesn't know how would the rest of us have any idea?

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Another TCT podcast:

https://thecumberlandthrow.com/2020...with-bernie-gurr-predictions-and-resolutions/

good listen.