How many media gigs are there per year you reckon for our squad of 30 ?
Well I think I have mentioned this previously, but I think our club should setup a weekly Parramatta Show that they air on the Parra website during the season. And maybe one or two episodes during the off season to keep all us fans up to speed and excited about the up coming season ahead.
It should be like a panel show led by our very own players. It should be taken seriously and maybe start off with a segment on the last game and what went well and what didn't. Highlight a current Parra NRL player and interview him and discuss his game. Interview the coaches. Ask them what they are up to and what they are focusing on at any given time. Who they see as someone to point out and why and so forth. There are endless questions they could ask the coaching staff. Interview the CEO at least once a year with an update on all things Parra and what is on the horizon for the club and its strategy going forward and where are the developments up to and projections for the future.
Also should include interviews with rookies that haven't played NRL yet. They can do a full on who are you kind of segment, age, size, speed, position, where do you come from and so forth.
The panel should consist of any player that wants to better themselves in front of the camera and maybe pursue a media career at the end of their football career. From the little we know and have seen of who has "television" talent I would guess that Moses, Mahoney and Gutho would be the leading contenders to front it, maybe Dylbags too. The show could start off in the first segment with all three discussing and highlighting moments in the previous game. Things that worked and things that didn't and why. Break down what the goal was etcetera.
Then the interview segments. Then training highlights or outings that the players may have had like visits to hospitals and so forth. There could be a former player where are they now and what are they up to segment too. It would be a great way to introduce our current players to our former legends and teach them some history of the club along the way and what it meant to be a Parra player to these older former players.
There could also be a fans question segment. I think this could be very popular indeed. Fans will finally feel that they have some real access to the team and players. It should end each week with a discussion on the upcoming game maybe.
The players need to take this opportunity seriously though and the show should be tight and professional. Not half arsed stuff or it will quickly be panned, ignored and cancelled. I'm not talking big budget stuff here, but professionally presented and seriously done. Not a bunch of players standing around with a guy holding a microphone and everyone just mumbling and giggling amongst themselves kind of stuff.
They could also get TCT mob involved if they wanted or those lovely girls that do interviews of the players from time to time. The options are endless and can be constantly changing to keep it relevant and interesting. Also if initially it is to hard a task for our current players to front a footy discussion panel looking and sounding professional enough to do it justice, then we could ask a semi professional Parra person from any of the online semi professional sites to be the main facilitator until if or when one of our players is comfortable enough to pull it off and run the panel as the leader of the discussion. Or Sterlo as an initial panel member to get it off the ground the right way. He is a free agent now and has time to burn. Who knows a small input from him for his beloved Eels maybe something that he would be interested in right now. Kenny too is comfortable in front of the camera, so initially he could be an option too. But eventually it should be a show driven and run by the players.
With cameras and equipment being so cheap now it wouldn't cost an arm or a leg to set this up either. In fact when our COE is up and running I'm sure there will be a media room setup so regardless it would be very easy and almost effortless to get it going. The only hard bit is finding the players that can do it justice and can see the big picture for themselves and the club and it supporters. But if our club took it as an opportunity to highlight not just the whole organisation and players in a positive light, but that the sponsors would be getting major extra bang for their buck as well. It potentially has massive benefits for everyone involved down the line.
I know that I would love tuning in each week for my one hour well presented and professional Parramatta Eels Show. No other team or wanker being discussed, but all about Parra and nothing else. This would be ground breaking for the club and the NRL and if we were to do it and do it well, it wouldn't be long before we started seeing other clubs try to emulate it for fear of being left behind and miss out on the opportunities it would present to their club. We shouldn't fear this type of innovation, but seek it and embrace it with enthusiasm and passion.
Also we should also not worry about the head coaches objections, which I am sure he will have some due to how all coaches love living in the shadows and don't like it when their methods and systems are being exposed. They love to be a mystery, but I say tough. Learn to be a coach that embraces change and being the favourite if that is the case. All this lets not say anything that may offend our opposition or expose what we are going to do bullshit. I see this type of attitude as a major problem in our game. We don't talk up our game anywhere near enough. The coaches have a tight leash on the players and what they can and can't say. It stifles their natural personalities and true promotion of the game. If we did this right, we would be changing that forever. Also we could talk up not only our own home games, but our oppositions home games too. This is something that is long over due. Everyone associated in the game should be talking up every game no matter whether it is a home game or not. We are all in it together ffs!
Once players got used to the fact that it doesn't really matter what you say before a game about your opposition, but how you trained and prepared all week and then your mindset on game day that was the real deciding factor then all this cloak and dagger stuff would be a thing of the past. We have allowed the coaches way to much influence on the games fortunes both on and off the field and I believe the sooner this changes the better the game will be.
Anyway, just my thoughts. But I would really love to see us try something like this. It could end up being something special for the players and the game as a whole. But of course it won't happen. The NRL and the clubs that play in it are way to myopic to think like this and make it happen. They wouldn't know how to promote themselves properly even with a gun to their head.
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