Parra Pride
Referee
- Messages
- 20,444
One of my personal favourite players, going to miss watching him run out in the blue and gold.
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nine should punt that dribbler fatty and put guru on the footy show at least he's funny
I'd love for footy show to have the chief, sterlo, johns back again. With more appearances from Girdler and Grothe.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...future-to-end-an-eels-era-20101214-18wvi.htmlI want freedom: Grothe sidesteps hectic future to end an Eels era
Glenn Jackson
December 15, 2010
Staying put ... Eric Grothe and Justin Horo have signed new deals with Parramatta. Photo: Getty Images
ERIC GROTHE didn't think he wanted it badly enough. Not as much as the coach did, not as much as his teammates did, and not as much as the young upstart who might be waiting on the wing did.
When new Parramatta coach Stephen Kearney addressed his players upon taking over from Daniel Anderson, he told them what he wanted from the team. And Grothe, who feels far more at home with a bass guitar in his hand than on the end of a back line, knew he couldn't give it to him.
''He spoke about wanting it badly, and how if you wanted to be a champion, and if we wanted it to be a successful year, we needed to want it badly so I thought I'd just get out of the way and let some young fella take my spot,'' Grothe said yesterday, a day after his surprise retirement.
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Grothe said he simply did not have the desire to put his body, and in particular his problematic knee, through the ''hardest pre-season I've been involved in''. But he said his decision had nothing to do with Kearney.
''It wouldn't have mattered who was coach,'' he said. ''He's a lovely bloke, and one of those blokes who has respect. I've been really enjoying getting to know him. I just haven't been able to do all the training. I've been in the injured squad, and doing all the physio sessions. I was just missing out on all the running stuff. I was swimming, boxing - doing everything but footy. I'd rather retire now while I can still walk OK. I would have been OK if I had have really ripped into it. But I just wasn't into it, to be honest. I've just had enough.''
The 30-year-old had been contemplating retirement for a month or more but made his decision on Sunday. ''I was going to see how I felt after the Christmas break but then I just woke up on Sunday morning and thought, 'I don't want to go in tomorrow','' he said. ''I spent all day on Saturday thinking about it. I'd spent the month leading up to it, putting things in place financially, and then I woke up and thought, 'I'm OK, I can do it now'. There was no point waiting until after Christmas. I didn't want to wait until the start of the season and do it then, so I just thought I'd do it now. And I'm really, really happy with my decision. No regrets although I'll probably regret it if they're carrying the trophy around at the end of the year.''
That particular task has been made harder by the loss of talent, Grothe included, in recent months at the club. The Eels have lost Nathan Cayless, Feleti Mateo, Krisnan Inu, Kris Keating, Timana Tahu and others from their squad, but Grothe is convinced the club can still succeed. ''Names always look good on paper, but I don't think they mean a lot,'' Grothe said. ''Brian Smith and Wayne Bennett, they're able to do so much with teams of unknown players. As long as the desire and the want is there.''
A fledgling personal training business, a Cronulla cafe, and music and TV gigs will dominate Grothe's life. He said he spoke to teammates Nathan Hindmarsh and Ben Smith, as well as his famous father about his decision; Eric Grothe snr had picked well before Sunday that his son was considering pulling the pin.
''He spoke to me a while ago, and he asked me if I was enjoying myself,'' Grothe jnr said. ''I wasn't. I never have time for music, I never have time for anything other than footy. I haven't not had a hectic schedule for 12 years. I don't want to live like that any more. I want the freedom.'' Grothe acknowledged his move represented the end of an era. ''Unless I have a little bloke and call him Eric Grothe junior junior hopefully he's not as good as me, so I'll know how my dad feels.''
