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Jason Ryles - Head coach of Parramatta from 2025

Captain Apollo

Captain Apollo

Coach
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14,659
The followoing article was published by the Sydney Morniung Herald (source: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/th...rting-battling-nrl-clubs-20240724-p5jw68.html). AS It mentions the Eeels quite specifically, I thought this forum might find it of some interest -

The $1.25m contract black holes hurting battling NRL clubs​

Adrian Proszenko

By Adrian Proszenko​

July 24, 2024 — 7.45pm

Parramatta will move away from offering player options as part of future contract negotiations as it emerged that struggling NRL clubs are each paying an average of $1.25 million per season to rivals to offload out-of-favour footballers.

The Eels are preparing to usher in a new era under incoming coach Jason Ryles, who has just finished his commitments as an assistant coach at Melbourne. Ryles’ priority is to refreshen the Eels staff and roster, along with the retention of Blaize Talagi.

The talented teen has been offered a three-year deal and the opportunity to replace Clint Gutherson as fullback.
Talagi is expected to meet with his agent to discuss the Parramatta offer and interest from clubs including the Dragons and Knights.

Talagi is on the open market after knocking back an option in his contract to stay put, with several of his teammates having similar clauses in their favour. The Eels have drawn criticism for giving eight of their stars an “option” in their contract, the majority of which are in the favour of the player.

The practice has clouded the long-term future of their biggest assets, halves Dylan Brown and Mitchell Moses, as well as other key members of the squad.

Few NRL players are contracted as long as Brown, whose deal could tie him to Parramatta until the end of 2031. However, the Kiwi international can decide in early 2025 whether he wants to leave or trigger an option to remain for the 2026-27 seasons. Even if he stays, the speculation over Brown’s future will soon ramp up again – he will need to make a call in early 2027 whether to stay beyond then.

Moses, meanwhile, will remain in blue and gold until 2026, before deciding whether to take up options for the following seasons.

While there has been ongoing speculation about which contracted players Ryles will move on, only Ryan Matterson and Maika Sivo have so far been told they can look elsewhere. Both have taken up options to remain on the books, meaning Parramatta will have to pay some of their freight to make them a financially attractive option for a rival.

Another big name, centre Will Penisini, has an option in his favour beyond next season, while Shaun Lane and Haze Dunster have mutual options in their deals

In the future, Parramatta is expected to move towards “vanilla” contracts to ensure players don’t have the whip hand.
“You always need to be able to manage your roster to maintain your ability to make decisions and not be paralysed,” said Eels chief executive Jim Sarantinos.

“We always need to make sure we have a very strong focus on that. If that means, in the future, limiting the number of player options – particularly the number of player options that come up at the same time – then that’s what we will do.”

Whether the Eels will find takers for Matterson and Sivo – and whether other players will be tapped on the shoulder – remains to be seen. Moving them on will come at a cost, one that has been onerous on clubs at the bottom of the ladder.

According to an NRL benchmarking document disseminated to all clubs, the bottom four teams spent an average of $1.243 million each in “freight”, the amount paid to a rival to get them off the books. That contrasts with the $479,000 that a top-four team paid on average to shift an unwanted player.

While Ryles will require time to shape a roster of his choosing, Talagi’s signature remains a priority.

“Blaize and his family know how deeply we care for him,” Sarantinos said.

“We would love him to be at the club long term. We think he has a big future, and we believe that is with our club.”

One Eel set to move on is Matt Arthur. The son of sacked coach Brad Arthur has asked for permission to speak to other clubs and Parramatta haven’t stood in his way.

“While we would love to see him stay at the Eels, we understand the unique circumstances involved with this request and our decision to grant permission to negotiate with other clubs is based on compassionate grounds,” Sarantinos said.
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L

lucablight

First Grade
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6,301
King-Gutho94 said:

NRL 2021: Denis Fitzgerald reveals why he wanted to rename the Parramatta Eels​

Former long-term chief executive Denis Fitzgerald has broken a 30-year silence to reveal his controversial plan to scrap the Eels’ nickname and rename the club the Parramatta Rams.
Just days before Parramatta’s knockout final against Penrith, Fitzgerald admitted he had discussed the possible name change during the early 1990s with directors and senior club management.

In charge of Parramatta for a record 30 years, Fitzgerald never liked the Eels logo and had begun searching for a more positive brand name and emblem.

A big fan of US sport, Fitzgerald had long admired the Rams – an NFL franchise run out of St Louis and Los Angeles during the 1990s. Describing the response from directors as “lukewarm”, Fitzgerald elected against taking the proposal to the board for final approval.

“The Rams’ nickname was monosyllabic and more aggressive. I was looking for a mascot that was easy to recognise for people,” Fitzgerald said.

“I was keen on the Rams even though I was generally looking for names that started with a ‘P’ because that was the first letter in Parramatta. I spoke to club directors and managers at the time about a possible name change.

“There was always a difficulty in doing anything in terms of marketing with the Eels. People associate Eels as being slippery, slimy marine fish.

“The Aboriginal word for Parramatta is ‘where the Eels lie down’. That in itself is passive. No one wants a team that lies down.

“Even the Parramatta Council logo has an Aborigine supposedly spearing an Eel. So once again, the poor old Eel lost out. I wanted to get away from that with something aggressive. I harboured those thoughts for a long time.

“The Rams were also a huge brand in US sport. There was certainly some support internally yet others disapproved of any name change. It was lukewarm. These talks came after the late 1970s and 1980s when Parramatta enjoyed our golden era.

“It was difficult securing change back then. I wouldn’t have had the numbers to carry it. I try not to use Eels when I’m talking about the club. I say Parramatta or Parra.”

The Rams were a more appropriate nickname to Fitzgerald because of Parramatta’s history.

“There was a link with Parramatta and Rams – the Australian sheep industry was founded at Parramatta by John Macarthur, he was a wool pioneer (in the late 1790s). It was actually at Rosehill,” Fitzgerald said.

The admission comes after Fitzgerald had held merger talks with Penrith – Parramatta’s opponents on Saturday night in Mackay — and Balmain in hope of swallowing either the Panthers or Tigers moniker.

The proposed amalgamation with Penrith after Super League was blocked while Balmain elected to merge with Western Suburbs, forming Wests Tigers.

There had even been suggestions Parramatta once eyed off a joint venture with North Sydney with the club to be known as the Parramatta Bears.

Asked if he still believed the Eels logo should be scrapped, Fitzgerald said: “It’s too late. The Eels are so well known around Australia. If you mention Parramatta in Adelaide, for example, they say: ‘That’s where the Eels come from’.”

The club’s most famous Eel was a long mascot, manned by fans, which appeared at the SCG before the 1976 grand final against Manly.

Parramatta was named the Eels during the 1970s. The Eels nickname was first mooted by the late, great Sydney rugby league journalist, Peter ‘Chippy’ Frilingos.

“In the early days, Parramatta was unofficially known as the Bush Boys. It’s hardly a place full of Bush Boys now. The CBD is full of 40-storey buildings,” Fitzgerald said.


Fitzy wanted to call us the Rams
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Strongly disagree. The fact that we use the Eel as a logo which ties into the names history is freaking awesome.
 
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