M Witt to be Released

[Belly in Brisvegas]

Witt is not a loss- just worry about our younger more talented guys who are leaving in droves and who are not happy:

Nathan Armitt
Chris Armitt
Jamie Lyon- The dog
Andrew Ryan
Solomona

The list goes on and on What could be making talent like this leave our club?? IS IT THE COACH????????

I dont think so. But thats just my opinion. Look at the talent we have recruited this year and its evidence that something about our club lures players out of already sucessful teams to our team which hasnt done very well over the last 2 seasons. Who knows maybe without Smith we wouldnt have been able to recruit the talent we have this year.

I think it's great to get these players to the club but look at Riddell and Tahu....they are here primarily for coin. Their clubs couldn't keep them under the cap and we had coin to spare. My gut feeling is that if their clubs could have afforded them then they would have stayed put.

PJ is back for lifestyle reasons and it just worked out that his partner is from the area. We obviously benefit from that but I'd reckon if his partner was from Rockhampton he could very well have been a Bronco.

Morro came back to Sydney with the lure of cracking origin (may be a bit easier now if Timmins retires).

Chad could be sensing more game time and maybe even a starting position to come back....Ian Henderson probably has more of a sniff at Parra than behind Wing. Stringer is an obvious Eels fan from a long way back and probably nearly did his back to sign his contract.

Don't get me wrong...I am very excited about having these players at the club and will in no way knock them back. I'm just not convinced that it was our "setup" that got them here.

 

[Utey]

Yeh I was gonna say the outrageous amount of money we paid for them was the primary reason. But we have to remember that a Premiership is priceless and if we win I dont care if they start to pay Wagon 500000 a year.

 

[Belly in Brisvegas]

Yeh I was gonna say the outrageous amount of money we paid for them was the primary reason. But we have to remember that a Premiership is priceless and if we win I dont care if they start to pay Wagon 500000 a year.

Yeah mate...I would give my left "Flannery" for a premiership.

I could be the Eels "Hitman" for $500K....I think I'm already in the "Is anybody home Martin Lang" category so medical insurance wouldn't be a problem!!!!

 

[True EEL]

lol.......yeah Rocky is heaps close to Brisbane

and yeah Witt is not a young player is he Jake????

 

[The Colonel]

Don't get me wrong...I am very excited about having these players at the club and will in no way knock them back. I'm just not convinced that it was our "setup" that got them here.

I know we paid some good money for some of these players however I think the set-up did have a lot riding on it as well. Its definitely not the only thing, neither is money. Some of these "kids" who are coming across -Perenara, Henderson etc wouldn't be on big $$$ and may not necessarily be playing firsty grade ahead of others either.

 

[Belly in Brisvegas]

lol.......yeah Rocky is heaps close to Brisbane

Closer than Parra Truey!

 

[True EEL]

well just i guess yeah.....

 

[Utey]

We always hear about our professional setup. Or is that just a coverup for the huge amounts of money we offer players.

 

[Belly in Brisvegas]

Don't get me wrong...I am very excited about having these players at the club and will in no way knock them back. I'm just not convinced that it was our "setup" that got them here.

I know we paid some good money for some of these players however I think the set-up did have a lot riding on it as well. Its definitely not the only thing, neither is money. Some of these "kids" who are coming across -Perenara, Henderson etc wouldn't be on big $$$ and may not necessarily be playing firsty grade ahead of others either.

I'm just saying that getting them over was probably more of a retention issue for their respective clubs (Riddell and Tahu) than our drawing power.

 

[The Colonel]

We always hear about our professional setup. Or is that just a coverup for the huge amounts of money we offer players.

Maybe - but we too have to work under the 3.25 million that almost everyone else has to as well.

 

[Utey]

We really dont know how much they are paid though. Everyone knows the Media jacks up the prices.

 

[Stagger eel]

We always hear about our professional setup. Or is that just a coverup for the huge amounts of money we offer players.

The setup! is fairdinkum, Riddell spoke about it several times post signing, Stringer has talked it up and Lyon also thinks the club as being too professional. too professional for him anyway! :roll:

 

[Utey]

Yeh Riddell continually talked it up. Lets hope our setup reflects some good footy next year. Hoping!

 

[True EEL]

yeah professional......

so professional that many players are stiffled by the nazi regime run by Brian Smith.....the players are treated like school children and are rumoured to be hassled by BS even when away from training and footy, particularly young players

 

[Utey]

We all know about the end of 2003 season when Brian Smith repeatably sms'd his players about concentrating on the game etc. Other clubs have very strict programs such as Brisbane and Canberra. As you can see the results are varied. You watch the Souths improve next year with Mcrae as coach. He is known for his almost nazi like training style. Take injuries away from out season and Wagon from the equation and we would have a very differnt season.

 

[Eelectrica]

Sounds like if the players spent as much time training as they do complaining about the coach they might have been able to learn something about the game and won few more games.

 

[MarkInTheStands]

We all know about the end of 2003 season when Brian Smith repeatably sms'd his players about concentrating on the game etc

I am quite up to date on most scuttlebutt about the eels but I didn't hear this one, can you elaborate

 

[MarkInTheStands]

We all know about the end of 2003 season when Brian Smith repeatably sms'd his players about concentrating on the game etc

I am quite up to date on most sucttlebutt about the eels but I didn't hear this one, can you elaborate

 

[True EEL]

BS has reportedly gone to great lengths to keep tabs on players and SMS texting is his favourite tool and has again reportedly bombarded certain players at different times with text messages asking are they keeping their mind on the game etc when they are away from training

again with the whole school children attitude and pressure approach to coaching

 

[Utey]

Well he continually msged every player in the squad when we vsed the team which we needed to beat by howver many points. Throughout the week he msged each player daily multiple times with messages telling them to stay focussed and such jibberish.