http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=35300
Sunday 7 Feb 2010 12:12
by Matthew O'Neill
Parramatta Chief Executive Paul Osborne has made the accusation that the Bulldogs have problems in recruitment and development without looking into the Eels past.
Osborne has today made the extraordinary claim in the Sun Herald with news that the Bulldogs have expressed an interest in securing the services of Parramatta playmaker Kris Keating if Daniel Mortimer remains with the Eels.
Canterbury-Bankstown Chief Executive Todd Greenberg said that Keating is a player they have identified as a player they might be keen to secure with veteran halfback Brett Kimmorley poised to pull up stumps on his outstanding career.
Greenberg said, ''We've got a list of players that are in an interest section of a spreadsheet and [Keating's] name is on it.
''We haven't made any approaches or offers to him, but we've identified him as a player of interest."
Greenberg added, "We'll let Paul run the Eels and we'll do our best to run the Bulldogs."
Osborne made the foolish remarks and said, ''They clearly have some problems in their recruitment and development that they need to sort out.
"I suspected they'd be interested in Kris - I'm not surprised.
"I'm not too worried about the Bulldogs circling. It just reaffirms what a good system we've got here. It fills me with a lot of pride that we're doing such a good job.
"They probably need to spend more money on their junior programs instead of trying to sign our kids.
"I like to help Toddy out as much as I can, but that might be stretching the friendship."
Greenberg has made a fool of Osborne and allowed the former Raiders forward and ACT politician to play the futures of his off contract players out in the media where the asking prices of the Eels players will continue to go through the roof.
What Osborne fails to point out that the Eels will have salary cap problems in 2010 as they spent a fortune to poach Justin Poore (Dragons) and Shane Shackleton (Roosters) from rival clubs and also spent a fair bit to lure Timana Tahu from a rival sport.
In 1996 Parramatta got coined the 'nine million flops' when they spent an extraordinary amount of dollars to sign the best talent in the game including Bulldogs quartet Dean Pay, Jason Smith, Jim Dymock and Jarrod McCracken and also snared Bulldogs lower grade player Scott Davey, who made his first grade debut in 1995.
Pay, Dymock and Smith all played in Canterbury's 1995 grand final triumph whilst Davey was a non-playing reserve and McCracken was dropped from the squad due to a long list of offences most notably when he boycotted Terry Lamb's farewell presentation at Belmore Sports Ground.
Not to mention that cashed up junior league clubs in the Parramatta district that do well from poker machine licenses can seem to snare good talents in other areas nearby for cheap registration fees at the ages of 13-15 just before they reach junior representative levels.
The Bulldogs have one of the best development and recruitment systems in place following the change of leadership at Canterbury in 2008 when a boardroom coup saw the demise of Chief Executive Malcolm Noad, powerful Director Barry Phillis and their band of supporters.
The Noad/Phillis era will officially be put to bed following the League Club elections next month with the Football Club's four nominations to have three new faces along with club legends Terry Lamb and Chris Anderson to challenge for two of the three vacant board positions from the floor. They will be challenging Tony Charlton - a close friend of Phillis and supporter of the failed Bateau Bay Club venture and rebel director Martin Puckeridge, who is nearing the age of 80, offers no positive or business value and has fallen out with many prominent people at the Football and League Club's.
With a new board in place Chairman Dr George Peponis finally gained control of the boardroom after five and a half years in the job and implemented many positive initiatives into the Bulldogs operations.
Greenberg was appointed Chief Executive and he provided a positive breath of fresh air for the Bulldogs and changed its perception and outlook throughout the media and Rugby League community.
Peter Mulholland was brought in as Recruitment and Development Manager and in 2009 the Bulldogs won both the Harold Matthews and SG Ball competitions, which also doubled up as the ARL National Competition with the top four sides from the Cyril Connell and Mal Meninga competitions also taking part.
In a short space of time Mulholland has proved he is by far the best in the junior recruitment and development business in the game today and the best Canterbury has ever had in his field.
With Mulholland in charge and the old Canterbury network back in place due to the traditional values that people such as Peponis, Greenberg, coach Kevin Moore and directors Ray Dib, Barry Ward, Arthur Coorey, Andrew Farrar and Paul Dunn hold the Bulldogs are the leading club when it comes to player development, player welfare and signing the right recruits.
The Bulldogs copped plenty of criticism for their recruits last year, but they all proved to be outstanding and improved their football under Moore and the Bulldogs coaching and training setup. Four of their recruits previously played under Wayne Bennett, but in 2009 played their best career football in the Blue & White colours. The Dragons have basically admitted allowing Josh Morris to leave so easily was basically a mistake and Cronulla's demise along with Canterbury's rise can be pointed to Kimmorley changing clubs.
Osborne is entitled to his opinion, but the Bulldogs have a long way to go before they can the Eels in terms of players switching between clubs, Parramatta will face salary cap trouble due to big name purchases from elsewhere and the Bulldogs won the U16 and U18 ARL National Competitions last year.
Parramatta doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to criticising the Canterbury club for player recruitments following the signings of Pay, Dymock, Jason Smith and McCracken following the 1995 season and all four players failed to play in the Grand Final when in Eels colours.
Osborne has done a good job so far at Parramatta, but he's fast making his predecessor Denis Fitzgerald look like Mother Teresa and his own self-importance could end up being his downfall and the Eels premiership drought could extend well beyond the 23 years it currently stands at.
