Originally Posted by Wise Old Eel
This so called cleanout is just garbage. There is a cleanout nearly every season. Take a look at todays squad & compare it to the squad from 2007. How many players are still here? What 5, 6, 7 out of 25-30 squad members? I am all for building for the future and investing in the juniors as I am sure we all are & I am not privy to the work being put into such an investment by the current coaching regime. However, I suspect this academy is nothing more than window dressing for a return to a system Brian Smith put in place whilst he was here which has been somewhat neglected since he left. The only difference is the progress Brian Smith was making was evident from the outset. My main gripe with Stephen Kearney and his coaching staff is the lack of results. Even more than that, it is the lack of progress with the NRL squad. Surely, you have to show that improvement along the way to building a clubs future? A good example of this was Des Hasler with Manly. They showed steady improvement year after year until they won the competition. At the moment, we appear to be going backwards. All we hear is excuses as to why it is not working yet. Excuses designed to gloss over the distinct possibility that Kearney may well not be capable of getting any more out of the team.
As far as Hindy being tapped on the shoulder, someone here said If it had of been Bennett doing the tapping would there still have been the outcry?. Well, no. Thats because Wayne Bennett has a track record of success over a long period of time which PROVES he knows what he is doing. We, on the other hand, have a coach that before last year had never coached an NRL side. Whose resume consisted of 2 successful campaigns for New Zealand while Wayne Bennett was in the camp to hold his hand (nothing of note since) & being an assistant coach under Craig Bellamy. Well, at least we can all rest easy in knowing the drills sessions are run like clockwork nowadays. There are a lot of people putting their faith in someone who was hired on the recommendation of his mates. To me, the Parramatta Eels NRL team are currently under the tutelage of nothing more than a coachs assistant in a head coachs jacket & Stephen Kearney is living proof that lack of ability and experience will never stand in the way of you getting the job you want if you have friends in high places. It also leads me to believe that those running the club were (& continue to be) naive, gullible and clueless.
I mentioned last year that I feared we were heading back to the dark old days of the late 80s/early 90s & there were those of you on this forum who shot me down with great vigour & conviction. Tell me, how are feeling at the moment? Still confident?
WOE
Great thread WOE, there has been no improvement in the last 18 months.
There was a clean out by SK with Grothe (although at the start), Webb,Humble, Reddy,Mortimer, Robson, Uaisele and Mitchell.
Replaced by Tonga x 2, Sandow, Roberts and Blair.
These signings were supposed to improve the squad, yet progress has been backwards. The Toyota Cup is 2 from 4, slight improvement on previous years at this stage, but the U/18's are struggling and the U/16 are not near as dominant as past years.
The Academy if successful will not produce players for atleast another 2 years, under Smith we had players developing all the time and coming into the NRL as u/18 or u/19 year olds players such as Cayless, Hindmarsh, Smith B, Robinson, Lyon, Burt, Vaeliki and Reddy. Aside from Loko last year (who was already ear marked during 2010) who has been developed from within.
Current NRL players are not improving, Sio (whilst talented and with potential) the other night was badly out of position as a fullback- not coached. Blair was caught out also. Players in defensive lines worked against one another and the skill level of the team with the ball was very poor!
Progress if any is very, very, very slow!
