Parramatta - from the ashes......

[The Colonel]

The key is Michael Witt.

Agree but unless the forwards gain the metres he hasn't got the room to work in. Throw Peter Sterling behind a pack that doesn't go forward and the club struggles to make the finals ala 1987 - 1992.

 

[The Godfather]

We will have the forwards next year - size, speed and depth. They will be competitive.

No gun halfback = no premiership

It's Brian Smith's achillies heel that has cost him at least a couple of premierships. Build and develop great teams, but he has never had the quality halfback that all the premiership teams have.

Here's hoping that Witt is the answer.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

Who were the Top 4 in 2001? If I remember correctly it was us, Knights, broncos and Sharks who were the last 4 standing.

Now if, according to certain posters, Premierships are everything, how have these teams fared since 2001? How did they go this year?

Two teams eliminated in first week of finals, both who barely scraped their asses into September. One who failed to make the cut by a win and another who came 3rd last.

So why is Smith doing so bad?

Has the game changed? Yes, fundamentally.

When was the change perfected? One team in the final quarter of 2002 and several during 2003.

So how many chances to buy a squad since then? One (and Smith has actively tried to do it)

Are any of those 3 answers wrong? nope, not one of them, and thus I'm right in what I say (But please, don't let that stop the anti-Smith bandwagon). Sure, Smithy tried to persist through the 2002 buying season, but so did 13 other coaches. No one knew what was coming, and only one Coach had caught wind of the changes needed. Stuart deserves the praise he receives for the change the Roosters have brought, but that doesn't mean Smithy needs to be shit talked because he tried to persist with a style of play that suited the type of team eh had, a style of play mind you that had gotten the Eels to the Grnad Final less than 12 months before!

But hey, don't let facts get in the way of a good argument.......

 

[Pazza]

Joel Clinton - I wish people would stop harping on how we let him go. When he was let go he is the first to admit he had done bugger all at the Eels. He had played a few good games and was resting on his laurels and did not display the same attitude he took to the Panthers. He decided once he had been let go to prove himself wrong and that he could play first grade.

Is the poor attitude the total responcibiltiy of the player? or is it influenced by the environment in which the player is in. The simple fact is that our staff where unable to bring the best out of Joel and that is the clubs fault. It can't be Joels fault, the coaching staff when Joel was in Flegg should have fixed him up back then. And dont tell me about hindsight, how the hell do you not see potential in a player that is now an australian kanagaroo.

 

[Pazza]

Marsh left because his manager was a bit quick to sign a letter of intent before the June 30 deadline and didn't wait to see what the Eels had offered. If you remember rightly at the time he tried all he could to not sign a contract and stay at the Eels when he heard what they had offered.

I remember that Parra signed Dykes before they tried to resign Marsh, we could have had both Marsh and Dykes if Management told Marsh that they had bought Dykes to play 5/8 not halfback, but before they could Marsh Signed with the Warriors. When Marsh found out that the Parra number 7 was his then he tried desperately to get out of his contract.

so i remember..... it was a while ago :lol:

All i am trying to say is that i dont feel that management has handled post 2001 very well at all. You just need to look at the results. I don't wanna see Smith go, i don't really wanna even talk about this but i just feel that the management of this club is poor.

 

[El Diablo]

Who were the Top 4 in 2001? If I remember correctly it was us, Knights, broncos and Sharks who were the last 4 standing.

Now if, according to certain posters, Premierships are everything, how have these teams fared since 2001? How did they go this year?

Why have you decided to leave out 2002??

Was it because Cronulla and Brisbane again finished in the final four?

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

and won what?

Don't forget we are talking to Premierships and Premierships alone here. Neither of those teams won it last year. They failed.

When Brian Smith came to this Club it was a team living of its past glories with no chance of doing anything in the competition, no matter how hard the boys who pulled on our jersey tried.

Now we are a Premier Club with the potential to win that competition that has eluded us since the 80s. If you say we can't do it then you're an idiot. We may not be the raging hot favourites anymore, but to say we aren't in with a shot is just ludicrous.

We've developed a good community image and are pretty much seen as one of the "good" clubs (as opposed to evil clubs like the Broncos and Manly). We have money that is finally being put to good use in developing a good stadium (which I hate :evil: ) and managing to bring good juniors through development (Hindmarsh, Cayless, Burt, Lyon).

The new era of the Club is due to Brian Smith. Fitzy forkes out the cash, but Brian puts it to good use and has changed this Club in a way that can only be seen as good. He'll get you your damned Premiershp, and you will all bow at his feet and pretend you never said anything against him.

It's not like he is Chris Anderson, flatly refusing to change his style to fit the game. He has just gone and bought a team that has like 8 props in it, Two of these guys are gonna be sitting on the bench in Premier League unless they can play in the second row. We'll have the grunt next year to match it with the likes of the Roosters and Warriors. We'll have Witt at half (who Brian and Dennis just managed to secure on a four-year deal - add him to the list of developed talent we have in our team). Grothe is back to cause havoc in the Blue & Gold, and Dykes appears able to fully play for the first time since arriving.

And you guys are complaining? So the second half of last year and the first half of this year pretty much sucked. I think we were 7-4 after 11 games in 2002 (that's 14 poiints, 4 for byes and 6 for 3-11 in second half of year = 24 points) and we were 7-3 in the last 10 this year. We had a good finish to the year and after everyone had written them off by halfway throught he year they still managed to hold on until the very last round until they had the sword put to em finally. Everyone looks fit for 2004 and its all a new ballgame, which I think will be better stacked in our favour.

And you guys complain?

 

[MR GEORGE]

next year there are no excuses.

 

[The Colonel]

Don't forget we are talking to Premierships and Premierships alone here. Neither of those teams won it last year. They failed.

Never said that it was about premierships. If we compete the best we can I am happy but I don't want to sit through 1987 to 1995 again. It is however about winning premierships - if it wasn't about premierships than the club might as well say goodbye tomorrow.

If you have read the majority of my posts HJ I have always been one of Smith's staunchest supporters. However, in my opinion there are avenues that he has not explored fully and things he has done wrong. I also think he is going the right way about fixing things.

The game did not change halfway through season 2002. The game changed at the beginning of 2002. The play the ball had changed and aside from one game against the Panthers the team struggled early to adapt. Drew, McFadden, Dykes and so on struggled early to adapt.

The Roosters did however show a different style of play. They had tried early in the season and if you remember rightly there was much consternation in the press about how they were playing early on. It wasn't until late in the season that it started to pay off.

2004 will be different. I don't doubt that.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

HJ

You need a hug.

 

[The Colonel]

I have to agree with EA on this one HJ...... ;-)