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No worries?
BY JOHN MACDONALD
http://parramatta.yourguide.com.au/news/local/sport/rugby-league/no-worries/1224424.aspx
23/07/2008 11:54:00 AM
"Crisis, what crisis?'' Labour minister Denis Healey famously asked as another problem engulfed Jim Callaghan's British government in its dying days in the late 70s.
That was just before the start of the Thatcher era.
"What me worry?'' Alfred E. Neuman has famously asked in every issue of Mad magazine.
They mightn't be mad days at Parramatta but they're certainly a worry.
The team rated second behind the Melbourne Storm for the NRL premiership at the start of the season is 13th and now written off, not only for the premiership but for the final eight.
As always happens, the fans and the media have asked "what's gone wrong?''
Worse, it's moved beyond analysis to increasingly personal attacks on Eels chief executive Denis Fitzgerald and coach Michael Hagan.
This has reached its apogee with former premiership coach and now media analyst Phil Gould's comment that it takes 18 months to build up a club culture and 18 months to destroy it.
The now-departed Brian Smith had built a structure at Parramatta and 18 months later ...
Well, there aren't any Maggie Thatchers about to bring a stringent culture to Parramatta and Fitzgerald is in his third decade as supremo.
And at least no-one would accuse him of being a profligate spender, as critics accused the Callaghan government of being.
For his part, Fitzgerald doesn't so much adopt the "what me worry?'' as "seen it all before'' approach.
"It's part of the ups and downs of a football club,'' he said of the Eels' so-far disappointing 2008.
"We were second favourites to Melbourne at the start of the season, we've had a good run with injuries and it's fair to say we've been disappointing. We've got to fix them up,'' he said of the problems.
He said a report that Hagan had already been offered an extension of his three-year contract was wrong.
"Michael Hagan is on a three-year contract, nothing's changed,'' he said.
"We'll discuss whether there will be an extension at the end of the season.''
Fitzgerald said that was standard, and added their would be no additions to the players who had carried the standard this season in 2009.
"Next year will offer an opportunity for younger guys to step up and players like Krisnan Inu, Jarryd Hayne and Feleti Mateo will be a year more experienced,'' he said.
Fitzgerald said there had been no change to the Parramatta culture.
"We won the SG Ball Cup this season, we won the Premier League three years in a row, we've traditionally had the strongest juniors and have won more club championships than anyone else in the last 30 years.''
Fitzgerald said junior development often came in cycles; in the early '90s Parramatta had produced plenty of backs but no forwards and had struggled.
The supremo's philosophical view won't appease critics.
Only wins can do that.
The laid back Hagan mightn't have to develop a new culture but he will have to develop a new team without new members.
It's been a season too far for the team that almost won in 2007.
BY JOHN MACDONALD
http://parramatta.yourguide.com.au/news/local/sport/rugby-league/no-worries/1224424.aspx
23/07/2008 11:54:00 AM
"Crisis, what crisis?'' Labour minister Denis Healey famously asked as another problem engulfed Jim Callaghan's British government in its dying days in the late 70s.
That was just before the start of the Thatcher era.
"What me worry?'' Alfred E. Neuman has famously asked in every issue of Mad magazine.
They mightn't be mad days at Parramatta but they're certainly a worry.
The team rated second behind the Melbourne Storm for the NRL premiership at the start of the season is 13th and now written off, not only for the premiership but for the final eight.
As always happens, the fans and the media have asked "what's gone wrong?''
Worse, it's moved beyond analysis to increasingly personal attacks on Eels chief executive Denis Fitzgerald and coach Michael Hagan.
This has reached its apogee with former premiership coach and now media analyst Phil Gould's comment that it takes 18 months to build up a club culture and 18 months to destroy it.
The now-departed Brian Smith had built a structure at Parramatta and 18 months later ...
Well, there aren't any Maggie Thatchers about to bring a stringent culture to Parramatta and Fitzgerald is in his third decade as supremo.
And at least no-one would accuse him of being a profligate spender, as critics accused the Callaghan government of being.
For his part, Fitzgerald doesn't so much adopt the "what me worry?'' as "seen it all before'' approach.
"It's part of the ups and downs of a football club,'' he said of the Eels' so-far disappointing 2008.
"We were second favourites to Melbourne at the start of the season, we've had a good run with injuries and it's fair to say we've been disappointing. We've got to fix them up,'' he said of the problems.
He said a report that Hagan had already been offered an extension of his three-year contract was wrong.
"Michael Hagan is on a three-year contract, nothing's changed,'' he said.
"We'll discuss whether there will be an extension at the end of the season.''
Fitzgerald said that was standard, and added their would be no additions to the players who had carried the standard this season in 2009.
"Next year will offer an opportunity for younger guys to step up and players like Krisnan Inu, Jarryd Hayne and Feleti Mateo will be a year more experienced,'' he said.
Fitzgerald said there had been no change to the Parramatta culture.
"We won the SG Ball Cup this season, we won the Premier League three years in a row, we've traditionally had the strongest juniors and have won more club championships than anyone else in the last 30 years.''
Fitzgerald said junior development often came in cycles; in the early '90s Parramatta had produced plenty of backs but no forwards and had struggled.
The supremo's philosophical view won't appease critics.
Only wins can do that.
The laid back Hagan mightn't have to develop a new culture but he will have to develop a new team without new members.
It's been a season too far for the team that almost won in 2007.
