BA can win the comp at the eels......
1) It appears our club management structure has finally been fixed and we have sufficient resources in place for the NRL side / junior pathways etc etc and finally get our own NSW cup side. As they say the office needs to be fixed before the NRL side can win. BA has had a few rough years dealing with off field issues, he finally gets to focus on coaching
2) we have made significant improvement from 2018 to 2019, wooden spoon to finalists. BA has made changes to improve our attack. Defence has improved in the second half of the year.
3) we have a young side with plenty of improvement in it. Our spine has played less then 13 games together. Hooker / 5/8 are rookies. Our backline hasn’t played many games together. Gutho / Moses are getting towards the years when they will be at there peak. Sivo has plenty of improvement in him. Our forward pack also have some players heading towards their peak years (paulo / brown / Evans / Marata / lane. )
4) we have several promising rookies , Stefo / parry / stone / kaufusi / salmon etc etc playing NSW cup, when was the last time we actually had a bunch of rookies playing regularly in NSW cup
5) we are moving to our COE
6) probably one of the most important factors, is we finally have our cap management under control. We will finish 5th or 6th this year, however it appears we still have the ability to add a couple of quality top 17 players to our squad. Yeah we may not get a player straight away, but eventually we will get the type of player we want. This will help massively with improving our ability to win the comp
7) we have won enough games, 3 of the last 4 years to play finals footy. Yeah we haven’t been serious contenders, however the first part is playing finals footy consistently, then get some luck every few years to be serious contenders. That is what the sharks / cowboys did
8) BA, he has made quite a few tough decisions over the years to show he will make decisions on what is best for the side (has dropped several players mannah, Scott etc etc,) let players leaves, selected rookies etc etc
9) Success has followed BA, the eels are his 5th club. In country footy when he started, coaching in QLD, at the storm and at Manly he has always been successful. He has shown in 2016, when he could have walked, he is a good leader. Considering how much crap the club has had over the last few years, there is rarely any talk of BA losing the dressing room
10) BA, as opposed to what some think, does change our structure as required. Eg we started of with paulo as a middle half, then sweeping plays, then halves playing both sides, getting bigger bodies, more off loads, forwards ball playing etc etc etc
Finally, my opinion on BA’s future at the club, while I think BA can win a comp with the eels, next year is very important. We have been successful this year going from spoon to finalists (anything from here is a bonus), however we have to do it again then year. Obviously depending on how healthy our squad is, if BA doesn’t get us really pushing towards a top 4 spot next year (and we shouldn’t be struggling to make the 8) then it’s probably time to look at other coaching options.