https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...s/news-story/d12d24a106c14e56d6552f9e53bb1339
Monday Buzz: Eels, Tigers worst performers in NRL over past 10 years
Phil Rothfield, The Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
BRAD Arthur wants to build a dynasty at the Parramatta Eels, not just win a premiership.
You can see why. His club is the worst performer in the NRL — alongside the Wests Tigers — over the past decade. Both have made the finals only twice since 2008.
The Daily Telegraph asked Fox Sports statistics guru Aaron Wallace to rate the 16 NRL clubs on the number of times they have made the finals in the past 10 years.
Clearly Melbourne Storm are the benchmark. They have made the playoffs nine times, only missing out the year David Gallop took all their premiership points for rorting the salary cap.
For a Sydney club with a small junior base, Manly have done remarkably well to make the finals eight of 10 years and the top four on five occasions. (Although they have recently been caught rorting the salary cap.)
With 41 sleeps until the 2018 kick-off, it raises an interesting question.
Is it more important to win the premiership this year or to be consistently successful over the next 10 years?
The Dragons won in 2010 but finished fifth, ninth, 14th and 11th in the following seasons. The Rabbitohs won in 2014 then ran seventh, 12th and 12th.
The lack of sustained excellence has cost them bums on seats, memberships, sponsors and merchandise sales.
Wayne Bennett took the Knights to a grand-final qualifier in 2013 but they followed it up with a 12th and then three wooden spoons.
It’s why no one is under more pressure this year than Knights coach Nathan Brown, who is still cleaning up the mess Bennett left.
For the first time he has the cattle to take Newcastle to the semis this year.
He agrees he’s trying to build sustained excellence.
“Every coach wants to consistently make the finals,” Brown said. “And then be in a position to win the comp. Otherwise, you’re in the wrong business.
“You also need an element of luck. Like if Cooper Cronk hadn’t gone to the Roosters, we wouldn’t have got Mitchell Pearce.”
The Fox Sports consistency “premiership ladder” also shows why the moves to unseat Canterbury Bulldogs chairman Ray Dib and his board at next month’s elections are so outrageous.
Only one of the nine Sydney-based clubs, Manly, have been more successful in the past 10 years.
The Bulldogs run the game’s most profitable leagues club. They have a multinational jersey sponsor in Kia paying $1.5 million a season, way more than most of their rivals.
These achievements come from two key words — consistency and stability.
At the top end of the scale is Storm super coach Craig Bellamy.
Interestingly, Bellamy is not into the five-year plans Gus Gould made famous at the Panthers.
“If you’ve got a five-year plan, or say it’s going to take three years to rebuild, that’s putting limitations on yourself,” Bellamy said.
“The secret is working hard with what you’ve got and you never know what you can achieve.
“It comes back to the mentality of everyone at your club — their hunger and their reason for playing and how hard they want to work.”
