Rumours and Stuff

[Eelementary]

So if we have a roster built with very good players but no superstars how are were we unable to keep Mahoney or offer him a fair deal??? Wheres all the money gone??? Someone must be on overs even though we apparently don't do them anymore..........

I don't know - maybe it's as simple as the club not willing to match the Dogs' offer.

 

[Eelementary]

Yes but you would have to say it’d be highly unlikely we’d be contenders without him.

True.

But I reckon we could get by with a hooker that tackles well, and distributes the ball well; Mahoney's kicking game, and short passing near the try line, is a bonus, but we arguably don't need it.

Mitch Rein is a handy player to have around.

 

[hineyrulz]

Oids.

*Roids.

 

[hineyrulz]

I don't know - maybe it's as simple as the club not willing to match the Dogs' offer.

Well i've always said our coach has little respect for the dummy half position.

You could be right and this decision just proves it.

 

[Eelementary]

Well i've always said our coach has little respect for the dummy half position.

You could be right and this decision just proves it.

His philosophy may well be to undervalue the hooker position.

Don't get me wrong - Mahoney is one of my favourite players, and I am dirty we let him go.

But I also don't want to see us become a club that is at the players' mercy.

Bit I totally understand why people are upset about his departure.

 

[Gronk]

His philosophy may well be to undervalue the hooker position.

Don't get me wrong - Mahoney is one of my favourite players, and I am dirty we let him go.

But I also don't want to see us become a club that is at the players' mercy.

Bit I totally understand why people are upset about his departure.

As some have pointed out in social media, Melbourne set a price for players in the roster and have a policy not to get into bidding wars. Ignoring Storm of old, they have let JOC, Finucane, Hynes and Cheese go without a fight. Yes some will launch into this post with a LOL you’re comparing us with Storm - 35 years ! But please let’s just focus on the concept of being a club who aims for long term success vs instant success like Dogs, Tigers.

 

[lucablight]

Well i've always said our coach has little respect for the dummy half position.

You could be right and this decision just proves it.

Still think having Gutherson play hooker in attack while at fullback was one of the most bizarre coaching decisions I’ve seen.

 

[Gazzamatta]

He is a bloody good player, and I'd hate to lose him - but we did sign that young halfback from the Dragons, so we do have a plan B.

Plus, with the money his hypothetical loss would free up, we could hit the market hard.

*Jrthur

 

[Gazzamatta]

So if we have a roster built with very good players but no superstars how are were we unable to keep Mahoney or offer him a fair deal??? Wheres all the money gone??? Someone must be on overs even though we apparently don't do them anymore..........

Under the current Eels system there is a need to continually develop players to the point where they become attractive to other clubs. These players then become more valuable than we are prepared to pay and the cycle continues. The other concern is we appear to prioritise senior players over youth. Advantages and disadvantages there. Its also disappointing the BA factor hasnt had the effect the club felt it would.
Regardless Im good with all thats happened until proven otherwise.

 

[hineyrulz]

Still think having Gutherson play hooker in attack while at fullback was one of the most bizarre coaching decisions I’ve seen.

It was classic BA, we got thumped by 60 and he was rewarded with another contract extension. Only at Parra.

 

[hineyrulz]

Under the current Eels system there is a need to continually develop players to the point where they become attractive to other clubs. These players then become more valuable than we are prepared to pay and the cycle continues. The other concern is we appear to prioritise senior players over youth. Advantages and disadvantages there. Its also disappointing the BA factor hasnt had the effect the club felt it would.
Regardless Im good with all thats happened until proven otherwise.

And the cycle of shit and being also rans continues.

 

[TheRam]

It's close, but I also don't believe that was the Bulldogs' final offer. That could have been their starting offer ffs, and we might've matched it. Then their final offer blew us out of the water.

That's what I think is most likely, based on the recent performances and behaviour of the two clubs.

Only if you think I share your untested assumption that the Bulldogs' final offer was $650k, and that ours was less than that.

What we should have done is offered him around $600K way back in April-May and I'm sure that he would have taken the deal after a little haggling. It is pretty obvious to me by way of all the time and wrestling with his conscious he had trying to come to a decision. But by waiting like a bunch of fools thinking that loyalty will trump CASH once there is an open auction and larger offers are waved in front of your face, they totally ballsed it up.

He is a fairly loyal type of guy, so I have very little doubt that around $600K would have made him happy and he would have taken it, but when you are lowballed at a time when your predator competitors are allowed to show you the money, well it changes everything and even the more loyal start to thinks twice, especially when you have a merkin manager in your ear telling you to work the negotiations till you get the lottery size winning offer.

Bottom line is our club blew it back in March-April-May and June when the majority of all our re-signings should have been done. I reckon both Papalii and Mahoney would have signed for around 500K and 600K respectively. By lowballing and letting other clubs serenade and flash lager offers in front of them, which makes them realised actual earnings and losses, then it makes it to hard for the player to ignore and much easier for the manager to persuade him to jump ship.

Bad management strategy in the battle to secure our talent. I hope we have learnt a major lesson here and never let this type of perfect storm shit happen again. We need to be much better at this or these type of headlines and outcomes will never cease.

 

[Bandwagon]

I’m over Mahoney but if the reporting is true, I fail to see how either the NRL or the Dogs would say it’s fine to do what the Dogs have done. They need 9 players at minimum $120k each. That’s $1.08m. And they reportedly have $500k available.
There’s too many stakeholders that would have to not blink but it would serve them right if the players needed to be moved on all said no

What'd be better for mine is if in moving them on, again remembering if the reporting is correct that's quite a number of players, they ended up having to subsidise them all for a coupla years.

Meaning they'd, have to move more of them on, and replace more of them with minimum wage signings.

Overall that'd mean there squad could be so unbalanced that despite all these big name signings, overall they'd be worse off.

 

[parra pete]

I can't remember...Did Warriors fans blow up when Isaah signed with the Eels?

 

[strider]

I’m over Mahoney but if the reporting is true, I fail to see how either the NRL or the Dogs would say it’s fine to do what the Dogs have done. They need 9 players at minimum $120k each. That’s $1.08m. And they reportedly have $500k available.
There’s too many stakeholders that would have to not blink but it would serve them right if the players needed to be moved on all said no

Its hard to make any real judgement about it.

The info we get comes from the media ... is it trustworthy?
What is the NRLs actual stance on all this? Do they only care when it gets closer to 2023?

 

[TheRam]

The Dogs would have lined up some TPAs for him. My guess is 650k plus 100k.
Maybe we didn't go pass 550k and a 40k TPA.

I reckon that we would have had him on $550K and 40K TPA if we had done it back in April-May.

 

[Bandwagon]

So if we have a roster built with very good players but no superstars how are were we unable to keep Mahoney or offer him a fair deal??? Wheres all the money gone??? Someone must be on overs even though we apparently don't do them anymore..........

You're reasoning here is flawed, whilst It's likely we have a few on overs, it's not inevitable. Keeping Mahoney ( or any other player ) and not paying overs is dependent upon how much other clubs are prepared to pay.

If our strategy in recruitment is to get balance across the park, without committing too much to any one position, then it stands to reason we would lose players to clubs who are more prepared to skew the balance of their cap towards the positions those players play, and that we'd be unlikely to have superstars in our roster because of the same reason.

 

[Bandwagon]

I don't know - maybe it's as simple as the club not willing to match the Dogs' offer.

I don't think there's any maybe about it. The only questions are by how much, and how long.

If we knew the answer to those questions, we could better judge the decision to let him walk, unfortunately all we have is speculation.

 

[strider]

So if we have a roster built with very good players but no superstars how are were we unable to keep Mahoney or offer him a fair deal??? Wheres all the money gone??? Someone must be on overs even though we apparently don't do them anymore..........

Not really ... the salaries of 12 good players and 18 others might be on par with the salaries if 2 stars, 6 good players and 22 others

Having a strong squad across the park costs money

Question is whether one way or the other is a winning combination

 

[Bandwagon]

I can't remember...Did Warriors fans blow up when Isaah signed with the Eels?

I'd say most didn't care, the price we signed him for reflected the value of him at that time, so I dare say he wasn't highly valued at his then club.