Rumours and Stuff

[Delboy]

We just spent four straight years in the finals ffs. Last year we missed out by one win. Suddenly the whole club needs to be blown up? Stop catastrophising you pissweak merkins. You make me f**king sick.

The game has changed its dynamism over those 4 years from a power dominated , forward heavy style to a more dynamic speed generated style. The issue is that recruitment and development hasn’t assisted in changing the roster , and the structure of playing style is embedded and preferred by the coach.

Needs more than a simple tweak to move the club forward, maybe there’s a line in the sand that determines our next move.

 

[emjaycee]

Sounds a reasonable assumption mate. The other option would have been to evolve our D. Regretably that has proved impossible under the current watch.
Its time mate.
Who's your preference?
I see a few are jumping on my suggestion months ago to consider Peter Wallace. He, in combination with Wayne, would be outstanding but I reckon Bennett is millions to one. Wayne would like our roster but Im thinking our head office might frighten him and in turn our head office probably wouldnt want Wayne controlling them. Hed call a spade a spade no doubt.
Failing all that Chieka or Holbrook again with Wallace supporting.
We need a succession plan. All good businesses make it a priority. Sadly we dont consider this unless they see Barrett or Cayless as heir apparent?

I like who they are considering if my mail is correct. Was also under considerstion in 2022 before our run to the GF.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Happy to concede they spend more on their football program.

But no doubt you're convinced MON and BA and whoever else you can name are the ones to blame.

I do not believe Matt Cameron would have cost more than Mark O'Neill at the time of their appointments to their latest positions - he MAY cost more now after years of success.

It's possible but irrelevant imo. Penrith aren't great because they have Matt Cameron, they are great because of their football budget, which is largely based on the income generated by Panthers Group. Cameron is just an employee.

My point is that we could easily have paid Matt Cameron to be our HOF when we engaged MON - but we didn't.

Can you prove it would have made any difference? Both clubs improved with their respective appointments. But we were coming off a much lower base than them. Cameron was appointed to GM when they had made the finals three years in a row, and five times in the previous nine years. When we signed O'Neill we had made the finals once in that time.

We had previously had Matt Cameron in our systems and didn't see his worth - to be frank, I know for a fact we let him go even before BA was coach.

I know it for a fact too, it was announced in the media.

Two things to take out of this:

1) Hindsight is 20/20 - granted, the club made a decision to hire MON, which at the time may have been entirely justifiable;

When judging the past this is all that matters.

2) They made the wrong decision - you can say those words can't you?

I can say you're wrong. You don't know how we would've gone with Cameron instead of O'Neill. We have fewer resources to work with here. You admitted it at the start of your post. Now you're pretending the disparity in spending doesn't matter? WTF is wrong with you people?

Whilst it may not solve anything to dwell on the wrong decision, it is worth noting that it is one of many missteps in the past few years.

I reckon we could've gone heaps worse without O'Neill. The fact is we did go heaps worse before he came to the club. It doesn't mean O'Neill deserves all the credit but he sure as shit doesn't deserve all the blame for us missing the finals once in the five years he's been here.

Pre-empting your "Covid set us back" argument, last time I checked Covid did not only hit the Parramatta area, it was a worldwide thing, so every club dealt with Covid- and many of them dealt better without our "resources" of a massive junior and membership base.

Very few clubs have done better than us since Covid. Only two clubs have won the comp and only three other clubs have made grand finals, including us. You disaster narrative is a bunch of hysterical bullshit.

 

[Happy MEel]

The game has changed its dynamism over those 4 years from a power dominated , forward heavy style to a more dynamic speed generated style. The issue is that recruitment and development hasn’t assisted in changing the roster , and the structure of playing style is embedded and preferred by the coach.

Needs more than a simple tweak to move the club forward, maybe there’s a line in the sand that determines our next move.

The way I see it, these are the changes needed:

- HoF replaced
- Head coach replaced
- Assistant coaches replaced
- Attempt to offload overpaid roster including Matto, Lane, Junior and Sivo.
- Succession plan for Gutho’s fullback position
- Commitment from the Board that onfield results are the number one priority with explicit KPI’s communicated to members/fan base
- review of the r and r committee

 

[Twizzle]

BAs lost the dressing room

surely its on Google maps

 

[Twizzle]

1) Hindsight is 20/20

its called Hineysight mate

 

[Happy MEel]

What would we do with Lomax if we offered this kid a centre spot until Gutho's retirement?

He’d have to be the succession plan for Gutho, unless Lomax to fullback? He’d get the ball plenty.

 

[Happy MEel]

surely its on Google maps

Couldn’t be more than 7 minutes away from Kellyville.

 

[hineyrulz]

surely its on Google maps

And it's only 7 mins away ffs!!

 

[Twizzle]

The way I see it, these are the changes needed:

- HoF replaced
- Head coach replaced
- Assistant coaches replaced
- Attempt to offload overpaid roster including Matto, Lane, Junior and Sivo.
- Succession plan for Gutho’s fullback position
- Commitment from the Board that onfield results are the number one priority with explicit KPI’s communicated to members/fan base
- review of the r and r committee

in other words, our club needs an enima, or a full clean out if you will

I agree it needs to start in the football back office

 

[Twizzle]

Couldn’t be more than 7 minutes away from Kellyville.

And it's only 7 mins away ffs!!

ffs

 

[Happy MEel]

in other words, our club needs an enima, or a full clean out if you will

I agree it needs to start in the football back office

I think it does. I reckon it’s the only way to entice someone like a Bennett. It needs to happen yesterday though if we’re to pull it off (not a euphemism, although…)

 

[Eelementary]

I don't believe that or club should be content with merely making the Finals 4 years running, including a Grand Final - the goal should be to win a Premiership.

And to follow up a Grand Final appearance with one - possibly two - seasons of not even making the 8, should not be acceptable.

While there are mitigating factors (last year, we had a horror injury toll, and poor discipline, which lead to players being unavailable; it's a similar story this year), the way this team capitulates under the slightest bit of pressure is just not First Grade NRL standard.

We owe Brad Arthur a great deal of gratitude for guiding us through some difficult periods over the last 11 years, but he's peaked - he can't get any better, and he certainly cannot extract the very best from his troops any more.

A change is needed, and I'd suggest the first place to start should be the board - we should have cut-throat business people, demanding success, running the club.

Then it should trickle down to the Head Of Football, and the Coach - by all means, recruit a superstar; but invest in signing talented young players for peanuts, so if your star goes down, you have a cheap, quality option to replace them with.

The Eels have failed here, too, and while our failures can be rationalised, what needs to happen is change .

 

[Happy MEel]

I don't believe that or club should be content with merely making the Finals 4 years running, including a Grand Final - the goal should be to win a Premiership.

And to follow up a Grand Final appearance with one - possibly two - seasons of not even making the 8, should not be acceptable.

While there are mitigating factors (last year, we had a horror injury toll, and poor discipline, which lead to players being unavailable; it's a similar story this year), the way this team capitulates under the slightest bit of pressure is just not First Grade NRL standard.

We owe Brad Arthur a great deal of gratitude for guiding us through some difficult periods over the last 11 years, but he's peaked - he can't get any better, and he certainly cannot extract the very best from his troops any more.

A change is needed, and I'd suggest the first place to start should be the board - we should have cut-throat business people, demanding success, running the club.

Then it should trickle down to the Head Of Football, and the Coach - by all means, recruit a superstar; but invest in signing talented young players for peanuts, so if your star goes down, you have a cheap, quality option to replace them with.

The Eels have failed here, too, and while our failures can be rationalised, what needs to happen is change .

Yep the KPI should be top 4 EVERY YEAR…period. If we don’t achieve that then the entire football department and board have failed and we need to look at changes somewhere to ensure it doesn’t happen the following year.

 

[TheRam]

What would we do with Lomax if we offered this kid a centre spot until Gutho's retirement?

Well OK then, keep him on the wing. The backline below looks quite lethal to me for 2026(if Gutho comes back to something like his former self) compared to what we currently have.

Gutho
Votano
Lomax
Penisini
TBA

 

[yy_cheng]

The way I see it, these are the changes needed:

- HoF replaced
- Head coach replaced
- Assistant coaches replaced
- Attempt to offload overpaid roster including Matto, Lane, Junior and Sivo.
- Succession plan for Gutho’s fullback position
- Commitment from the Board that onfield results are the number one priority with explicit KPI’s communicated to members/fan base
- review of the r and r committee

TBH, i would like to see Barrett kept for a while but not under BA. Just to see what he can add in terms of attack.

Andrew Johns said that he had introduced a number of ideas to the halves but someone objected to them. He didnt say who.

Ennis and Potter didnt stay long either. I wonder why these consultant/assistants don't stay?

 

[Legal Eel]

But no doubt you're convinced MON and BA and whoever else you can name are the ones to blame.

It's possible but irrelevant imo. Penrith aren't great because they have Matt Cameron, they are great because of their football budget, which is largely based on the income generated by Panthers Group. Cameron is just an employee.

Can you prove it would have made any difference? Both clubs improved with their respective appointments. But we were coming off a much lower base than them. Cameron was appointed to GM when they had made the finals three years in a row, and five times in the previous nine years. When we signed O'Neill we had made the finals once in that time.

I know it for a fact too, it was announced in the media.

When judging the past this is all that matters.

I can say you're wrong. You don't know how we would've gone with Cameron instead of O'Neill. We have fewer resources to work with here. You admitted it at the start of your post. Now you're pretending the disparity in spending doesn't matter? WTF is wrong with you people?

I reckon we could've gone heaps worse without O'Neill. The fact is we did go heaps worse before he came to the club. It doesn't mean O'Neill deserves all the credit but he sure as shit doesn't deserve all the blame for us missing the finals once in the five years he's been here.

Very few clubs have done better than us since Covid. Only two clubs have won the comp and only three other clubs have made grand finals, including us. You disaster narrative is a bunch of hysterical bullshit.

Head buried firmly in the sand - lets just keep going steady as she goes then.

 

[TheCrowe]

Well OK then, keep him on the wing. The backline below looks quite lethal to me for 2026(if Gutho comes back to something like his former self) compared to what we currently have.

Gutho
Votano
Lomax
Penisini
TBA

You have to start thinking Gutho's knee is only a 50/50 chance of coming good. He had surgery in the off season and needs surgery again already. We have to plan for that.

 

[Hindmarshisgod2]

We just spent four straight years in the finals ffs. Last year we missed out by one win. Suddenly the whole club needs to be blown up? Stop catastrophising you pissweak merkins. You make me f**king sick.

We may have made the finals four years straight, but we were never, and I mean NEVER a major contender to win a premiership.....unless we did a Bradbury which is a .0001 chance...we were just making up the numbers.

Thus is the part you don't get. That's why I'm convinced your a bot. You don't seem to have common sense, just black and white stat's.

 

[yy_cheng]

I like who they are considering if my mail is correct. Was also under considerstion in 2022 before our run to the GF.

I hope so.