Rumours and Stuff

[Poupou Escobar]

4 months ago so much first grade talent was coming through.

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Parramatta Eels’ 4500-strong junior nursery beginning to bear first-grade talent​

View attachment 91771

PARRA'S HOMEGROWN TALENT TO WATCH​

Matt Arthur - Gone
Age: 18
Position: Hooker
Contract: End of 2026
Destined to be the club’s long-term No.9, bypassing SG Ball and Jersey Flegg to start the year in the NSW Cup, where he has excelled with 74m and 23 tackles a game, to go with three tackle busts and two try assists.
Ethan Sanders - Gone
Age: 19
Position: Halfback
Contract: End of 2024
Also one of the Eels’ NSW Origin under-19s contingent, but looks set to join Canberra next year. Has already shown off his kicking, passing and running game wearing the No.7 at NSW Cup level this year.
Blaize Talagi - Gone
Age: 19
Position: Fullback/centre/five-eighth
Contract: End of 2025 (player option)
Arguably the most talented player in the country under 20 years old. In two games playing fullback at NSW Cup level this year, he is averaging more than 150m a game, busted six tackles and set up two tries.
Joshua Lynn
Age: 20
Position: Playmaker
Contract: End of 2025
Queensland prodigy partnered Ethan Sanders in the halves for their SG Ball triumph and is now steadily developing his game with the Jersey Flegg side. Has the size and versatility to play a utility role if called upon.
Richard Penisini - ACL
Age: 18
Position: Centre
Contract:
Looked set to be the first of the club’s next generation to step up into the NRL but ruptured his ACL in early January that has ruled him out until 2025. There is the possibility of him lining up in the Eels’ backline alongside brother Will down the track.
Sam Tuivati
Age: 19
Position: Prop
Contract: End of 2025
Jersey Flegg
The NSW Origin under-19s star got a taste of NSW Cup at the back end of last year but has started this season in Jersey Flegg. The club has high hopes that he can be a long-term NRL front-rower at the club.
Charlie Guymer
Age: 20
Position: Second-rower
Contract: End of 2024
Captained the Eels to the SG Ball title last year and has now flown past Jersey Flegg to come off the bench over the opening two weeks of the NSW Cup, averaging almost 80m and 20 tackles a game.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-2024-parramatta-eels-ready-to-reap-a-fine-young-crop-of-juniors/news-story/2ec93f963367b07e915af92b4ef420df

There’ll be more, and if we can fit them into the NRL side when they’re ready, we will. What we need is for some of these young forwards to step up. Guymer’s a good start.

 

[Twizzle]

Pretty scathing comments all round about our clubs management on NRL 360 tonight.

Can you blame them ?

 

[Hindmarshisgod2]

So basically just repeating what we have all said.

Not all......there is one guy on here who thinks the management are doing a fantastic job...

 

[Stevie]

I very sadly find myself wondering if we’ll ever be a top team. Love Ryles appointment, but sadly not sure if we’ll ever be more than a joke of a club.

 

[Wally21]

Can you blame them ?

Can’t stand that f**kwit Hopper and of course he is full of piss and wind, but f**k me, we are a f**king rabble. I mean, if there wasn’t enough evidence for change from the top to the bottom of the club, it’s certainly there now.
f**k the chairman, ceo and most importantly that dipshit MON off.

 

[JokerEel]

Which players have we lost because of these merkins? These ones played reserve grade because they are ready. This is why we couldn’t keep them as backups. The ones who aren’t ready aren’t getting big offers from rivals. They are still mostly playing Flegg.

Should we have refused to retain Drown and Gutherson because Sanders and Talagi might’ve been ready for first grade in 2025? How about Moses?

Apparently you can't resign 18 19 20 year olds and develop them.

Someone better tell Penrith to stop signing up their kida long term Faalongo what are you doing aren't you reading Pous posts?

 

[Pazza]

I very sadly find myself wondering if we’ll ever be a top team. Love Ryles appointment, but sadly not sure if we’ll ever be more than a joke of a club.

I've supporting the club for 25years now and in all honesty in that period we haven't done much. We have caught fire a couple of times but as soon as we do we crash just as quickly.

How many elite players have we had in 25 years? Hayne, radrara, Lyon, Moses... Penrith, Melbourne, Roosters, they have that calibre of talent in one season.

 

[Parra Pride]

Did you do the wrong things or was it just luck and resources?

It takes a special kind of skill to cheat the cap to sign Chris Sandow.

 

[King-Gutho94]

What I love is that a million dollars under the cap is going to be in limbo till round 10 2025.

Not including penisini and matterson.

Go and read Prosenzko article he just released on the SMH.

It makes for happy reading.

The club opted against pursing Trei Fuller as a potential replacement for Gutho because the club decided to wait in limbo for 4 months for Blaize to make a decision as the next FB.

It's now August and Blaize has finally made decision after not taking his PO and now guess what Fuller is locked up.

 

[DaveMc]

Honestly I feel the same way about Blaize that I felt about Greed Mahoney.

If players don’t want to stay at a club that has given them so many opportunities then let them leave. I don’t want players playing for the club that are ungrateful or don’t want to be there

A number of the other players need to decide if they also still want to be there and if not then they can go as well

I’m not sure we’re in a position to be issuing ultimatums. The loyalty thing is a throwback to a different time. All players will understandably look to maximise their earning potential as quickly as they can, because they have a very limited shelf life.

The way to effectively deal with players and to make them want to play for you potentially for unders is to make the club an attractive place to be. That might mean different things to different players - it might be money, it might be geographic, it might be playing with your mates, it might be being given a crack at a preferred position.

The question is why juniors coming through our ranks aren’t staying. For some, undoubtedly it’ll be feeling like you’ll have a better shot at first grade or your preferred position elsewhere (Sanders). For some, it’ll be personal (Matt Arthur). For some, it might be the opportunity to play somewhere successful (Talagi, if the Penrith mail is right).

But why isn’t our club attractive to stay? I can’t help but believe there’s something to the criticism of MON being slow, low-balling and just a pain in the arse to deal with. We’re also woefully underachieving, and have for the better part of four decades now. Then you have diehard Parra juniors like Galvin who we don’t prioritise and understandably f**k off somewhere else.

Our recruitment and retention has been pretty ordinary for a long time. I don’t know where it starts getting better unless and until we have new people in key roles. Sacking Arthur was a good start. But the broom need to go through more of the place. And the sooner, the better.

 

[Hindmarshisgod2]

I very sadly find myself wondering if we’ll ever be a top team. Love Ryles appointment, but sadly not sure if we’ll ever be more than a joke of a club.

Yep....

I've officially given up on this club. What an absolute disaster this club has been.

We should be the powerhouse club in Sydney.....I just don't understand.

 

[eels4life87]

I’m not sure we’re in a position to be issuing ultimatums. The loyalty thing is a throwback to a different time. All players will understandably look to maximise their earning potential as quickly as they can, because they have a very limited shelf life.

The way to effectively deal with players and to make them want to play for you potentially for unders is to make the club an attractive place to be. That might mean different things to different players - it might be money, it might be geographic, it might be playing with your mates, it might be being given a crack at a preferred position.

The question is why juniors coming through our ranks aren’t staying. For some, undoubtedly it’ll be feeling like you’ll have a better shot at first grade or your preferred position elsewhere (Sanders). For some, it’ll be personal (Matt Arthur). For some, it might be the opportunity to play somewhere successful (Talagi, if the Penrith mail is right).

But why isn’t our club attractive to stay? I can’t help but believe there’s something to the criticism of MON being slow, low-balling and just a pain in the arse to deal with. We’re also woefully underachieving, and have for the better part of four decades now. Then you have diehard Parra juniors like Galvin who we don’t prioritise and understandably f**k off somewhere else.

Our recruitment and retention has been pretty ordinary for a long time. I don’t know where it starts getting better unless and until we have new people in key roles. Sacking Arthur was a good start. But the broom need to go through more of the place. And the sooner, the better.

We are in the perfect position to be issuing ultimatums. It’s a new coach coming in and coming dead last is the perfect time to let people go who can’t be assed giving their all to the club.

also the letting BA go is a brain dead take in this situation when he wasn’t the one that signed the players. He coached the team that recruitment and retention gave him

 

[JokerEel]

Go and read Prosenzko article he just released on the SMH.

It makes for happy reading.

The club opted against pursing Trei Fuller as a potential replacement for Gutho because the club decided to wait in limbo for 4 months for Blaize to make a decision as the next FB.

It's now August and Blaize has finally made decision after not taking his PO and now guess what Fuller is locked up.

And somehow the clowns in charge keep their jobs

 

[DaveMc]

Go and read Prosenzko article he just released on the SMH.

It makes for happy reading.

The club opted against pursing Trei Fuller as a potential replacement for Gutho because the club decided to wait in limbo for 4 months for Blaize to make a decision as the next FB.

It's now August and Blaize has finally made decision after not taking his PO and now guess what Fuller is locked up.

Jesus f**king Christ. What can you even say?

 

[DaveMc]

We are in the perfect position to be issuing ultimatums. It’s a new coach coming in and coming dead last is the perfect time to let people go who can’t be assed giving their all to the club.

also the letting BA go is a brain dead take in this situation when he wasn’t the one that signed the players. He coached the team that recruitment and retention gave him

Do you actually believe that Arthur had nothing to do with recruitment? Honestly?

 

[Pazza]

Go and read Prosenzko article he just released on the SMH.

It makes for happy reading.

The club opted against pursing Trei Fuller as a potential replacement for Gutho because the club decided to wait in limbo for 4 months for Blaize to make a decision as the next FB.

It's now August and Blaize has finally made decision after not taking his PO and now guess what Fuller is locked up.

Yeah I saw that.
The next 3 off seasons we are going to have massive contracts tied up in player options.

I am just failing to see any benefit to the club. Pou can you explain it to me again??

I looked at the nrl signings tracker page and we lead the league by a fair way with these options. Most rosters have none or 2 max. We have 6 or 7

 

[JokerEel]

Do you actually believe that Arthur had nothing to do with recruitment? Honestly?

He was on the R&R committee

 

[84 Baby]

I bet they wish Isaiya Katoa came along now instead of two years ago, just like we will miss Talagi and Sanders one day. But we won’t miss them next year, because these merkins don’t want to hang around as backups.

What Talagi to Penrith shows is that if you need players you can buy them. You don’t need them to come through your pathways. We needed an outside back and we signed Lomax. It’s how the market works.

The problem is we need 20 odd players. That’s a lot to go out and buy

 

[King-Gutho94]

I’m not sure we’re in a position to be issuing ultimatums. The loyalty thing is a throwback to a different time. All players will understandably look to maximise their earning potential as quickly as they can, because they have a very limited shelf life.

The way to effectively deal with players and to make them want to play for you potentially for unders is to make the club an attractive place to be. That might mean different things to different players - it might be money, it might be geographic, it might be playing with your mates, it might be being given a crack at a preferred position.

The question is why juniors coming through our ranks aren’t staying. For some, undoubtedly it’ll be feeling like you’ll have a better shot at first grade or your preferred position elsewhere (Sanders). For some, it’ll be personal (Matt Arthur). For some, it might be the opportunity to play somewhere successful (Talagi, if the Penrith mail is right).

But why isn’t our club attractive to stay? I can’t help but believe there’s something to the criticism of MON being slow, low-balling and just a pain in the arse to deal with. We’re also woefully underachieving, and have for the better part of four decades now. Then you have diehard Parra juniors like Galvin who we don’t prioritise and understandably f**k off somewhere else.

Our recruitment and retention has been pretty ordinary for a long time. I don’t know where it starts getting better unless and until we have new people in key roles. Sacking Arthur was a good start. But the broom need to go through more of the place. And the sooner, the better.

BA and the Nepotism around the Arthur clan has caused a lot of angst in the juniors for a long time.

I don't think a lot of juniors feel loved by the club when coming through and especially the past 5 years or so I get the feeling there has been a lot resentment towards the Rhinos and supposed favouritism given to Arthur clan with other juniors in the area from other clubs.

Like look at what Jake copped on here you reckon they weren't all saying it at junior league rep try-outs as well seeing the Arthur's come through getting a leg up through the door as they came through the grades. You would be filthy if you were the same age as them and played the same position.

If your a teenager and didn't get on well with Boods for example already your behind the 8-ball getting a foot in the door as BA would back his son over another child.

 

[84 Baby]

I've officially given up on this club.

Will you be joining the gathering in the concourse or did you stomp down to Kellyville Park and ceremonially tear up your season ticket?