Rumours and Stuff

[T.S Quint]

Haven’t we got that tight arse / selfish/ head knock Matterson for another 2 years because he just opted in when we were trying to offload him.

Sure. Same with Dunster, who I would guess the club doesn't want anymore.
You take a risk with a player option, but how often does it work against the club as it has in those two instances?

I doubt the club is just throwing options into contracts willy-nilly.
"Hey mate, here's your contract. $X for three years. And I'll tell you what, I'll throw in a player option for an extra year for nothing. How does that sound?"

More likely it is all part of the negotiation, where a player might have a similar offer from two clubs, but one is offering a PO. Can you imagine if the last time we were trying to re-sign Matterson if he went to another club just because they offered him a PO and we didn't? He was in great form at the time and it would have been yet another reason for fans to put shit on the club.

Or another club is offering say $600k for three years but the player wants 4 years. Parra will offer $500k for three years plus a PO for the 4th year in order to sign the player.

We don't know the ins and outs of these deals and what other clubs are offering. It's likely we don't get to sign a lot of these players without the player/mutual options.

 

[T.S Quint]

Let’s not kid ourselves. We played like trash. I was at the game and the atmosphere was non existent because we never got into the contest. I don’t know if it would have changed the result if we played our best but I can’t really say I’m satisfied with what transpired. It’s not like we gave it our all and there’s nothing more we could have done. There have been bigger upsets in finals than if we had won (admittedly not in NRL grand finals for a very long time).

We were only slight underdogs against the Cowboys. If the game had been played in Sydney we probably would have been favourites.

I agree with the game against the Cowboys. I thought they were favourites because of where the game was played, but we matched up reasonably well with them and may have been favourites in Sydney.

As for the GF, we didn't play well because Penrith didn't allow us to play well. Theire defensive line was incredibly fast and was up in our faces all game (some might say they were offside for quite a lot of it, but who really knows).
We were a good team, but there's no way we were even the second-best team that year. Did well to get to the GF, but like the Cowboys in 2017, we were just outclassed by an infinitely superior team.

 

[Eelementary]

Even Federer, Nadal and Djokovic lost finals to players that were inferior to them. Upsets happen in sports. That should always be our goal. I still consider it a missed opportunity.

I'm not sure our preparation leading to the game was good enough - up to that Grand Final, we were the one team that troubled Penrith.

But, it is, what it is.

 

[Gazzamatta]

I wouldn't be rushing on Penisini.

I probably be reserving my judgement until round 12 anyway next year on him and see how fits in Ryles system and if there is improvements in parts of his game especially basic fundamentals.

Because his form this year was not horrendous but downright average and it was a lot of the basics that was poor making a lot of unforced errors in some moments crucial times.

I also think we have overrated his defence a touch i would like to see 5-10% improvement on decision making and just defensive contact as well.

He has much to improve. His effort when beaten in D is basically "fu*k it, let someone else chase". Needs a huge attitude adjustment.

 

[T.S Quint]

what benefit did we get? you claim guys like Brown and Moses re signed for less due to these options? show me the evidence!!

The evidence is that we signed the players.
Other teams didn't.

 

[Eelementary]

Anyone think we may have a genuine concern regarding Moses leaving at the end of 2025? I know he’s contracted until end 26 but we know what that is worth.

we know Moses has a high opinion of Maguire, and vice-versa. Brisbane need a quality directing half with Reynolds leaving, and they have a bucket load of money. All aligns for me.

Similarly, Brown is available for 26 already and Maguire had him as first choice 5/8th for the kiwis

if either of our halves don’t click with ryles, I reckon we lose them to Brisbane

To be honest, as good as he is, is he leaves, he leaves.

We've won nothing with him so far.

We will move on.

 

[T.S Quint]

I'm not sure our preparation leading to the game was good enough - up to that Grand Final, we were the one team that troubled Penrith.

Except for every Finals game we've played against them.
Same with Melbourne.

We may be able to beat them in the regular season, but during the Finals these teams go up a gear whereas we don't (or at least we go up one gear while they go up 3).

Hopefully we can change that.

 

[Eelementary]

Except for every Finals game we've played against them.
Same with Melbourne.

We may be able to beat them in the regular season, but during the Finals these teams go up a gear whereas we don't (or at least we go up one gear while they go up 3).

Hopefully we can change that.

I agree.

I was disappointed in our effort in that Grand Final - but then again, Penrith did not allow us to play the way we normally do. They were just too good.

 

[T.S Quint]

To be honest, as good as he is, is he leaves, he leaves.

We've won nothing with him so far.

We will move on.

Well, we won Origin.

But that's a different story. I hope that big game experience helps to make him a greater player who can step up in the biggest moments.

 

[Pazza]

We only have 3 PO (Matterson, Brown and Will) and 2 MO (Lane / Sivo) next year.

I get the argument against them, but I don't see them being a huge issue next year in roster management.

Sivo/Lane, it's up to us to let them go or not. Matterson is obviously going to stay.

Will/Drown who knows.

So really it's only Drown to decide, as there is a good chance we will probably try to negotiate a new deal with Will, thus get an early indication of his plans.

i just dont think going into Nov 1 with 2 million dollars worth of cap tied up in POs is a good idea......

its like going to a house action but a quarter of your money isnt available for 1 - 6 months.

look its just my opinion, im not going to claim to be right or know more than anyone else around here.

 

[T.S Quint]

I agree.

I was disappointed in our effort in that Grand Final - but then again, Penrith did not allow us to play the way we normally do. They were just too good.

Yeah, I was amazed at how well they played. Choked the life out of us.

We were beaten in 2009 by a better team, but they could have been beaten that day. Melbourne didn't play their best that day. Unfortunately, neither did we. Change just a couple of moments in that game and we may well have won.

Change a couple of moments in the 2022 GF and Penrith still mop the floor with us I think.

 

[Pazza]

The evidence is that we signed the players.
Other teams didn't.

true, but it has been claimed POs lowers their cap number

no one saying the POs are offered for nothing.

I think its got more to do with the club being desperate after mohoney, Papali, Niukore, Kalfusi, stone, etc all walked out.

to say the eels have found a way to game the cap is ridiculous...... just ridiculous

 

[King-Gutho94]

I'm not sure our preparation leading to the game was good enough - up to that Grand Final, we were the one team that troubled Penrith.

But, it is, what it is.

Penrith still dont like playing us.

We still troubled them this year

Despite the 5 min disaster it took Penrith to go up 5 gears to beat us with an bog average side we had on the park with nothing to play for.

We scored 34 points with a backline consisting of Tago, Russell, Asi, Talagi.

No other team has scored more points in a game against Penrith in the past 3 seasons and we still lost.

In fact if you dive deeper Penrith have only conceded 30+ points on 4 occasions since start of 2022

3 have been Parramatta and 2 of those 3 ironically have been without Moses our best player.

Its quite remarkable we led that game 34-20 with 8 mins to go.

It should have been one of our great victories despite playing for nothing.

 

[T.S Quint]

i just dont think going into Nov 1 with 2 million dollars worth of cap tied up in POs is a good idea......

its like going to a house action but a quarter of your money isnt available for 1 - 6 months.

look its just my opinion, im not going to claim to be right or know more than anyone else around here.

Most of those players we would want to keep, and the ones that we would be ok to lose are still good enough players to have in your top 30 (even your top 17) apart from Dunster who would cost f**k all.

The club would be in constant conversation with the managers of these players. I highly doubt it's a shock to the club when a player exercises their option, or chooses not to take it up. At least in most cases.

 

[T.S Quint]

true, but it has been claimed POs lowers their cap number

no one saying the POs are offered for nothing.

I think its got more to do with the club being desperate after mohoney, Papali, Niukore, Kalfusi, stone, etc all walked out.

to say the eels have found a way to game the cap is ridiculous...... just ridiculous

I think there might have been a kind of 'win now' mentality, where they thought they had a Premiership window open after 2022 which they will try to keep open and deal with the consequences later by signing the players on whatever deals they could. That's definitely plausible, especially when you don't have the same advantages as some other clubs.

It is also plausible that players like Moses, Brown, Matterson, etc signed for less than they could have with another team and did so because they had the extra safety net of a player option. I'm not saying that they signed for half a million less than the other offers, but enough of an amount to help the club cap-wise. especially when you have a few of these types of deals.

I've got no f**ken idea. But I'm not going to completely shit on the club because of it. I don't think these player options are the reason we've missed the Finals two years in a row, but they seem to be big topic of discussion (constantly highlighted ad nauseum by the dipshits at the Telegraph/NRL 360).

 

[Pazza]

Most of those players we would want to keep, and the ones that we would be ok to lose are still good enough players to have in your top 30 (even your top 17) apart from Dunster who would cost f**k all.

The club would be in constant conversation with the managers of these players. I highly doubt it's a shock to the club when a player exercises their option, or chooses not to take it up. At least in most cases.

the club wanted to keep blaize and i think they were very shocked with the outcome

 

[Incorrect]

Penrith still dont like playing us.

We still troubled them this year



We scored 34 points with a backline consisting of Tago, Russell, Asi, Talagi.

Imagine how many we would have scored if we had the Sharks backline!!! Like, 120 I reckon!!

 

[Pazza]

I think there might have been a kind of 'win now' mentality, where they thought they had a Premiership window open after 2022 which they will try to keep open and deal with the consequences later by signing the players on whatever deals they could. That's definitely plausible, especially when you don't have the same advantages as some other clubs.

It is also plausible that players like Moses, Brown, Matterson, etc signed for less than they could have with another team and did so because they had the extra safety net of a player option. I'm not saying that they signed for half a million less than the other offers, but enough of an amount to help the club cap-wise. especially when you have a few of these types of deals.

I've got no f**ken idea. But I'm not going to completely shit on the club because of it. I don't think these player options are the reason we've missed the Finals two years in a row, but they seem to be big topic of discussion (constantly highlighted ad nauseum by the dipshits at the Telegraph/NRL 360).

you make some great points.... we really have no idea about the motivations of the club at that time. all we can do is look at the situation and assume.

one thing i do know is that for the 2026 season we have 5 option contracts, the next closes team is the storm with 3 and the rest of the league 3 teams have 2, 4 teams have 1 and 8 teams have 0. This comes with risk, thats how i see it anyways

 

[T.S Quint]

the club wanted to keep blaize and i think they were very shocked with the outcome

I did say in most cases.
Occasionally shit like this happens. I don't think it would be the norm. I genuinely reckon that the club thought he was going to stay. He might have stayed if we kept BA, who knows. Either way, he can go and get farked.

In any case, I don't think it was a shock that he didn't take up the option. They would have expected that.
It was more of a shock that he signed for Penrith.

 

[Pazza]

I did say in most cases.
Occasionally shit like this happens. I don't think it would be the norm. I genuinely reckon that the club thought he was going to stay. He might have stayed if we kept BA, who knows. Either way, he can go and get farked.

In any case, I don't think it was a shock that he didn't take up the option. They would have expected that.
It was more of a shock that he signed for Penrith.

im still shocked they offered a option. 1 year with a player option???? at that point you know where the kids head is at.

This club acts scared and i think player managers can smell it from a mile away.