Scott Donald!

[Eelementary]

look Donald is a good finisher, something Parra lacks this season.

So's Petersen, but look how much people love him.

If Muzza had Donald's pace, I think we'd have a winner.

Anyway, we have to ensure first and foremost that our backs get the ball when they have space and/or support to weave their magic. In other words, we need a good half.

 

[strider]

Donald is ok - he's fast and an intelligent footballer....but he's not a big star.

I'd be very happy to have him back at Parra - but he won't be making our team brilliant or anything.


People continue to bitch about our retention (or lack of it)....yet we see the teams that are really stacked with ex-parra players doing no better than us....has Donald, Hex, Dunley, Hollingsworth, Leuleui and co made Manly a better team that is a title contender? HELL NO!!

 

[The Colonel]

For that matter Canberra is off loading one and not doing great with the others. Tigers are in a hole at the moment themselves.....

 

[CrazyEel]

People continue to bitch about our retention (or lack of it)....yet we see the teams that are really stacked with ex-parra players doing no better than us....has Donald, Hex, Dunley, Hollingsworth, Leuleui and co made Manly a better team that is a title contender? HELL NO!!

Exactly, so just why did we recruit them in the first place? And most likely end of season will see another exodus of last years "bargain buys". Isn't that the whole point, we have lousy recruitment?

 

[strider]

The only real ex-eels that people would have any right to complain about us losing in recent seasons who are at clubs that are going well are:

Canterbury: Ryan and Tonga
Roosters: Cayless

And lets face it - these guys are not the reason their clubs are at the top of the ladder....they contribute well, but they are with successful teams in the first place.

 

[CrazyEel]

No argument they were duds and shouldn't have been retained. I just want to know why we recruited them in the first place.

 

[strider]

People continue to bitch about our retention (or lack of it)....yet we see the teams that are really stacked with ex-parra players doing no better than us....has Donald, Hex, Dunley, Hollingsworth, Leuleui and co made Manly a better team that is a title contender? HELL NO!!

Exactly, so just why did we recruit them in the first place? And most likely end of season will see another exodus of last years "bargain buys". Isn't that the whole point, we have lousy recruitment?

We recruited them for depth...and with our injuries and lack of form from more renown players, these guys got an opportunity and did OK on our team before moving on elsewhere....these guys were never on big salaries, they were just at parra to play a role.

Yeah, the issue is who is coming to Parramatta to be a dominant player. We have the core of a good team, but we just haven't performed - we lack the ability to wear teams out making them defend hard and we have suffered a loss of confidence/trust in defense.

These are the BIG name guys we tried to add to our core since 2001:

2002: Dykes - Dally M 5/8 of the year 2001 - got injured, missed extended periods, is creative, but maybe not the organiser we need.

2003: Morris - has been very solid - maybe not a real creative player tho - still a very good buy.

2004: Cannings - I still believe he can be a great asset to our team, but obviously he's had no chance to make an impact.

2005: Riddell - big impact player - big things expected.


Can someone provide a list of recent BIG NAME player movements from ANY team in the NRL - in the last 3 years or so....and I mean BIG NAMES - guys who had a reputation at the time and were seriously gonna change the club they went to.

 

[Belly in Brisvegas]

People continue to bitch about our retention (or lack of it)....yet we see the teams that are really stacked with ex-parra players doing no better than us....has Donald, Hex, Dunley, Hollingsworth, Leuleui and co made Manly a better team that is a title contender? HELL NO!!

Exactly, so just why did we recruit them in the first place? And most likely end of season will see another exodus of last years "bargain buys". Isn't that the whole point, we have lousy recruitment?

We recruited them for depth...and with our injuries and lack of form from more renown players, these guys got an opportunity and did OK on our team before moving on elsewhere....these guys were never on big salaries, they were just at parra to play a role.

Yeah, the issue is who is coming to Parramatta to be a dominant player. We have the core of a good team, but we just haven't performed - we lack the ability to wear teams out making them defend hard and we have suffered a loss of confidence/trust in defense.

These are the BIG name guys we tried to add to our core since 2001:

2002: Dykes - Dally M 5/8 of the year 2001 - got injured, missed extended periods, is creative, but maybe not the organiser we need.

2003: Morris - has been very solid - maybe not a real creative player tho - still a very good buy.

2004: Cannings - I still believe he can be a great asset to our team, but obviously he's had no chance to make an impact.

2005: Riddell - big impact player - big things expected.


Can someone provide a list of recent BIG NAME player movements from ANY team in the NRL - in the last 3 years or so....and I mean BIG NAMES - guys who had a reputation at the time and were seriously gonna change the club they went to.

Russell Richardson :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[CrazyEel]

Again, don't disagree with the general thrust of your argument Strider. However I still believe we shouldn't have recruited them or many of those from last year currently running around in Prems.

If they have no future or are not part of a long term plan then don't buy them.
IMO we would be better building a team around our class players using a combination of selective class imports and current juniors.

I just can't see the point in buying a large number of duds every year just to release them at years end, all because they were cheap. What purpose does that serve and how could it possibly benefit the building of team spirit.

In any case, seems ridiculous to ridicule Manly for simply doing the same as us, or were we doing the same as them but just did it first? #-o