Smith is failing: the proof

[half]

i've been patronised on the internet! what's the number for the kid's helpline?!?

 

[El Diablo]

parrot, nice avatar :lol:

 

[Misty Bee]

i've been patronised on the internet! what's the number for the kid's helpline?!?

Yeah? Who did it? I'll get the bastard for ya!

No one patronises MY fellow Parra supporters and expects to get away with it! ;-)

 

[Chipmunk]

Misty,

Do your graphs also show the rise and fall of other clubs? In particular I would like you to look at the Warriors, Canberra, Melbourne and Penrith. You could also throw in Brisbane and Newcastle.

If a comparison is taken between these clubs and the clubs that have been at the top of the ladder during the past three years I think you will find that as a result of the improvement of the first four clubs mentioned other clubs - the Eels included - have also fallen over this period. The strength of the first four clubs have been increased during that time due to many different reasons.

If we also put into that graph the number of the top 25 players who were injured or unavailable during the period from 2001 to the end of the 2003 season you could also use that to explain your graph. The amount of injuries has slowly increased since the Grand Final in 2001.

It could also prove your point that Brian Smith is in your opinion crap and deserves to be sent packing quick smart.

Basically a graph can be used to prove any number of things.

You know, I know, HJ knows and every other Parramatta fan knows that the past two years have been worse than crap for want of a better word. You, me, HJ and every other Parramatta fan want Parramatta to return to the top of the ladder - who wouldn't. I want my son to see what I have seen - the Eels in all their glory running a victory lap around Telstra Stadium (I know it was the SCG but unfortunately that don't happen anymore)

Whether Brian Smith is the right bloke to get us and keep us at the top is a tough question. The Eels board at this stage have said they will support him for now - I understand that this is not your preferred option - and it may not necessarily be the right option either.

If we have all players available next year and we perform anywhere near the way we did at the start of this season than your fears will be warranted - and the board and myself and the majority of the other fans will probably raise the same questions that you have.

If we are sitting in the top six then the Eels board and HJ will be proved right and their justification in having Brian Smith at the helm will be warranted.

Time is a wonderful thing and its a shame at this stage that we have to wait....

I will be interested to see if u have the same thoughts if half way through next year we are running closer to Souths at the bottom, than the Roosters at the top!

 

[Chipmunk]

I still like Smithy though.

But do you think he's a good coach?

i think he's an excellent coach.... just unlucky at the end of the year!. In my opinion he is as good as Gould, Fulton, Anderson etc.

So after 36 years are Cronulla just as good a club as Parra were after 36 except they get unlucky at the end of the year?

OK, i'll go into it a little bit better!. Smith is definitely a good coach, but has never really had the players to win the comp ie Fittler and Johns. People say how good Jack Gibson was but look at the players he had - Kenny, Sterling, Price, Cronin, Ella, Grothe etc. He had a team full of superstars whereas teams these days really only have just the one which the rest of the team gets built around.

I said that he was unlucky due to his grand final performances. The grand finals he has lost were all poor performances by the team he coached. Saints were miserable in 92 & 93 and Parra were in 2001. Not one team he has coached in a grand final has performed well on the day. I think he's cursed, but he never has had the games best player at any stage.

The same could be said for the Sharks.... how many legends has that club produced?. Steve Rodgers.... big deal he was only a centre, not a five eighth or halve.

If Brian Smith had Dymock and Smith in 2001 things may of been different as they were the closest to game breakers he has ever had.

Parramatta had the best team in 2001 by a country mile and should have won the comp. They have hardly played a a high quality game against an inform top calibre team since!

 

[Chipmunk]

I can still remember the game against Easts where Lyon made something like 27 tackles at friggin inside centre!

Holy hell, that is a position from the dark ages! Where the hell have u been for the last 10 years???

 

[Chipmunk]

Wagon - Mate, I dunno. Wags really did not have a good year. I can remember in 01 when we played Brisbane and he took a great offload from K-Lo, put on a swerve that left Lockyer looking like an amatuer and scored a brilliant try. None of that this year, and his defense (which is his MAIN platform) hasn't been the same either.

One thing you will never be able to say is "that Great Offload FROM Wagon". He couldnt pass a VB stubbie at a BBQ! Adds very little value that an Under 19 forward from the Jersey Flegg couldnt perform. Daniel Wagon won Parramatta player of the Year? Wake Me Up Please...Surely I am dreaming!

 

[Chipmunk]

smith has a long term contract so to suggest his motivation over turning the team around for the final rounds was to save his job is rather ludicrous

smith may have his faults, but i think he has the best interests of parra at heart

There surely has to be a team performance clause in Smith's contract. Surely he cant just go along and the team plays like crap for the next 3 years and nothing can be done about it?

 

[Misty Bee]

I can still remember the game against Easts where Lyon made something like 27 tackles at friggin inside centre!

Holy hell, that is a position from the dark ages! Where the hell have u been for the last 10 years???

Mate, having watched the career of the greatest inside centre since Dave Brown catapault our great club to premiership glory, the old phrase is permanently engraved in my mind as a description of the No. 3 jersey.Long Live the CROW!

 

[Twizzle]

OK Misty................. I get your point.................. for what ever the reaseons, you don't like Smith.

Perhaps in 2005, after Flanno takes over at the bunies mid 2004, we can get him back to coach our first grade team.

 

[The Colonel]

OK,

So you are still trying to convince us that Smith is a joke, Jack would have done better, its the coach's fault and only the coach, Denis stole my scarf, Brian looked at me funny, John Kolc took my jersey off me when I tried to wear in into the leagues club........... blah blah blah blah. ](*,)

Misty I understand your point. I do not disagree that Smith had a bad year. However I am a realist and the realityof the whole situation is until the board - whom I am pretty sure doesn't have you as a member - sees fit to pass the coaching role onto someone else HE WILL BE COACH FOR NEXT YEAR. :-s

I understand your frustrations - I want Parramatta to stand at the top in their rightful place as the number one team in the competition however all the whinging and moaning doesn't make one ounce of difference if the powers that be are willing to stand behind him.Until they see fit to remove him from the position he will remain as the coach......

 

[Suitman]

Colonel,

Thankfully, you are one of the few on this board who are discussing this rationally, even if you don't agree with some of the opinions.

But surely, if some people do not agree with Smiths continuing tenure, and this is one of only a few outlets to express that displeasure, that they should be able to continue to do so?

I know you are banging your head against a brick wall with your frustration at hearing the same opinions, but that is the way others feel as well with the point blank denials that maybe there are other options.

I will back Smith next year. I will be as ecstatic as anyone if he leads us to a Premiership. I WANT IT TO HAPPEN. PARTICULAR UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP.

But if we are where we are now in another 12 months, my patience will have worn to intolerable levels.

It is 17 years since we have tasted glory. (forget the 7's)
I can't stanz it no more.!!

Whether he has another 12 months on his contract or not, if there is no substantial improvement in passion and performance next year, I will be as vocal as Misty.

Suity

 

[The Colonel]

Colonel,

Thankfully, you are one of the few on this board who are discussing this rationally, even if you don't agree with some of the opinions.

But surely, if some people do not agree with Smiths continuing tenure, and this is one of only a few outlets to express that displeasure, that they should be able to continue to do so?

I know you are banging your head against a brick wall with your frustration at hearing the same opinions, but that is the way others feel as well with the point blank denials that maybe there are other options.

Suity

](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ;-)

I know that people want to express their displeasure. I have expressed my displeasure on countless occassions. I have - yes me - even have called for Smiths head. For those that don't believe me it appeared in RLW in the letters section and I won a football for it (In the first eight rounds I think). The thing is its the same thing over and over.

For once I would like to come on here and see something positive for a change -like WONT SOMEBODY BACK ME UP ON FUI FUI MOI MOI?.

I know its a message board and everyone is entitled to their opinion but sometimes when something is almost put to bed it gets slapped around given a few coffees and made sit up through the all the episodes of Nightmare on Elm Street (which in my opinion were funnier than all the Police Academy movies)!

 

[The Colonel]

BTW

I was called rational? :-k

I was called rational! \\/

I was called rational :lol:

 

[Suitman]

Look, thats pretty much where I thought you were coming from anyway.
Point taken.

Rational eh????? Sorry to offend you. ;-)

BTW, every time I see your name I think of the real Colonel - Colonel Sanders.
MMMmmmmmmmm........Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Suity

 

[The Colonel]

Now Suity how do you know that its not the real Colonel??? :lol:

 

[Suitman]

Now Suity how do you know that its not the real Colonel??? :lol:

Now your'e really making my mouth water. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Suity

 

[slippery eel]

Chipmunk..... you say we had the best team in 2001!. We still didn't have an Andrew Johns or a Brad Fittler. The 2001 team was not a team full of superstars like the 80's team.

 

[eloquentEEL]

Parra might have had 13 injuries, but realistically we never had half the first grade side out. Cayless, Vella, Hindmarsh, Burt, Hodgeson and Moodie missing was, from memory, the worst (plus fringe 1st graders). However, this possibly lasted for 2-3 weeks, max. From memory, wasn't that the period from the second Canberra flogging to the Warriors/Cowpats wins?

would you perhaps be referring to the period where we had a string of losses by 2 points? where any one of the injured players (let alone 3, 4 or 5 of them) could have made the difference to one game and possibly our entire season?

You can blame injuries, but look at the WHOLE picture. Players were out of form. Players did stupid things - remember the first half efforts v Canterbury?

do you blame the coach for players being out of form and doing stupid things?

had Parra players tries their clakker out all year, and finished 9th, no probs.

Misty... this is a quote that is not at home coming out of your mouth. I remember very clearly that you gave me plenty of crap for daring to suggest these sentiments on the parraeels board (in fact, it was the basis of our first clash). You stated that unless they win a premiership, you would not be happy even if the players did their best. Now, make up your mind 'cos you can't have it both ways.

You lot say that we would have made the semis if Hindy was around for those close losses (Manly, Melbourne etc). I'm saying that if the players at the time, like Wagon et al, HAD played decent footy, we would have made the semis anyway! So it isn't injuries that cost our season. It was motivation. Skills. Timing. Confidence. Teamwork. Defence. All the things a coach is responsible for.

Misty, with all the responsibility you place on a coach, Superman wouldn't come up to scratch.

 

[Suitman]

e2e,

Some of those comments are a bit unfair.
You, yourself, must admit that at times this year, the form of several players was well below par.
I will name them.
Vella's first half of the season was extremely poor.
Wagon did little ALL year, and is as over rated a player as I have ever seen on current form.
Heckenberg had a shocker bar his last 5 or 6 games. I take my hat off to him though. He was one of our best in those games.
Even Cayless couldn't admit that he had a season up to his normal high standards when he was fit.
Moodie came good. Hodgson was abomindable. Pat Richards, in the few first grade games he played, was even worse.
That is what Misty is saying. The players that WERE on the field at those times, played appallingly, AND COULD HAVE MADE THE DIFFERENCE, if they had been playing to their ability.
We'll never know whether Smith was doing his job at this time, will we???

Suity