Stephen Kearney: Day One

[Eels Dude]

If Anderson pushed them hard, then what Kearney is doing is murder.

What I mean is it's the standard response every from every club every year... "we've been made to work harder in the pre season than we ever have before". It's such a cliche.

 

[Runaround Man]

Who cares what they're doing in training now. Your hear the same sort of reports in the off season EVERY year. I'd rather just and se how we perform early next year before speculating on whether our coach is doing a great job or not in the first couple of weeks of pre season training.

Eels Dude, I think the main thing SK is trying to create is a work ethic that becomes built in to each and every member of the team for every game and in fact for everything they do. It all starts at training. Although he is working on them physically he is actually working on their heads.

Hindy is the perfect role model for every player to look to.

THis might be the year where Hindy doesn't have to be the try saver on most ocassions. Hopefully he will have a few mates to help out.

What happens at training in the course of the off season and then into the season proper is vital, no doubt.

 

[Eelementary]

Eels Dude, I think the main thing SK is trying to create is a work ethic that becomes built in to each and every member of the team for every game and in fact for everything they do. It all starts at training. Although he is working on them physically he is actually working on their heads.

Hindy is the perfect role model for every player to look to.

THis might be the year where Hindy doesn't have to be the try saver on most ocassions. Hopefully he will have a few mates to help out.

What happens at training in the course of the off season and then into the season proper is vital, no doubt.

Well said - if we had 17 blokes out there every week with the same heart as Hindy, we'd barely lose.

 

[yy_cheng]

It appears that the Eels of 2011 will favour the grinding teams down with structured kicking play and an extremely organised and tough-as-nails defence. Building pressure and maximising on opportunities as they present themselves, fixing our errors and improving our consistency seem to be things that they want to achieve.

Grinding teams down - Well, no halves, our offloading forwards have all gone, there's not much choice left.
Structured Kicking - I wonder who SK will assign that to.
Organise - Who will organize them
Defense - That will work.
Building Pressure - Haven''t done that for many, many season. Since Tim Smith left if you ask me.

This will be very interesting who SK has assigned for these roles.

 

[Eels Dude]

Eels Dude, I think the main thing SK is trying to create is a work ethic that becomes built in to each and every member of the team for every game and in fact for everything they do. It all starts at training. Although he is working on them physically he is actually working on their heads.

Hindy is the perfect role model for every player to look to.

THis might be the year where Hindy doesn't have to be the try saver on most ocassions. Hopefully he will have a few mates to help out.

What happens at training in the course of the off season and then into the season proper is vital, no doubt.

I'm not disagreeing with that, it's all correct. I'm simply saying it's the same stuff we hear every year in the off season from players and coaching staff who are involved in training sessions. That's why I'll reserve my judgement on Stephen Kearney's coaching ability if we perform on the field next year, as opposed to getting excited about him apparently 'working them hard' in his first couple of weeks as head coach. We'll see what happens next year but I'm not going to give him any raps yet.

 

[Eels Dude]

Grinding teams down - Well, no halves, our offloading forwards have all gone, there's not much choice left.
Structured Kicking - I wonder who SK will assign that to.
Organise - Who will organize them
Defense - That will work.
Building Pressure - Haven''t done that for many, many season. Since Tim Smith left if you ask me.

This will be very interesting who SK has assigned for these roles.

That's the big problem if you ask me. We simply don't have anyone with the ability to lead with an structured kicking game. That's where Orford could have come in handy. People keep talking about Murray, but even if he has a great kicking game he will struggle with the timing involved in comparsion to the NYC.

Playing a Dragons style game will only be successful who you have 2 things

1) A solid organiser at halfback to lead the team around
2) A solid halfback or five eigth who knows what to do on the last tackle and execute them solidly.

Dragons have that solid combination in Horny for 1) and Soward for 2)... We have neither. So I seriously hope we don't adapt a style similar to what the Dragons have done the past couple of years because we will fail.

And if Steven Kearney was a good coach he would realise that you need to play to your players strengths rather than try to adapt them into a style of football those players are not capable of playing.

 

[Utey]

Why has it taken this long to find out that the throw the ball around style of football is entertaining, but it's much too inconsistent in the big games or the wet. Sounds good and perhaps there might finally be a culture change.

 

[boxhead]

Report about today from a source;

Originally posted by Benny Pinder

Injuries - Hindy , Reddy , Hayne , Keating , Fui , Mannah left leg in complete brace but was doing bike work and walking ok

Absent - Hayne , Tahu , Smith ...
...
Main Squad - All good attitude and a great vibe through the entire squad , A solid 2 hour season in the heat with Kearney pushing them all the way ...

Casey McGuire pulled up early with calf soreness but is fine ... He said we are done with signings bar Orford but he thinks it's a lost cause and won't happen , added that he is happy to be back and will be out to impress to extend his contract ...

STAND OUTS

Loko : this kid is a monster , struggled in the heat but put in the hard yards all session

Walker : was involved in everything and was leading the way in all exercises , anyone who had doubts DON'T ... The guy is here to play

Fui : the big man is carrying an injury but pushed hard and at one stage was told to take it easy

Ant Mitchell : Im expecting a big year from the kid , massive effort and loved every minute of if

Others that impressed -
Sio , Murray , Morts , Shacks ...

Horo , Poore , Webb , Grothe were all there but doing weights and pool session !

Sounds good (not the injuries though of course), looks like Chris Walker at least won't be a dud signing by all reports.

 

[natheel]

good news about walker and loko

 

[boxhead]

I agree, if Loko is putting in a lot of effort his present struggles will turn into great success It's all the kid really needs, some more time to develop of course but if his mind-set and effort is great then the rest will simply flow.

 

[cgee221]

I agree, if Loko is putting in a lot of effort his present struggles will turn into great success It's all the kid really needs, some more time to develop of course but if his mind-set and effort is great then the rest will simply flow.

This.

 

[cgee221]

Chris Walker is a bit like Guru in terms of training.

They train hard and intensely, good stuff!

 

[cgee221]

That's the big problem if you ask me. We simply don't have anyone with the ability to lead with an structured kicking game. That's where Orford could have come in handy. People keep talking about Murray, but even if he has a great kicking game he will struggle with the timing involved in comparsion to the NYC.

Playing a Dragons style game will only be successful who you have 2 things

1) A solid organiser at halfback to lead the team around
2) A solid halfback or five eigth who knows what to do on the last tackle and execute them solidly.

Dragons have that solid combination in Horny for 1) and Soward for 2)... We have neither. So I seriously hope we don't adapt a style similar to what the Dragons have done the past couple of years because we will fail.

And if Steven Kearney was a good coach he would realise that you need to play to your players strengths rather than try to adapt them into a style of football those players are not capable of playing.

Absolutely, if we undertake this strategy then we will not succeed. As it stands our kicking game is probably the poorest feature of our team, bar Hayne and Burt I don't think I've seen anyone be able to hit them consistently 40-50+. Matt Keating does come up with a few good kicks here and there though.

 

[boxhead]

Here is another update from a person who has been graciously keeping Parramatta fans informed on the progress of their Eels at training.

Originally posted by paul taylor

The Hard stuff continues

Training continued like it has been for the past few weeks..... boys getting hammered by SK, Brad Arthurs to the point that some are not coping with the workload. It will only intensify this week with a commandos type course for 5 days. The boys are really getting touched up and from I know the discipline is a major contributor at every session. No short cuts and no excuses tolerated !

Home truths have been laid and SK made it known to the players that this apparent slow starting in both games and first part of season 2011 is not on. The training is designed about the team starting well and more importantly holding on. SK made the point that he believed parra was soft, reknown for starting slow and reknown for soft underbelly in tight games at the back end. Looking through many of the games we lost last year he is 100% right there.

The players love him - he is a very good people manager - they respond well to his coaching. But he is disciplined and strict - ALL in and everyone contributes.

WEBB continues to train well - lost 6kgs so far and is keen as mustard. WALKER & ATKINS winning everything in thr runs, MITCHELL impressive and karl FILIGI looking very good depite a recent injury mishap. They think he may be pressing for a top 17 position. H e is a big human being.

Looking good - stay positive - the BOYS are and we have a very shrewd coaching staff. Love watching this new culture unfolding before our eyes....

I would like to thank this person for their updates and also point out to those who don't want to read the full post;
* Carl Webb has already lost 6 kilograms
* Chris Walker and Jordan Atkins are consistently coming first in training runs
* Karl Filiga is pressing for a top seventeen position
* The players apparently are loving working under Stephen Kearney, as his man-management skills are reportedly very strong.

Stay strong Eels fans! Hopefully Season 2011 marks a new beginning for our beloved Eels

 

[mrpwnd]

At least Webb seems more fired up than when he was at the cowsh*ts.

 

[boxhead]

At least Webb seems more fired up than when he was at the cowsh*ts.

I'm really happy Webb is really trying hard and losing weight I think this was always going to happen when changing to a new coach, especially one like Kearney (from the reports).

 

[mrpwnd]

I'm worried about Hayne injury, how much of it has been affecting the off-season training?

 

[boxhead]

I'm worried about Hayne injury, how much of it has been affecting the off-season training?

When he first got back to Australia his initial tweet (twitter) was along the lines of "They already expect me to do training" so I am guessing he is doing training of some sort. They did say 6 weeks of recovery time and that was around 7-8 weeks ago (I think), so maybe he is training fully (but adjusting again).

 

[mrpwnd]

When he first got back to Australia his initial tweet (twitter) was along the lines of "They already expect me to do training" so I am guessing he is doing training of some sort. They did say 6 weeks of recovery time and that was around 7-8 weeks ago (I think), so maybe he is training fully (but adjusting again).

Cheers.

 

[The Engineers Room]

Why has it taken this long to find out that the throw the ball around style of football is entertaining, but it's much too inconsistent in the big games or the wet. Sounds good and perhaps there might finally be a culture change.

But that is not the problem. The problem is we don't create any opportunities and we don't make the defence work, so they get the ball in good field position. Please play a more attacking style Parramatta, it is the way this team will succeed.