The Eel's celebrate their winning points during NRL's Round 3 Parramatta Eels v Newcastle Knights at Parramatta Stadium, Friday, March 28, 2008. Eel's beat Knights 24-23. AAP Image/Action Photographics/Grant Trouville
Well, that was fast. A few months ago, the front and page pages of the Sydney’s Daily Telegraph were plastered with the words “Heartless” and “Penniless.”
They were done so to describe a football club on the brink, and possibly also to help shaft Eels’ CEO Denis Fitzgerald (who says papers don’t come with agendas).
The Eels were a basket case, they reported. They were losing money hand over fist, they wouldn’t be able to go near spending the salary cap, and players should even think about how they are getting paid.
Suddenly they are the competition’s big spenders.
You work it out. Other than proving it pays not to have a memory longer than seven days in this game, it does show you that Daniel Anderson might be finally getting his way.
The signings of Justin Poore and Shane Shackleton are not just encouraging for Eels fans from a financial perspective, but also that the players wanted to go there.
You could have been forgiven for thinking that the Eels would have to have been one of the least attractive options, but either Daniel Anderson has some sort of vision or he is one hell of a salesman.
Of course, Eels fans would also know that big signings don’t necessarily bring success.
The Super League war saw them operating with a $9 million dollar roster with the purchases of Jim Dymock, Jason Smith, Jarrod McCracken, Dean Pay, Adam Ritson and Araon Raper. And they produced little but a big bill.
But as this season teeters, the blue and gold army now have more reason to hope for better times ahead.
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