Patience is a golden commodity in rugby league and two NRL clubs in the past week have felt its impact.
Down at Cronulla, years of patience and hard work paid off handsomely when a $10m injection entered the Sharks’ coffers from their financier (ANZ) and development partner, Bluestone Capital Venture.
In one of the most significant milestones in Cronulla’s history, the payment was made to develop land owned and currently occupied by the club.
The cash injection will put the Sharks group in a position of strength for 2013 and beyond.
This is a time of celebration and great relief for the Sharks community who have weathered so many bad times that one wondered if some good ones would ever roll around.
Cronulla appears to have finally shaken the financial gorilla from its back and with a batch of exciting new recruits, I see no reason why the club won’t blossom into a major title threat under emerging coach Shane Flanagan.
Their player roster is very impressive. The Sharks have added established stars such as Luke Lewis, Beau Ryan, Chris Heighington and Michael Gordon to a list that includes Paul Gallen, Todd Carney, Nathan Gardner, Isaac De Gois, Wade Graham and Jayson Bukuya.
And in further good news, Cronulla was the beneficiary of a favourable draw over the first 20 rounds of 2013 with only two games scheduled for Monday night, and nine to be played on Sundays.
At the other end of the patience spectrum lies wooden spooners Parramatta.
There is a blue and gold revolution taking place in the west with the arrival of head coach Ricky Stuart and the October appointment of respected Football Club CEO, Ken Edwards.
But the Eels have exhibited a gung-ho urgency to sign Israel Folau and their plan is threatening to disintegrate at any moment.
Parra hasn’t shown a skerrick of patience in their attempt to nail code-hopper Folau. Coach Stuart has blabbed constantly to the media about what Folau would mean to his new team and there has been oodles of premature coverage on the club’s website and social media streams.
If they were trying to convince the ex-GWS Giant that he would be loved at Parramatta more than at any rival club, they might have succeeded.
But they guy they needed to convince was NRL salary cap cop Ian Schubert – Parra had to prove they could legally fit him under the salary cap.
The whole scenario could so easily end in major embarrassment for the Eels. No other club seems to be a contender for Izzy’s services. They may well miss their man who could end up playing a season of rugby union, either here or abroad.
Plenty of patience has been shown by the Eels’ faithful in recent seasons as their team has plummeted from a position of power to play-dough on the playing field.
It’s a pity a similar patience hasn’t been shown by the Parra administrators.
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