Hey Sticky, play lazy Hayne at lock

Correction Planko, Jamie Lyon would rather play in the bush than play with Brian Smith. :)

superstar, I am firmly in the Hayne is a good player but not a freak however you are right they are not loosing cause of Hayne IMO either. But they are having to pay overs so often it has to hurt. Darcy Lussick a really good player to have on the bench but he is not 80 mins. He is not a starter ideally maybe if have a few injuries and yet you guys paid what 350 to 450 for him. Hopoate a really good player but 800k (if that figure is right I have him at MAYBE potentially worth 60% of this.) A Seasoned long term performer like Lyon was not is not worth that in his day so Hopoate nope. Corey Norman, Sandow etc etc. Superstar the problem is systemic and long term with even the new signings. Good luck I have always had a soft spot for Parramatta good luck on the weekend with the Mannah Cup.

Would be better if Hayne was throwing cut out passes to Lyon but he would rather play in the bush than play with Parramatta... (sorry low blow).

Damn straight I agree the opportunity cost of at least 2 dummy half drops in good position cannot be underestimated. I thought I saw 2 drops from dummy half in prime real estate and one shocking almost uncatchable pass in good position. Did not watch the whole game but the hurt maybe not have been to the extent of 50 nil but an early try or a try when you are still in it eg 12 nil down can change everything. Look at the warriors game they were 12 nil down and made a comeback. NQ is the interesting dissapointment so far for me I had them very high. Yeah I know it is early ....

Problem with that though B.A, is that a lot of those other "weak links' aren't on 600k a season. Hayne, whilst being a freakish talent, does not turn up consistently and therefore is not worth his hefty price tag. Ideally, Hayne is someone who would be on a performance based contract. You consistently play well, you get paid more. This would have to harmonise with and conform to salary cap restrictions of course. Why aren't clubs looking at performance based contracts as a way of off-setting the associated performance risks with new signings? Any thoughts roarers?

Ben Roberts will cost you 1-2 tries per game with all his knock ons, forward passes and stupid, unforgivable penalties often on the fifth tackle. Matt Keating...would he even cut it in NSW Cup? I doubt it. Ben Smith should hang up the boots.

Who said what to Hayne before round 2 is the answer as always with hayne , high maintenance. Parra or hayne played alright in round one and first touch round 2 from hayne I could see he was in a sulking mood. 7 coach's and still sulks like a teenager, good player when on, unreliable to build a side around, any player on his money you should be able to build on, hoppa!

Jarryd Hayne is not the reason Parramatta are crap. The mess that Parramatta are in stems back to 2007 when Brian Smith left. Since then they have been coached by Jason Taylor, Michael Hagan, Daniel Anderson, Steven Kearney, Brad Arthur and now Ricky Stuart. That's 6 different head coaches (2 were only 'caretaker' coaches) in as many years. On top of that they have recruited woefully over the past 2-3 years. Blokes like Chris Hicks, Chris Walker, Carl Webb, Casey McGuire, Willie Tonga, Ben Roberts, Paul Whatuira. With that sort of recruitment is it any wonder that the last 2 seasons they've come second last and last respectively? Even buying Will Hopoate for big money. By the time he gets to Parra he won't have played league for 2 years. Granted he's still young and he probably will come back successfully eventually, but it's a massive gamble, and for a club that's been constantly rebuilding pretty much since their 2005 minor premiership, I wouldn't think it's a gamble worth taking. The other major blunder that Parramatta (and Steve Kearney) made was paying overs for Chris Sandow, and then giving him a job that he wasn't capable of doing in the first place. Chris Sandow was one of the best "off-the cuff" players in the game when he was at Souths. Bringing him into a team structure where they play hit-up times 5 then kick, with zero second phase, is almost the height of stupidity. I think the signing of Folau would have made a huge difference. Once he readjusted back to league he would've been a handful down the right or left edge. But unfortunately the Eels are littered with mediocre outside backs like Ken Sio, Cheyse Blair, Ryan Morgan, Jacob Loko and Vai Toutai. I'm sure all those guys have potential to be good players. It's just unfortunate that they are all playing in the same team, because this is essentially a backline that has come straight out of U20s. They can all tackle, but they don't know how to defend as a unit because they are all rookies. Parra have a long road ahead of them, but I truly think Sticky has them heading in the right direction. Darcy Lussick was a good signing. He needs to calm down a bit, but he has the potential to mature into a great forward pack leader for Parramatta for the next decade. Corey Norman is also a great signing - it will do wonders for Sandow having a first-grade standard five-eighth playing outside of him. Parra need a clean-out. At this point, the only current players I'd keep are Hayne, Matuia, Mannah, Paulo, Allgood and Lussick (maybe Ben Smith as well). Pretty much everyone else should be playing NSW Cup. The young kids like Sio, Blair and Loko need to learn to play against men before they play first grade. A lot of the older blokes like Fui Fui, Matt Keating etc would not be in first grade at another club.

He has had enough time to grow, sell him.!!

Sell him, his a bad apple.

1) His winger is moving toward the ball, the ball is goign away from HAyne, it is always the wingers kick 2/3) he probably does mis-read the kick, but he has also probably i'd that his winger's biggest threat is the big winger from the other team, and he is trying to block him without getting done for blocking. 1:00: take Hayne out of the line, and what do you have a giant gap 10 out from your own line. He fills the gap and defuses the kick - he put in a double effort - you are not seriously blaming him for that! 1:20: you are kidding right? he is watching Aubusson in 12 who is running like the kick will go closer for him. he has to cover that. 1:42 maybe he could have shown a littl emore urgency, but he is pauing at every player incae the player cuts back through the gap, there was a few 2:09 - he gets over to help. He cant drive with his body because his teammates bod is in the way, the tackle becomes ineffective. Seriously that is it?

See YouTube video above. Hayne needs a lot of pointers as to how to play defence as a fullback.

Merritt is a try-scorer, no doubt. Can he defend? (I don't mean, defend better than Hayne, I mean, defend.)

Sorry, nothing personal, I just thought 7/10 was quite generous. I would have rated him a 5. Maybe 4 if you take into account his poor form as captain.

The biggest mistake Hayne made was staying loyal to this poor excuse for a footy team in Parra. I have no doubt hes a quality player but the rest of the side is average at best & opposing teams know that if you stop Hayne you stop the Eels. Id love to see him at the Broncos who are looking for a fullback or maybe the tigers would be a good fit, but until Parra get a better playing roster he will never be the player he should be.

Mate, you are preaching to the converted. I already know Hayne is a hold/cold player. Im just not trying to sound like a broken record. I agree that Hayne usually lacks urgency in defence or when supporting his wingers. Ricky Stuart needs to sit in front of a TV with him to discuss where he can improve his game. Hayne can be so much better...MORE OFTEN :^)

Really? He's not doing much when it counts. Watch the highlight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a3KJgyAy4Y), from 0:29. Note: 1) why doesn't he take the kick? He's the vet, his winger is a rookie, he should have taken the pressure off him. 2) why isn't he shielding his winger from catching the kick? unless 3) he misreads the kick anyway, which is why he steps to his right instead of the left. 1:00. 4th tackle, kick to come, why is Hayne in the defensive line? 1:20. Play shifts to the left, and the kick goes up. Hayne is trotting to follow the ball... why the hell isn't he sprinting? 1:42. See 1:20. Why the hell doesn't he sprint to cover the ball coming through? 2:09. As above. Where's the urgency? (By comparison, watch Sandow sprint, even though he's been beaten by his man.) Just picture what Slater or Stewart would be doing in the same scenario, and that marks the gulf between the top fullbacks and Hayne.

I reckon he should drop some of that bulk and play hooker. That's right. Hooker. He has a passing, kicking and a running game. Playing at hooker would force him to step outside of his comfort zone...which is what I think he needs.

That's genius. If I was Sticky, I would do it.

What more can he do? He follows their supposed creative players around, but they aren't creating the way a Cronk or Marshall does, he just runs into brick walls. He pops up in the back line and throws his killer cut out passes which come off sometimes, and othertimes... well he is throwing them to Ryan Morgan who wouldn't get a start in many NSW Cup sides. When he gets the ball he does run hard. I woul dbe willing to bet his tackle bust numbers would be up there with anone in the league. Moving him to lock isn't the answer. He'll have to do more tackling, get more tired, more likely to get injured and given he hasn't had to do a tonne of tackling in his career, probably give away mroe penalties. I would encourage (as someone suggested) for those who like to write these Roar articles about the Eels, try looking through the big league, learn a couple more names, watch them play this week and maybe write something about the rest of them - the weak links in the team