Where to now for Parramatta? After finishing well short of expectations, Eels need to add element of unpredictability

Better than not making them

Not really, he is from all reports a vastly more talented player than his brother. Even the more virulent Jake haters are aware of this.

If i was Matt Arthur i would be looking a new club after the way his brother was treated by Eels fans.

"These numbers are no worse/better than other teams that came in the top 8 this year." Really? Go through Parra's draw and compare it to Canberra's. I'm not solely attributing a poor season to the draw. As I mentioned, Brown being suspended for being a fool, was nothing to sneeze at, but this year, one extra win makes a huge difference. The Knights are in 5th with 13 wins. Parra are 10th with 12 wins. The Eels draw wasn't the only reason for their poor season, but it was one of them...

In terms of the R&R committee, it’s structure is dictated by the board. I’m sure if Mark O’Neill had his way he would have absolute control over the all football operations, including the head coach, but we aren’t there yet here in Australian sport. The only one who has that authority is Gus, and he’s obviously a special case. As for selling a dream, if you’re a young footy player who do you think you’re most likely to listen to, Gus or literally anybody else ? The simple fact is that, with the exception of maybe Wayne Bennett & Craig Bellamy, and that’s a big maybe, there is no one more influential in RL than Gus. And when that young player is already halfway there anyway, it wouldn’t have been tough for Gus to sell the Dogs to Mahoney over some Chinese. Again, the club knew it had the spectre of Moses & Brown coming off contract, they couldn’t afford to be caught short in the retention of either player. Yes sometimes you have to overpay, that’s what we did for Moses & Brown. No question the club dropped the ball on our outside backs. No argument from me. As for the awards night, it was planned for a later date, but once the season was over the club decided to get it over with a week earlier. No reason not to. It’s not unheard of teams having their awards night before the season’s end. Clearly we have gone backwards this year, but it’s not a permanent situation. I’m confident we’ll be back next year.

Hi Brett, Some good points. My comeback to a couple of those would be; 1) Agree there is a signficant structure issue around R&R. Whose responsibility is that? - I would think the GM of Football, Mark O'Neill. 2) Yep, Gus sold a dream to Reed. Isn't that what Mark O'Neill's job is? Gus was able to sell a dream with a club that has stunk for the best part of a decade, has terrible facilities and didn't rate him as a junior coming through, while O'Neill failed to sell a club with a state of the art stadium and facilities, and two of the best halves in the game with more in the pipeline... How does that happen? 3) I get that there are different reasons, but at some point as a club you have to look at the impact and if it means some overs to retain someone to maintain stability, you do it. 4) As above. The Eels have one centre at the club in the top 30. You couldn't even say there was anyone knocking on the door from the juniors. The plan was for Simmonsen to be the new left centre. - off the back of one game at centre last year where admittedly he had a good game. But you can't set your entire plan around a winger filling in at centre admirably once and not cover it. Its appalling planning. I would even point to what took place this week with the club holding its big awards night. Is it a great look to be holding an Awards night (which obviously has to be planned a long time in advance) before the season even ends? When it was planned there would have been a presumption that the NRL team would still be playing. Instead they have held the Awards night, before the NRL season finishes, while the NRLW side has three games to go and the Jersey Flegg side are about to start a Finals campaign. That isn't MON solely, but seriously, who is running the show? I can't see how even the most passionate fan and most realistic Board member can't say, the Eels have gone backwards this year and it isn't so much coaching and on field performance as it is what is going on behind the scenes and some poor decisions being made.

So based on all this, who should be Parra be looking to entice? Robbo? No chance. Bennett? Ditto. Bellamy? Forget it. Walters? Pretty happy at the Broncos thanks. All others are not even close to the "great coach" tag you mentioned or are still learning the trade. That means Parra would have to take a punt on a new coach and if they did that, be prepared to accept more mediocrity as a likely outcome while the new person found their feet - assuming they were able to actually settle in and do a job.

No great coach is ever available… they have to be persuaded and enticed. No point is saying that this one or the other is contracted and unavailable… money talks and contracts are worthless. Just accepting the results of the past decade is tantamount to accepting that he’s the best of a bad bunch and therefore just keep renewing his contract. Believe me there isn’t a coach running through SEEK waiting for them to place an ad. With the obvious advantages that club has, it should be an easy sell to a prospect that could take them further. If they are prepared for mediocrity then good luck to them.

And got smashed. Brian Smith made umpteen grand finals and couldn’t win one

And spent 95 consecutive regular season weeks inside the top 8. The only team to be permanently in the top 8 from 2019 through 2022.

They did make a grand final last year

And we were the only team not to get a bye in an Origin week as well. How the hell does the NRL justify giving the Tigers and Dragons an Origin round bye, but not the team that made the GF the year before ?

He’s a placeholder for Matt Arthur who is reportedly the one they’ve identified as the long term option.

A few corrections Andrew … 1) The issue with the R&R committee is that it only meets once a month and every decision apparently needs to be unanimous. It was implemented so that the club would he more deliberate and less reflexive in its contract dealings. Unfortunately now it’s become a bit too beauracratic and probably needs to be a bit more flexible now. 2) It wasn’t money that saw Reed Mahoney leave, it was his ego. The club made a very competitive offer for him, but Gus sold him a vision of Mahoney raising the Provan-Summons Trophy as Dogs captain. Reed was a always a dogs fan anyway, his heart was never really in the Eels. Only max dollars would’ve kept him, which would’ve cost us Brown or Moses. 3) The forwards who left did for a variety of reasons. Niukore left because his wife’s health meant they needed to be close to their families in Auckland. Kaufusi left because he wanted to be a starter, wasn’t gonna happen with Junior & RCG in the team. Nathan Brown was let go because his game fell off a cliff last year, it hasn’t improved at the Roosters. Stone was a fringe forward who was looking for more opportunities which he wasn’t going yo get at the Eels. Papa was a gut punch I’ll agree, but his loss is probably the one we’ve covered the best thanks to the recruitment of Hopgood and the improvement in Cartwright. 4) Opacic, agreed. But even there he got a three year deal in ESL, which the club was reluctant to give him. 5) Moses’ contract negotiation dragged out, but he’s a top 3 halfback in a league in which they are scarce. The Tigers really threw everything at him, and we simply could not afford to lose him. The club was simply in a no win situation there. He had all the leverage and used it. Munster did the same thing in his last negotiations with Melbourne. Top shelf playmakers are just too rare. If you have one, you’re a premiership chance, if you don’t, you’re not. It’s that simple. 6) Ethan Sanders is a talent, and if Moses was 34 you could make the case to sacrifice him for Sanders, but he’s not, he’s 28 and right in his prime years. Sanders could’ve been patient for another 2-3 years, but he’s taken the easy money. Good luck to him. 7) Hodgson wasn’t given an extension, the club activated its option. In doing so it allowed him to be medically retired. It costs the club nothing. His cap hold expires Dec 1. 8) Jamayne Isaako was barely NRL standard last season. Sivo was outstanding last year. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. 9) R&R has been more than Hopgood. But the club has stated that it wants to get back to being a development club. Our SG Ball team won its title, the Flegg team is in the finals, the Matt’s team finished 3rd, the Tarsha Gale team finished 5th after its team was gutted to be promoted to the NRLW team this year.

These numbers are no worse/better than other teams that came in the top 8 this year. I am willing to accept that they were screwed pretty bad with injuries and suspensions but to attribute their poor season to a tough draw has no basis in reality.

Could the club source any better players? There seem to some decent full-backs in the NSW Cup. Parra could see if thy could pick up a youngster cheap – acknowledging that the salary cap is a problem. If he delivers (maybe with Gutherson moved to the centres) then they could find some sparkle. Or try to pick up Kayal Iro (Kevin Iro’s nephew) from the Sharks. He is totally wasted there, fed up and looking to go. He would provide a bit of razz-a-matazz. Same with Dummy Half. Cronulla’s second string half, Jayden Berrell, is off contract at the end of the season. Again, he wouldn’t cost a fortune, and if Lussick and the present DHs are not good enough then he would be a low-risk pick-up. Assuming the club is unable to source any better players, then Brad Arthur needs to get more out of the ones he has. In particular, he needs to get a lot smarter in the way he uses the bench. He likes to play RCG and Junior for long, long minutes – even when they are gassed, and sometimes does not use all of the bench players. Brad justifies this by saying the his two starting props are really good, and he needs big minutes out them. But Brad needs to accept that they will be another year older in 2024 and a knackered first choice prop will often deliver less than a fresh second-rate prop. He has to get more out of the bench – especially if he can’t find some new, better players.

Well apparently they haven't been training that hard and he has more money in his bank account. So working less and making more... I'd say he is sleeping ok. :silly: :stoked:

One thing that needs to be mentioned is the draw. I'm no Eels fan, but even I can admit, they were given a tough draw this year. They didn't get a bye until week 14. They had three 5-day turnarounds, and played 11 games against the Top 8 teams from last year, including a start to the season, which was Storm, Sharks, Manly (at home), Panthers and Roosters (before the wheels fell off). In a year where there's not much between teams 5 to 12 on the ladder, things like the draw can have a huge impact. Of course, so too does things like what your star 5/8th gets up to at a local pub in the early hours of the morning, but I do feel for the Eels in this sense.

Yeah fair point. I would persist with Hands and see how he develops. It makes me wonder if Mahoney regrets going over to the dogs given how that has ended up this year.

The signing of Joey Lussick smacks of desperation, he will be 28 this year and prior to joining the Eels this year had played only 10 NRL games in his entire NRL career to date. He wasn't considered good enough previously to be retained by either Manly or the Eels and has spent large stints playing 100 games in Super League. Not sure how he solves the Eels problem at hooker as he's been basically a bench player at best in the NRL. Brendan Hands at 23 and still on the improve, is I think their only viable option at hooker even though he also is basically a utility bench player. Lussick on his record is arguably the worst performed hooker in the NRL and at his age has no room for improvement.