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Joined July 2020
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He will be the slowest centre in the league, and his defence will want to have improved 10 fold.
I feel for the kid, but he isn’t (or wasn’t) an NRL level permanent first grade player.
Maybe he will be in the run on side for the PNG Hunters for their first game…
Doueihi sets sights on positional switch after horror run of injuries
No. The club (Mark O’Neill) stupidly allowed in his contract that he could shop around one year into his deal. Brown might be happy to stay, but his manager is obviously going to shop around and see if he can get a higher number that the Eels will have to match at a minimum.
Its just horrible roster management from the Eels, who oh by the way,, in the last 12 months let go of the two junior halves they have spent years developing (Arthur and Sanders) and who could have been adequate or better replacements…
'Leaked within minutes': Agent slams NRL clubs after Eels star shopped to rivals
If you are looking for optimism for Souths it is:
* Bennett the super coach (though he hasn’t won a comp in 15 years…)
* Campbell back is like getting a new recruit who his fringe rep level
* Whatever Dodd is, his half back play can’t be much worse than what you had last year.
* Latrell is due for a good year
* Yes you lack depth, but so does more than half the comp.
If you are pessimistic about Souths chances:
* They are short a prop or two.
* If Johnston was a 5 year player with 80 tries, you wouldn’t be playing him.
* Trell (fitness and head space), Walker (decline) Dodd (untried) and Mamouzelos (very little NRL experience). Having question marks on all your starting spine players is a worry.
* While Cook is a little cooked as he has lost a bit of that pace, he is still better than what they are left with.
Round 1 Predicted Teams: Rabbitohs - Bennett faces major selection headaches, will new half work and can Latrell fire?
The Eels are going to need Jason Ryles to be a the greatest rookie coach of all time if they are to contend, after releasing their two best players of 2024.
No NRL experience at fullback to start with his a huge problem, doubling down with 2 x NSW Cup players to fill the role of hooker, leaves the spine pretty vulnerable.
In the backline, Penisini has potential, but he hasn’t played well for 2 years. JAC misses 5 + games a year, every year – usually with leg injuries, Lomax is playing at his preferred position, not his best position and after that it is garbage for depth (Russell, Simmonson etc.)
In the forwards – That suggested 17 has Hopgood at 10 which isn’t going to happen, but in terms of first choice forwards other than Guymer coming in, that is it in some order. Ryles miracle work needs to come in the form of turning around Lane (an ordinary footballer who had one good year in 2022) and Matterson (which seems unlikely) because journeyman like Jack Williams and Joe O (who was decent last year) are not moving the needle on this team. They have no depth in the forwards and backline depth is really in the form of potential, with a few youngsters who should really be in the second tier squad or not being considered for first grade in 2025. The club will be hopeful one might blossom if called on.
They are apparently very focused on defence at the moment in preseason training, so it will be interesting to see what style of football they play.
There are currently 7 teams below the Eels in the betting market to win the comp. It staggers me that there could be 7 teams considered worse than this. $1.65 to miss the 8, $13 to have the most losses and the Storm (who never lose rd 1) are only giving up 10.5 points to the Eels in Rd 1 at home. There is money to be made in that lot betting against the Eels
Round 1 Predicted Teams: Eels - Ryles taking huge gamble with key spot, pack lacks depth and hooker still a worry
So moving from a club full of young players where he didn’t like it… to another club full of young players..
I have the over/under for games played next year at 10.5 and I am taking the under, with him not returning in 2026.
Yes Payten is probably closer in style to Ricky than Benji, but i think (from far away) it seems to be more a Bateman issue than a coaching style issue. I.E he was a handy player with some skills but father time is winning and he can’t do what he once did and gets frustrated watching younger players out play him.
'John can add starch': Bateman leaves Tigers as rival club pounces
You sometimes see clauses in sports contracts that say a player can switch clubs as long as they don’t play against the club they are leaving for the rest of the year.
I thought the twist was going to be that the Tigers would demand Sullivan be in the Souths starting 13 whenever they play the Tigers….. No matter how slow, unfit, unprepared and one dimensional he was playing.
Tigers sink clause into bizarre Bunnies deal for young half to switch clubs … for now
The good news is, if he doesn’t want to coach them he can still work behind the scenes to build the football program and be an ambassador. Look how the Titans are flying thanks to his involvement…
'Never say no': Immortal's head could be turned by 'impactful' expansion club
One kid who looks to have potential… in 10 years… it is not exactly a ringing endorsement of two programs!
'Misguided ambition to see Magpies replace Tigers': Leaked text reveals director's dire Wests claim
The punishment seems light for the crime, though i don’t know what the comparisons are so I don’t know if he has been given any sort of special treatment.
I do have one question though:
How can you have your license disqualified for six months, if you don’t have a license?
It seems like if i jumped in the cockpit of a plane and so they banned me from flying a plane for six months…
'You’ve got to learn from this': Magistrate hands verdict down on Mam driving incident
Brian, I don’t know if you noticed, but PVL doesn’t care about crowds and proximity of pubs to grounds (he buys one’s in random locations, just cause). He cares about who has money. Balmain have none, ergo, they would be lucky to get an email reply from him, much less a meeting or more.
'Misguided ambition to see Magpies replace Tigers': Leaked text reveals director's dire Wests claim
The Saints have all the history, the Steelers have all the juniors. its not necessarily a happy marriage, but one that is mutually beneficial.
In the case of the Wests Tigers. Both Balmain and Wests have been around for a long time, but they are remembered only has dumpster fires by anyone under 40 – if they remember them at all.. and neither has a strong junior program.
'Misguided ambition to see Magpies replace Tigers': Leaked text reveals director's dire Wests claim
No it won’t. They will get “x” number of games in Sydney in yr 1, and then every year after that the Sydney element will agitate for an extra game, then another, then another. They will try and push for more persons with Nth Syd based ties to get on their Board and the pressure will always be there from some to move them.
'Misguided ambition to see Magpies replace Tigers': Leaked text reveals director's dire Wests claim
My takes – the non geo political one’s, cause i am not an expert on that -(but i am on footy 😛 ).
The NRL’s biggest competition/opposition is the AFL. What will they think of the move? They will love it. The NRL will continue to underinvest and ignore their grassroots, giving the AFL more opportunity to continue their infiltration into the northern states as the NRL focus on a club side in PNG that will likely fall over at some point in a market they have no interest in.
Rugby league and PNG, seems to be a bit like soccer and Australia. Everyone plays it at some point. Some people like watching it (the elite overseas product anyway). But just like how we stink at soccer at the elite level, PNG don’t develop any (much) talent. What is it, 10 years in the Q Cup for the Hunters and 1 guy has played in the NRL? That speaks to a pretty ordinary pathway. Sure it might improve slightly with a few more professional coaches having to be based there for a few months but…
Yes, they will struggle to attract players up there from Australia. And we already don’t have enough. Subjective obviously but personally a comp with fewer teams, who could all play good footy, would be my preference over 20 teams where 8 are garbage and even the better teams aren’t that great.
The South Pacific development part of it all. Again, at what cost? We are at 60-65% Polynesian players currently in the NRL, a number that has sky rocketed and this plan will ultimately drive that number up further and faster. There are some delicate Australian community/culture questions that could be asked in terms of our countries ability to embrace that – But they are probably for another day.
More dangerous than Afghanistan: NRL’s PNG expansion team doomed to fail as players will snub crime capital
20 teams, what a clown show. From 17 teams, that is another 100 first grade players (and we don’t have enough for 17 teams as it is).
'Hopefully it's under the tree': V'landys optimistic of Perth deal by Christmas
Lyon needs to be omitted. You couldn’t find a less grateful human. Of course he had talent and of course he won comps at Manly etc. But for all the pain the Eels fans have suffered not winning a comp, you won’t hear any whinge about letting him go.
Nathan Brown had one and a half good years. I would think Mateo or Wagon would get the nod ahead of him.
Fui Fui is criminally underrated. By the end of his career in the NRL (or at least the 2-3 years before his last year), he was a legitimately good player. Maybe if his name had been Fui Fui Moi, or Fui Moi Moi – keeping the abbreviation to 3 letters, it would have been more trendy.
The rest i quite like. Burt certainly gets the nod over Grothe Jnr as does Gutho over Hayne at fullback. Shifcofske had a few good years as did Dymock. I would have PJ Marsh edging out Johnny Morris
Gutho
Semi
Hayne
Inu/Vaealiki
Burt
D.Brown*
Moses
N.Cayless
Mahoney
Fui
N.Hindmarsh
Solomona
D.Wagon
Bench: PJ Marsh, Mannah, Widders, C.Robinson/J.Smith/J.Dymock
From the Semi Trailer to the Hayne Plane: Who makes Parramatta's greatest team of the NRL era?
He was a big fat lump of precious.
The Eels hoped he would grow out of it in high school and till the end of his career, never did.
From the Semi Trailer to the Hayne Plane: Who makes Parramatta's greatest team of the NRL era?
Laurie has hands like cement bricks. In a team built on structure and disciplined play that builds up pressure, i don’t think he is the guy you want receiving it one off the ruck.
Six appeal: Ranking the NRL's five-eighths - there's a twist in the tale when it comes to the best in the business
Better make it a letter. Not sure Laurie has worked out the Internet yet.
'Burning passion for the state': NSW lock in Daley as Madge's Origin successor, Bellamy named in new role
…. I’ll be with Craig throughout the year [for] certain [Storm] games, just sitting in the box and learning,….
I mean, that’s what you want in an Origin coach. Someone who is sitting in the back of the box still learning… Worked for the Tigers didn’t it…
Honestly, how ridiculous. Although i do remember hearing Daley’s name thrown around for the Souths job, the Broncos job and the Eels job… oh wait, no I didn’t!
'Burning passion for the state': NSW lock in Daley as Madge's Origin successor, Bellamy named in new role
Didn’t you read the article? Laurie likes football and NSW. That seems to have been the criteria that he met. 😛
…. Oh, and he is mates with Craig Bellamy and they want to keep Bellamy happy in case he will coach NSW when he is done with the Storm.
'Burning passion for the state': NSW lock in Daley as Madge's Origin successor, Bellamy named in new role
‘I’ve run out of petrol’: Fatty makes surprise call to pull the plug on TV career after 33 years of mayhem
Question: Did the NRL not outlaw the offering of jobs after football as part of deals to get players to go play for a club? I could have that wrong.
Stinks a bit to me given the substantial drop on his (alleged) salary.
Homecoming king: Key details revealed as Hunt seals deal to finish career in Queensland
I agree, it will be in the actions. I went and listened to the press conference as I said I would and it was a little better orally. Not totally convincing though.
But the club had 2 players out of 30 who probably played at better than C+ level last year. RCG and Gutherson, and he has let them go. Thats cool, but you better have a clear and obvious plan if you are going to let them go. So far he doesn’t know who is going to play fullback and i would suggest that every premiership winning team of the last 100 years has known (subject to injury) who their starting fullback will be when they have put together their roster. And in almost every one of those 100 years, the fullback will have played more than 1 game in firstr grade.
'Up to those guys to fight it out': Ryles takes blank canvas approach to new-look Eels
I will have to try and listen to those quotes for context, because on paper, they are some of the most unconvincing quotes from a guy trying to establish his authority and leadership credentials to a new group of players and fan base.
'Up to those guys to fight it out': Ryles takes blank canvas approach to new-look Eels
If Brown leaves Parra because of this crazy contract, before they go to market for a replacement, they should go to market for a new head of football. Mark O’Neill is clearly a massive push over or horrid negotiator and you are not going to get better with him there.
Contract circus boosts Brown’s bank balance but could be costly to reputation of wannabe 'franchise player'