Reality Check

[Guest]

This year has been a write off for a while now. I'm confident next year should be a lot better for a number of reasons. The whole have patience thing is building to next year. This year was never the one despite how optimistic we can be.

A fair few neutral fans are of the same opinion in regards to our side.

Coaching does need to be addressed though if we want to realise it completely.

Structure Geo..We have none of it..

Until that is addressed 50 $BW's or Maloney's will make minimal difference..

Maybe we'll stagger into the 8 & do nothin'..

[Guest]

It's funny, the players that are highlighted are close to our worst each week.

Pearce can be debated. The rest are trash.

THAT is a big issue.

[milanja]

A bit harsh on JWH.


He ran 140m, made 23 tackles and conceded 1 penalty. He was our best forward.

u are right. i thought he gave away some penalties for dissent but i was mistaken.

[Guest]

One of the only ones showing passion, the refs have the whistle in their mouth before he tackles them, JWH is our man!

[Guest]

If you do a Google search, the first recorded mention of Easts' much-vaunted "youth policy", is by Brian Canavan in 2007. Different CEO, different recruitment manager, multiple coaches having come and gone.

So, the "youth policy" that started in 2007, is still continuing today. Back then it was Setamata Sa who was the "next SBW", rather than Moga. It was David Shillington who was the next star prop (true but he packed up and went elsewhere) rather than Kennedy.

This youth policy would be a good thing I suppose, if we actually kept the youth and didn't get to the stage where six ex-Easts players are still playing State of Origin today.

How many players unearthed by this year's youth policy will still be at Easts in five years?

As I have said before - you don't win NRL games by fielding an Under 20s squad in first grade. All you do is lose games humiliatingly, and alienate even the most rusted on of fans.

Tonight I had life-long season ticket holders telling me that this is their last year buying memberships and season seats.

Enough is enough. We are a professional club in a professional League. To win games, we need to be recruiting a top-line coach and buying premiership and representative class players.

Stuff the youth policy. The youth policy is for the god-damned Toyota Cup. NRL requires the chequebook.

[Guest]

It's funny, the players that are highlighted are close to our worst each week.

Pearce can be debated. The rest are trash.

THAT is a big issue.

Couldn't agree more.

[Guest]

It's not about experience, it's about us not having any go to players. These are the players who can turn a match with a piece of brilliance or win a game on their own. For example:

Manly:
DCE
Lyon
B. Stewart
Foran
Watmough


Melbourne:
Smith
Cronk
Slater


Souths:
Burgess
Inglis
Reynolds
Luke


Bulldogs:
Barba
Pritchard
Reynolds
Morris


These are the players who win you games and premierships. If they aren't doing something brilliant, they are drawing a tonne of attention from the opposition. For us I can only think of SKD. We need SBW and Maloney at the minimum.


The other thing I will say is that we are short a grinding prop. Someone who can grind out 120m+ every game with a minimum of fuss, who can make 30 tackles a game and can play 60-70 minutes. Tolman and Graham come to mind, and we would do well to find one of our own.

Why didn't we make a play for Luke Douglas? The most underrated player in the comp. consistently 100+ m and 25-30 tackles a game. Doesn't give away penalties we need someone like him. Hopefully Evans or Nappa can become that sort of player for us

[chook 56]

I doubt I will be watching another game a some time.
That was just too painful.

[Guest]

The youth excuse is bullshit. Eels of 09, Roosters 2010. Its the coach and the errors we make that are the problem. Oh and that we dont have any decent players to lead us around the park. Next year thatll change SBW, Maloney, Oldfield and a new coach. I smell finals but we will finish in the same spot on th ladder as we are. Roosters suck this year but at least we know whos coming next year and that is the only reason that stops me from doing a switcharoo with club support.

A new coahc nad some world class players will change everything.

[Guest]

The youth excuse is bullshit. Eels of 09, Roosters 2010. Its the coach and the errors we make that are the problem. Oh and that we dont have any decent players to lead us around the park. Next year thatll change SBW, Maloney, Oldfield and a new coach. I smell finals but we will finish in the same spot on th ladder as we are. Roosters suck this year but at least we know whos coming next year and that is the only reason that stops me from doing a switcharoo with club support.

A new coahc nad some world class players will change everything.

Both Parra 2009 and us 2010 had a much better balance of youth and experience than we do this year.

It is not an excuse, it is a reason and it shows poor management (including the coach) by our club to leave us with this squad. Ryles and Graham should have stayed and we should have replaced Conn and Myles with experienced players. We didn't and this season is the result.

BTW, the fact that you would consider switching clubs based on a couple of bad years says it all.

[Ray Stehr]

It's not necessarily experience we need, it's talent. The team we have is mostly filled with nuffies.

[Chook Norris]

Games played by the team tonight...

Mini = 245
RTS = 1
Kenny Dowall = 116
Leilua = 57
Moga = 8
Anasta = 251
Pearce = 124
Arona = 28
Cordner = 23
Guerra = 38
FPN = 98
Friend = 87
JWH = 63
Seluini = 22
Tasi = 26
Aubusson = 108

It is pretty well understood that the sweet spot for players is between 100-150 games. Players who go far beyond that are pretty rare.

Out of 17 players tonight we have three in the sweet spot and two beyond (too far beyond in the case of these two)

.........and compared to the Broncos team that is lining up this week?

Capewell - 36
Whitchurch - 1
Glenn - 93
Beale - 56
Maranta - 4
Norman - 39
Wallace - 128
Hannant - 149
McCullough - 94
Civoniceva - 302
Gillett - 56
Thaiday -161
Parker - 250
Hunt - 59
Mcguire - 64
Dodds - 42
Lui- 16

Two in your "sweet spot" as well, and three that "go beyond". The two teams are relatively comparable in terms of experience, except one languishes on the bottom of the table whilst the other is entrenched within the top 5. Now that to me suggests one thing - the quality of our cattle is terrible and the coaching staff is absolutely shyt

[The Rooster Oracle]

.........and compared to the Broncos team that is lining up this week?



Two in your "sweet spot" as well, and three that "go beyond". The two teams are relatively comparable in terms of experience, except one languishes on the bottom of the table whilst the other is entrenched within the top 5. Now that to me suggests one thing - the quality of our cattle is terrible and the coaching staff is absolutely shyt

Add to that the bullscum who are currently leading the comp and their team this weekend has 4 players in this so called "sweet spot" which is less than us!!

[The Rooster Oracle]

Also the bullscum's line up for this weekend have 6 players (and it would be 7 if we didn't hand Perrett over) who you would consider 'inexperienced' 1st graders. We would have had 6 as well if it wasn't for Perrett leaving just a few weeks back!

[Spanner in the works]

Why didn't we make a play for Luke Douglas? The most underrated player in the comp. consistently 100+ m and 25-30 tackles a game. Doesn't give away penalties we need someone like him. Hopefully Evans or Nappa can become that sort of player for us

Our future was predicated on the assumption that Kennedy would keep up his good form. Injury killed that assumption.