The Trials and Tribulations of Team List Tuesday - By Hayley

Before I get stuck into it I just wanted to let you know a little bit about myself. My name is Hayley and I am a passionate Parramatta Eels fan. I grew up in a family of Parramatta supporters so it was only natural that I started following the Eels. I’ve always enjoyed the NRL but over the past 3 years my love for the NRL has grown to a point where my family & friends actually ask me “when is Parramatta playing this weekend” before making plans with me.

Now for my very first blog so please be kind to me…

After every loss I scroll through my twitter feed which is full of comments about why certain players keep getting selected in our team. Why do we keep picking these players when there are other players to choose from? If only it was that simple. There’s more that goes into 'Team List Tuesday' than just simply picking what players we see to be the best players.

Firstly you’ve got salary cap issues. Panthers and Roosters are a perfect example of this; they’ve reached their 2^nd tier salary cap for the year. If we keep bringing new players into first grade we could end up in the same predicament. There needs to be some money spare in case we get hit with a huge injury toll and need to call on more of our 2^nd tier players.

Another thing that needs to be considered is who we are going to replace them with? We can’t have the U20’s team running around in the NRL each week. I know some of you will say, “we can’t do any worse than we already are”. Who knows whether that’s true but we need to consider the players. Putting a player in first grade before he’s ready can set him back. First grade is not just tougher physically, but also mentally. Ricky needs to make sure a player is ready before he debut’s them. The NRL season can be very long and it might get too much for some players. Ricky needs to get the right mix of giving them experience but also not burning them out. This is why you will see some players drop back to reserve grade.

Bringing young players into the current culture needs to be considered too. I’m not sure what goes on behind closed doors but I can imagine it’s not a great place to be at the moment. Do we really want to expose our young up and coming stars to that so early in their careers?

Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of depth in certain positions but we need to work with what we’ve got and trust that it will get better.

Stay strong Parra fans, it will get better!

Until next time...

Love

@LadiesWhoLeague
 

xx