When supporting your team gets difficult (Part I) - By Mary

Hello everyone,

I started writing this post and then realised how long it would be so to keep you all interested and coming back for more, I am going to do this post in a number of parts. This is obviously part 1.

It will come as no surprise to most of you that I have tremendous love for the teams that I support. While it will be clear to anyone that has been following this blog for a while that I adore the Parramatta Eels but I also cheer for the Sydney Swans.

Over my many years as a Parramatta supporter I have been through times of tremendous sadness, like in 1998 when the Bulldogs came back from 18-2 with 10 minutes to go, to take the remaining Grand Final position from our hands. I watched them in 2001 when we were undoubtedly the best team in the competition, but were pipped by a red hot and Andrew Johns inspired Newcastle team. I watched in 2005 as rookies like Tim and Ben Smith led our side to an inspirational finals run, only to be knocked out by the Cowboys and be denied yet again. I would also lump everything post-2009 as falling into the period of tremendous sadness both on the field and in terms with upheaval and instability.

Despite the heartbreak and the fact that we haven't won a Grand Final since before I was born, the Eels have also brought me tremendous joy. The 2009 Grand Final run is something which instantly comes to mind. The way the team came together, the euphoria in Parramatta during those weeks and the commitment our boys showed, despite losing to an illegal team, is something I hold very dear to my heart.

These preceding paragraphs give an indication as to why this post is very difficult for me to write. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog called about when not good enough is simply, not good enough anymore. For anyone that hasn't checked it out, have a read here. This post is a bit of a follow on from that.

I need to admit to all of you out there, that I have found Season 2013 very difficult. If I am completely honest, it would be accurate for me to say that I am beginning to lose interest in my team.

When I have made comments like this in the past, it is often met with the same respone coupled with an accusation that I am a fairweather fan. This I find difficult to take because I absolutely adore my team. I am hugely invested in my club and would certainly call the Eels one of my greatest loves in life. NRL is my passion and I love my team.

So what's going on?

I have always been a fan that firmly believes that a supporter is there for their team in both the good and the bad times. Naturally a team cannot win all the time - teams go through stages of rebuilding and stages where they are unable to perform. This is all part of the highs and lows of being involved in something you have no control over. The difficult times make the good times more memorable and remind you that it is important to cherish your team's successes. I also believe that the tide does always turn and that periods of greatness are often preceded with times of great difficulty.

This doesn't explain why I have found this year so difficult.

Perhaps this is because over the last couple of seasons, Parramatta have done very little to show me that they are moving in a forward direction and anytime a positive decision has been made, it is always undermined by a management decision. This can be split into a number of different areas.

Coaches

Where to even begin on the merry-go-round that has been Parramatta's coaching history over the last couple of years. Basically, ever since we lost Brian Smith, coaching is an area where Parramatta have struggled. However, it has really since been 2009 that Parramatta have been unable to find any sort of stability at a coaching level.

In 2009 Daniel Anderson led Parramatta to a Grand Final. For those of you that remember, the ad lib style of football we played was exciting. It had me salivating and wanting more each and every week. Daniel Anderson utilised the attacking prowess we had in our team and we saw the results in 2009, making it to the Grand Final on what was a magic display of football.

Then came 2010 which was a disaster. A lot of people blamed Daniel Anderson for a number of poor recruitment decisions that we made that year. It is truly debatable whether these decisions were all Daniel Anderson's decision or whether there were higher powers at play (for example, there was much speculation that Parramatta were looking to sign Quade Cooper that year). Regardless, Daniel Anderson led Parramatta to a Grand Final in 2009 and should have at least been given the dignity of seeing out another year on his contract. Instead, he was removed halfway through Season 2010.

At this point, despite my disappointment, I picked myself up and dusted myself off. I told people that I was upset about the way Daniel Anderson was treated but that I supported the club, not individuals and that I would support whoever was appointed as the new coach.

Enter Stephen Kearney.

The one and a half years that we had Stephen Kearney as a coach were dramatically different. In season 2011, I would argue that Parramatta were very unlucky. If you look back to our results that year, you will see a huge number of losses. However, most of these losses were by small margins and often in the last 10 minutes of the game, often in shattering circumstances. That year I truly felt that we were a team that were turning up to compete for almost the complete 80 minutes and that Stephen Kearney was turning us into what would be a competitive side.

This was before the utter disaster that was season 2012. The Parramatta that I had believed would continue on from the year before, with a much stronger squad, was no longer there. We were lazy, undisciplined and performed poorly for the year - seeing us win the wooden spoon at the end of the year.

Midway through the year we lost Stephen Kearney and our second coach in a very short period of time.

We now have Ricky Stuart as coach and my question is now, if the current results continue, how long before Ricky feels his position is under pressure? Will his head be on the chopping block similar to our past coaches? I hope not and it's not because I have tremendous faith in Ricky as a coach, but more because Parramatta need stability.

Whenever a new coach is brought into a club, a process of rebuilding starts. Coaches have different team plans, different ideas about what the squad should look like and different ideas about what sort of footy the team should play. By sacking coach after coach, this has meant Parramatta has had no consistency in playing structure or in team composition and boy does it show. We cannot affort to sack another coach now. We have already set a dangerous precedent in that coaches are sacked when the team is not performing. If we sack another coach, who in their right mind would want to come coach Parramatta.

The coaching saga has contributed to my disappointment with the club because we are not moving forward. We are not rebuilding. Instead we start to build the foundations and then tear it down. No coach since Michael Hagan has really been given the opportunity and the time to see what they can do. Hopefully this changes though and Ricky is given a chance to show what he can do.

As I said at the beginning, this is part 1 on what will be a series of Parramatta related posts this week and why I feel like I am losing interest in them a little bit this year.

Until tomorrow's post!

Love,

@LadiesWhoLeague