Which is exactly the type of guy Parra needed. Him clearing the roster in 6 months means they are looking good for next year, compared to teams like Titans (no shade) who persist on keeping players who cause issue or don't perform.
The best recruitment and retention moves the Titans have done in the last 2-3 years was to: recruit Keiran Foran, boot Meninga and transfer (at cost) David Fifita
Yeah he absolutely is - pretty much all of the content coming out from the club at the moment is about how much Ryles is promoting for "one club, club first" mentality.
Matto was on that list of blokes Ryles wanted to clean out, just literally no one wanted him. Fuck, we threw him over to Super League and he couldn't even keep a role there.
Would any coach (even Bellamy) bother delivering post-grand final sprays? Surely you just get on the Les Kiss and forget about it. But not sure who else it would be so you could be right…
That and the fact he isn’t a team first kind of guy. Imagine taking time off instead of paying a pissweak fine, to not let your squad down. What a Wayne Carr.
The fine thing seemed like it was the beginning of the end for him eh. Your team-mates aren't exactly gonna like you after that, and being ostracised would definitely have an impact on the desire to "turn up to work", even tho you'd argue he's being paid enough to put that aside, not always that simple.
Bloke definitely dug his own grave there. It's a shame. Similar buzz with Shaun Lane (different reasons), during that 2022 season, they both looked amazing and were a huge part of the Eel's success.
Lane 2022 really was something else hey, so unfortunate to follow that up with getting absolutely mauled by injuries that wreaked havoc on his mental.
The poor guy broke his jaw in a trial, returned only to almost immediately tear his hamstring, returned again to once again almost immediately dislocate his elbow. Went on a soul searching trip over the off-season but I just don't think he ever got his love for the game back.
We were all but set to not retain him, and then Papalii, Mahoney, Niukore, Brown, Kaufusi and Stone all signed elsewhere for 2024.
So suddenly Matto became a "must retain" - his form warranted signing given the losses and we had to compete against big advances from the Dolphins.
In hindsight it was a fucking terrible decision, and reflects the quality of recruitment and retention from the pre-Ryles years. But at the time, at a bare minimum retention was likely the right move - just not a fucking 3 year deal + a player option for a 4th at $650-700k
He's on our books so might as well try and get something out of him. He's had a lot of concussion issues, a few looked pretty bad. Wonder if that has affected him on field at all.
I've been happy with all of Ryles decisions up to this point but I'm not a fan of this one. Taking the first three rounds off rather than pay a $4000 fine, when you're on his sort of money, just isn't the move of a "team first" player. Hope I'm proven wrong.
What happened with the fine situation in '23? Originally, I swear I heard that he was under the impression that the players were going to take some sort of stand against the fine system by accepting the suspension (I don't know why), but he misunderstood? But, basically since then I've only heard it was a deliberate selfish move.
“$700k to be a fringe first grader? Yeah I’ll be a leader in camp for that”
Wish I could be a fringe player for 700
I’d even go to training
Ryles strikes me as get on board or fuck off type of guy
Yep and Matterson has had some history of putting himself before the team, so can't imagine Ryles tolerating that crap from a player.
A man of God.
Which is exactly the type of guy Parra needed. Him clearing the roster in 6 months means they are looking good for next year, compared to teams like Titans (no shade) who persist on keeping players who cause issue or don't perform.
The best recruitment and retention moves the Titans have done in the last 2-3 years was to: recruit Keiran Foran, boot Meninga and transfer (at cost) David Fifita
Unfortunately they had the chance to get rid of Dave with no cost but didn’t
Yeah he absolutely is - pretty much all of the content coming out from the club at the moment is about how much Ryles is promoting for "one club, club first" mentality.
Matto was on that list of blokes Ryles wanted to clean out, just literally no one wanted him. Fuck, we threw him over to Super League and he couldn't even keep a role there.
i love what he’s brought to the club so far
Genuinely one of my least favourite eels of all time.
Genuinely one of my least favourite
eelsTigers of all time.I came to the comment section to find out who the second part of the article is talking about. Seems I have to wait a little longer ….
Yeah, I was trying to figure it out myself. I don’t understand why they leave us in suspense. Just name the dude and call it a day.
Got to be Papenhuyzen right? /s
Would any coach (even Bellamy) bother delivering post-grand final sprays? Surely you just get on the Les Kiss and forget about it. But not sure who else it would be so you could be right…
That's why Keary left Souths. Post season drinks and Rusty gave him a spray.
We lost Keary and Sexy McInnes after that one.
No mention of his bicep measurement in this article... I'm going to just assume they're even bigger than before.
If only Matterson was good as he thought he was. Another example of eels doing poor signing business
That and the fact he isn’t a team first kind of guy. Imagine taking time off instead of paying a pissweak fine, to not let your squad down. What a Wayne Carr.
The fine thing seemed like it was the beginning of the end for him eh. Your team-mates aren't exactly gonna like you after that, and being ostracised would definitely have an impact on the desire to "turn up to work", even tho you'd argue he's being paid enough to put that aside, not always that simple.
Bloke definitely dug his own grave there. It's a shame. Similar buzz with Shaun Lane (different reasons), during that 2022 season, they both looked amazing and were a huge part of the Eel's success.
Lane 2022 really was something else hey, so unfortunate to follow that up with getting absolutely mauled by injuries that wreaked havoc on his mental.
The poor guy broke his jaw in a trial, returned only to almost immediately tear his hamstring, returned again to once again almost immediately dislocate his elbow. Went on a soul searching trip over the off-season but I just don't think he ever got his love for the game back.
We were all but set to not retain him, and then Papalii, Mahoney, Niukore, Brown, Kaufusi and Stone all signed elsewhere for 2024.
So suddenly Matto became a "must retain" - his form warranted signing given the losses and we had to compete against big advances from the Dolphins.
In hindsight it was a fucking terrible decision, and reflects the quality of recruitment and retention from the pre-Ryles years. But at the time, at a bare minimum retention was likely the right move - just not a fucking 3 year deal + a player option for a 4th at $650-700k
went alright for a year or so , then he just seems to lose interest and coast and realise he gets paid no matter what. done it most places really
Sure did at the Tigers. Same thing.
He was an Origin player when we re-signed him.
He is a good player he just doesn't give a fuck lmao
He's on our books so might as well try and get something out of him. He's had a lot of concussion issues, a few looked pretty bad. Wonder if that has affected him on field at all.
I've been happy with all of Ryles decisions up to this point but I'm not a fan of this one. Taking the first three rounds off rather than pay a $4000 fine, when you're on his sort of money, just isn't the move of a "team first" player. Hope I'm proven wrong.
He needs to have a go next season,no one wants him atm.last season to prove he's worth a contract.
He'll be hard pressed to make the first grade team as it stands anyway. Parra has so many forwards now.
God dammit. 😑
I showed my manager this story at lunch who's a hard core Eels fan.
He's response was "Where? In his head?" 😆
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And I was coming back to edit that because, you know, reddit's algorithms are shit - and it beat me to it.
Jesus wept. Reddit does NOT understand Aussies.
What happened with the fine situation in '23? Originally, I swear I heard that he was under the impression that the players were going to take some sort of stand against the fine system by accepting the suspension (I don't know why), but he misunderstood? But, basically since then I've only heard it was a deliberate selfish move.
Basically was just him being a selfish sook.
He will be back to his best this year