Spare $600K

[Cockadoodledoo]

You would have to have rocks in your head if you believe that Semi Radradra would not be asking for more than $250,000.00 p.a. He is playing state of origin for the chance at $50,000.00 per match.

I don't even know where to begin here.. There is just so much stupid it makes it pretty hard.. I said Semi is on $250K now and there have been stories how he is not happy with his low contract value and not many clubs would have the amount of money lying around like we would right now, so we could offer him a payrise (meaning paying him more than $250K).. Secondly Semi is not playing State of Origin and never will, he has been ruled ineligible as he was not a resident of either NSW or Queensland by the age of 13 which is the cut off. They pay $30K per origin game as an aside. He is only eligible to play for the Kangaroos as he is a naturalized Australian and will be receiving $20K. Not that I am sure how much he is being paid to play for Australia has anything to do with staying or leaving Parramatta. He will receive the same if he plays for the Roosters.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Hello Norman, goodbye Jackson Hastings works for me.

Like you I am big fan of Norman, however do you think the club would do this in the next couple weeks? I don't..

[LeCoq]

You would have to have rocks in your head if you believe that Semi Radradra would not be asking for more than $250,000.00 p.a. He is playing state of origin for the chance at $50,000.00 per match.

No one said he wouldn't ask for more, I don't think. Just that that's what he's on (roughly). Sure, he could command more on the open market but who is going to fork out, say, 400k to sign him this far into the season. It won't happen. He will stay at Parramatta and rightly so. I still think they will let forwards go. Getting rid of Norman when Foran is on leave and Kelly is out for the year is stupid and Brad Arthur isn't stupid. He still thinks they can make the 8. Wishful thinking, I reckon but if he honestly believes that, he won't be letting his only fit and available half leave in the next ten days.

[Guest]

Like you I am big fan of Norman, however do you think the club would do this in the next couple weeks? I don't..

Not if they can help it. It doesn't hurt to hope though. The thing is they may not have a choice.

[Vasco]

Michael Gordon at a cheap price would be handy.

Nah, he's been average this season.

[ism22]

NO way will they part with Semi, or Jennings

At a stretch they will release Gordon, Norman or Peats

None of those are right for us

Maybe Edwards or Mau, a forward for depth like Wicks.....

Not much there really

Man you're making the Eels sound like Dick Smith's on their last few days.

There's no big ticket items on the market (e.g. big TVs, phones, computers...etc) and what's left is rubbish (e.g. telephone cables, old games and masses of shoddy phone cases.)

Radradra = a big screen TV
Peats = some shonky 50c case for a Galaxy S2 (in bright green or something)

[Headless Chook]

Wasn't that money being kept aside for the former Eels player? Seriously the position we are weakest in is the outside backs. I am not one for spending a lot of money on Wingers but I wouldn't mind Semi. Maybe swap Guerra for Manu Mau.

His last two games have been great, I rate Mau highly but there's no way I would swap Guerra for him

[Danish]

No one who is in the starting 17 is going to leave the eels. They'll just politely ask Watmough to retire immediately and free up the entire $600k they need to shed in one go

[Cockadoodledoo]

His last two games have been great, I rate Mau highly but there's no way I would swap Guerra for him

I would in a heartbeat. Whilst Guerra has done a lot better, you can see he lacks football sense and skills. He still invariably bobs up catching the ball in the middle of a sweeping backline move which promptly goes no where as he cannot pass the ball, the odd time he tries it takes an age for the ball to get out of his hands and often goes to ground as a result. The main reason he racks up a lot of hit up metre's is that he almost never passes the ball once he has it.
Also still prone to giving away the odd stupid penalty like the 4th tackle penalty against the Knights in the first half when they were camped on the 40 metre line and he was a mile from being onside and tackled the dummy half runner when we had a defensive line set right behind him that would have easily made the tackle.

I would shift SST to right second row and interchange Liu with Mau to provide power in the middle third as well as his offloading ability which we lack currently and Guerra cannot provide.

[John Corey]

I honestly do not understand the love for Norman..played great in the 9s with all that extra space. Going ok in 13 a side but I don't think he is the player some make him out to be.
And there is no way Jennings comes back to our Club. Yes we miss him, but the guy is a true 'Westy'. You could buy him a palace over Coogee beach and he would rather be in a 2 bed flat with his mates or family in Blacktown. I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just who he is.

We definitely need a class centre though.

[Insider]

No one who is in the starting 17 is going to leave the eels. They'll just politely ask Watmough to retire immediately and free up the entire $600k they need to shed in one go

There contracts run from nov-October so watmough has already been paid half his contract for this year. Furthermore he is waiting the outcome of an insurance claim which is unlikely to be settled within the next 10 days.

[John Corey]

[QUOTE=Danish;n648336]No one who is in the starting 17 is going to leave the eels. They'll just politely ask Watmough to retire immediately and free up the entire $600k they need to shed in one go[/QUOTE

Today it was stated that Watmough retiring immediately makes no difference to the cap this yr. If they wanna play for points this year they need to do a lot more than that. I'm not sure how or why. Maybe Watmough has already been paid. I don't know. They said that they need to release a number of players.
.

[Headless Chook]

I would in a heartbeat. Whilst Guerra has done a lot better, you can see he lacks football sense and skills. He still invariably bobs up catching the ball in the middle of a sweeping backline move which promptly goes no where as he cannot pass the ball, the odd time he tries it takes an age for the ball to get out of his hands and often goes to ground as a result. The main reason he racks up a lot of hit up metre's is that he almost never passes the ball once he has it.
Also still prone to giving away the odd stupid penalty like the 4th tackle penalty against the Knights in the first half when they were camped on the 40 metre line and he was a mile from being onside and tackled the dummy half runner when we had a defensive line set right behind him that would have easily made the tackle.

I would shift SST to right second row and interchange Liu with Mau to provide power in the middle third as well as his offloading ability which we lack currently and Guerra cannot provide.

Mau is an edge player, he doesn't play in the middle. Guerra is far better in the middle then he is on an edge. To each their own, I would be happy to trade Guerra if I thought it was a significant upgrade eg. Gillett or Bryce Cartwright but not for a player who is no better then what we already have.

[Cockadoodledoo]

I honestly do not understand the love for Norman..played great in the 9s with all that extra space. Going ok in 13 a side but I don't think he is the player some make him out to be.

I can only conclude that you like many others here don't watch much football or are extremely bad judges, which one you fall in I don't know.. The Parra fans I know, and i live in the area are unanimous he is their best player and all the Fox commentators who watch every game every week say the same thing. I watch a lot of their matches and can tell you he is involved in most of their tries, he runs to the line more than our halves ever do and engages defences before passing or running the ball.

He also shows determination in defence even though he is not the greatest tackler. A bit like Maloney there except not as weak a tackler. He also has a very good kicking game. I honestly believe most people here base their opinions on other people's opinions without realizing those opinions aren't worth jack shit.

[Guest]

I don't even know where to begin here.. There is just so much stupid it makes it pretty hard.. I said Semi is on $250K now and there have been stories how he is not happy with his low contract value and not many clubs would have the amount of money lying around like we would right now, so we could offer him a payrise (meaning paying him more than $250K).. Secondly Semi is not playing State of Origin and never will, he has been ruled ineligible as he was not a resident of either NSW or Queensland by the age of 13 which is the cut off. They pay $30K per origin game as an aside. He is only eligible to play for the Kangaroos as he is a naturalized Australian and will be receiving $20K. Not that I am sure how much he is being paid to play for Australia has anything to do with staying or leaving Parramatta. He will receive the same if he plays for the Roosters.

I apologise for mis reading your comment. I had thought that you said he would not be interested in a pay rise. That is my mistake and I retract my statement.

I still believe that the state of origin eligibility will be changed to fit him in either this season or next season but we will see. Again I do apologise to you Cockadoodledoo.