The good teams are the ones that play for the club, not just themselves. Parramatta aren’t in that category.
www.smh.com.au
There has long been a belief within the Parramatta organisation that there is a disconnect between the football team and the club.
No one will publicly admit it, but privately, for whatever reason, head office and the football team don’t sing from the same hymn sheet.
Perhaps years of being based out of different facilities has exacerbated the problem, but reuniting under one roof in Kellyville is yet to fix it.
There is no better on-field leader (wanker) than
Clint Gutherson, but there’s a reason
Junior Paulo was handed the co-captaincy, and it’s not all to do with football.
The good teams - like Melbourne, Penrith, South Sydney and the Roosters - are the ones that play for the club, not just themselves. They use that to their advantage in the pressure-cooker moments of finals football.
There’s no doubt, especially
judging by their two wins against
Penrith this year, the Eels care deeply about the result. But who are they playing for?
The Parramatta fan base is, by extension, part of the club. The difference between the Parramatta and Penrith playing groups was noted after Friday night’s game.
A large contingent of Penrith’s team stayed on the field after full time to take photos and thank their fans. Brian To’o was the last player in the sheds.
The same can’t be said for the winning team. It’s not the first time, either. Most of the players, barring Paulo, Ryan Matterson, Reed Mahoney and Dylan Brown, usually can’t get to the sheds any quicker.