Manly teen captain picked off by Parramatta in massive deal

[Berkeley_Eagle]

SEA Eagles recruitment guru Noel Cleal has accused rivals Parramatta of seeking revenge on the club by throwing big bucks at the 16-year-old captain of Manly’s Harold Matthews team.

Halfback Joey Lussick, a Beacon Hill junior and younger brother of rising Manly forward Darcy, received a massive deal from the Eels that was just too good to refuse.

“I think it is an attempt to try and get something back at us,” Cleal said.

“They are responding to the success we have had with Parramatta juniors.

Six players who were in the Eels’ nursery are now members of Manly’s NRL squad after seeing an opportunity on the peninsula - Jamie Buhrer, Tim Robinson, Tony Williams, David Williams, Jamie Lyon and Joe Galuvao.

“At least I wait until they have turned 20, now they are poaching them at 16,” Cleal said.

At the same time Parramatta, who have the second biggest nursery in the NRL behind Penrith, have come under heavy fire for their recruitment policy.

“Joey is a good young player and we just got beaten by the size of the offer,” Cleal said.

“They threw five times the money that we had and they have five times the amount to spend on their second-tier budget than we do. “So we weren’t even in a bull’s roar of matching their offer.”

Cleal said the same thing happened when the Sea Eagles lost forwards Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Lama Tasi to the Roosters.

“That is the nature of the beast, we have a limited budget that we have to stick to.”

While the Sea Eagles have lost Joey, his 22-year-old brother will be at the club for the next couple of years and is one of a number of rising stars who will take the club into the future.

The forward made his NRL debut on Saturday night in the impressive 24-4 win over the Cowboys at Brookvale Oval. “He was always going to be a late developer because of where he plays,” Cleal said.

Lussick is another of the players to have graduated from the Sea Eagles under-20 Toyota Cup side along with the likes of Kieran Foran, Jamie Buhrer, Daly Cherry-Evans, Will Hopoate and Michael Oldfield.

 

[mickqld]

Sorry Joey but you just threw your career in the toilet like every other player who leaves the nest for another NRL team especially going to that dead end place. Just who have we lost in recent years that has gone on to bigger and better things?

 

[wombatgc]

Can't blame the kid. He'll be back when he wants to realise his full potential.

 

[Jonesyv2]

I'm sorry Cursher can't complain at all about this, if the report is right and they offered him a tone of money then you can't blame the kid either.

 

[Biscuits]

i cant complain about kids being poached when we have been past masters at it. At 16 he is probably atleast 4 years from first grade, even if he makes it that far. Plenty of 16 year old stars dont kick on. and if he does we will haave a chance to get him back if we want him because it would be appealing for him to play with his brother if he is still at the club. aside from all that we potentially have our halves settled for the next 10 years

 

[jjai]

i cant complain about kids being poached when we have been past masters at it. At 16 he is probably atleast 4 years from first grade, even if he makes it that far. Plenty of 16 year old stars dont kick on. and if he does we will haave a chance to get him back if we want him because it would be appealing for him to play with his brother if he is still at the club. aside from all that we potentially have our halves settled for the next 10 years

Relax.. dont you know the system by now Parra pays for all their(his) junior development, they bring him up to scratch & then when he is ready or there abouts, then we get him back lol.. 😉

 

[tookey]

Joey is simply another half back Parra expect to be the next Peter Sterling and he will be crucified if he doesn't reach Sterling's level in 2 years time.

Parra have spent 30 years trying to find the next Sterlo. Not much pressure on the kid. LOL

 

[swoop]

His career will nosedive and we'll pick him up after he's been thrown on the scrapheap by the Eels as we've seen with Hodkinson and James Maloney and many more.

 

[mr seagles]

SEA Eagles recruitment guru Noel Cleal has accused rivals Parramatta of seeking revenge on the club by throwing big bucks at the 16-year-old captain of Manly’s Harold Matthews team.

Halfback Joey Lussick, a Beacon Hill junior and younger brother of rising Manly forward Darcy, received a massive deal from the Eels that was just too good to refuse.

“I think it is an attempt to try and get something back at us,” Cleal said.

“They are responding to the success we have had with Parramatta juniors.

Six players who were in the Eels’ nursery are now members of Manly’s NRL squad after seeing an opportunity on the peninsula - Jamie Buhrer, Tim Robinson, Tony Williams, David Williams, Jamie Lyon and Joe Galuvao.

“At least I wait until they have turned 20, now they are poaching them at 16,” Cleal said.

At the same time Parramatta, who have the second biggest nursery in the NRL behind Penrith, have come under heavy fire for their recruitment policy.

“Joey is a good young player and we just got beaten by the size of the offer,” Cleal said.

“They threw five times the money that we had and they have five times the amount to spend on their second-tier budget than we do. “So we weren’t even in a bull’s roar of matching their offer.”

Cleal said the same thing happened when the Sea Eagles lost forwards Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Lama Tasi to the Roosters.

“That is the nature of the beast, we have a limited budget that we have to stick to.”

While the Sea Eagles have lost Joey, his 22-year-old brother will be at the club for the next couple of years and is one of a number of rising stars who will take the club into the future.

The forward made his NRL debut on Saturday night in the impressive 24-4 win over the Cowboys at Brookvale Oval. “He was always going to be a late developer because of where he plays,” Cleal said.

Lussick is another of the players to have graduated from the Sea Eagles under-20 Toyota Cup side along with the likes of Kieran Foran, Jamie Buhrer, Daly Cherry-Evans, Will Hopoate and Michael Oldfield.

Good to hear darcy lussick is signed for two years....

 

[The Who]

I think it's way too young to sign up kids so young. Not only do the overwhelming majority of promising 16 year olds never make it to first grade (in football and cricket) it must surely interfere with their schooling. Why would they worry about studying for a career when they are being paid big money to lavish on their friends at McDonalds?

 

[Masked Eagle]

This is why Parramatta will never be a good club and have sustained success and why they'll continue to leak juniors. Why would you want to be a junior at parra when you see them:

a. buy over the hill players taking away your opportunity, or
b. see every other junior that leaves kick on to better things.

Thankfully the penny hasn't dropped that all they would need to do is look after their kids. What a useless excuse for a club.

 

[DSM5]

Aren't we coming second last in that comp?

 

[Brookvale]

Is theis fella that good?

He has a long way to go with Riccardi, DCE in fornt of him.

Parra have better juniors system anyway, let sterlo n co train him up for 5 years then he can join his brother in the maroon in white later down the track.

 

[Masked Eagle]

Is theis fella that good?

He has a long way to go with Riccardi, DCE in fornt of him.

Parra have better juniors system anyway, let sterlo n co train him up for 5 years then he can join his brother in the maroon in white later down the track.

Disagree with that. Parramatta have rubbish junior systems, its why all the players that leave end up getting better. All they have is a lot of them.

 

[Brookvale]

ok fair enough. I dont pay attention to other teams.

I just thought their juniors team were winning a heap of lower grade comps.

 

[MK Eagle]

Cant blame the lad - taking a 500% salary jump is fair game to anyone realistic- just makes me extra sick its the Slimeys. Regardless of big dollars i feel this kid will have certain regrets. I mean if your in a gun side & show your full ability your value next contract would more than make up for this contract plus from a marketing position theres endorsements & spotlight for say tv, radio ect long term. The good thing is i love seeing Slimeys pay overs & by the time he makes it will probably go to a decent team.

 

[The Indian]

Remember we signed Hoppa up at a similar age and even as good as he is it took him at least a few years to make an any impact in first grade and he is a freak... and it will take a halfback much longer... and thats IF he is any good.

Paying big money to kids still a few years of first grade is madness and it will take 3 or 4 years before you even know how good this kid will be.

Besides I dont see our current halves going anywhere in the 10 years anyway.

 

[bones]

Anyone remember Parramatta signing a school boy by the name of Barney Haslett. Huge success story that one turned out to be.

 

[The Who]

Didn't they also sign up Barney Rubble? I think he's head of the Eels' selection panel now.

 

[MadMarcus]

Didn't they also sign up Barney Rubble? I think he's head of the Eels' selection panel now.

They have a selection panel? I thought they just threw darts at the Board, and then when the players don't perform they throw darts at the players.