Jason Ryles has a big job ahead of him at Parramatta.
And I’ll give Eels fans the hot tip now – any turnaround in their form is not going to happen overnight.
They were not up to the standard of the Roosters on Friday, even on a super-wet ground that should have brought the two teams closer together in terms of a contest.
It is going to take Ryles at least a year to knock the team and the roster into shape and get the squad he actually wants.
Some players are already leaving or have been tapped on the shoulder, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more changes to come.
My concern for Ryles is he’s about to walk into an environment he’s never experienced before in his coaching career.
Ryles has been an assistant at the Roosters and the Storm – the two most powerful and professional clubs in the game.
Those two clubs have a reputation of being the two best cultures in the whole NRL.
Players tend to want to play for them and as a result they end up going to Melbourne or to Bondi for less money, and staying longer.
The culture is so good that players often don’t want to leave and play for a different club.
At the moment Parramatta seems almost the opposite of that.
The power is completely with the players at the Eels – everything about the club is geared towards them.
At the Storm and Roosters players want to play for the club.
At the Eels it’s more like the players run the show and play for themselves.
Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown – two of the modern-day great players – have been allowed to put ridiculous clauses in their contracts.
Brown is signed to 2031 but the last six years of that deal are options to extend in his favour.
I had never seen a contract like that before and I don’t know why a club would agree to something like that.
And Moses’ contract is almost as strange – he has options in his favour for 2027 and 2028.
So you’ve got you two best and highest paid stars basically able to walk away from the club whenever they like.
Do you think the Storm or the Roosters would ever sign a deal like that?
No chance.
And if you think Ryles is going to let the Eels do a deal like that again under his watch, think again.
There are always rumours linking players like Moses and Brown to other clubs – whether they are true or not I have no idea.
But as long as the players have clauses in their contract that say they can up and leave at any time, the rumours are never going to go away.
It’s a distraction Ryles will have no interest in entertaining as head coach.
