The beauty of having a say in the content of a website is that one can express all of the bias in the world without the restrictions of editorial control. With that in mind I present my review of last night’s match. The readers can judge for themselves the legitimacy of my opinion.

Why The Sharks Deserved A Win

Without doubt, Cronulla are in this Premiership race right up to their eyeballs. They have game breakers across different positions who can create scoring opportunities when the team need it most and they have a pack of forwards that can damage the middle of any opposition team.

Last night, the Sharks remained composed in the face of an early Eels onslaught that racked up an 18 point lead in the the first quarter of the game. Somehow they created momentum where none had existed and Leutele and Feki began to create defensive nightmares for Gutherson and French.

Cronulla are very good at bending the defensive line in the middle of the ruck and taking advantage of this through perfectly timed shifts of the ball. Fifita was dangerous with every touch and seemed to bounce out of tackles at will. Out wide, the Sharks backs had the Eels defence sliding in reverse, not a good ploy if you need to shut down attacking raids. Jack Bird is possibly one of the most naturally gifted players I have seen in recent years – and his toughness cannot be ignored.

Last night Parramatta allowed this advantage in the middle to transpire far too easily by not slowing up the ruck sufficiently. The Sharks had quick play the balls, not by powering to their feet but rather by the Eels getting off them too quickly. Whether the refereeing forced this is debatable, but for mine this dominance was given away by the Eels, more than it was earned by the Sharks.

The Eels Heart

In years gone by, to lose an 18 point lead would be considered a disgrace. It’s still something that a coach like Brad Arthur will be justifiably unhappy about, but in the modern game, possession shifts and momentum make such leads less imposing than they once were. So we should take some positive from setting up a lead which kept the Eels in the match until the final minute against the form team in the Premiership.

If there is one aspect of the 2016 Eels team which cannot be questioned, it is their heart. This team has ready made excuses every week that they could fall back on and just let the competition pass them by. To their credit, and their coach, that never happens. The effort is phenomenal and for that we need to stand and applaud.

French Anyone?

Bevan French has announced to the world that he is a player of exceptional talent. He is still learning the game and defensively he will continue to be found out for a while yet. However, every touch of the ball that provides a half chance is turned by French into a full chance. (I considered writing Oo-la-la but thought it sounded far too corny).

French – An incredibly gifted player.

Parra’s Game Management

This was probably my greatest criticism last night. It is the problem that arises from only having one fit half available. Far too often, Corey Norman was caught in possession on the fifth tackle rather than setting himself up to be in a position to kick the ball on the last. When he did receive the ball to kick on the last, it never seemed to be in the best kicking position. This was a major flaw in the Eels game last night.

Compounding this, the Eels completion rate plummeted in the second half. You cannot turn over field position and possession to a team lining up for their twelfth straight win and not expect to pay for it. Unfortunately the Eels did.

Officiating

I cannot ignore this. A team can control the latitude that they give the opposition team through defensive decisions. They can limit opportunities to the opposition through better game management. But no team can control what can only be described as complete incompetence and possibly one sided decision making by a match official with a history against the Eels.

A few rounds back, the Eels were unfortunate enough to be controlled by Klein in the match against the Storm. Controlled is the appropriate word from that game because his officiating completely controlled the direction of that match and it all went one way. In my review of that encounter I described Klein’s officiating as diabolical and shambolic. That night he allowed the Storm to defend offside for the entire game. To anyone not there, I can assure you that it was a complete disgrace. Furthermore, he allowed one of the most blatant forward pass tries you would ever witness, something that any referee would have been embarrassed about.

That game was a template for last night.

Without going over the tape, here’s a brief run down of his performance last night.

• permitted (right under his nose) the most blatant strip on a player you could ever witness after possession had been gained by Kenny Edwards following a Sharks fumble. This was not a 50/50 call. The play was in slow motion! It was a crucial decision and defined where his head was at.
• allowed the Sharks gang tackling to constantly throw the Eels attackers further back or onto the ground LONG AFTER held had been called. Not once was this penalised.
• allowed Paul Gallen to throw a support player to the ground without penalty. Do what you like Paul – no problem for me!
• awarded the Sharks try off an absurdly blatant forward pass. This took Cronulla to the lead and defined the match.
• Ignored the lost possession by Fifita in the lead up to the try which extended the Sharks lead. How was this possible?!?

Sharks fans might rightly point to the disallowed try to Gallen off a double movement and call that an error – and I would agree. But it doesn’t even go remotely close to squaring up the ledger from a referee who undoubtedly has a problem with the Eels.

The sooner this referee retires the better. This is his profession and we have very right to scrutinise his performance. My verdict? He is not deserving of the right to control any first grade fixture. Please keep him away from the Eels.

A Final Word

It is a shame to finish this review of such a big match by focussing on the performance of the referee. So I won’t.

Brad Arthur and the Parramatta players have again demonstrated pride in performance through the type of effort that defies the dramas surrounding the club. They kept their cool in a match where so many crucial calls should have sent them a message that they were not meant to win this game.

They have restored our faith in the Blue and Gold spirit.

Eels forever

Sixties

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