Writing a match review is never easy after a loss, especially so when you know that there was not much more that the team could give. I could probably leave it at that and it would adequately sum up the feelings of many fans. Nonetheless, this author will push ahead after taking a few hours to collect my thoughts. After all, this team deserve plenty of accolades.
The Adversity
If somebody told me at the start of the year that our Round 19 team would feature Robson and Gutherson in the halves, along with Ma’u and Scott in the centres, I would have wondered about what level of tragedy had hit the team. That type of thought would not be a reflection of these players but rather their positions, and in Robson’s case, the club!
So ignoring all of the off-field dramas, and that would be more than enough for any team, let’s consider the players missing from this match and in many instances now missing from the roster that was listed at the start of the year:
Paulo, Peats, Foran, Watmough, Morgan, Norman, Radradra, Takairangi.
Now let’s add the back up players who aren’t available to take their places:
Cornish, Kelly, Tanginoa, Folau, Toutai, Pritchard
The Eels then had to play the majority of the match with only 15 players after losing Jennings and Wicks.
There are literally no more centres left in the club. There are no more halves. Even without the boardroom dramas, the fortunes around available players are sadly deserting the club.
This was never going to be an easy match.
Defying The Odds
The backline was makeshift but what a start! To be honest, I had seen the sweeping plays and kicks in action at training. The ball work had been rehearsed and the dividends were reflected in the four tries scored in the first half. A double to Bevan French was matched by tries to Gutherson and Faraimo. Only a harsh obstruction call on the Eels prevented a second try to Faraimo.
Yet with Gordon’s missed kicks limiting the lead to just 12 points, I had concerns that those untaken points might come back to bite us. Those 12 points were not a true reflection of the superiority of the Eels in a near faultless first half.
The Errors
The second half was a story of errors, from both the Eels and the match officials. Somehow the Panthers were able to begin the first half off a repeat set that came from a tough knock on call on Faraimo. The first of a series of raids on the Eels right caught out Beau Scott defending in the unfamiliar centre position due to the first half injury to Jennings and the Panthers were off and running with their first second half try.
More horrendous calls followed, with a knock on again ruled against Faraimo (it was a silly offload but it went backwards and then off a Panther) and then a missed knock on at dummy half from the Panthers. Both of these errors occurred in the lead up to Panthers tries down Parra’s fragile right. The tries took the Pathers to a 22 to 18 lead, and the score line stayed that way for the last quarter of the match.
In all of this, the Panthers received a staggering advantage in the penalties of 7 to 2! One of those Parramatta penalties occurred in the first minutes, so essentially the Eels received 1 penalty in the following 78 minutes.
The final wash-up of a 4 point victory to the Panthers brought home my concerns about the missed conversions. It also rammed home the continual disadvantage that the Eels have faced from match officials ever since the NRL punishment has been handed down. Arthur and the club can’t cry foul but I can. The team are getting a raw deal and it has a stench about it!
The Effort
I have run out of superlatives to describe the tenacity of this Eels team. I am continually surprised at the new levels they find. Nothing is left in the tank. This group is doing the jersey proud.
I’m not sure where they can go from here. If Jennings is ruled out and Takairangi is still unfit, any continued suspension of Norman leaves the club in an absurd position when it comes to available backs. How many more knocks can they take?
A New Star
I read on a tweet, that Parramatta have been looking for a new Sterlo, but they might just have found a new Kenny. It’s early days yet, but what an impressive debut in the halves for Clinton Gutherson! The improvement in this bloke this year has been exponential. His recruitment has been one of the best in recent memory.
Final Thoughts
The finals hopes are pretty much over. For a team that has earned and is deserving of a top four position, it’s a tough pill to swallow. But for myself and thousands of other Eels fans, we will be there to cheer this resilient team all the way to Round 26. They deserve our support!
Eels forever
Sixties
Nice write up and one of the positives to come from this year is getting to try guys like Guth out in the halves, and even Taka, it gives them another dimension to their game, lets them see things from a different space out there, builds confidence and depth and puts minds at ease if things were to go wrong again in the future.
Great performance from the lads today.
Remembers the days when we moaned about the lack of resilience in Parramatta Eels teams Snake? This team keeps making that feel like a distant memory!
What’s the status on Robson for next year? Is he retiring? Assuming we keep Norman surely he’d be perfect to have around an intact team.
I think he plans to retire. In my opinion, he would be an ideal club man to help young players transition.
Good read as usual 60’s. I tend to wonder after reading some comments by BA that he is seeing Gurherson as the fullback next year, like you I was very impressed with his work at 5/8, even to the extent that it provides very much valuable thinking in regard to that position for next year especially if Norman takes the big money on offer to him & head to the likes of the dragons? crazy money & not sure about the value, despite Normans on field qualities.
Robson went well, & played like a younger person than his age would imply. When he was signed BA & other reports indicated that he was here for this year but also to be used as a person to help in defence reads for Wenty forwards. That was a strange call for me, unless the club is looking at one of the NYC players stepping up for the 7 spot.
As for the Panthers game I tipped the eels to win but I do that as a natural, & had Gordon kicked those conversions, as well as taking the penalty shots for 2 points it would have been a different story.
While I do not like the taking of points from penalties I have rethought things as other winning teams take the shot, it is a twofold decision, 1: 2 points if successful & works for the for & against stats. 2: It makes the opposition wary about trying to slow the play the ball down too much. Broncs & Storm are both goal takers, yet are the worst in holding down, especially with teams known not to kick for the points. They tend to win as a result.
Thanks Colin. I would think that Gutho is very definitely a consideration for the halves, no matter what happens with Norman.
As for Norman, he has the potential to be Parra’s Thurston. Remember what sort of trouble a young JT used to get into? The Cowboys came close to shedding him a few years back due to problems with club culture. Now look at his maturity and standing in the game.
60’s good call, but gee lets not dig up any history regarding JT, gee that’s unfair for such a man who has the RL world under the spell of his wide laugh, he’s simply captivating. How much does he suck people in with his goody two boots attitude, he even gets me in at times when after every game he hands a used headgear to some eager eyed kid. Good stuff no doubt but who pays for the head gear, the cows or does he claim it on tax?
Seriously, JT is a top player & now he has lived down his past, & most would try to rubbish anything that is not positive in regard to him. I have said on the 1eyeed site about the rough treatment that Norman has got from the media, with the calls for him & the club to make a tough call & example of him, citing Pearce as an example of punishments, yet how many times has Pearce been caught out? Same with Dugan & Fergie, Norman is first timer from my understanding, so the best hit for him is a higher fine & allow him to play but with a dire warning. I hope he stays though, & cannot see the dragons being a better place than the eels into the future.
I am thinking that a combo being built on Norman & Gutho would work well, only thing is that Norman coverts the 6, rather than the 7, so unless an experiment with throwing them together in those positions some time this year works, the prospect although possibly exciting would be awaiting trials next year.
With influences in his life gone in the form of Segeyara & Paulo, he should be offered a reasonable contract that is baseline for 2017, with incremental increases dependant on his behavior & keeping his snozzle clean.
The eels environment with BA at the club next year & hopefully beyond, some stability in the playing group & a will to win should provide a good launching pad for him. Thing he has to realise its a multi directional thing non one directional meaning it all comes to him.
Brad Arthur is to become an Eels legend, to be spoken about in future years in ‘Gibbo’ like praise.
He is a strong individual – a leader of men….
Well said Parra Pete!
You’ll get no argument from me there Pete!
Great Read Sixties as usual, I have to agree with you 100% that the Eels were never going to be allowed to play finals this season. The 50/50 calls seam to be going to our opposition no matter who we play & I truly believe this is not by accident. Our board got caught cheating & our team must now pay the price, It seems unfair but it is what it is & I don’t think it will change this season. The team has been absolutely great to watch this season & even after the loss on Sunday I was still very proud of what I saw under the circumstances. The team that took the field on Sunday or should I say the players left standing by the end of the game should have been towelled up big time by a team fighting to get into the top 8 but that wasn’t the case, The Eels made them work hard for 80 minutes & the teams that do end up in the top 8 this season should be thanking their lucky starts that the Eels more than likely won’t be there because this team & coaching staff are miracle workers. BA could put Beau Scott in the halves & I would still be confident in the teams ability to win the game.
All in all we certainly didn’t help ourselves on Sunday with all the dropped ball in the second half but still a huge effort. Over the last few seasons when we get to this time of the year & sitting around the same spot on the ladder, I start thinking about what we will have next season, but this year I can’t wait to see them out on the field again next weekend. Finals or not we now have a team to be proud of & to be honest I’m not that fazed about who is in the team next season because I think BA is that good that he could get the Knights winning games with their current roster. (Don’t let BA go Eels, No matter what ) For many seasons the Eels have been known to have a soft underbelly but what I have seen this season is a team that others fear & that makes me proud.
Heads Up & Keep Marching Forward Eels, The off field momentum is soon to shift our way.
Couldn’t add anything to your comments there Jim. Real happy that you added them to my post, because you have encapsulated how Eels fans feel about Brad Arthur.
Surely congratulations have to go to Penrith on their remarkable discipline for the game. The two penalties they gave away were in the first set (probably a call from the video ref when Wicks was slow to get up after being hit in the head), and for only packing five into the scrum in the second half (virtually impossible for the on-field refs not to give the penalty). Any team that manages to never be inside the ten metres, never be offside from kicks, never be too slow off the tackled player, never interfere with the play the ball, etc… well, that’s a frankly unbelievable effort. Whether that effort is from the team or the refs, you can decide for yourself.
Having said that, and despite the challenges Scott faced in defending at centre, we lost the game through turnovers in that second half – poor handling, dumb decisions near sidelines (and a few harsh knock-on calls). Anyone got any thoughts on why Gutherson didn’t seem to kick at all in the second half? It seemed to me that Robson was always under pressure from the defence as there was no second option (while we never seemed to pressure their kicker – an observation I’ve made in a few games now). Can Kaysa please start practising his kicking game, as gees a hooker who can kick would strengthen this team.
While there was a lot of swearing at the tellie going on at my place through the second half and the loss was gutting from such a strong position, at the end of the day, I’ll take this team and this season over the past few years. At least I have a strong sense that next year looks really good, instead of just a vain hope that things must get better someday. As everyone keeps pointing out, that is dependent on BA choosing to stay. Nobody could blame him for walking away after what he’s had to deal with this year, but one can only hope he sees the same potential in this team and wants to win a premiership with them. My god would he have earned it.
Billy, I really enjoyed your comments about Penrith’s perfect game. Spot on!
As for Pritchard, we might see him in a couple of rounds. He’s still in the rehab group.
As good a service that IDG gives to the team, I am much happier when Pritchard is at 9, more variety & makes better yards out of dummy half when he chooses to run. Just want to see him injury free for a season or 8.
Billy, your comments & sarcasm should be applauded in regard to the wonderful on field performance of 19 players for Penrith. very well put indeed, a perfect game indeed/
I would say Sixties that our team has been the gutsiest all year; we have had more than our fair share of injuries.
Many teams would have turned it up. Succinct comments again. With Jennings we were carving them up; and Gordons kicking has cost us in 2 games I feel. But that’s footy I guess.
Let me say this about the refs. The standard is NOT better; and they seem to call many loose balls a knock on, when the ball has not travelled forward. BA does not get in the media and carry on like our last coach who used this as an excuse; I would have blown up at least once this year if I was BA. The refereeing is diabolical at times; and the offside rule and ruck are the worst IMO.
I too laughed at the penalty count on the weekend as Penrith were near perfect according to the penalty count.
We saw in Origin 3 the refs cane QLD; yet in game 1 and 2 the ruck was not policed properly and C Smith and co were all over the ruck and caused the play to slow. The in game 3 we got the penalties. Too little too late.
It is a sad indictment on the game I feel.
Sadly, whenever referees are mentioned, I cringe. Yet these blokes are a part of Eels training every week and enjoy a good rapport with the players and coach. Not every team does this. I’m baffled, and not in a good way!
They are interesting points re the refs. When down that last time I noticed there was one in the middle & all worked well. The question is whether we do ok at training & no issues which should relay onto the game day paddock. BUT
Do any of the senior refs attend the eels training or just the learners? if so is it just a case of having Dr Jekyl at one location & Mr Hyde at the other.
60’s having problems with internet atm, all my ids are gawn, & all but cannot open the ! eyed site either
Col
The ref when I was there last week was Klein. Yes Klein!!!! Self control from me as he walked past.