Round 3 Drink of Choice – Methylated Spirits (not a whiskey, tonight didn’t deserve a whiskey damn it)
If the Eels were to sit down for an intensive afternoon team session where they deliberately plotted out the manner in which they could execute the most infuriating and diabolical loss possible they would have fallen embarrassingly (erm, pridefully?) short of tonight’s performance. Tonight was a special brand of awful from a team that prides itself on its commitment and discipline. So what exactly went wrong across the board tonight? Did the Eels unearth a latent masochistic streak given their willingness to constantly shoot themselves in the feet in set after set? Was the five day turnaround in effect? Were the officials in a competition with the Eels to see who could break deeper through rock bottom? Let’s take a dangerously long draw on the metho and carve into the carcass of this disaster.
Let’s first extract whatever good we can from the effort tonight. Suaia Matagi was instrumental in the limited moments where the Eels did excel – namely the first 15 minutes of play. The Titans struggled to contain him once he was in stride. A clever offload at the line led to a line drop out and there was also a booming hit in defence later in the game as Matagi aimed to lift the intensity of his team mates. Tim Mannah was also quite productive up the middle, in spite of the Eels’ lack on impact through the ruck, producing 135m from 10 carries and 19 tackles. The period in which both he and Beau Scott were both off the field saw the Eels lose discipline and focus as well the Titans begin to claw their way back into the contest.
Manu Ma’u may have lacked his usual impact but he is currently wearing one for the team as he shifts from the left-edge to the right midway through games to accommodate the forward rotation. In spite of the considerable inconvenience to his individual game, Manu still chewed up 118m with the ball in hand and 35 tackles. It speaks towards Manu’s status in the game these days that numbers like that can be considered a relatively quiet effort.
There were a handful of nice moments from Clinton Gutherson and Bevan French but they were too few and far between. It was always going to be a heavy load to share as the two budding play-makers looked to split responsibilities in light of Corey Norman’s absence and ultimately it proved to be too much. With little to no platform to work on from their forwards and an unending flow of mistakes (from themselves included) they simply lacked the poise that Norman has developed in recent seasons to steady the ship and reset the tempo of the game. These are the games where our two young prodigies will have to take their lumps. The match slipped out of their control tonight and they will learn how better to deal with that for the next slug-fest we find ourselves in.
The other side of the ledger doesn’t make for pleasant reading. Semi Radradra, a man who possesses hands so steady that at times neurosurgeons gets pangs of jealousy, dropped not one but two passes on his goal line stone cold. I could scarcely believe my eyes after the first incident but when the second drop occurred (after one of the worst no knock-on calls for Ash Taylor in recent memory, mind you!) I had to pick up the phone and call my local pizzeria to make sure that it was oregano that they put on my margarita. Like Haley’s Comet or a Total Solar Eclipse, Semi dropping two such passes is almost certainly a once-in-a-life-time event. Be sure to mark the 17th of March, 2017 down as the date to tell your kids all about it. Or not. The latter seems like a sound plan of action.
Brad Takairangi had a a decidedly mixed night at the office. His first half featured several line breaks where he regularly left his size 13 feet imprinted on Kane Elgey but there were also some defensive lapses as the Titans went on to score all three of their tries down our right-edge. ‘Taka’ has ownership over some of the issues at play here – namely some wayward jams and a poor missed tackle from dummy half on Chris McQueen’s dive over try but to my eye there were larger issues at play down our right. When the defence know an overlap is coming and they are forced to jam you grumble and move on but the Eels are showing early man-to-man concepts in defence and still finding themselves at a disadvantage before the ball has cleared the interior. Our left-edge is essentially water-tight by comparison so what exactly is happening on the right? I honestly don’t have an answer right now but it is definitely something I want to dive into the tape for this week.
Curiously, Rory O’Brien failed to take part in the loss tonight. Brad Arthur has had no hesitation in thrusting O’Brien into the fray through the first two rounds so what happened tonight? O’Brien is hardly a superstar from the bench but his honest efforts would have been useful as the Eels tired in the second quarter of the game. I can only assume an injury was at play.
I imagine there are plenty of hard truths that are going to be doled out at training this week but funnily enough, I don’t think BA would even need to say a word. The players would hold themselves to such a standard that they would be absolutely filthy with themselves for the performance tonight. Hearing it from someone else may end up reinforcing it that much more but each and every one of the seventeen (well sixteen given Rory’s lack of game time) that played tonight will be their own biggest critic.
So obviously awful discipline and an abject lack of execution proved to be the largest stumbling blocks for the Eels, but what else went wrong?
The five day turnaround was definitely in play. It won’t cut it as an excuse for a complete failure to revert to footy fundamentals when the Titans began to claw their way back into the game (Get to your kick damn it! Kick early to exploit an inexperienced back three. Use the sideline to reset your defensive structures!) but it does help explain the drop off in physicality – especially given that teams are still short of peak match conditioning this early into the season. Adding to the short turnaround was also the fact that it was an away game that required the Eels to travel interstate – cutting a further day of recovery off an already limited preparation.
It was definitely a manageable handicap, especially given the fact that the Titans were dealing with an injury crisis coming into (and throughout) the game, but once Norman was no longer a factor it meant that Gutherson and French were always going to struggle behind an inconsistent forward platform.
At this point I am going to venture slightly into rant territory but I do want to stress – the Eels were objectively woeful and the Titans were beyond courageous to mount the comeback that they did. Beyond anything else that follows, these were the two defining factors of the game. With that honest disclaimer out of the way, let’s have a talk about the state of officiating that was on display tonight.
As I have prattled on about for the last 1000 words, the Parramatta Eels were utterly diabolical for 65min of the game tonight. However, for long stretches of the game it felt like the referees were adamant that they were not going to be outdone in that regard. The penalty count may only show a net difference of 2 penalties at full time with the Gold Coast winning the count 8-6 but a late string of penalties to the Eels in the final 5 minutes of play significantly masks the difference in that ledger.
There was a blatant lack of consistency between how the two teams were officiated in the ruck and this is not endemic to the Eels – this is problem across the entire NRL. Beau Scott was correctly (in my mind at least) ruled to have lost the ball in a loose carry late in the game as the Eels desperately tried to mount one final push. In a vacuum that is fantastic that the right call was made. The problem is that 40min prior Beau Scott was on the other end of the exact same type of call as he was pinged for reefing the ball out in what was obviously a loose carry.
Elsewhere there were a string of forward passes missed (against both teams, to be fair) but perhaps the most egregious calls were the run of dropped balls that were somehow adjudged to have traveled backwards. As I made reference to earlier in this piece, how the drop by Ash Taylor in the lead up to Semi Radradra making his second howler was mind boggling.
For all that this tirade may make you think it but I have absolutely no thought in my mind of impropriety from the officials. There is no grand strategy to fix games for certain teams and NRL powerhouses. I simply believe that the standard of officiating is not good enough for the level of play that the NRL expects from its players. I understand that fans from all teams grumble about 50/50 calls and how some opposition teams are policed differently but we are seeing fundamental errors (missed Ash Taylor knock on, missed James Robert’s forward pass, missed shoulder charges) that have no place in a day and age where they are six officials on the field.
I can’t tell you the solution. The Bunker has fallen far short of the lofty expectations the NRL once graced it with. Originally hailed as the holy grail or silver bullet to fixing many of the games officiating issues, the responsibilities of The Bunker have been revised and dialed back in 2017.
Do we simply need more man-power in games? The NFL is a much slower paced game and they deploy seven officials on the field (and have a much more complex video review process).
Rugby League has only ever had two touch judges (sorry, flag boys [or girls]) but as the game has gotten faster and faster they seem to be unable to keep up with defenders creeping offside and hookers pressing the advantage line with forward passes. Do we need two sideline officials on each sideline, one to police each team on that side? I don’t want the game to fall into the trap of over-officiating but it feels like we are reaching a tipping point. Watching games as a neutral has devolved into a chore more often that not due to inconsistent calls and non-calls from the officials.
With that rant all wrapped up, let’s finish on a sour note. Kaysa Pritchard was assisted off the field and was last seen in the dressing rooms with an almighty slab of ice wrapped tightly around his ankle. It would be a bitterly unfortunate twist of fate for Kaysa to be robbed of the #9 jersey in the fashion that he was injured tonight. Kaysa is usually his own worst enemy when it comes to injuring himself, often throwing himself at the biggest forwards in the game with reckless abandon but the injury tonight came about as a result of simply backing up in defence and getting his ankle caught under the swinging leg of a team mate.
I suffered an uncannily similar footy injury many a year back that resulted in me breaking and dislocating my ankle (although I had the misfortune of getting my ankle caught under the swinging defender and my body then rolling over the locked ankle). Kaysa deserves so much better after suffering so many setbacks in his young career. There aren’t many things to raise our glasses to tonight, so here is to a speedy recovery for our young rake.
On to the reigning premiers and our first home game of the season, ladies and gentlemen.
I thought our effort was fine, but our intensity/concentration was way down, as you’d expect from a team trying to avoid complacency. Once you know there’s a reason to be complacent you can’t really put that genie back in the bottle.
That must have been a bitter post to write Forty, but you did well. It was an honest appraisal of a substandard effort.
Pou, I cant reconcile the effort you believe they put in with the lack of concentration. I reckon the latter is a reflection of the former.
As for the refs, Ashley Klein should no longer carry a whistle. He is just not close to first grade as an official.
Dropping the ball and overcommitting in defence isn’t a sign of lack of effort. We also missed very few tackles.
The worst display since BA has had control, the shape and flow of attack when I’m possession was slow and directionless. Unfortunately, 2017 appears to be a year too far for Robson, far too slow in delivery when first receiver and no threat at all at the line. You can often get away with throwing a young player in for a game or two, despite his apparent deficiencies Dragqn could have been promoted
Communication between Taka and Hoffman seems the issue, didn’t all 4 tries come down our right hand side, work or be done there
This morning I don’t feel mad, just flat and disappointed at that display ifromt of fans who traveled to the game, Maybe an apology from someone is needed?
Even given his age robbo still better than dargan ( cant tackle ) and that was teps side too
Good honest assessment. I agree on all fronts, even about the officiating. Last week nearly everything was a knock on, this week, they were knock backs and stripped balls. There was on very concerning incident that I noticed, and I hope BA addresses it. When Taka came out of the line (again) and Titans scored on the edge with Hoffman having to mark 3, Taka turned around and gave Josh an almighty spray, which Josh rightfully returned serve. This infighting is not conducive to team cohesiveness and will cause more problems in the future. Let’s hope it was only a frustration after an hour of unimpressive and error ridden football. This clearly was one of the worse I’ve seen in many years.
It is a shame we completely dropped our bundle after 15-20 minutes because we had the right plan of attack for the Titans to really carve them up. We were isolating and exposing two of their weakest defenders in Elgey and Paasi and scored both our tries from that. Taka was carving up the right edge like he was running at, well, himself and Hoffman, who continually left unacceptable space down their edge and were lucky to only concede the tries they did.
If the Titans didn’t suffer such a ridiculous injury crisis (that could have been a lot worse had their halves been sent for HIAs when they went down) this would have been a cricket score, a gabba flat track cricket score not an Indian dustbowl one. We completely lost control of that game and nobody stood up to wrestle it back, the forwards couldn’t and the halves, well, after being run over from the 15th-35th minute you’d think they would kick the ball out and give their side a break when they finally got a chance, but it turns out Gutho can only find the line on the full.
On officiating, it wasn’t a great night for consistency which is what I feel drives fans mad. The Beau Scott cases were a great example, one a loose carry where he gets penalised for a strip then he doesn’t get that same strictness when he is the victim. Semi gets called for a forward pass at the ruck but so many others slip by, knock ons everywhere. I don’t know if adding more officials is the right answer, shifting more responsibility to touch judges who are hesitant to make any calls seems a recipe for disaster, but maybe moving all offside and forward pass policing to two new sideline officials would eventually increase the quality of refereeing as you take that burden from the men in the middle.
It is probably time to look at the loose carry/strip rule though. I don’t remember what it was like in the early 90s but I would be okay with at least trying a ‘fair game’ rule on the ball in regards to strips. If you end up with your arm above your head in a tackle I say whatever happens to the ball is your own fault, and for well over 15 years this has been an issue that can’t be policed consistently.
I admit to switching the Teev off with 9 minutes to go, and not long after Kaysa was taken off, I agree with your assessment and hope he gets back quick, have no doubts to his future but perhaps a change in intensity in his play which has been shown so far may help his career. Even at the point of injury he was still trying in defence.
While the forwards were very much outplayed the backs 2-5 were seriously underwhelming, and as I have said in other blogs, there may be some careful watchers at the Wenty game tomorrow to see if there are any cattle there worthy of promotion.
My last comment is on Rory. In the two games he has had this year he has done ok, the 2nd better than the first according to reports, why he was totally ignored by the coach is beyond me, it is a huge slap in the face for him. In some ways it was similar treatment to the way BA handled Kaysa last year but at least Kaysa got a run in each game he was on the bench for, albeit for only 9 minutes in one game.
If BA was not going to use him, why not pick someone who would be used, like all the talk of Gower or Vave. Fresh legs at the 60 minute mark and only behind by 2 may have helped a bit, then again as an overall they did not deserve to win anyway.
Dont think anyone who switches tv off 9 mins to go is a supporter just a follower ,if you cant handle rhe losses you dont deserve to enjoy wins
Buster I must apologise for the poor support that I have given to the eels since I was a boy, they years of being a PLC and football club member counts as nothing I suppose, likewise they years I sat at splinter row at Cumberland as primary schooler with my late parents, dad being part of the early foundation group who worked the raffles and like to get the eels into the comp, following WW2.
I guess the aspect of watching so many games when we won more spoons then I care to remember either makes me a mere follower as well. Seeing I had to wait until I turned 21 to become a member of the PLC, then waited for a time until I joined the old Football club also makes me even a novice follower rather than just a follower.
Thing is I joined the PLC in 1968, the football club in 1972 and certainly followed them for many a year, of course when I left Sydney in 1978 for work transfer and not returning until 2000, and maintaining the membership all those years doesn’t help my case either.
Thing is Buster there comes a point of time when its appropriate to turn the TV off early just like when I watch a game on the TV and see huge numbers of paying supporters leaving the game when its lost in the final 10 or more minutes and basically had a jack of watching poor performances by your team and couple that with pathetic refereeing makes them mere poor followers as well. So it would seem that we accept to be like your good self and endure what is dished up like any good masochist. Sorry mate at my age, and gone through the years of lows and the highs I think I have the right to make my own decisions,
Never walked out once and like you ive been there since inception and endured it all but you do have right to make your own decisions .
I never walked out of a game either, but I wonder how many others would have turned their sets off earlier than I did. I admit to turning the TV off, to me its not the fact of the lose but the way it was lost.
I will never give up supporting and following the eels despite what happens, but there comes a point when the game is lost and to the point where its worse watching what is happening then to sit alone and endure it.
In affect the night was freaky to me, 20 minutes of switched on commitment then what happened? a dropped ball and a dropped game, we apparently had lost O’Brien in a warm up period, no replacement allowed, at least under the old system (last year) O’Brien could have been replaced.
We lose Kaysa through friendly fire even though he had played after spending a night in hospital and spewing in the warm up, his perhaps replacement in KIng is also out previously injured, stocks are down in more ways than one.
At least we get a few back from injury/suspension for the sharks game although will lose Tepi.
Fair enough colin ,anyway its on again next week mate ,titans do seem to have wood on us though and read my reply to 1970 ,when you have 3 quality playmakers you can get away with it ,plus titans pack pretty damm good .
I doubt if there is a team in the NRL that does not have a bogey team, especially at a specific ground or the like.
Titans are certainly the eels one ATM, think back to the game that we took to Mudgee a few years back and we were looking the goods for a high spot but got a real hiding there.
Canberra was another one for a while for us, all usually come to an end at some point of time, its the wait that hurts with the intermediate results.
When you have 3 quality players in specific positions and they know each others play its hard to play against, however the eels for some reason on Friday seem to play as if they all were given a doze dose at around the 20 minute mark.
3801 going through Tuggerah station right there
That is 3801 going through Tuggerah station right there
Yes I was about to suggest a flagon of Penfolds sweet sherry, but metho much more appropriate.
Maybe the humidity was a big factor in Parra dropping so much ball but it didn’t appear to affect the Titans. Yes our right side defence was diabolical and Taka the biggest culprit there and not just in this match. Lets be honest, maybe the centre position has passed him by, and maybe time to move Auva’a into there and Taka to the bench.
The Titans moved the ball around much more than we did and looked impressive. And their forwards all looked more impressive than their Parra counterparts.
Well that was plan B, now what is plan C?
Geez you all put the boot in quick !
Was it was the loss the team “had to have”.?..Wake up call..Goes to show any team can beat any team on any given day in this very close NRL competition. That’s what makes it exciting…
The Titans have become the Eels bogey team….just as Manly and the Dragons have become the Eels.
Agree,game over , just need to move on and work harder !
Cannot disagree with any of Forty’s sentiments.
I’m often accused of being overly optimistic. Though I’m not going to lose the plot over a loss, there was very little positive to be taken from that match. The Titans intent to attack our right side was evident all night. We’ll bounce back, but there are issues to be addressed. It needs to be a wake up call for everyone.
And don’t get me started on Klein.
Sixties, yes a good summation report from 40/20. I am still trying to forget what Klein did to us at Cronulla last year.
Heard Rory picked up an injury and couldn’t be replaced once confirmed in the 17.
Klein is a muppet, but under the great Jack Gibson, an injury meant a young player was given the chance to shine for a game.putting a slow , older Robson in there did not help the side at all. No threat and little kicking game, not entirely to blame, but his contribution was meaningless
Diabolical.
Our second try had me thinking the team had it together, but that was the end of it.
There was no structure, no support, no concentration.
BA even had a shocker by not putting Rory on the field.
I can only think the team must have spent their recovery at Dreamworld.
Great post Forty20. Metho – you’re a funny bastard. I genuinely LOL’d which was nice after such a glum night.
Pfft … early days.
Robson to dh/hooker next week. Tepai almost certain to be suspended for shoulder charge. Won’t be surprised if Ma’u is also suspended for the same thing (on Taylor). So probably Vave in and maybe Nelson.
Hoffman looked injured almost all of 2nd half so probably see Auva’a/Gennings next week.
Not a good game at all.
A good attitude must come from within,a coach or coaches can not make a person or team have it. If players don’t have it, then they can go. I for one think our players overall have a very good attitude and last night will be a reminder of how integral it is to developing a winning culture.
All teams have games they don’t play well in because of attitude but good teams learn from it quickly, such as Penrith last week.
I have enough faith in the players to hope they will learn from last night. Having respect for the opposition means more then saying it, although it worried me how many times I heard players saying during the past week ‘ we know we have to turn up’. Of course you do and you should not have to say it. For me that was a red flag. The ill discipline and poor ball control said to me they thought all they had to do was turn up because the Titans would fold. But they didn’t.
The players will learn from it and I am sure we will see a much more committed team next week. I for one will be there cheering. I just want genuine effort, win loose or draw and hope not to see the effort that we saw last night. I have confidence in our players.
I really had high hopes that Parramatta would step it up in Normz absence but even Normz wouldn’t have been able to control drop balls and penalties… Very poor discipline last night from a team that has build its motto around defence. Hoping the right edge just had a off night.. Haven’t seen such awful edge defence from the eels in a few years.. On to the sharkies I’ll be there rain hail or sunshine.
After all that, it could be worse. We could have had 30 put on us by Manly…
I am sure I am not alone when I say that I just the team to play consistently well. I am as equally as sure that many others, like me, would have cautioned those that were talking up an easy win by mentioning that Norman was out, there was short turnaround, they had to travel, the Gold Coast were embarrassed the week before and would be looking to make amends etc etc.
The fact is that I said those things to mask my greatest concern that the team circa 2017 would be as consistently poor as teams of past years against teams that they are expected to beat.
How many of us noticed early the concerns with the right side defence and yet nothing could or was done to correct it. Given that the wingman is an experienced NRL player was of greater concern.
I’ve read on the other site comments that the worse thing that could have happened was to get of to a flying 12-0 start. It wasn’t an issue the week before when a try was scored after 38 seconds, but this week it was because the team lost and the consistent poor play against weaker opposition was on display.
I agree that the officiating was at a poor level and that Semi’s second knock on happened after the Titans blatant knock on was missed, but when the incident was replayed Semi at no stage seemed to look at the pass from the dummy half.
The side was directionless and lacked discipline. Although Morea’s indiscretion was earlier in the game I thought both Brown and Scott looked like they were keen to niggle as the game came to a close.
That might have been’ on the back of their frustration on seeing Matag’s poor pass to Mannah, or Gutherson’s right side kick, I think for himself, or perhaps that sweeping play to the right on the last tackle that resulted in an inept kick from Jennings.
I appreciate that it is early in the season and that it is only one loss but the teams inability to seemingly cope with the absence of Norman and stick to a game plan is not to me a disciplined side.
I agree with Forty’s summation but not that this team is anywhere close to being able to pride itself on its discipline.
I’d give a kidney for BA but with the kudos also comes the brickbats and I’m sure he’d be very disappointed with what his charges dished out last start and to what degree the teams preparation had to do with that.
I’m sure there will be an improved performance against the Sharks, but until the team can put away the weaker teams then I don’t believe that they can pride themselves on their commitment and discipline.
Dont agree with titans being rated a weak team ,pack as good as anyones ,plus they had 3 genuine playmakers in taylor ,elgey and ty roberts in 9 ,,we had robbo on his last legs ,titans may have been weakened but if you have your playmakers you fill in the blanks and as i said they had 3 but i agree it was discipline and lack of direction that killed us ,i really dont think anyone didnt try hard they just didnt get it right mate
Good post 40/20. I concur with your sentiments. I was enjoying the night in some quality company up here on the coast; it is hard to watch a game when at the club as I cannot say what i would say when at home……myself and my other commentator thought there were some bad calls from the ref. I really noticed Klein as a ref, and cannot help but think what is happening to the game?
50/50 calls will always cause conjecture, but i laughed when Ryan James went down (thought he was knocked out) only to see the Titans receive a penalty ( didn’t he move into the parra players way..?) then he is in the HIA.
We truly missed Mannah and Matagi when they went off.
I cannot fault our effort in defence but the attack at times lacked cohesion, maybe with Pritchard off and IMO Robson had to take more charge of the direction of the game.
Taka did v well in attack but he left his winger too many times in my book, and that is not first grade defence. The titans had 2 rookie halves and they did things simply, albeit 2 second half tries came off kicks…
i walked or ran out to the car after the night (it was pouring on the coast) and went home a sad old man. But always next week.
I was there as well and agree with the general concensus here. While not defending our right sides defensive efforts they weren’t entirely to blame. Where were the inside players to number up? Every time the Titans started going left we were outnumbered from the start. Gutho and Tepai should have been there, as well as French and another forward at least. They all need to improve for next week.
You see it time and time again in games where one team slackens off or gets overconfident. They loose discipline, structure and urgency. Sound familiar to Fridays game?
BA will surely address these issues and we should be in for a cracker of a game this weekend
Good call,taka bit of scapegoat ,bad numbering up and i still believe tep is a middle forward ,not agile like manu or kenny . Every time i see tep hes getting bigger , just a matter of time till 8or 10 for mine
Don’t be drinking metho forty – you’re way too young for that sort of thing.
Next week, straight back onto the scotch – win loose, or draw.
Great write up mate 🙂