Round 4 Drink of Choice – Erm, Industrial thinner of your personal preference? Fermented potatoes?
Let’s wind the clock back to eight days ago:
“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”
Alas I did not unearth latent psychic powers specialising in the branch of foresight last week. Instead the Eels have produced a follow-up effort tonight that was embarrassingly similar on every fundamental level to their shock loss to the Titans in Round 3. In fact, we had a lovely 15 minute run of play to start the game against the Gold Coast while there was nothing remotely close tonight. We were simply dreadful tonight and the most galling aspect of the loss is that Cronulla were no where near peak form and the 20-6 scoreline still flattered us.
That the Eels would doom themselves to repeating the same mistakes two weeks in a row is troubling. Not cause to fully man the panic stations but there may be some hard truths and even harder decision to be made for our Round 5 team. A road trip to the nation’s capital is one of the less forgiving sorties you can make away from home so the Eels need to right the ship post-haste.
There was a teeny, weeny bit of good to be seen on the field tonight. Nathan Brown is carving a niche on the bench for the Eels. He brings plenty of hustle and just a little bit of finesse into the game and as his touch in passing around the ruck improves he will really start to shine. In fact, Brown might be the single greatest beneficiary of Siosaia Vave finding match fitness and Kenny Edwards returning from suspension in Round 8. When the Eels can truly look to go up-tempo in the second quarter of play with their full-strength bench, Brown will definitely be in the thick of things.
Speaking of Vave, the mobile-mountain came into the game perhaps slightly underdone but performed his impact role admirably. 111m from 12 runs and 20 tackles (1 missed) make for a very healthy first-up contribution. He can most certainly improve his game across the board and match fitness will account for plenty of that. He got caught ball watching on his goal line for the James Maloney try and was probably guilty (like many of our forwards) of not preventing second phase ball from the Sharks. Still, it was an encouraging debut for Vave. He tested the battle-hardened Cronulla pack and in an environment where the rest of pack acquits itself better he will start to break and not bend defensive lines.
Frank Pritchard produced his best game to date for the Eels. There were some warts too, namely a late knock-on as he attacked the goal line but the venom was back in his runs and an absolute bell-ringing hit that he landed on Paul Gallen early in the fray. It remains to be seen if shifting Manu Ma’u away from his native left-edge is the optimal deployment of personnel but until we have Kenny Edwards back into the fold it is decidedly difficult to piece together the ideal pattern to our current forward rotation.
If anything, the Eels themselves kept him more quiet than the Sharks but Semi Radradra was tireless in his personal attempt to bounce back from a horror game against the Titans. 110m from 16 runs with 4 tackles (1 missed) are far from a flattering stat-line for the game’s premier winger but our team lacked any sort of attacking shape and completely failed in providing either Radradra or Michael Jennings any quality ball. Bevan did him no favours either as he earned a late error to his name from a poor no-look pass from his fullback. Despite this Semi kept diligently chasing attacking kicks (despite the constant – and often illegal – attention of Cronulla blockers) and that sort of off-the-ball deserves kudos even if it doesn’t reflect in the stat-sheets.
There is so much bad that I could write about at this point but it is honestly retreading the well-worn ground of my Round 3 Whiskey Musings. Our right-edge again looked vulnerable every time the Sharks ventured down that side of the field. Fortunately they were all too happy to feed Wade Graham crash balls nearly every time and although one such pass yielded the second try of the game, it felt like the Sharks left plenty of points on the park as a result. You would have to imagine that the first thing any opposing coach does in their video session against the Eels is highlight the fragility of our right-edge. Something has to give and soon. BJ Leilua and Jordan Rapana will fortunately be marking up against Jennings and Radradra but Jarrod Croker stands on his own merits as a fearsome attacking centre.
Above all we have simply looked flat for the last 145 minutes. There is no tempo to our play and we seem unable to get into the grind. We are simply playing to whatever rhythm our opponents dictate and that is a sure-fire method to lose in as an agonisingly slow and painful a way as possible.
There is greatness in this team. I truly believe that. Even with how painfully dull our last two losses have been we still sit at 2 wins and 2 losses. Yes it is frustrating that we missed a genuine chance to go 4-0 but it could be a lot worse than this. We are coming into Round 5 and there is still a copious amount of footy to be played before the finals. The Eels don’t need to catch fire anytime soon but they do need to get their fundamentals back on track.
This little period will be an interesting trial for our boys to overcome. They have been through plenty rough passages in the rebuild under Brad Arthur. Off-field dramas galore, salary-cap crippled rosters and the odd injury crisis. Never before have they simply been in a rut when they know they should be one of the better teams in the competition. While there is certainly a personnel change or two that you can make a case for, it speaks towards a psychological slump as we break from the strengths of our roster during games.
The Raiders will be an extremely difficult proposition – even if we were entering the game in red-hot form. Even if we do play well there is a very good chance that we slip to three losses on the trot. Another loss for mine is palatable providing that we do show that fundamental improvement. Canberra are a damn good team and a 2-3 record is hardly the end of the world given our schedule in the back-end of the season. Of course a win would be damnably appreciated and I am hankering to enjoy a nice drop after something of a dry stretch!
That was an awful display to a fan base that totals over 20,000 members and hundreds of thousands more across the country
No matter how the coach wants to address the problem, ie the effort was there but we need to build pressure – hid the actuality that they looked flat and unprepared .
Have the over trained and under worked the attack, looks as is the coach needs to read the riot act and look at some home truths around a few players that are definitely struggling. Doesn’t seem to none any real pressure from Wenty which adds to the problem
Crazy to think the sky is falling in, but the look on the faces coming ut of the stadium was resigned horror, very flat and emotionless ( bit like the overall effort seen tonight)
There is a game next week, lets trust them is some soul searching and a realisation that the support they get needs to be fed effort, another dismay like th last 2 weeks and you would xpectedts an apology direct to the fans
We were well in the grind up until the Sharks scored a fairly easy first try. That one defensive lapse, at about the 10th minute, seemed to lead to a complete lack of patience thereafter.
For a side that from all reports is tight and gets along with each other, it would be hard to believe that after watching last weeks game and now this one.
Rarely is there any support play as can be seen when anyone hits it up and then looks to offload, there’s no one there even looking for the ball as we saw last night when the ball was played back to where the dummy half should have been (or someone) and it went to ground. The players in tackles getting pushed back and their team mates just looking and not even trying to stop the backward momentum. Line breaks and no one up with them.
There also seems to be a few selfish players that are only doing things for themselves. As in drawing the defence and trying to set up a teammate or using the open man instead of “I’ll go myself”.
I may be reading to much into it and hopefully it will change for the Raiders game and the rest of the year.
Agreed the lack of support play was bizarre. Constantly seemed like everyone was setting up for the next play. But you have to take your chances in this game.
I don’t think anyone needs to panic because the answer is painfully clear. Hold onto the F%#king ball!!
Fix our ball control and our right side defence and we will be fine.
The infuriatingly silly passes time and time again are just ridiculous. I think the forwards have gone away from running hard and straight with the occasional bit of variation and ball playing to too much passing before the line and trying silly late offloads. Our strength in the first two games was our ball control and game management and they have become our weakness in the last two games. Beau Scott’s ball control was very ordinary last night and when you have your captain and most experienced player repeatedly throwing stupid passes in pressure situations it rubs off.
Our kicking game was rubbish, we persisted with bombing from mid field even though the sharks blockers and their back three never looked like giving us a result. Surely Kicking long to open space had to be a better option?
There was a couple of postives I thought. Like you said Vave was very good in his first game for us and I thought Gower and F Pritchard were good aswell. Other than that it was a very disapointing night.
Spot on Clive and I could not have said any more directly…..hold pill, and tighten defence. Get to your kick and buld pressure. Simple stuff.
Next week will be different. Probably a dry track, albeit at dusk. Playing s very big and attacking team…commitment in defence and ball control is vital.
I too don’t want to hit the panic button as bad form, even a season can be reignited or defined with a single game. That remains my main concern from the Titans game that was largely replicated again last night, that it was that game.
This is the same team that was being lauded for its depth. A roster in which key players could ably cover several positions. A team with an agressive forward pack and new recruits that brought with them ball skills. A well coached, disciplined, consistent, balanced squad.
The Titans game was crucial to my thinking for several reasons. The team has been guilty in the past of playing poorly against teams that they should on paper be a better than even chance of beating. I’m not saying that the Titans are a weak team but they were weakened for that game and a top 4 team would have put them to the sword and a top 8 team would have probably found a way to win ugly. Our team found a way to lose.
The team started well shifting up through the gears but after 20 minutes the next gear they found was park. They were out enthused, outplayed and out coached. It was a vital game from a points perspective with the next 3 games that were coming up.
There seems an air of panic around the team when they are under pressure and players forget the script and the captain(s) and coach are unable to stop the rot. They should have been up for the Titans game and after such a poor performance most would have expected a strong bounce back last night but we got more of the same.
It’s much too early in the season to truly panic but there needs to be a quick turnaround and from there some serious consistency if this team is to realise their potential. It can’t be that the team needs a MOTM performance from Norman each week if they are a chance to win and if so what does that say for the rest of the team?
There has been some poor performers in the team, there has been some poor ref’s decisions and issues that have robbed the coach of key personnel, but that sounds like a typical year.
I want success for the individual players, the coach, the fans and me. Last night was another occasion that I left a ground in silence just wondering what went wrong.
I think this week against Canberra will be season defining and I’ll be making the trip down to support them.
What sound observations Trapped and good on you for making the trip!
Ive read elsewhere that BA is an amazing man manager and motivator. The work he did last season to hold our club together will never be underestimated. All this is undeniable but is BA a good tactical coach? Our players love BA as do everyone of us but is it enough? Are players individual and team skills improving?
Our team looks less fit than others. Our attack has no depth. It also lacks options. Our only attack appears to be the bomb. Forwards hit the line but never spin. Second phase play is generally “hail mary” passes. We continue to loose the ruck. Our line speed is slower than it has been previously. Even in our two wins this season there were soft trys scored against us and periods where it looked as though our players were in trouble and only sloppy play by the
opposition saved us. We still loose the wrestle.
Im starting to think our team is being out coached and that is the last thing I want to feel. Im off to Canberra next week. To say Im nervous about our chances given what I have seen thus season is a huge understatement. Am I worried for nothing?
I can assure you that the team aren’t coached to play that way. They train for support play, offloads, hit and spins, depth in attack, aggressive defence, repeat sets. Etc. players have to take responsibility.
I went to the game yesterday and everything Gazzamatta said was on display. Its as if the players don’t know each other and the attack was largely non-existent. Handling was woeful and special mention goes to Taka (3 errors, maybe more from my count) and Scott (2 errors). I’m afraid that Taka needs a spell from centre and hopefully Auva’a, who I haven’t seen play yet, may be the ideal replacement. Similarly the Hoff probably needs to accompany him.
Although we never looked like winning the game the performance by the refs was terrible. Cronulla ware allowed to stand 2 metres in front of the ref and hold down in the tackle with impunity, not to mention other aspects of their performance. It appears as if the defending premiers are entitled to more latitude than other teams.
Great to hear 60s. Lets hope the message gets through sooner rather than later.
17 errors unbelievable.
You would have thought after the titans game and the first few errors against the Sharks, that BA and some of the older heads on the field would have reigned things in
But no, we continued with the silly offloading in our own 40, and some dumb short balls.
We also lack the knowledge on when to hold the opposition down when we are not set in our red zone, as the Sharks did when they we’re struggling.
We also give away too many penalties trying to slow the ruck as teams are coming off there own line, as seen with Vave and mau a couple of times.
It’s early days but it’s worrying times for mine.