Parramatta Eels 18
Canberra Raiders 30
The Good: |
The almost comeback in the second half made for enjoyable viewing, as did the play of some of our newest Eels, namely Brown, Vave and the older Pritchard. |
The Bad: |
In patches we seemed to drift back into complacency, and almost every time we did, it seemed the Raiders made us pay. This goes without saying, but having 30 points scored on you is unacceptable. I’m not a fan of losing, so this report will be relatively brief. |
X-Factor: |
The second and third Raider tries were both half (or even quarter) chances turned into four pointers. If anything the Eels were guilty of turning certain chances into nothing. |
The MVP: |
Nathan Brown was brilliant for mine. He takes the chocolates in a losing affair. Outstanding game. |
The Starters
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1- Bevan FrenchFullback, Parramatta Eels Thought he had a good game and happened to be the finisher on our first four pointer; one of the best tries of our season. Still proving to be very solid under the high ball and didn’t miss a tackle tonight, but was caught out by a tough bounce for the Raiders’ first. I think Eels fans are starting to take his magic dummies and ball play a little for granted – will be something special very soon for the Blue and Gold. |
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2- Semi RadradraLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels Yeah, not your best game, Bula. It wouldn’t be a stretch at all to suggest you could have single handedly stopped two Raiders tries. Still, it’s hard to knock a bloke who had 15 carries and over 100m from the wing – it at least shows me he was more than willing in attack. |
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3- Michael JenningsLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels Really liked that he had 12 attacking runs, and was glad to see him get across the paint for our second. Not sure what was happening in the first half down that side in defence, though. |
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4- Brad TakairangiRight Centre, Parramatta Eels Thought he was our best on the park in the first half, and it was good to see the defence starch up on he and Hoff’s side this week. Love when he gets as involved as he was tonight, 12 carries is a quality knock from a man who hasn’t been playing his best football in recent weeks. |
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5- Josh HoffmanRight Wing, Parramatta Eels I still like what he does, I’m just yet to be blown away. Did come up with some good defensive plays tonight, however. |
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6- Clinton GuthersonFive-Eighth, Parramatta Eels I’m a big fan of Gutho, but I’m going to be picky and say if your best asset is a running game, you should probably run for more than 5 carries (23m). On the plus side the Bus’ goal kicking has improved out of sight (which saves him from a C+). |
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7- Corey NormanHalfback, Parramatta Eels That surreal 40/20 was almost the catalyst for what would have been a spectacular come from behind win. I’m also mildly distraught Blake Austin somehow held him up for that late No Try. |
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8- Suaia MatagiProp, Parramatta Eels I suspect Suaia won’t be the last bloke Shannon Boyd uses for a speed bump. Solid game (9 carries for 84m) without being spectacular. |
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9- Kaysa PritchardHooker, Parramatta Eels Liked his service and it’s always good to see your rake get a meat pie. With that said, teams that win premierships generally have very good hookers, and 5 Rounds in the jury is still very much out on the younger Pritchard being that guy for Parra. The 47 tackles were huge, but it’s the 5 missed tackles that sting. If you want to get particular, Kaysa’s arm grab miss on Cotric pretty much sealed it for those guys with the clap. |
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10- Tim Mannah (c)Prop, Parramatta Eels Was he sick? I’m a little confused why our starting prop only had 5 carries (52 m), and only played for 31 minutes. I love Timmy as much as the next bloke, but I’ll need someone to explain that to me. |
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11- Manu Ma’uBack Row, Parramatta Eels Ole’ Faithful. A massive 13 runs for almost 120m, and a couple of handy offloads. Also played the full 80 minutes and made a season best 8 opposition supporting children cry just by growling in their general direction. |
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16- Frank PritchardBack Row, Parramatta Eels Confused me for basically the opposite reason to Tim Mannah, with a whooping 61 minutes, 12 hit ups and 113m. Seems we are getting a lot more value from the Tank than I think many suspected we would. Also a huge play to come up with the ball from a Canberra attacking raid, and then made a “please someone tackle me” dart for 15m. |
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13- Nathan BrownLock, Parramatta Eels If you just took a look at his stats, you’d think he was our highest paid player. A monster of a game with 15 runs, 142m, 2 offloads and 37 tackles. Needless to say, I loved him as our starting lock, hope it continues. |
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Interchange
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14- Beau Scott (c)Interchange, Parramatta Eels Still goes alright for an old bloke with 8 for 80m, also got through 27 tackles. I wonder if the NRL will be upset that Beau came off the bench with no warning. Come to think of it, I wonder if Beau will be upset, too. |
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17- Siosaia VaveInterchange, Parramatta Eels Give this guy all the minutes his stamina can handle. Had a 7 carry for 70m night, and surely reminds more people of local rugby talent Junior Paulo than just me. |
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18- David GowerInterchange, Parramatta Eels Only played 15 minutes, and his game will be most remembered for that one handed lob to Corey Norman on our try line. Shame he made the trip down to Canberra for next to no game time, hopefully he picks himself up some fireworks or something. |
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I’m very rarely confident of an Eels victory, but we will beat the Warriors next week.
Go you Eels,
Mitch.
Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels.
Stats courtesy of Champion Data.
Fair assessment. I feel like the bench rotations are a little bit off at the moment? Just seems like we are not utilizing the changes quite right or something – as your grades for both Mannah and Gower attest to.
Vave and brown were outstanding tonight.
And I am of the firm belief we can beat the Warriors, and then the Tigers too.
I think Brown starting might have been an attempt to see Mannah or Beau always on the park. If that was the theory (a big if), it didn’t work because Mannah only played 30 mins.
I’d prefer to see a bench of Vave, Scott, Terepo and Kenny, but that’s obvious a few rounds away. Gower didn’t get much of a chance tonight, which was weird so we kinda played with 17 men, or 16 and a half re Mannah.
Yeah it seems like a wasted spot to me – like a use it or lose it type situation. I wonder if Peni will return next week? Just played 5 games now, only a few until we get Kenny back!
There is absolutely no point in having 4 bench players if they are all not used to give them adequate game time. I said it last year with Kaysa, and will say it again with the non use of O’Brien the other week, nothing mentioned about injury with him either.
The players selected must be wanting to be on the paddock as much as possible and not using them at all or for minimal amounts of time unless carrying an injury really insults them and says the coach really has no confidence in them.
If the fresh backup on the bench doesn’t offer what is needed any more than the blokes already on the field there is no point blowing an interchange just to give him a run.
I actually completely agree Pou, which suggests, whether through injury or suspension or a lack of talent that our bench isn’t doing all it should.
Maybe a second hooker should have been the go then?
Does anyone know what happened to Mannah?
Pou what you say seems reasonable enough, however I did not see Mannah as being injured, to me he is the player needed for the last quarter.in the end I thought the bench players did ok, once Vave gets more match fit and can play at least 40 in two hits it will make a huge difference. Gower sadly was not effective in the short time on the field.
Its fine to have short time bench players if they are real strike players that can change the game quickly, would under the match conditions yesterday Vave been better coming on at the 55minute mark? At that point the Canberra players were tiring with the fresher run on’s still to come, Vave would have still been ok by that change.
Mitch, I was not sure how to rate Brown, as I thought he lacked something in the punch area, if this is indicative of what to expect of him as a run on player, I dont believe it worked from my perspective, he is better against some tiring opposition players rather than fresh ones. When Scott came on and Time went off we did not lose much, the captaincy bit though seemed to work a bit better though.
Tim and Matagi need to start, Ma’u without him we would have lost by more, Vavi will be a killer with more game time and corresponding fitness. Never thought I would say it but, we certainly miss Edwards in the line up. The top team is not helped with Wenty’s losing way does not help keep pressure on the top team either.
At least our 2 junior rep teams won today, sadly was not well enough to go to the match but will be at Morie Breen next Saturday to see Wenty play.
Would you have Frank in the side? Or would he make way at the expense of Moeroa and Kenny on the bench.
Great assessment of every player but I’ll like your take on where we are as a club after 5 rounds.
First Grade only 2 wins out of 5 games
Wenty only 1 win out of 5 games
20’s only 2 wins out of 5 games
Things are really starting to go bad after what was a very promising start to season.
I hope you don’t take it as an easy answer out, but I actually think we’re closer than the win/loss column suggests.
If Semi doesn’t let in a couple of tries, if Corey finds the grass in the 74th minute, if we don’t drop our bundle against the Titans; we’re 3, maybe 4 from 5. In short, we’re not a bad side.
Wenty last week were up by 10 with 4 mins to go and managed to lose. Again, I suspect we’re not as bad as our wins/losses suggest, but the fact is that’s what we’ll be judged on.
In short – we should be better, but currently we’re not. I dare say our chance to prove our worth will be much closer to confirmed after 10 rounds, so check in with me then. A few home games would help too. What’s your take?
At the start of the year I thought we were so strong across the park, not one weekness in the team but now it seems to be getting less and less to a point anytime Raiders had the ball near our line I expected them to score. And I’m not sure what’s going on with the other grades. Hoffman and Taka haven’t gel very well and Scott hasn’t been anywhere near to where he was last season.
The biggest aspect of the losses is the simple aspect that the players are not playing to their potential, and they seem to lose heart quickly but they also pick up quick when they sense the opposition is tiring. The first of our tries picked them up as I thought they were on a downer. At a couple of points they also seemed to rally with some good play, the 40/20 and the tries.
There seemed to be a sense that the other mob was tiring and the eels were getting on top, a few penalties and misreads had their heads a bit more looking puffed,, but they seemed to pick themselves up at crucial stages. Being honest, they could have won but did not deserve it overall.
Interesting read, especially as I wasn’t able to see the match, thanks a lot 👍
You’re welcome mate.
Personally, I’d recommend watching our first try from tonight, and then re-watching the Dragons Eels game from Round 2 instead.
If ever a game was frustrating to watch it was this one, and on a biggish screen its about the same as being at the game.
I am also a bit bemused at the player ratings and some comments, for me I thought Kaysa did ok, sure he fell off a few tackles but he dead set was trying the whole game, I felt he tried to vary his play and when he made some more runs from dummy half he made good ground, his try was sheer determination, I think he is getting better each game as well maybe gradual in incremental progress though.
Hoffman would be far better off just running instead of the constant shimmy jinks that absolutely confuses no one in the opposition team or the fans, all know he’s gunna get grounded when he did run it was more sideways but at least it showed some variety. The defence on that side was better, pity about the left side though, I personally thought Semi’s mind was on the continent and seemed to lack punch.
The play time and bench rotation is still weird, it was good to have Scott not start and come on when Tim went off, I don’t think Tim had his best game either but maybe he was a bit crook and did not have long minutes. Overall I thought Ma’u was our best forward with Frank going better but needs more hard running, Vave is going to be a real asset with Matagi. Frank really is not a starting player though.
When they got back to within 4 points of the Canberra team, I thought they were going to pull it off but the Raiders try that gave them the win was heartbreaking especially the ease in which it was scored.
Bevan French? Love the guy and player, tries a lot and has some freaky bits but his youth is starting to show as he had a few misreads but very much forgiveable. It has been said that our spine is very young and inexperienced, and that is definitely showing, Normy had some shockers for line kicks aside from his regulation whizz 40/20, Gutho has good kicking now but lacks a bit of variation and running, just like his halfs mate, With those three and Kaysa having to provide the game plan in attack, maybe they are being tired out in defence by the big opposition players and not just the forwards either.
Just my thoughts.
I hear what you’re saying – the service was passable from Kaysa, but for mine the miss on Cotric was the worst type of miss at the worst possible time. Rewatch the 68th minute and tell me I’m wrong.
We were within striking distance, and it was a back breaker of a miss. I thought Frank was terrific and his stats were crazy good. Gutho desperately needed to take the line on more.
Anyways, appreciate your thoughts Col.
Mitch its always the critical misses that show, but seriously was Kaysa’s miss on Cotric as bad or worse than the two that Semi missed? I thought Jennings had his worst defensive game that I have seen of him this year as well. The problem in the end is not just the individual misses its the way the whole team is getting rolled at critical times. Kaysa may miss more than the others but gee he also tackles a lot more of them as well. I am not one that is of the belief that our most consistent tackler in the team is the hooker, I don’t care who he is.
The fact that he is a primary middle player means he cannot escape from them but I would think the amount of work they do in defence also shackles them in the respect of energy in attack.
Yeah I agree. I gave both Semi and Kaysa a C, thought both of them made misses that cost us pretty dearly. Semi made up for his to some extent with a stack of charges, and Kaysa for his with a try of his own.
Anyways, all good mate.
Hopefully a last comment that is a bit on the negative side, and it relates to our 6 and 7.
Overall we are getting some value out of them, Normies freakish ability to grab a 40/20 is unbelievable, also Gutho has put to rest the problem we have in regards to finding a goal kicker.
However, I really wonder who is playing what role? Seriously if we bag Kaysa for lack of creativity, and the missed tackles, it seemed to me that we were let down a bit in the area of creativity in play from our two halves. Now I admit to being only able to see it from the box rather than at the game, but from what I saw it was Gutho feeding the scrums and passing, not much happening as a result. Normie was far better at the scrum base so why the seemingly complete swictch.
Also I did not see the same amount of running plays by either of them today as the first two matches of the season. The halfs need to step up in the direction of the play and seriously I did not see that today.
Do you think there could be a potential recall for Faraimo in on Hoffman’s wing? I have watched him for the past 3 weeks and has been outstanding! Especially today with a 100m try and fended a few blokes off along the way.
It was a cracking try, but personally, I’d put it at a hundred to one.
Miatch I really like your ratings system and find them enjoyable to read, although some might not agree with everything which is natural.
Hope you’re right about the Warriors. Good job mate.
thanks Chief, hope you’re well mate.
Thought yesterdays game was a big improvement from the previous 2 games. However Jennings needs to pass more. He had an unmarked Semi outside him in first half but did not pass and for a representative centre this is a huge impediment to his game. Thought Bevan was out of position for a few of those tries from kicks into ingoal. Both Fritchard and Vave had good matches and both will get better with more match time.
Cannot understand BAs decision to leave, or only play for small minutes, any of the bench players. Getting Gower to play more minutes could have been better, he still is a very good forward with a good offload in him.
Yeah I agree re the previous two – we even looked better in the first half down by plenty than I think we did in previous weeks. I actually could stomach yesterday’s game (although Im still shattered by the result).
To be fair to Bev, the Soliola try was a cruel bounce and he actually was in pretty good position (although I suspect he and Semi could have been a little more desperate. With the Leulua try, if memory serves me correctly Bevan had made a cover tackle on a linebreak on the far side of the field for the 5th tackle, and sprinted from marker in an effort to get back in defence – the Raiders simply kicked it to the far wing.
I don’t understand Mannah’s limited game time, but regarding Gower, Pou made a good point above – if theyre not going to bring something the players on the field arent, then why put them on? We somehow seem a bit short in the forwards, despite buying Brown, Vave and Matagi. Terepo and Kenny will be much welcomed additions IMO.