Round 6 Drink of choice – Nothing. Some players grow their hair or beards out until the team wins, so I am refusing to pour another drink until we chalk one up in the ‘W’ column.
I am going to be concise but measured in my response this week. We are playing truly terrible footy. There are so many fundamental issues with our team on a technical basis but what truly stands out is the lack of character compared to what we displayed in 2016. The hustle in defence is gone and team looks fragmented and lethargic in attack. As weird as it sounds to be put it out there after the heroics of last year, this team needs to completely overhaul their attitude.
There are a laundry list of grievances to be had with our technical play but it all really comes back to the ruck and how badly we are losing it on both sides of the ball at crucial junctions in games. With the ball in hand we are struggling to consistently find a roll on and give our play-makers quality ball. Conversely, in defence we simply can not buy a slow ruck. James Gavet nearly lost the ball cold heading into our defensive line in our red zone today. Instead of piling onto to him and punishing the sloppy play with a treacle-slow ruck, we jump off him and let the Warriors execute a set-piece down their left-edge that let Simon Mannering cross untouched.
The Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Raiders are quality teams with outstanding packs so losing the ruck to an extent could be justified but these problems were just as apparent in our loss today and against the Titans in Round 3. In prior weeks our inability to hold onto the ball contributed significantly to our flimsiness around the ruck but today we completed at about 80% and we just looked flat.
Loathe as I am to point fingers at the coach when often the responsibility lies with the players, Brad Arthur definitely needs to take some criticism for our month-long slide. The negative kicking really stood out today while there seems to have been little-to-no adjustment from Round 3 to Round 6 while there have also been examples of sub-optimal use of our bench. I am still an unashamed fan of BA but the team’s current slump presents a unique challenge for him to overcome. He was a titan for the club and his players in 2016 when we were constantly assailed at all angles but now the problems stems internally and on both an individual and team level. Whether it is through an honesty session or through the demotion of some core players, BA needs to find a way to arrest this slump.
Putting the blowtorch onto the playing group now and there are a number of individuals that have performed well below the standards to which they would hold for themselves. Corey Norman has played well within himself for two weeks running now. Teams are obviously keying into him as our primary play-making option but he barely broke a stride when faced with the same scrutiny in 2016? Is his hamstring still troubling him or is his own personal slump symptomatic of the wider problems with the team?
After helping put the cleaners through the high-flying St George Illawarra Dragons, Semi Radradra has produced the worst run of form in his NRL career. The hulking Fijian is getting dominated through the ruck and is missing crucial finishing opportunities that were once a fait accompli. Fans have often leveled unfair expectations on Radradra following his 24 try effort in 2015 but when he is getting the basics so wrong and simply lacking in effort, maybe it is time to look to the future? Greg Jennings has been consistently impressive in a poor Wentworthville Magpies outfit while Greg Leleisiuao (although a poorer fit due to his experience on the right edge) is dominating in the Holden Cup. Neither would be without their flaws and of course they don’t come close to approaching Radradra in peak-form but they might also be on the bus – to steal a cheesy sports-cliche from Ivan Cleary.
Brad Takairangi has found himself on the end of my more critical comments in Whiskey Musings quite often this season and today is no exception. While he may have set up a nice try for the tireless Nathan Brown, far too many of the same problems linger for Taka – especially in defence. Instead of working with his edge Takairangi insists on jamming as his preferred first read and the Warriors punished him badly as they took the lead via the Ryan Hoffman try. My second issue may have just as much to do with the lackluster form of Norman but Takairangi took far too many last tackle options today. His kicking game is passable at best and when combined with the seemingly negative instructions to constantly look for the sideline the Eels often left a stack of invisible metres on the field.
Injuries to Bevan French and Jeff Robson along with the horrible form of Jamal Fogarty mean that Takairangi will likely hold a place in the team at 5/8 unless Mitchell Moses secures a release or until French returns from his PCL injury. It does feel like Takairangi is playing on borrowed time though, as much as it saddens me to say that.
Moving closer to the ruck and it is Tim Mannah and Beau Scott that now draw my ire. I have long defended Mannah’s steady and understated contributions to the team but he has been off the boil in recent weeks. 33min (Warriors) and 31min (Raiders) stints are not enough for the senior bookend in our rotation. Scott has been usurped by the impressive Nathan Brown in recent rounds and while he is offering a bit off the bench the reason that both he and Mannah are really in this column is that this team is desperately calling out for leadership and that is exactly what they are meant to provide.
Kaysa Pritchard struggled up the middle once more and it has served to highlight just how crucial finding a serviceable hooker is for our team. Kaysa certainly doesn’t lack for effort but the quality of his service is slipping and he really can’t control the ruck in defence – often conceding punishing penalties when he tries to slow the ruck down. Our options internally are extremely limited unless we feel like gambling it all on a NYC player in Denzal Tonise. We will likely need look beyond our current roster if we are to find a solution.
There were a few positives to salvage out of our fourth straight loss and the names I am about to mention should come as little surprise to regulars of my Whiskey Musings.
Clinton Gutherson worked himself to a stand-still from fullback. He chimed in to attack the line where ever he could and defended admirably in his first outing at fullback in some time. Like Gutherson, Nathan Brown also can hold his head up high. The lock forward tearaway scored a good try in the first half and ran and defended well.
Other Eels that performed admirably include Michael Jennings, Peni Terepo and Manu Ma’u. Others like Tepai Moeroa and Siosaia Vave were solid in an otherwise dismal outfit.
When all is said and done, I don’t have the answers to fix what is wrong with this team. All I know is that the answer is simultaneously very simple and extremely complex. The Eels need to find their drive. They need to rediscover what brought them together as brothers when the world was unified against them in 2016. We were meant to emerge from the torrid trials of 2016 forged as one and instead we look like seventeen strangers when we take to the field. There are definitely a stack of other issues we can work on after that but until this team rediscovers its character we are going no where fast.
Forty that is the most accurate post-game summary I have read in a very long time.
At TCT we are unashamed supporters of the team and coach, but there are issues here that need to be addressed.
The team is playing poorly and after seeing the press conference, BA is talking about possession and momentum. Same thing four weeks in a row.
We aren’t getting enough out of our starting props. mannah had been ineffective and it is shown by the minutes he is playing.
Kaysa tries hard and tackles everything but I have my doubts about whether he can make it.
You correctly point to our lack of depth. I am not sure where we go for replacements. We missed Seggy, I am guessing for off field reasons. To be fair, IDG would have been starting Hooker anyway.
Our kicking game is terrible as well. I do believe the team is trying but there is no cohesion for whatever reason.
Maybe it comes down to attitude. Semi is running as softly as I have ever seen. He is a long way from the bloke that bowled over James graham last year.
It can be done. We have a better side than plenty of others on the comp. the players need to pull their fingers out, aim up at training and go harder.
I honestly believe a lot of the technical aspects will solve themselves once we find a way to rekindle the fire in this team. There is a distinct lack of cohesion in the team currently and it wasn’t present after we thrashed the ladder leading Dragons. We started second guessing ourselves after the loss to the Titans and we haven’t been able to grasp any sort of momentum since.
This is probably the most frustrating passage of time under BA’s tenure here as even when we were a rubbish roster we showed plenty of fight and grit. We are missing that edge that he instilled in us since day 1.
Attitude does not solve everything but it goes a long way and at the moment, as pointed out by Forty, we are a long way from the 2016 version. IDG may well have his shortcomings in attack but he lead our line speed in defence, and that is a part of the game that we are sorely lacking this year. The line speed doesn’t fix everything but it creates momentum, leads to errors by the opposition by being rushed and therefore creates a greater slice of possession.
Your halves are only as good as your forward momentum and at the moment they are receiving the ball on the back foot and helpless. Widdop circa 2017 is a great example of a half turning around his form on the back of solid go forward.
De Gois copped more than his share from supporters but we are definitely seeing what he brought to the team and what we are now missing. That isn’t to say that we still wouldn’t have been looking a new #1 hooker come 2018 given IDG’s age but he really was the lynch pin of the defence last year.
Fair point about the halves. As fans we expect Corey to pull something out of his bag of tricks regardless of the individual circumstances in a given game but he is struggling behind a weak and inconsistent platform at the moment.
We definitely need a new hooker come 2018, but in my humble opinion IDG (notwithstanding injury) is a better option than Kaysa. I was very hopeful about Kaysa but he falls short as a starting first grade hooker.
Absolutely Jimmy. I too shared the same optimism with Kaysa but he is struggling massively with the workload of a #1 hooker.
Any team that struggle to control the ruck, and also line speed which comes from the 9, will fail to win close games at best. Kaysa tries all game, but his lack of upper body strength sees him hold on in the wrestle and it becomes easy to penalise, or he rolls off and allows a quick play the ball.
The frustration we fans have, is that it feels that we are close to winning but can’t grasp the opportunities when presented. Being forced in many ways to lose your biggest forward, starting hooker and half have played an enormous part in our current situation. Coupled with not being able to compete properly in the player market as the NRL hierarchy held back our cap position, saw the player market drained before we could enter
The team gave us hope with some great efforts last year, and to come up short 4 games in a row when we expect better has been a bitter pill. The coach really needs to aim up or else he loses a lot of the points built up in the past 2 years.
Really good comment Derek.
I know what happened, at Win stadium in round 2 after the match we walked through a vortex and our form was swapped with the dragons, now all we have to do is go back to win stadium as a team and walk backwards through the vortex and the form will be reversed back to what it was and we will be back to our winning ways and the dragons will beach to struggling to score points and missing tackles.
Someone get me Mark Waters and a modified script for Freaky Friday STAT!
They’ve gone into the season with a young and inexperienced spine and they’ve been found wanting. It seems to have been a gamble that hasn’t paid off. The loss of French allowed for a plan B of sorts and that was also a fail. It’s been a month of losses now and the same issues are still present and I don’t know where or how it’s going to be turned around.
The attitude and desire of the playing group this season just doesn’t seem to be anywhere near what it was last season. The Titans game worried me as to where they were placed mentally and I haven’t seen any real improvement since. Making The 8 looks to be a lengthening odds long at the moment.
Hi 40.
Your opinion would be appreciated of the multiple changes to the lineup upon the French withdrawal when Hoffman to fullback with a replacement winger seemed the logical change.
Lots of talent and depth in both the NRL and ISP teams. What the hell is going on? Do we need another controversy to bind this club once more?
Sadly a win appears miles away.
I expected Hoffman to be fullback. He trained most of the pre-season there with French. Seemed logical to make one change instead of many. Hindsight is wonderful but I think we got that wrong today.
I kind of think the same Chris but I also thought that before a ball was even kicked.
I can definitely understand why people might feel there is a case to attribute a fair portion of our loss to the extensive positional changes BA made yesterday (as opposed to putting Hoffman to FB and Auva’a to wing) but I really do feel like the underlying issues present in the team are what shackled us. In 2016 we won games with re-shuffles forcing Kenny Edwards into 5/8 while Manu practically lived in the centres. The gritty edge that previously defined this team has dulled.
I echo all comments…..I am flat tonight and will be all week. We have not moved on from last year, or at best stayed the same. We have got worse in some facets which is not good enough. It’s hard to watch at times.
Guys, what’s your opinion on our fitness this year? To me it seems we are nowhere near as fit as we were last season. Our line speed, that was a feature of our game last year is almost non existent. When we get the ball we seem flat, & sluggish with no real zest on our running. Players seem to be blowing hard after 5 mins. I’m not convinced we are anywhere near as fit as we have been in the past & that is affecting the performance of the team more than anything.
It is hard to get an appreciable understanding of our fitness levels because we have so often turned the ball over stupidly in recent weeks and thus burdened ourselves with a lot of extra defence. Yesterday was the first game in which we limited the silly turnovers and we admittedly looked off the pace. I would not be surprised if fitness, or lack thereof, played a part in this but the larger issue in my mind is our complete lack of ruck control. We look to be off the pace because we are gifting too many fast rucks to our opponents and from there it just compounds all the other issues in the team.
I heard a comment today’s that saints players were saying that they were the fittest they’ve been yet we accounted for them easily so how does that work? However, tiredness and fatigue do tend to lead to a reliance on low percentage options and drifting from the game plan and there’s been plenty of evidence of that.
I really expected that we’d be competitive week in week out but we’ve been nothing like that and it’s not as though it’s just been just an of week, it’s been a month.
My Foxtel Play was down during the game but Ive just seen the replay. Im convinced fitness is a major issue. Absolutely our line speed is poor but it starts much earlier. The nonchalant manner in which some players retreat back the 10 metres impacts their take off speed. Mannah in particular looks stuffed each time he gets off the ground.
I also HATE that play where we take a tap kick from a penalty and two tackles are absolutely wasted as no one runs in support. Just slow boring forward hit ups. If I can see this, opposition coaches certainly would.
The “tip” sheet on Parramatta tactics hasnt needed to be replaced for years. Opposition players and coaches know exactly what we will do in any given situation.
Frustrated in the extreme.
Well summed up and good comments added too. It’s so frustrating to watch – where has our indestructible team from last year gone? I know we are desperately short on troops and perhaps players and filling their potential because they can’t really be dropped due to poor form. I have long been a Takz fan but as you say I feel he’s on borrowed time. The thing is, unless we get a new hooker and half in the next 8 days I don’t see how many changes we can make. Attitude obviously can change a lot I just don’t see where a miracle turnaround would come from
It was hard to watch today. Very hard.
First I want to say this is going to be a rant BUT my entire family will drive up next week from the Sth coast and support my club, players and coaches because that is what we do in tough times. We don’t bail. I trust BA, he knows more than me, but there are a few things that need to be said.
I think Kaysa is a fine player who is giving his all. I want him in the team just with more support and a different bench. When he has come off the bench in the past he has run well out of dummy half. He has been a live wire. We are trying to make him something he is not. The problem is after about 25 minutes he is gone. He gets to marker and falls off tackles or misses completely, he actually pushes people away to get to marker because he cannot run back to the defense line. Admittedly it is because he is making so many tackles but all the coaches will continue to target him successfully until BA changes something.The other teams know Kaysa’s weakness and whenever he is at marker they run back behind him because there will be a miss or at the least an ineffective tackle and quick play the ball. They then attack a retreating defense line. I am sure the BA and the other coaches can see this but i don’t believe it can be fixed with simply training. He is not a quality 80 minute dummy half, the experiment is over. It is such an important position.
I love BA and understand you can only work with who you have but if he wants to keep Kaysa in this team and have a chance to win, he needs a utility on the bench, maybe Cody Nelson, who can come on after 30minutes to give Kaysa the 10 minutes before and after half time to get re-energised. He could then finish the game and we would not have to put our best running forward by far, Brown, to dummy half because Kaysa is off. We weaken our forward strength to cover, not even successfully, our weakness. Crazy. Nelson could also cover for others in case of injury. Today is a perfect example of why this would work, with Nelson or someone else. For 10 minutes after the halftime Kaysa ran 3 times out of dummy half , he was obviously told to at half time and we got good momentum. Then he got tired and it went down hill from there for the team.
Norman is not playing well however teams are moving up so quick from marker on him and jamming him simply because they know Pritchard can’t or won’t run from dummy half. Look how jammed and ineffective Thurston, one of the best players of all time in our game was last night, simply because Granville was out and the replacement dummy half, Hampton, was no threat at all. We are no different and until this is solved nothing will change in attack. The other teams don’t even cover Kaysa in attack because they know he is too tired to run. Why Norman was second receiver for most of the game after Taka today was mind boggling as it gave them more time to jam him. I have no answer for that.
All teams play the warriors back behind the ruck then shift quickly wide simply because its works and they get lazy. That needs a smart and energised number 9. We did it for 10 minutes in the second half and looked good but Kaysa can not go 60 minutes let alone 80. He got tired and we went back to predictable again.
Gutherson tried so hard but we better be getting Moses this year otherwise why would you weaken our halfs who are already struggling, when you had other options for fullback. Taka is not a 5/8th. We will come last. This put more pressure on Norman. It’s crazy really.
Because I love Taka , he is and will always be a great clubman, I have blamed Hoffman for the defense errors but today he was moved one in away from Hoffman and still problems. What is going on???
Tim M is playing soft. Hard call but that’s what it looks like. He is better than that but if your honest he offers zero in attack, is getting slow play the balls and only playing 30 minutes. Terepo, Brown, Vave and Moroea showed him up badly today simply with more effort. We can’t solve the hooking problem if we have to cover for props who can not play effectively for 50-60 minutes.
Lots of issues but the main one that needs to be fixed, I don’t know how, is the one I am most shocked with. What has happened to the support and team enthusiasm. Even when they score they don’t look happy or excited. It was there in the first 2 games and last year, but gone. I was watching the game with my 91 yr old Pop, a tragic eels supporter, and he said something is up they have lost team chemistry- not simply confidence but that bond. He has watched a lot of league and said there looks to be a problem with harmony in the team. I don’t know but i ask this question because something is wrong. Norman and Radradra were at each other arguing at least 3 times that I saw on T.V, probably because Semi does not give a toss and if we can see it surely the players can as well. When times were tough last year they got closer, it looks like the opposite this year. I might be wrong but aIl I know is confidence is a funny thing in sport, it comes and goes but wanting to make a tackle for your mate is attitude. Players control that.
On Semi he can go, he does not care. ( the only player i say this for, all the others are trying, but not him – I will defend him no longer) .Give a young kid a go who might make mistakes and even cost us some games, but they will at least care that he has made mistakes, Semi doesn’t. He is running like a 80kg winger. I have bagged the use of Kaysa but never his attitude. Semi must go.
I love my eels and will always support them. I will go next week as I genuinely know the boys and coaches care and are trying, I just hope they start supporting each other and if not Arthur has the courage and support of senior players to make some tough calls and changes.
That’s a great response Shelley. Well done. Spot on about the Warriors play and Norman. Couldn’t agree more. Warrior is you must move around the ruck…
Shelley, quite a comment.
No doubt Kaysa is doing his best and the way he is being used might be down to the unavailability of IDG but at the moment he is first choice 9 and he’s not up to the standard of the top 9’s in the NRl. He will always have a high tackle count as the opposition will target him.
We have a young and inexperienced spine. They have trained in those positions the entire off season just six weeks ito the season the cracks are apparent. If Moses is signed and can play this year that may help but there are still many other issues to resolve.
I’ve watched Newcastle a few times this year and they look like they are a team having a dig. I’m not getting the same feeling with the eels with what I consider a stronger roster. The platform that appeared to being erected last year is missing at this stage.
Segyaro should have been signed. I think Norman has become disillusioned as a result of him going to the Sharks. Segy ticked all the boxes we needed and I think this is the first mistake the new management have made. Segy is a talented attacking hooker who can tackle as well as run and kick out of dummy half. What a difference he would be making right now. Major mistake that needs to be fixed as a cracking priority
Teams can carry plenty of rascals and we have our share of players on the second or last chance at Parra. In a vacuum I would be fine with us taking a flyer on Segeyaro but given the history between he and Norman maybe it was for the best keeping them separated at work? I know we are all frustrated at the moment and we certainly do need to look at options at hooker but I do not think that Segeyaro was anything close to a silver bullet solution.
I think we as fans underestimated how much the team rallied around the likes of De Gois (and Peats previously) through the middle in defence.
Well 40/20 I am having a drink, found a old tin of DDT in the shed and had a good long drink before fulltime! Lets hope our team turns around soon otherwise the drink will kill me. If the Dragons can go from wooden spoon favourites in 2 matches to now playing top 8 (even top 4) form so can we. But is BA capable? Is his reluctance to sack players out of form, not only this year but also past years, leading to the lethargic team performances?
I have obviously levelled both barrels at the team this week but it is worth remembering that BA only can call upon players from either a disappointing Wenty outfit or a talented but extremely young NYC team. Wholesale changes are never a good solution in the first place, in my opinion but the pool of players you could reasonably call upon looks something like this, excluding known NRL quantities like Alvaro, O’Brien and Gower:
ISP
George Jennings (Wing)
Jack Morris (EDGE)
Marata Niukore (EDGE)
Kelepi Tanginoa (Prop/EDGE)
Alex Twal (Prop)
Cody Nelson (Lock/EDGE/Hooker)
NYC
Greg Leleisiuao (Wing)
Troy Dargan (Half)
Denzal Tonise (Hooker)
There are some decent longer term prospects in that bunch but who can make a difference now? I am also loathe to throw a NYC player to the wolves. Will Smith has just returned from injury so do you gamble on him? Robson and King are injured, Fogarty is struggling.
One player who you could potentially take a flyer on is Sam Gorman. He has regularly shown up his higher paid team mates in the ISP over the last two seasons.
Ultimately, maybe the playing group just need to sit down and clear the air with each other? We know that there IS genuine quality to this team but they have never had to deal with internal demons like this before – all the pressure has come from external sources.
Im a huge Sam Gorman fan. I also think players will generally perform better if surrounded by first graders. I know Fogerty is struggling but in a better team he may surprise. He has a kicking game we so desperately lack. I also watched Dargan yesterday closely. He moves like Foran. He was very direct yesterday and also kicked well. Players have been bought to the club as back ups. Not much point having them is they arent even being considered at such times.
With Moses on the way, BA is probably just trying to hold it together until he arrives. Win the ruck and see how quickly things change. If we dont start doing that, JC himself wont improve our chances. Our team looks lazy. What a horrible description that is. I wish I could find better.
Do you think the lack of home games so far has blunted the team’s edge? I know that the players get a lift playing in front of a stadium full of their own supporters. We have had one game at our new home ground, and it may be that the players are losing belief in themselves. You could see last year that what got the team through was the overwhelming support from the fans at Parra Stadium. Even if we did not win all these games, the regular trips back home galvanised the team.
This is certainly not an excuse, but it certainly down not help. Let’s hope the team gets great support in the coming home games and that this lifts them back into winning circles.
Nice piece 40. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
IMO 40s a very well balanced summary of the current situation. Sometimes one can over analyse & actually add to the complexity.
As I see it, BA is the FG coach. Its his job to coach the team, recruit & man manage the players, make the team selection calls & formulate game tactics. He is solely responsible for the teams performance including poor player attitude &/or performances.
I assume that each player has his personal KPIs & that BA regularly monitors & discusses their on going performance. If any player is struggling, then there should be no surprises if they r relegated if they don’t perform to their KPIs.
I cannot accept the viewpoint that a player cannot be relegated because the shadow backup is sub standard regardless of who the player is. Thats why they r recruited in the first place. To keep selecting under performing players & expecting a quick turnaround is IMO implausible.
Congratulations to all at TCT for your passion & individual contributions.
I watched a replay last night of the game and although the result was poor and as a team they lost control of the last 15 minutes of the first half I actually didn’t think it was “that ” bad a performance.
Completion rate was way better than it has been and between that and silly penalties that has been what is hurting us.
One thing that stood out for me was Auv’a missed tackles. He missed tackles in 3 of the Warriors tries. Make those 3 crucial tackles and it’s a very different game.
Now I’m not blaming him for the loss because in 2016 there would have been another player backing him up to shut down the play, I’m just trying to find some perspective.
2 from 6 is not a good place to be and 2 from 7 certainly makes playing finals this year very hard to imagine.
I don’t know how they signed Tim for 3 years, there is no way he can play for another 2 years taking up a bench spot in my opinion if he is only playing 30 mins or so now . We might only have 3 games left with Semi if the court case goes south on May 9th which will result in a reshuffle and a fighting spot for the left wing . Perfect outcome would be a fit Peats and Moses in the team within 2 weeks , not holding my breath lol , Maby 2018 the Stars will align .
BLUE AND GOLD FOR LIFE