Round 11 Drink of choice – Jim Bean White Label Bourbon Whiskey
After battling their way back into a second half lead the Eels let the game against the Raiders slip late in the piece with a try to Jordan Rapana and in doing so also slipped back below .500 for the season (5-6). This is an interesting game to tuck in to for the story lines (Corey Norman injured, Mitchell Moses mid-season transfer, Eels and Raiders backing up after bad losses) coming into Saturday along with a smorgasbord of good and bad to come out of the loss itself.
While the effort on display was largely commendable it is difficult to label the defeat as a good loss, even with the mitigating factors in play, simply because Canberra were there to be beaten. Brad Arthur himself even noted in the post-match press conference that “we should’ve won that game”. So what went wrong? Who got us back in the game? Where we are letting ourselves down? All this and more in this week’s Whiskey Musings.
Side note – I am going to be switching Whiskey Musings back to its original tone and delving into the video analysis of the loss in a separate blog – so stay tuned for that soon!
Slow starts continue to haunt Eels in losses
The Eels have only scored first in two of their six losses in 2017 (Titans and Warriors). In the three of their losses they have conceded hefty half-time deficits of 22-6 (Raiders), 16-6 (Warriors), 28-4 (Roosters) while they let the Sharks out to a 12 point lead and yesterday gave up 10 points in the opening exchanges before clawing their way back into the game.
Lopsided possession counts in the opening exchanges have played a significant part in some of those matches but the Eels are also showing plenty of brittleness when they open up games. They usually settle into a good defensive rhythm but playing from behind places plenty of strain on a team that has prided itself on strong defensive foundations.
The Roosters and Raiders both received early penalties over the last two rounds and both teams capitalised on the opportunities to cross for first points via Latrell Mitchell and Nic Cotric. While those two penalties were resultant from a high tackle and a 10m infringement it feels, anecdotally at least, that the Eels are hesitant to commit fully to the wrestle around the ruck for fear of drawing the ire of the officials early on. Subsequently we are copping what can only be described as a hammering through the middle and the impact of that battle is flowing out to our edge defence.
It is patently obvious that this team misses Isaac De Gois and everything he brought to the defensive side of the ball for the Eels. His line speed and ability to consistently stop the opposition props along with his technical prowess in the wrestle were a criminally under rated component in our excellent 2016 defensive unit. Kaysa Pritchard has paled to the seasoned veteran in this regard and to make matters worse, Tim Mannah and Suaia Matagi have also struggled for both consistent line speed and in their ability to slow the ruck down.
As it stands, finding ways to improve the reliability of ruck – both in the short term and long term – is the single most crucial area of concern for the Eels. Our right-edge certainly a fragility to it (which I have mentioned in depth through the season) but that is also exacerbated on the back of our issues in the middle.
Discipline and execution at the death lets Eels down
While our slow starts (in conjunction with our ruck issues) are probably the single most concerning problem this team is facing, how they close out games is an area that is also hurting their chances each week. The Fox Sports commentary crew mentioned a troubling stat on air that listed the Eels as scoring a league-low average of 3 points in the final 20min of play and it showed up big time yesterday.
A crucial last tackle penalty from Kenny Edwards for crowding the ruck, a moment of laziness from Tim Mannah as he dropped a simple inside pass from Mitchell Moses and a drop in a heavy collision from Tepai Moeroa in the dying moments of the game punctuated the championship minutes of the loss. The drop from Mannah in particular proved costly as they Raiders would go on to secure a line drop out and from there score the match-winning try.
That isn’t top say that Parramatta didn’t create opportunities. Gorgeous lead up work from Semi Radradra put Michael Jennings away down the left edge in the 65th minute. Jennings would then kick ahead for a flying Bevan French but couldn’t find enough angle on the kick inside which forced his fullback to have to fight his way through Jack Wighton to attempt ground the ball. Daniel Alvaro came perilously close to scoring in the 62nd minute when he nearly stormed over from 10 metres out. Even in the game’s final moments the Eels strung together an impressive movement that saw Clinton Gutherson put Matagi into a gap down the left edge. He offloaded to Moeroa who was then rattled in a bone-crunching hit from Wighton which in turn saw him lose the ball.
Frustratingly, it feels like we were just half a step, nay half an inch behind in this crucial moments. Luck? Certainly – to an extent. Confidence? Possibly. Fatigue? As much as the fitness of the team has drawn fire recently, I tend to think it isn’t really in play. We made the inroads needed against the Raiders but couldn’t convert the pressure into points. This takes me to where I think the underlying root of the problem lies – our spine.
In the eleven matches played to date this season the Eels have fielded five different spine combinations. Only Kaysa Pritchard, the weakest member of our spine, has played every game of 2017 in his preferred position. Clinton Gutherson is yet to miss a game but has spent six games at five-eighth and fives games at fullback while our first choice fullback in Bevan French has missed four weeks with a PCL injury.
Corey Norman, the marquee play-maker of our team, has missed two games (with more to come due to a grade two MCL tear) and was clearly hampered through Rounds 4-6 with the after-effects of a hamstring injury that saw him miss the trip to the Gold Coast in Round 3.
There has been next to no continuity in our spine through the first three months as injuries have ravaged the likes of Norman, French, Robson and Takairangi. You can get by with an injury in your spine. The best teams in the NRL consistently find ways to do just that. We are neither a top team in the NRL, nor have we dealt with just the sole injury and the constant reshuffles are taking a toll on our ability to execute and close out games.
We now have roughly a month for the current iteration of our spine (French/Gutherson/Moses/Pritchard) to grow together – knock on wood mind you – until Norman returns to the field. There were flashes of promise there yesterday, even with the limited field work at training they spent together after the transfer of Moses. A lovely inside pass around the ruck from Moses to French was barely defended by the Raiders while later in the game Moses and Gutherson showed the ability to stretch the field from right-to-left and free up the likes of Semi Radradra.
Moses makes a solid debut
The mid-season transfer of Mitchell Moses to the Eels was the story line that dominated the conversation. The Raiders were expected to feast on the defensively questionable half while his former coach made the unprecedented step of calling a press conference exclusively to call the character of Moses into question. Throw in one field session and a captain’s run and it is fair to say that I held modest expectation’s for Moses in his club debut.
I wouldn’t say that he blew me away but he definitely produced a largely positive showing.
An excellent long kicking game contrasted against boom/bust outcomes in situations closer to the goal line – although sloppy service from Kaysa Pritchard contributed significantly to this. It felt like the Eels either netted a line drop out or a 20m restart when Moses rolled the ball along the ground and as he settles into the joint, hopefully we start to earn more of the former and less of the latter.
Depending on your data source Moses missed between 1-3 tackles but from my eye he largely looked sound and certainly made the requisite effort you want to see from you half when it comes to attempting a tackle. There was one moment in the second half where Josh Papalii caught a retreating Moses on the short side and managed to make a half break but beyond that the Raiders failed to capitalise on any defensive shortcomings Moses may have.
In time I expect him to run the ball more and as he builds his partnerships with the likes of French, Moeroa and Edwards I hope that an array of short options both inside and outside start to fill out his play-making repertoire for the Eels.
Last Word
Despite the loss putting us below .500, the Eels are still very much in contention for the Top 8. For and against has us missing out on eighth place while we sit two wins adrift of a share of fifth place. Injury concerns to Nathan Brown (ribs) and Michael Jennings (quadricep) could potentially compound matters for a team that is still running off the pace. Hopefully a spine that can settle and gel over the coming weeks will allow the Eels to refocus their efforts – although the recurring issues around the ruck and through the beginning of games need to be addressed however possible if we are to seriously build momentum.
“although sloppy service from Kaysa Pritchard contributed significantly to this”
This comment for me sums up the current state of play in attack. Without this smooth and confident movement from dummy half, we’re always on the back foot.
But the other thing missing has been our overall line speed in defense. This was one area we were strong but the last few rounds we’ve been giving too much space to opposition attacks.
We get a complete top 17 on the paddock we may be more competitive, but for now, we continue to develop.
Can’t fault the thoughts about attacking movements beginning at the feet of the hooker, Anthony. Your hooker augments not only the entire forward pack but also the halves and it has been an unreliable aspect of the team this year.
I think the line speed issue is two-fold. Firstly, Isaac De Gois set the gold standard for our pack and ALWAYS led the way in that area. Secondly, our control of the ruck is so wildly inconsistent that we are unable to to reliably shoot against the opposition runners.
Early on in the game we are so loose around the wrestle that we are no hope of pushing up without drawing a penalty. Once we begin to enter the arm wrestle proper (usually as our rotation props hit the park) we see a surge in defensive line speed.
Until we find a way to mitigate our slow starts, both offensively and defensively, we are facing a real uphill slog and that isn’t the most appealing of thoughts.
Forty, I didn’t see the game nor did I hear it, I read reports and seems to me that Kaysa was seen in a better light by reporters than by eels supporters. It seems to me though based on what has been said by yourself and others is that in this game he was worse than he has been, one comment was that his passes were generally low, something that I had not seen from him in games I have seen this year. This raises a question for me, was this a part of his game for the whole time on the field or later in the game/halves.
I don’t believe that BA saw him as an 80minute player for the year and was likely going to repeat last years pairing of him and IDG, perhaps with Kaysa playing more than his average of around 15 minutes or less last year, stepping up to be an 80minute player would seem to be too much at this point of time, that is week in and out.
The other aspect is that if he has trouble passing the ball at the right height for his support it tells me that he is likely tired, reason I ask is from the start and all the game or as each half wears on? Now to say he is tired may mean he’s not fit, which I do not believe he is, for me to do the amount of tackles he does each week could only be done if he is fit. That said, I know of no one that does not agree with the fact that defensive work is much harder and tiring than attacking, and for me, with him leading the tackle count week in and week out, again tells me he is defending too much and its affecting his overall game.
The silly part of it is that early in the season BA is said to have told Kaysa that he wants him to do less work in defence, which tells me that he is doing too much, but it seems he cannot help himself. It also seems to me that the others around him are also not carrying their share in the defensive load that they should be. Therefore they need to be lifting in that area big time.
We have experienced forwards in Mannah and Matagi as his props, but from what I have seen of them and read, neither are doing the work they should be, both in attack and in defence. Seems they may well be bludging a bit on their 9. Not nice to say but what else can be said. I doubt that we will see IDG back again, but even if he does come back and gets into the run on side, he is unlikely to play 80 minutes but if he and Kaysa shared the game equally then we might be better served in the longer term.
Frustrating game to watch at times, as I thought we’d run over them in second half, as we showed how to play them, but we did not finish the game off the way we wanted. I get too peeved watching on tv as it seems the ruck of the game for bigger teams is allowed to be slow, whereas when I watch Wests / Broncs / Cows / Titans games seem to be free flowing. I guess what i am saying is the game is allowed to be slowed at times according to the refs. Our team seems to not have a Plan B it seems, but having said that we could have won that game. Brown hurt us when he left; he has been our best all season.
We need more grunt up front I feel.
Souths are bit too so we need to control the ball around the ruck, and you watch them (Souths) win the penalty count….if anyone saw their game last night Burgess let the refs know at Halftime about Melb usual wrestle tactics (souths won penalties 8-4).
Why I believe that the idea of two captains is good. with us having Mannah and Scott, have Mannah on for 20-25minutes, with Scott watching on the sideline and coming on when Mannah comes off, and let him get into the refs ear at half time.
If Tim doesn’t lift against Souths he needs to be benched or work with Cayless for a while, and if we lose then its time for some new blood.
Thanks for these write ups. I guess you save the good single malts for finals wins? May be a while…
I agree that we seem to back off play the balls for fear of giving away penalties early. We can’t be afraid though – having confidence in the D and faith in the team structure was such a feature last year. I’d rather get caned in the penalties and lose a close one than get caned on the score board and concede few penalties.
Can’t wait for the technical write ups from you 4/20.
Thx again for the hard work.
> the Eels as scoring a league-low average of 3 points in the final 20min of play
I know you say you don’t think it’s fitness related Forty, but I don’t know how a stat like this can be taken any other way.
We seem to fall off after the 60 min mark and we’ve either scored enough to hold on, or we lose. I’m not sure what the training and conditioning staff think but to an armchair critic it sure does look a lot like fitness could be the cause of both our high injury toll and our constant dropping off after 60 mins.
Whether this stems from facilities, schedules, staff, players, culture or something entirely different I have no idea, but I wonder whether an internal review is in order to see if we’re keeping pace with the ladder leaders in these areas. We seem to come up against a lot of teams who appear fitter than our boys.
I think it could be the rotation that is some of the problem
Is it just me or is Blake Austin a bit of a grub