Round 17 Drink of choice – GIVE ME YOUR ANGRIEST RUM AND GIVE ME TWO BOTTLES OF IT
Alright folks, since Brad Arthur isn’t going to drop $10,000 for bringing the game into disrepute in his post-match presser I am going to cash a metaphorical cheque for him. Let me make this clear from the outset – the Eels did not play well in the second half. Let me also make this very clear – the degree of incompetence displayed by the officials and in chief the main match referee Henry Perenara goes beyond bringing the game into disrepute…it is a god damn blight on our amazing code of footy.
Following a victory in Round 15 where it took 71min for the Eels to earn their first and final penalty against the St George Illawarra Dragons, the officials have backed up that head-scratching performance with a second half in which the Bulldogs were deemed to be without fault. Some boneheaded mistakes from Kenny Edwards (GOD DAMN IT KENNY) contributed to the lopsided territory and possession counts but the Bulldogs were permitted to get away with jaw-dropping levels of audaciousness in their attempts to slow down the ruck.
I have so much anger and vitriol to spill all over the internet, so let’s take take a long draw on the bottle and get into the Round 17 Whiskey Musings Rum Rantings.
Referee clangers reach breaking point
Never mistake for malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence but sweet mercy Henry Perenara you are testing my resolve.
Where to begin with this one? If it wasn’t the red light on a embarrassing penalty try it was the missed knock on from William Hopoate from a deft kick by Cameron King. It if wasn’t Nathan Brown getting ping for a ‘high shot’ over the chest when the Bulldogs lost the ball, it was Josh Reynolds getting away with the one of the most blatant obstruction plays in the history of the modern game. Canterbury constantly shifted their PTBs off the mark and instead of correcting them, the officials repeatedly penalised our markers. Semi Radradra could have picked up half a dozen restraining orders in court for how badly he was assaulted in the ruck tonight.
If you allow me the indulgence of a title drop here; Incompetence, thy name is Perenara.
The Eels garner no respect from the officials. In fact it feels like the officials come into our matches looking for ways to penalise us. Tip sheets or referees’ ‘homework’ have become a self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to Parramatta. The officials come into a given game looking for certain types of penalties and convince themselves to blow the whistle a certain way when they see them in a given 50/50. This means that in the following weekly review the numbers will spit out another penalty in that exact same area of the game against the Eels which in turn leads to a new tip sheet for it the following week.
How do you break the cycle? How can the Eels get an even footing for calls in the ruck? Brad Arthur has diligently avoided lashing out at officials in his post-match pressers, instead choosing to pursue discourse in the proper channels but maybe we really need to consider dropping that $10,000 cheque in the mail because we are copping a hiding from the officials week in and week out.
Brown by any other colour is a sky blue
It won’t be forthcoming but much like his fellow 2017 breakout star in Clinton Gutherson, I have zero doubts that Nathan Brown would do NSW no wrong if he was giving the calling. NRL.com has him pegged at a herculean 246m from 28 carries and 43 tackles (0 missed) and 1 offload while our friends at Champion Data jotted him down for a slightly more human 206m from 25 carries and 42 tackles (0 missed).
With the Eels wilting under the territorial pressure the Bulldogs enjoyed along with a hefty load of additional tackles it was Brown, assisted ably by Suaia Matagi, who hurled his body tirelessly into the set defensive line of the Bulldogs to keep the Eels in the game. He was the pillar in the middle around which the exhausted Eels rallied to each set. With our backs to the wall for nearly 40min that is as good an effort as you will see from a lock forward. I highly doubt that Origin call up is forth coming but I will be damned if he doesn’t deserve it. Extend this man now.
King repays the faith
It was only a small step forwards in the context of an entire season but Cameron King repaid the faith that Brad Arthur placed in him through the bye week. I am not hailing King’s game as something amazing or earth shattering but he played well within the role asked of him, delivering crisp ball to his halves and tackling well through the middle. He even brought something new to the team with his ability to kick out of dummy half.
Manu Ma’u’s injury early into the fixture forced an rethink to our interchange strategy and as a result, King was forced to grind out nearly 60min in his opening stint. It was a bold statement of confidence by his coach when he re-infected King into the fray as the game seemed destined to head to golden point and the substitution proved to me a masterstroke with King rifling the pass to Mitchell Moses for the game winning field goal.
It goes without saying that the key for King moving forwards will be ensuring he stays on the park. Small steps are the key here for a man that spent 733 days outside the NRL due to injury. And with each small step both King and the Eels take from here they get a whole lot closer to the finals.
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? (So he can take a bow)
Mitchell Moses (Eminem, get it? Too much rum at this point, sorry) was paid the big time dollars to help win the Eels the prime time games and by golly did he deliver tonight. In a game riddled by errors and sloppy officiating, Moses was a massive chunk of that crucial 1-point difference after showing the vision to put his ridiculously talented flanker Bevan French away for the opening try of the game. He also showed the considerable poise to pilot the Eels to victory with a resolute strike from the boot in golden point. These are the moments that will feature prominently in the highlight reels of the game but it is the work that he did in between that will hopefully win fans over.
It would not be an exaggeration to suggest the Bulldogs threw everything and the kitchen sink at Moses. 20 tackles (2 missed) by NRL.com or 17 tackles (2 missed) care of Champion Data speak to a solid defensive game in a vacuum of a half but this is the week that he really fronted up for the Eels. He consistently got square on his marked man and lowered the shoulder. His effort on the kick chase, along with the mercurial Kenny Edwards, forced an error in the first half. He has deservedly copped criticism for his lapses in defence in the past but tonight was a sensational effort.
Second half sloppiness could have been punished by a better team
I know I have lashed out at the referees and with some considerable justification I feel but we all know the reality is that a better team would have piled on the pain with the possession and territory handed to them by the Eels in the second half. Just cast your thoughts back to Round 10 when the Roosters enjoyed a similar glut of possession to open the game and they raced out to a commanding lead. Brad Arthur mentioned in his presser that perhaps some of the onus laid on him for failing to give a better rev-up in the dressing rooms at half time but whether the blame lies on our coach or with the mental lapses of Kenny Edwards – the Eels desperately need to put plenty of polish on their ability to close out games.
Our favourable run home means we will get plenty of chances to do just that because we need to be able to compete across the entire 80 minutes when it comes time to throw down with the big boys in September.
What to do with Kenny Edwards?
I am an unashamed fan of Edwards and have been since I saw his magnificent 2013 season in the NSW Cup. He possesses the rare ability to break tackles seemingly at will along with some genuine play-making skills for a backrower and there is no arguing that he is one of the emotional catalysts for the team. With that said, errors have started to creep into his game this year and it really came to a head tonight with an attempted interception of the last tackle of the set, that while showed amazing energy and athleticism, was an awful idea following a barrage of back-to-back sets for the Bulldogs on our goal line. That was followed up with a Ben Roberts-esque error when Kenny dropped the ball cold rucking it off our line.
The aforementioned injury to Manu Ma’u could complicate things but I would not be opposed to a short stint in the Intrust Super Premiership for Edwards. Hunger and competition for spots is everything for a team riding the bottom of the Top 8 and looking to break a 7-year finals drought. Marata Niukore has been banging on the door for higher honours for a number of weeks now and was a standout in Wenty’s most impressive win of the season in Round 16. Would you make the call?
Onwards and Southwards
Now that I have properly vented I feel a great deal better! When all is said and done the Eels are now sitting at 9-7 and they now have the opportunity to put one hand on a berth in the post-season when they travel to Melbourne next week. As we have heard this year a plenty, there are no easy games in the NRL and the Storm epitomise this. Even in a round where they could be missing the likes of Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, Cameron Munster, Tim Glasby and Brandon Smith they have shown the ability to defeat the Cowboys and push the Roosters to their limits with a ‘second rate’ roster.
A win in the bleak city, even against a weakened Melbourne Storm, could be a pivotal moment in our season. On that profound musing, I am out as it is 1:00AM and I am due at work in 5 hours! Thanks for stopping by, have a great night!
Great write up Forty.
Definitely agree that Edwards needs a stint in reserves to kick his brain into gear. He’s becoming more frustrating to watch as the weeks go by and had a distinct Sef Paulo feel to him tonight.
One thing you didn’t touch on is our loveable man Mannah. He was really out of sorts tonight and his stats show just how little he added. I love the guy, but how much longer can we keep our head in the sand? I get the feeling he’s just not quite right at the moment. On tonight’s performance I can’t see how he can stay in the top 17 for next week.
All of our go-forward tonight came from Brown (absolute hero) and our backs. If we played anyone but the Dogs/Tigers/Knights tonight we would’ve been thumped in the second half, and our first 20 wasn’t flash either. What is the solution this year for our forwards?
Glad we got the 2 points, but boy oh boy was that a nightmare to watch.
I don’t understand why they kept playing one out in the second half so often, when we clearly weren’t winning the forward battle. Every time we did it made it easy to gang tackle and hold us down in our own end. We need to be smarter and think about avoiding repeating this as other teams will look to do this to us aswell. There needed to be some shifts to get some easy metres out wider and break up the defense.
It is such a fine line though Johnathan. We all saw what happened to the Bulldogs when Hopoate got cute in front of his posts at the start of the game.
Reckless turnovers coming off your line can so often be back breakers which is why teams get so conservative working it out and it is why Kenny is copping it from all corners.
The Dogs defintiely bet against us taking that shot mind you. They compressed their defensive line heavily in the second half to hammer our forwards. The counterpoint of course is that we should have received a number of relieving penalties to mitigate a lot of this discussion as well!
Forty, great read. Some tip on plays are not hard to execute and the players can do it. I thought we did OK second half, barring some errors. Kenny intercept play was poor, and even little selfish…his running has at times been crab style, and I hate it. Hold the ball properly or play Wenty.
I won’t add to Perenara except Hoppa IMO didn’t knock on the kick…but when was the last time teams were told to play the ball on the mark?? Back when Jack Danzey was ref.
The game has gone backwards and I have no doubt refs keep penalties close to keep teams and coaches somewhat happy.
We won’t beat Melb next week down there…without origin players, unless r completions are 80% and we have less errors. I doubt it.
I’m with you on this one Jonathan. I found myself yelling at the telly last night on nearly every ruck to go two or three wide and mix the defense up a bit. Also with nearly every ruck they change direction back straight to the markers losing 3 or 4 meters less than is possible. I assume there’s a reason for this.
I agree that we need to value possession but these guys are playing NRL and should cope.
Great read again forty and rum is the best.
How good was the goal line defence tonight. In the last couple of games the defence has been more resolute, feels more like our 2016 defence efforts.
Its good having 2 kicking options with Moses and Norman on the field, King having options probably made a difference in golden point.
There was a lot of good efforts but a couple of sub-par efforts, maybe time for some rotation with NSW Cup (would love to see Nuikore given a run). We don’t receive our share of 50/50 refereeing decisions, as you say Forty how do you break the cycle?
Just an observation on French, besides his freakish ability with the ball, how good are his defensive decisions (omit his misread on Dogs first try) of rushing out of the line and pressurising players into errors. Did the same against StG.
Yes there needs some personnel changes, Kenny has had brain snaps since playing 80, maybe best suited as a replacement or drop ISC and promote someone up, also surely there is a prop that can be promoted to replace Mannah.
Well Written and summed it up perfectly for me.
Matagi definitely rolled up the sleeves and I’m very glad he did.
Kenny really concerned me last night. Has had a fairly average season to date. I’ll be expecting him to aim up next week because you can’t hide from last nights poor performance.
Hope work doesn’t drag out to much today forty.
Only injuries can keep Kenny in first grade. He has been a major disappointment this season. I think people get carried away with his humour on the park. He runs sideways, attempts silly off loads, gives away dumb dumb penalties and went for the hero play last night when the team needed him to wrap up the receiver with a ball and all tackle. Lets not forget his sinbinning a couple of weeks ago for the slap in the face two weeks after the NRL outlawed it. And then you can throw in his 7 week suspension.
I want Kenny in the team but he has had enough chances to pull his head in. He is now adversely affecting his team mates and I hope they are letting him know about it.
The Perenara/Edwards dance started early in the game when Kenny marked at the play the ball and the Bulldog playing the ball walked past him, effectively taking him out of the defence line. Whilst being called out by the referee (incorrectly IMO) Kenny couldn’t help himself. It was the start of a forgettable match for both Perenara and Kenny.
But 2 points is 2 points.
Phil that penalty was a stupid one, and was always on especially after Perenara called him to keep out, as Two heads was not square as the marker so he could have been pinged for that.
For me Two heads seems to think as the joker in the deck he will get a laugh off the refs and the opposition, he wont get it from the refs and one day an opposition player is likely to take him out of the match even at the expense of his own team.
I was never a big fan of him but, when he comes on he certainly stiffens the defence especially when he’s needed, with him sandwiched next to Moses then MJ, French he helps them big time. If he does the job of running hard and straight, rather than a sand crab, his benefit to the team is great.
My thinking is that while he needs to be dropped and told the reasons why, the coach should hammer him on a solid one on one, and give him one more chance against the Storm who we will need to have the best defenders on deck, we wait anxiously to see how Ma’u is and cannot afford to lose both of them against the storm.
I agree with your thoughts Colin. I am thinking next week against the Storm maybe is a good opportunity to see what Nuikore can bring to the team. Kenny needs some time at Wenty to learn impulse control and how to run straight and hard at the defence when coming out of your own end.
I am now over my hissy fit caused by my frustration at the win against the dogs. Having said that I have changed my mind and am now prepared to go along with the popular wisdom on here that Kenny should not be dropped.
Whilst I think that dropping him for a week or 2 may give him pause to contemplate his risk taking, the truth of the matter is we would miss him and there is not a lot to replace him with.
I now trust in BA to get thru to him as he has in the past.
John, I know where you are coming from, and while a game at Wenty may be a good thing for him, to me the better option is for the coach to give him a spray in front of the playing group. Going back to Wenty, may in fact be the worst thing for him and could really dent his confidence.
Reading the post match interview on the eels webb site, one could easily tell that BA was not impressed with some aspects of the game, and certainly not prepared (rightfully so) to put names up but, that;’s something he has stuck to all along, those areas especially the dumbo reads and the like By Kenny would and should be top of the list.
No one can deny that he adds a lot to the team, his defence is great and when he runs hard and straight is a handful and plays above his weight.
You always hear from the ‘experts’ that good teams know “how to win ugly”, if last night was anything it was the mother of all ugly wins. It was a game that in the last 2-3 years we would have lost and it is those games that have cost a finals berth by 1-2 games in recent years, lets take the win and run.
It might be time for BA to do a Bennett on Hunt play and give Kenny a couple of weeks at Wenty to think about things, his mistakes are very poor.
I am a Moses believer, I have always thought he was a good footballer and with a good preseason and another 4-5 kilos his defensive woes will be a distant memory, he was great last night.
Great to see Cam King play, play well and not get injured, he deserves a break (pardon the pun)….
Lot of good coaches on site today !
We could have used Vave against the big dogs pack. Only Brown seems to bend the defensive line back… Does anyone know why Vave wasn’t named?
Also, there’s no way that someone like Cooper Cronk would let his forwards be repeatedly bashed up running one out from the line. Our halves needed to step in & take control at first receiver. Or kick early.
He was at maccas
We do need a big body like Peni back in our pack asap.
But let’s not get too critical about a team winning a match that was vital in the context of our season.
Peni is the missing piece in the jigsaw for the forwards
In some ways, I believe that was a win that was needed to be had. Totally ugly, deserved owing to the opposition and a ditch referee, but one where there was a lot of poor plays and poor players mixed with some good ones, to win the way they did must lift them in confidence but certainly not be over confident.
Mate, on winning the match, that pass at dummy half by Cameron King to Moses for the field goal was a match-winning clutch play. He looked back to see where Moses was standing before the ball was played and executed the pass to perfection.
Henry Perenara has an issue with the Eels. This guy seems to re-write the rules when reffing Eels games & I tremble every time I hear he is reffing our game. I honestly can’t work out if he is incompetent or if he has a personal issue with us.
Kenny Edwards – What can I say. I loved the way he played last season but this year he is killing us every week. He needs to watch what Nathan Brown dose & copy. I really don’t think he can be picked in the top grade until he sorts out whatever it is messing with his head during games.
Jim we had a halves player, at least I think he was a half by the name of Perenara who played a short duration with us, think he then ended up at the Sharks.
I remember the first time he reffed us and he went ok, but seems since then he has had a real angst against the eels for whatever reason.
Colin, both Perenara brothers had stints with the Eels.
Thanks mate, I am thinking more of Henry who is now in the refereeing ranks, and I often wonder why ex players who were with the eels or for that matter any team seem to referee them harsher.
Just had a look on Wiki and his history, which is quite interesting, one year with the warriors then 2 with the storm, 2 with the dragons and then 2 with the eels, finishing with a year at the sharks, he played a total of 72 games and scored 12 tries, along with 2 Maori and one Kiwis rep game, so a total of 75 top grade games over an 8 odd year career, tells me that his quality has not changed much.
Apologies Col, I added in on top of your comment.
Mitchy, not apology needed.
Sixtiesboy the other perenara is Marcus if I’m correct. As for Kenny I’d be more then happy if BA puts him in ISP. Can’t stand watching his sefa like stuff ups enough is enough. Kenny pull ur head in we know your a much better player then what your showing ATM. IMO I would never start Kenny in the side no matter who we are missing. I’d start gower over Kenny. At least with gower I get a player with good hand n much more experience n has very little mistakes in his game.
Both did correct. Marcus played a game in about 06, got sent off ? Or binned. We lost to saints in a tight one. Henry played for us, Saints, Cronulla, Auckland, and Melb I think.
Think that game Marcus got sent off in was for touching or punching a ref. Game was low score and may have been 8-1!
Edit. Jeremy Smith, apologies.
Henry Perenara and Paul Kent, both ex-Parramatta, say no more.
Perenara has refereed Parra 18 times so far for 8 wins and 10 losses. Penalties have been 55 for and 71.5 against (Dual referees penalties count half). That ranks us last on his list with a ratio of 0.77 (somebody has to be last LOL). Cowboys, on the other hand, rank 1st with 34 for and 26.5 against for a ratio of 1.28 from 11 games.
It appears he likes to blow his whistle in our games LOL
Interesting reading
His issue is that he misses the Brian Smith text messages
Forty, at season’s end you should publish a book of your best reviews for the season.
Titles Whiskey Musings – and only available in Hard cover of course.
Another great review – cheers mate 🙂
Love the Musings Forty, can ya play a bit of Misty for me? These reports of yours inspire all sorts of nostalgia from the readers and contributors and I for one love it.
Watching the Wenty game today, I was impressed with performance of Marata, Vave and Folau. All three ran straight, and carried the ball strongly. They also defended well as did the whole team.
There is clearly some pressure being exerted from below with our reggies keeping the door open for BA to chastise lazy minded or careless individuals with a stint back with Wenty. Maybe he will take the opportunity to allow mercurial Kenny to shake hands with Nathan Cayless?