Round 1 Drink Of Choice – Starward Wine Cask Single Malt (I know I promised something good for Round 1 but it will have to wait until our first win of the year!)
Well there is no sugar coating the fact that this was a disappointing loss. The Eels roared out of the blocks en route to a 14-point lead only to wilt in the scorching conditions and bleed away 24 painfully unanswered points. There were set-backs a plenty including a double blow to Mitchell Moses (HIA and Sin Bin) but more than anything else the Eels took a six-shooter to both their feet to let the Panthers claw their way back into the game and ultimately spring the victory. There is good, bad and ugly a plenty to discuss so let’s dive right into the Round 1 installment of Whisky Musings in 2018.
The Turning Point
Let’s get right into one of the ugliest sequences of the game. In the shadow of half time the Eels looked primed to build on their 14-point lead following an error from the Panthers on an aggressive kick-return play. Jubilation quickly turned to frustration as the officials correctly brought play back for a penalty with Michael Jennings guilty of a completely unnecessary shoulder charge on Josh Mansour.
It proved pivotal to the flow of the match with Panthers, who had previously been unable to gain any traction in the game, working downfield and subsequently scoring via Waqa Blake in what I can only describe as an embarrassingly soft try. Other factors played a huge part in the Penrith comeback but the was definitely the start of the rot. Worse, there is the very real prospect that Jennings could sit out a week now given the (sometimes) strict adjudication on such defensive infringements.
Starters Bring The Thunder But Bench Can’t Spark The Lightning
The Eels asserted their dominance over the fancied Penrith pack in the opening half an hour of play in no small part due to the industrious efforts of Tim Mannah and Daniel Alvaro. With a rock-steady platform through the middle the Eels tore both edges of the Panthers to strips with Corey Norman and Josh Hoffman nabbing the credit on the scorer’s sheet.
Individually Kane Evans and Suaia Matagi had their moments in possession but it is hard to overlook the sloppiness of our ruck in defence when the second rotation of middle forwards hit the park. Throw in a relatively quiet effort from Beau Scott and all of a sudden it makes for a pretty drab day in the office from the interchange forwards.
Spark was certainly lacking though and while a near disastrous set of circumstances surrounding Mitchell Moses led to Brad Takairangi coming into the game earlier than planned for – it is hard to see how an ideal bench rotation would have alleviated the matter.
This leads me to one Kenny Edwards, whose absence was the focal point of Team List Tuesday. Overreactions aren’t needed for Round 1, which is by and large why the loss annoys me more than anything else, but it does seem like the Eels need to find a way to get Edwards onto the bench. For all the grumbling about his occasional errors and brain snaps, no one brings energy to the team like Kenny and in a game of momentum like today the Eels simply had no one on the bench to arrest the changing tide of play.
As to who (if anyone) makes way? That one is for the man that knows a metric mega-tonne more about footy than I in Brad Arthur.
Of Preseason Trials And Round 1 Tribulations
The Eels were spectacular in their dismantling of the Newcastle Knights in Maitland a couple of weeks back and showed similar signs of touch in the first 30min of play today. There is legitimate reason to believe our players are in some of the best shape of their careers for those familiar with the brilliant training reports of Sixties but there is no substitute for game fitness. And in this the Eels were found wanting today.
As I mentioned above, Penrith caught fire in the second half and the Eels just couldn’t nip their run in the bud in its early stages. The sin-binning of Mitchell Moses in conjunction with a stinger to Corey Norman left the Eels with 11-men defending for a single set and the Panthers made us pay dearly with the game-securing try to Waqa Blake.
Beyond that there were the usual errors and discipline lapses that you expect in Round 1 and on this day the Panthers were simply better in that regard. There is no doubt that the review tape won’t lie though and the boys are in for a tough film session early next week.
Onwards and Starwards Upwards
Sorry, that might have been the whisky talking! Ultimately, it is a disappointing start to the season – especially given that the Eels have been Round 1 specials under Brad Arthur but it might be a performance that kick starts the Eels towards better things. Corey Norman and Mitchell Moses flashed some of their best form but were both interrupted by injury (and discipline) concerns while there glimpses of the industrious best of our forwards and the polish of our backs. Brad Arthur and his men will already be looking ahead to our next derby game with bitter rivals Manly as they travel to Brookvale.
In a round where the Broncos, Sea Eagles, Roosters and Raiders all slipped up there is plenty of reason to have a great deal of faith in this cadre of players and their coach. So I will most certainly drink to the better times ahead in the near future!
Finally, in a closing note – TCT are proud to partner with a fellow Blue & Gold die hard in PM SportFirst Nambucca to bring you some of the best deals you will find on official Parramatta merchandise. The loss might have soured everyone a bit on splurging on some of the schmick 2018 apparel line this week but PM is only a click away if you want to endorse in some Blue & Gold retail therapy!
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The two issues for me where how we were completely dominated physically in the second half and the level to which we looked gone fitness wise a long way from home.
Their forwards really toyed with us in the second half.
When French stopped that try in the south eastern corner in the second half and we got the ball back, 5 Eels were on their haunches sucking in the big ones. It was very hot but I haven’t seen them that tired before. Hope it was a once off.
No doubt we will be better for the run but I reckon it will take a few days for the boys to get over that game.
Yes Chris that concerned me also. Particularly as we had 60% possession for the first 30 mins. I really think our small forwards had to work extra hard against a huge pack that contributed to our running out of puff. Unfortunately we have very few large forwards to counter such a large pack.
Glenn, Hook took the ambush to a fine point when he left his main forwards on the bench for them to come on and then dominate our bench players.
The panthers spine then really took charge and Wallace has been a bogeymand for the eels for years now especially when we play at Penrith.
Agree 40’s re Edwards he has to be in the 17, our bench with the exception of Taka were of no benefit to the team, they really lacked punch and looked slow. Matagi first run he knocks on near the opposition line, momentum lost. Pass from Evans to Matagi, was schoolboy stuff. Ma’u had limited runs but was occasionally good, Tepi looked good as well, but he and Brown were well contained.
Think I mentioned in a pre match TCT post about an ambush, and it certainly was discovered.
I’m worried that we lack speed. Aside from French, we have a slow team. No Pritchard, Semi or Gutherson means if we make a break, who runs the length of the field to score?
It’s a big problem imo. Also, our fitness compared to the Panthers seemed way behind? The way the game panned out seems to reflect that.
For me Grunta, it came back to losing that momentum at the wrong time. We had it in the first half and it looked like Parra by how many. The penalty against Jennings got the Riff out of more trouble and we gifted Blake a solo try when they had never looked like scoring. Likewise, their opening try of the second half followed penalties and came from a hit up at the line. So all of the ascendancy and momentum was now with Penrith and they hadn’t earned it – but it was theirs in that stifling heat. If you weren’t at Penrith Park, you wouldn’t understand how bad it was. The Riff took full advantage from then on and didn’t give the smallest chance. I felt we had to fluke a try to get momentum back. That never happened.
Trouble is both teams played in the heat and Parra wilted whereas Penrith got stronger. When Kikau came on he absolutely smashed us and we had no counter to his aggression.
That was my point Glenn. Momentum was tough in those conditions for both teams. We were both playing in those conditions.
But, we didn’t make them earn momentum, we gifted it to them with soft tries. They didn’t have to expend energy to get it. Once we were trying to get back into the game, they weren’t going to gift it to us and the conditions made it that much harder.
All good sixties, but we definitely lack speedsters. Not sure how we address that?
I concur with your summation 40s. My observation was a real drop in line speed in defence, particularly once the rotations commenced. We allowed Penrith too much room in attack, and you can’t do that to Cleary or Maloney. Add to that, our hit ups were no longer bending the defence line either. I know we don’t have the biggest pack, but in the past we had some of the toughest, and the go forward we normally see just wasn’t there. No doubt the conditions didn’t help, but they did some dam hard training in summer, and it was the same for both teams. Maybe it comes down to game management, and we simply came out too hard too early and Penrith seemed to pace themselves better. The opening 30 minutes showed why we must be considered one of the favourites for 2018, let’s just hope we don’t see too much more of the second half again.
One last comment though, Penrith were very good in the second half. They will be a tough side this year!
Penriths second half was superb. They didn’t make the same mistake as we did. They kept composure and control.
Moving forward Will Smith has to be the first on the bench. King was absolutely gassed. Build 3 power forwards around him.
I do suspect however that BA rates his old men a lot higher than they really are. And Now we are thinking of throwing big bucks at Mansour who will be 28 if he is signed???
I read that French is the only junior BA has promoted since he’s been there in 5 years which is absolutely extraordinary.
It’s a young mans game. Our forwards are great with big hearts but it’s pure physics…you will tire and be dominated by bigger younger opponents.
We may win next week but it will only be papering over the cracks.
A
These are the games a top 4 team should not lose; shame but it happened. It will tell us over the next 4 wks how we as a team come back. Lets hope this is not a costly loss, but i think all losses are.
In cricket you can have a batting all rounder who can bowl a bit or a Bowling all rounder who can bat a bit. Just an analogy I know but I feel that BA chose between Smith and Taka as the utility both of whom are backline utilities.
Taka is set to play as an edge forward this year but I am not convinced that he is quite there yet. By the end of the season I expect he will be.
Also I would bring in Edwards meaning a second forward from Sunday will miss out. I said on the other blog that we looked leaderless when Mitchel was off the field, Smith would have fixed this problem and also given Kingy a spell.