Parramatta Eels 20
Wests Tigers 30
The Good: |
Yes, that middle 50 minutes was funeral-like awful. Still, I think there’s quite a bit to take out of that game, plenty of it bad (see below). However, there are some things worth noting in a glass-half-full kinda way. Either way there’s going to be some of you thinking my grades are too generous, others thinking they’re too harsh. For the former, I’m a fan first; the latter, we’re 0-4.
For starters, we scored 20 points against statistically the best defensive team in the competition. As a byproduct that means we also managed to get out of our attacking funk, and finally scored points in the second half. Draw a line through those hoodoos. We have something to work on and work towards for next week. And speaking of next week, the bloke who almost single handedly brought the Panthers back in Round 1 (Nathan Cleary), won’t be there.
This is not the start to the season any of us expected. In more pleasing news, this post is sponsored by the good people at: Fancy going back in time to the height of the Eels’ glory days?
Well, this week you can get yourself a 2018 Mens Eels Heritage Jersey; which is normally $170, for only $153 with free shipping if you use the code ‘TCT’ at It’s win, win – buy yourself a cracking jersey and support the work of The Cumberland Throw. |
The Bad: |
Basically everything that happened from the 10th minute to the 60th minute. The realisation that we were going to start the season 0-4 was made even worse by some of our players looking either nonchalant, exhausted or out of ideas a month into a new season. My head sank further into my hands with every baffling last tackle kick option, every apathetic missed tackle, every ineffective hit up. Once again we surrendered ridiculous amount of possession (consistently at 65/35 until the final 20 brought it back to 55/45), and gave away more penalties than Twitter gives out hot takes.
More than anything, I fear that instead the last 20 will potentially band-aid over an incredibly alarming middle 50 minutes. That middle 50 was as bad as I’ve seen us in 5, maybe 10 years; particularly in the context of starting the season 0-3. That last 20 will either give us the confidence to know what sort of side we could be, or it will perpetuate this favouritism induced slumber we’ve found ourselves in for the majority of the first month of the season. I desperately hope it’s the former. To be clear, we were not flawless or even brilliant in the last 20, but it was a huge improvement on the majority of our season so far. More of this, please. As an aside, I also think the Wests Tigers logo is the worst in the NRL; is the triangle supposed to be the Tiger’s body? How do you screw up a logo of a Tiger? I digress. We lost and kudos to the Tigers for being much better than we were today. |
X-Factor: |
After sitting next to him at today’s game, I confidently suspect Forty will be giving the refs an absolute spray, so I’ll leave them out of it. Edit: He restrained himself.
When you’re playing poorly, you need the bounce of the ball and the rub of the green; I don’t think we got either today. It was by no means the cause or reason for our loss, but in addition to our poor kicking options and missed tackle/penalty concession orgy, it just made life that much tougher. |
The MVPs:
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I did not see this coming, but I think Tony Williams was our best on ground. His inclusion changed the shape and effect of our attacking game, akin to Fui’s once upon a time impact. Would love him to give us today’s presence on a regular basis.
For the record, if you are of the several people blaming Jarryd Hayne for today’s loss (I’m not kidding, this actually happened several times on Twitter today), you should probably step away from the keyboard for a while, maybe get some fresh air. |
The Starters
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1- Will SmithFullback, Parramatta Eels At points William was our best player on the park – he not only out leapt Tui Lolohea for our first try, he also had an absolutely ridiculous 7 tackle breaks, equalling Tedesco and Ponga for best in the NRL for Round 4. He chimed into the back line and ran for a very tidy 137 running metres. At other points, William was a borderline disaster. A pull-your-hair out 3 errors, 3 missed/ineffective tackles (he was only asked to make 10) and a conceded penalty really took a lot of the shine out of the positive parts of his performance. Combining both parts of his game tonight made Mr Rocks and Diamonds himself Ben Roberts look like a bankable asset. To be fair, we should remember he’s actually our fourth string fullback and a terrific utility player to call upon, nonetheless. |
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2- George JenningsRight Wing, Parramatta Eels Other than the Kevin Naiqama try (you would have thought he was wearing camouflage so many of our players missed him), I saw Gennings as a very capable option on the wing. A very impressive 15 runs for 156 metres, 2 linebreaks and only 1 missed tackle (see above), is a very good debut in the Blue & Gold. Personally, I know it’s only one game but rather than chase another big name winger, I’d prefer us to extend Gennings and spend all we’ve got on middle forwards. But that’s me. |
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3- Michael JenningsRight Centre, Parramatta Eels Jet was the second best Jennings on the park tonight, only running for 68 metres (from 8), making an error and giving away an offside, goal line penalty. He did break two tackles without missing any himself, however. |
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4- Kirisome Auva’aLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels Yes, he broke 3 tackles and did very well to find the line in the closing minutes. However, scoring a great try sadly does not over shadow a very poor middle 50 minutes in defence where our left side looked particularly shaky. To his credit, the 106 running metres were much needed. |
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5- Josh HoffmanLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels I really like Hoff and, not unlike Auva’a’s, thought his late try was brilliant. However, as I said there is something very wrong in defence on our left side. Only two missed tackles each for both he and Kirisome is probably generous when you consider it only counts as a miss if you get your hand on them. The last Tigers’ try was especially disgusting to watch, but I hope he bounces back next week. |
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6- Corey NormanFive-Eighth, Parramatta Eels Ugh.
I was all ready to give both our halves F grades for tonight’s game, but then the last 20 minutes gave Norman two try assists (Norman finished with two, Moses one), and it lost its appeal. Still in the context of the first 4 rounds and either an unwillingness or inability to engage the defensive line with their runs, giving either a grade better than a D today would be too generous. |
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7- Mitchell MosesHalfback, Parramatta Eels It’s difficult to grade a player for one of the worst 50 minutes of football I’ve seen in many years, and a not so bad last 20. Some of his attempted tackles were mind-blowingly bad, and I don’t think it’s unfair to say he was directly responsible for two Tigers tries. More of the 2017 Prince of Egypt, less parting in defence like the Red Sea from Moses, thanks. |
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8- Daniel AlvaroProp, Parramatta Eels He just works hard, this bloke. Sure he had a less than ideal 87 metres from his 10 hit ups (and a 1 tackle break), but his 40 tackles with only 1 miss makes Polar Bear one of our few defensive highlights, and that’s a lonely group to be in today. |
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9- Kaysa PritchardHooker, Parramatta Eels I thought he showed good defensive intensity, but overall Kamikaze still offered very little variation from the ruck. In his defence, our 35% possession probably ensured that. Also glad he managed to get back on the field after french kissing Russell Packer’s elbow. The 39 tackles were great, the zero runs for zero metres? Not so much. |
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10- Tim Mannah (c)Prop, Parramatta Eels I can’t wait for people to tell me how Mannah’s 9 runs for 104 metres, 2 tackle breaks or 23 tackles without a miss were to blame for today’s loss. Insert eye roll emoji here. Ps – Mannah’s first half kick off the shin for another set of six was out of this world. |
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11- Manu Ma’uBack Row, Parramatta Eels I’ll be honest with you, outside of his first couple of runs, I didn’t really notice him out there. Still, in a game where our defence was at times as horrific as Manu’s license photo, that’s probably a good thing. On one hand, Monster Mash had 8 runs for 68 metres, 26 tackles and a tackle break; on the other he missed 2 tackles and gave away a penalty. Meh. |
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15- Kenny EdwardsBack Row, Parramatta Eels Loved his energy but gee he looked gassed out there at times today. Kedwards only got through 83 metres in his 80 minutes of work, made 28 tackles, 2 errors, conceded a penalty and PASSED THE BALL AROUND HIS BACK. What a ride, man. |
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13- Nathan BrownLock, Parramatta Eels Sure we lost, but what an angry weapon the Cyborg is. Credit to the Tigers defence for keeping him to only 64 metres (admittedly spent a good chunk of time at dummy half while Kaysa was in Disneyland), but at least his defence didn’t crack our defensive wall of shame, getting through 30 tackles with only one miss.
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Interchange
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12- Tepai MoreoaInterchange, Parramatta Eels Found himself playing flat out, off-the-bench middle forward this week, but used up all that juice making 43 tackles (2 misses), leaving only enough for 38 running metres (from 5). I’ve always liked Tepai better on the edge, when BA seems to keep pushing him to the middle. BA has forgotten more things than I know about football, so I’m sure it’ll make sense to me one day. |
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14- Beau ScottInterchange, Parramatta Eels He made a solid 40 metres from only 4 runs, made 20 tackles (without a miss) and really gave it to the refs when the penalty count was 7-2. Still, I think the way Beau used to shore up our middle defence is coming to an end. Not unlike my life if he reads this. |
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16- Peni TerepoInterchange, Parramatta Eels Pretty good game from the Butcher: 109 metres and a massive 33 tackles. On a personal note Peni, I’m sorry for saying the things I said about you mid game; I was angry and confused. |
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17- Tony WilliamsInterchange, Parramatta Eels His 9 runs for a ridiculous 115 metres, line break and tackle break (in only 29 minutes) changed the game. Also set up a try for Gennings on the far side with a very pretty offload. Outstanding first hit out in the Blue & Gold for the carnivorous terrible lizard. |
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Unto next week, Eels fans.
Go you Eels,
Mitch.
After losing our first 4 games of the season, I feel really sorry for our Post Game Grades sponsor. Please, buy something from Sportfirst and help the Throw pad Sixties’ retirement fund.
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for all your sporting apparel and NRL supporter gear needs. Readers of The Cumberland Throw get free shipping on orders over $100! Click the image above and use the code ‘TCT’ at checkout for 10% off all orders. |
Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels. Stats courtesy of Champion Data.
Stop reading this and go buy something from SportFirst – Nambucca.
Fair as usual. Impressed with Rex and Gennings for their first games with us.
I don’t even really know what else to say other than we go again next week and get another chance
Well said Gem, completely agree. I find myself sort of shocked, dismayed and confused all rolled into one.
Mitch. Another week of no ratings to any of players? a sad time it seems. I was actually looking for some comments regarding each of the players, even if the ratings were not high, would have been good, as I did not see the game and was wondering about how the inclusions this week actually rated.
Also was wondering how Kaysa went even though he came off after a discussion with what I heard Packer, not a very even match up. I was hoping he may had added a bit more energy to the team.
PS, what is going on with your posts, this one and last weeks came through both on the email and here on this site. The right hand of every line is cut out as the lines go past the right side margin.
Check this Colin. It’s all here.
It seems there are possibly ghosts in your machine, Colin.
I have same problem and always have. Have tried shrinking article but problem persists. Been lucky that team have been shit so not so important to read whole article but think (hope) our last 20 mins will be the catalyst to kick start our season.
As an aside how good was it to see a big skilful man on the park, drawing the defenders in and getting the ball away with ease. We need another 5 of them to give the backs room to move. Well done Tony Williams and welcome back to Parra. Now keep up the good work.
You using Internet Explorer Glenn?
Agreed re TRex, very pleasant surprise.
Glenn the worst of it was in the last two articles not only did the right side margin cut the lines short but there was huge gaps between the players and what was said regarding them, also the ratings were not there either.
As I mentioned this is happening when I am using Internet Explorer which is my default browser and mail server. I was using Mozilla for some browsing in the past but it gave me problems when I received replies to some articles on the various blogs I am in.
With this problem however on TCT, when I went over and used Mozilla again I got the full message and the ratings/comments, thing is though that the problem in IE is confined only to these ones from Mitch.
Which leaves the question to Mitch as to the page he is working on, could be the problem as it may have narrower margins or something. Or the tab settings from the left may be too far in.
Good fair article TCT.
Thanks mate – appreciate you reading.
Fair grades. Tough on Kenny though; 80 minutes in His second game of the year in a badly beaten team – I thought he was more noticeable and effective than Mau who seems to have lost all His punch, much like Beau Scott. Unfortunately.
Not a fan of Moses screaming all high & whiney at Kenny either – Moses hasn’t exactly been the model of consistency or effort this year so far.
Norman…..🙄
Next week, more Browny, Vave or Gower in, more Trex.
Happy with Gennings too! Seems solid.
Kingy to return next week surely..Maybe we should just bite the bullet and use Kaysa/Smith as 14, Edwards 15, Terepo / Vave 16, Rex 17.
Let’s hope for at least 50 minutes play time next week and a 30 minute fade. That will be some improvement!!!
I agree re Kenny and Ma’u, but chose to rectify it by dropping Manu to a C proper, and leaving Kenny at a C+. I just couldn’t elevate him to the same B- as Gennings and Trex.
I was also happy with Gennings and Trex, maybe more fresh blood is what’s needed.
That suggested bench (I’d give it to Terepo over Vave) looks perfect to me.
Do we need one of the said big players such as Vave or Matagi? I think that Terepo would be better than them.
I would have Smith & Kaysa, one on the bench the other at 9, give Kaysa the same number of matches as King has had and then compare them as to their overall effectiveness over the same period of time.
While Marata is seen more as a forward, he did come here as a centre/forward, so would look to him as going to the centres, and if Bev is ok he can go back to the 1 spot. I am also over Norman. time for him to get to know Nathan Cayless better.
I think Terepo earned another call up with yesterday’s game. I don’t think Marata will get called into the centres in the top grade though, nor Norman demoted to Wenty just yet.
If his slide continues, however, things might have to change.
Mind blowingly abysmal.
Tigers were fitter, committed, disciplined and had a game plan.
The only reason we got close towards the end was they took their foot off our throat. Don’t kid yourselves it was anything else.
I’m lost, as is BA, as to why we can’t produce but changes need to be made. Loyalty can’t be a one way street. The other problem we have is the replacements at Wenty are’nt any better.
TRex came out of a Wenty appearance, and so did Gennings. Ray Stone, Marata and Reed Mahoney are also legitimate options if changes need to be made.
Will be interesting.
Mitch.
I decided to have another read of your post, and did so in another browser. I use IE as default and while its been good for me, it has issues at times, so I tried Mozllla this time and like IE it has issues at times also, however, opening your post in Mozilla I get the player reports, and their gradings, all the wording is there and not cut off at the margins.
So, I now say thanks for the report and info.
I really have to wonder how long Norms is going to last the way he is going, It just seems that long now since he has shown up his abilities on the field, and I get the sense that its also having an effect on Moses who seems to playing the game now akin to an angry ant, is the reason there’s no working relationship between them?
Also considering his relationship with Packer he seemed the usual Kaysa, who is getting his name up again with his defence and the Kamikazi play, I would think he is feeling his way a bit at the moment but if he keeps the spot, his dummy half runs should return.
Good to read about Trex having a good game, could really end up being a game changer for us.
Its sad to read in regard to Ma’u, he has been nowhere near his best this year, and perhaps closer to half best really.
Glad you got there in the end mate! Agreed – Normy and Mau need to step up to get back to their 2017 form. And TRex was excellent.
Thanks for your support, mate.
A 30k crowd, with the Eels fans outnumbering the home supporters turned into a wake, with a lot of fans questioning their commitment to the Eels as the players bumbled and stumbled around the field.
It’s simplistic, but the off season training regime has looked to be ineffective, we were outmuscled again by 3 ex Eels in their forwards who we were happy to let go. Their hookers dominated ours, you can’t get on the front foot with the 9 offering absolutely nothing other than tackling.
Other clubs have placed 1 or 2 young up and comers in their 30 (even the Roosters) we seem to have put our faith in experience, that makes it difficult to shake things up with youthful enthusiasm.
Manu has basically disappeared and physically has no impact, looks to have shed weight.
Let’s be honest, with the structure being one out running, the opposition doesn’t need to get offside , just stand opposite the first receiver who runs straight at you. No second phase play until tackle 4, the script is too easy to read and opposition coaches don’t need to do a lot of work.
Basically we need to be more aggressive and shut down the ball, and make enough room for our halves to operate. Easy to blame them, but they aren’t supposed to tackle , that’s not their real job, without room they can’t do their job
Apart from Gennings, TRex, Tepai and Jennings senior, givem them all a D- and hope that they are ashamed of the middle 50 minutes and turn up to compete next week.
Ha I completely agreed with the entirety of your comment until you hinted me giving the boys a D- would do any good or shame them into playing better (of course I’d like to think my Grades could impact the team performance).
Great insight as usual Derek. What are your thoughts on Tepai playing predominately in the middle today? I’ve loved his game this season, but he came across pretty flat stat wise today in attack.
Thanks for gradings.
Personally I thought we were absolutely and utter inept. Im aware we lost a few at the begining of last year but this year is different. We are being utterly and totally outclassed.
At least Moses seems like he cares, Norman seems catatonic.
BA just has to inject some youth into the forwards and drop a few players. If he doesnt he may as well not turn up next week because his words will be irrelevant.
Moses’ defence in the first half was simply awful, and Norman had a couple of try assists. But yes, as the grades indicate, not a great game from either.
I doubt NRL selection rules would allow it, but Reed Mahoney would be a good talent to bring it. Marata Niukore, Ray Stone are other options too.
Norman needs to leave the club this season it’s quite clear he does not want to be here at parra and his off field behaviour is a issue and is a cancer to the team.
We don’t play for 80mins we look poor and tired. These players are on the verge of getting Brad Arthur sacked.
The players are throwing Arthur under the bus.
As I said above, Norman is well below his best form at the moment. Our consistency across 80 minutes though is still our biggest issue, however.
We are not fair away from the point where finals wont be a option and somme squad tinkering begins players will be shown the door we all kno w who that will be.
I respect BA but if we reach the point where finals wont be a option then we need to tap him on the shoulder and start planning for the next season i dpnt want any more rebuilding i want to see this team being a force
Offside understand where you are coming from, but I really wonder if tapping the coach on the shoulder for next year will actually do anything to help the current situation.
For that to happen, someone must be in mind that is better than who we have now, but I cannot think of any of the coaching employment agency candidates being who we need here, and if they have what the eels need.
If anything, I believe its time that BA took every one of the contracted players aside and put them to the test of what they believe is needed, and what they perceive is the problem, and what they can do to fix it. Every player is more responsible for the hole we are in now, and they are the only ones who can get themselves out of it.
By doing that, BA will know where his players are at, and who is just spinning a line and who isn’t. He has 16 off contract end of this year and I have put it that maybe 5 forwards are good enough to be resigned, but I may review that, it means that to get some new blood from outside a bit of the coach swallowing his pride and pay some overs to get them here.
The players at Wenty are not helping our situation and if any coach is to go then sadly it needs to be NC, would like to see Luke Burt come back, and have him at Wenty or better still a jnrs coach with an eye for first grade player development.
One thing for sure is that, Norms is not playing in a way that warrants the amount he is on, and how close to a working relationship is he and Moses? Sadly for me Norms is usually a half season (at best) player and better in his last year of a contract.
Reading the rave reviews of Benji’s game yesterday tells me that selecting the right older players in key positions is very much worth it, but we have not had the same degree of success in that area.
All reasonable calls Mitch. Where do you get your minutes played numbers from?
I admittedly had to ask a few people too because I couldn’t find them myself.
https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/live-scores/318048/wests-tigers-v-eels-nrl-2018#player-stats
Tremendous mate, cheers
I will be brutally honest and it is very hard to write but there will be no glass half full tonight- I am more disappointed in that game then the Manly loss.
That Manly game was effort but today some mind boggling coaching decisions were made. Sorry but we did not have a chance. Kaysa could not play 80 minutes last year, with a full pre season and trials in the top team under his belt, he was never going to last 80 today. So our only solution to cover Kaysa was to move our best forward, Brown, in a forward pack getting dominated week in and out . Really, can someone please explain the logic because I just don’t get it?
Here is the truth as I see it. We don’t get penalties because we don’t earn them, we don’t dominate tackles in defence or attack, and therefore don’t earn the right to hold down or get quick play the balls. Simple. We have lost 4 penalty counts with 4 different head referees. At some point we have to stop blaming everyone else and look in our own backyard. Sure the ball did not bounce our way and 50/50 penalties went against us but the ones that are hurting us each week are ruck and offside penalties. How on earth can we earn penalities by dominating the ruck when for a 20 minutes period, either side of half time, we had Alvaro, Mannah and Brown sitting on the bench, the only players in our team who make any ground and get quick play the balls. I thought at the ground Brown must have been injured and unable to return. The game was gone when he finally came back on. Kenny’s strength is his attack and running game late in the half at tired defensive lines. It is what he has done brilliantly for 2 years. Nope today, a hot humid day (32 deg) we play him from the start, defending next to Moses and everyone knows the play is going that way early and Kenny is gassed. All the energy we would normally get from him gone. So our best three forwards are on the bench and the forward we usually get energy from is gassed and we are therefore surprised that we lost it once again 10 minutes before and after half time. We lost it when we took off our starting front row and replaced them with one front rower, Terepo, who did well and Beau Scott- I am sorry but every game he continues to be played simply diminishes what great contribution he has made to our club. Father time is underfeated for a reason. Beau Scott is a living example of this. BA is really risking loosing the faith of fans like me by continuing to fill a spot in our team with someone who contributes very very little each week, certainly no go forward, he comes in for a prop he must give go forward.
We need to fix what we can. Will Smith had a shocker and crabbed sideways from every single ball return, it is like his boots had magnets for the sideline in them but hey until either French or Gutho is back he is fullback. Kirisome was diabolical but worse than that he actually made it impossible for any one to assist him as he simply refused to actually commit to any defensive decision.Michael Jennings commits in defense and others can then adjust. Kirisomes defense is best described by the saying a deer in headlights. He just froze, every time it went his way. He tackled air today and literally ran next to his opposition looking at him from all parts of the field. He was clueless and adjusted nothing during the game with his defense. Just kept making the same mistake. But we have no one else until Hayne or Taka comes back so Kirisome will be very busy next week because if he could not work out what Benji, Marsters and Rochow were doing today, good luck with Blake, Maloney and Kikau next week.
So we can not fix the two glaring weaknesses in our outside backs next week so BA for goodness sake pick a pack that can actually lay a platform that lasts more then 20minutes into the game. If Norman and Moses then fail sure everyone lay the boot in, but Thurston and Morgan, Hunt and Widdop or Cronk and Keary would have floundered today playing behind that pack. Mannah and or Alvaro should not be dropped to the bench because some of our bench forwards are quiet frankly past it. Only 20 minutes from Vave , or if not him find someone who can bend the line back and keep the momentum established by getting over the advantage line either side of half time is far more valuable then 35 minutes of Scott doing nothing but complaining to the referee after every opposition try because we have lost momentum and are getting steamrolled once our starting props go off.
I will go next week because I support them through good and bad but if we get beat because BA refuses to address our pathetic pack rotation then I will take a break from footy. Maybe the changes might not work but really could it be any worse then what we saw today? I don’t have to see my team win in fact I have and will go if they loose 10 in a row but I have to see them have a chance to win. In all honesty I have very little hope that we can beat Penrith without Gutho, French, Hayne and Taka but we have zero hope if we keep playing forwards who are simply not good enough or play them in a way that disables their strength. If we keep that pack rotation then let them throw the ball around. If you want to play a forward power game then pick players that can do that. Make a decision BA, we cannot have 3 props who are good but not outstanding and have the rest of the forward pack being made up off relatively small edge forwards who tackle well but not much else. Our forward pack worked last year because we had, Semi, Taka and Gutho who got momentum early in the set.
I am loyal, I love my club and I respect our current coach and players immensely. But I am not blind or stupid, this pack is not working and while our backs at the moment are not much better they have some excuses, ie injuries and working off no momentum. Apart from Evans this is our forward pack. It is broken and the solution does not lie with the combination picked today. TRex really good, Peni did the job required, Tepai- please start him and defend him next to Moses and Free Kenny to come on when Alvaro or Mannah go off but please we need a big body.Beau Scott must go and in regards to BA I have to admit for the first time ever I was really disappointed with his choices today. I just don’t get them. Loyalty can be the reason for success it can also be the reason for failure if it overrides what is staring, in fact smacking you in the face.
Don’t be stubborn and foolish BA like Hasler and Michael Mcguire were. I would be devastated to see BA end up like them- out off a job because of pure stubbornness.
PS while we are all looking for Norman and Moses in lost and found can we also have a look for our once fearsome, haunting, terrifying second rower named Manu. Our rottweiler has become an annoying and frustrating foxy.
Very well said Shelley we are in a hole that we will struggle to get out of
Shelley you haven’t missed anyone there and you nailed it.
At the start of the year I wouldn’t have taken any of the Tigers pack at the Eels. After four games I thing I would take the lot of them. How we can be dominated by them so easily is distressing.
The problem with our pack will take 2-3 years to fix. There is not much coming through and you cant clean them all out at once. Most are under contract next year and after that, I can see only Brown and Alvaro being at the club on current form.
I hope BA is still here as well but he has an enormous challenge in front of him.
Shelley well said and very open and honest appraisal.
I feel your hurt, as do every one here and no doubt all rational eels supporters, not just fans that can blow in the breeze.
I turned the radio on yesterday to find the eels 6-0 no sooner had I turned it on and the tigers scored their first try. I did something that I have not done before and that is turn the radio off at that point, as the ominous signs seemed to be there. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the final score was 30-20, a loss but not as bad it would seem as the overall standard of the players. I also watched a replay of a try scored by the wests fullback, which showed the ball grounded short of the line. So for me wests one by 6 points only, but it was still a loss.
Previously I have believed that Ma’u like Brown have been severely targeted by the opposition but he seems to very much down on form and for what reason, the hard part with this and it goes for several other severely out of form players is they are on contracts until end of 2019, meaning they would have to be paid out or released.
The amount of players off contract end of this year will at least allow for a real injection of new blood, and for me, would be best to have a healthy injection of new blood from underneath, especially including some of those whose contracts are up at the end of this year.
For me, they are players such as Marata, Gjennings, Stone, TRex (done enough so far to show he is worth another year or 2, Dane Akafolour (have not seen anything of him but has had good comments) Terepo and maybe Pritchard or King for one year hopefully one of the lower grade players might be able to step up instead. JH needs to put his act together as he was starting to look like the old disinterested Plane of old.
Wow, Shelley, you must feel a bit better after that? I can’t disagree with anything you said. Unfortunately it looks as though we are on a long flat road and the next corner to turn is quite a way off.
I need time to digest this. Shelley, seems like you’ve already submitted your From the Stands post for this week!
Good write up Mitch.
I can’t believe I’m going to say this but who would have thought I best player was big T-Rex.
Surely he has to start in the top 13 say 2nd row in place of Manu.
Also I like George Jennings on the out side of Michael no point going out spending looking for a winger when we already have one on our books.
I do think we are missing a dominate prop forward.
For mind matagi is not aiming up n can find a new club beau Scott can go also he still looks slower then my grandson running in the park.
If we all sit back n wait for gutherson then we need some help n quick smart.
Time for BA to blood young n fresh blood. Niukore , stone , Maloney.
#Eels 4life#
Rev I think T Rex is better coming on as impact. Certainly I reckon that he and Terepo will be better for the run yesterday
Alvaro and Mannah starting is the way to go. Seperating them only weakens our biggest strength in the forwards. BA just has to find a way to get more out of the bench. Starting Mereoa and bring Edwards on as a replacement is a good option
I am one to support the introduction of Niukore after we get some momentum but BA may need to throw caution to the wind and do it off the bench very soon.
I like all the things you’ve said John.
Totally agree John.
How old is your grandson, Rev?
His 8 brother Mitch ……lol
Mitch was just hoping he could force his way into next weeks team
Yeah a bit young yet, unfortunately. Maybe on the wing.
His big for 8 when ppl look at him they think his 12/14 years old.
I was similarly feeling “shocked and dismayed” but I think Shelley has summed it up, BA’s selections didn’t work with any semblance of a game plan and some of our stalwards are MIA.
Agree, we don’t win the penalty count because we controlling the ruck plus a good dose of stupidity.
We need to select starting forwards to set the tone; Tep, Alvaro, Mannah, Brown need to start. We did had more impact from the bench (Trex & Terepo were an improvement on previous weeks – add Edwards to the bench. Ma’u, Scott, Auva & Norman aren’t pulling their weight and arguably are liabilities that our current form can’t maintain.
I think BA’s bench rotation has been an attempt to shore up the bench defence when Mannah, Alvaro, Brown and Tepai go off (as was the case in Round 1). However, now Terepo is fit and Kewards is back (and Evans injured) it might be negated a little.
Sadly a very accurate grade assessment. Between you Mitch and Shelly you nailed our problems.
Sadly we need to retire some of our old work horses and also put some out to pasture for at least a week or so, so as they remember the effort that is needed by a first grade team.
As a member I only go to see BIG E effort from our team each week not necessarily a win. Don’t get me wrong I love a win but please team bring back the Big E team and look like you want to win
Thanks for reading Big Pete. Feels like we say it every week but hopefully we finally see that consistent effort in Round 5.
Just looked at the Wenty list and only 3 NRL experienced players
Worse only two
What I don’t understand is how we can play good last year with basically the same squad as this year baring Evans n Hayne.
What went wrong is anybody’s guess.
but from what I can gather I think it’s Hayne. From the time I saw Hayne talking to Moses in rd 1 I had a feeling we were going to lose.
Maybe they are getting it to easy n think all they have to do is turn up n collect the 2 points. Hopfully it’s not the case. I’m more the happy to see smith at 5/8 n Moses at #7