Parramatta Eels 2
Canberra Raiders 18
The Good: |
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The Bad: |
A triangle has more points than we scored tonight. If your mate was as lifeless as our attack you’d be torn between calling an ambulance or the morgue.
To be honest, I’m pretty sick of writing Post Game Grades after we lose, and I imagine you’re getting pretty sick of reading them. I think tonight’s loss is worse than Round 2’s dismantling at the hands of Manly. We were supposed to be pretty good this year, and as such this season as a whole might be the most frustrating I’ve ever known as a rugby league fan. |
X-Factor: |
I read during the week that the Eels had lost 11 of their last 12 trips to the nation’s capital, and 16 of 20 overall. I’d make a comment about the ACT being our kryptonite, but that assumes we’ve been ‘super’ elsewhere. We went back to scoring zero points in the second half, despite the wind at our backs and the Raiders being down a player for 10 of the final 11 minutes. We completed at a paltry 65% and had only 40% of the ball and had 8 offloads in the first half, but only 3 in the second stanza. Just car crash stuff.
I never thought I’d agree with Josh Massoud, let alone paste one of his tweets in my Post Game Grades, but here we are.
In other news, you know what’d make you an X-Factor? Proudly wearing the merchandise of the only winless team in the NRL. I wrote that line before kick off tonight, and now even that seems too positive for my current mood. Nevertheless, you should definitely use SportFirst Nambucca to distract you from the painful existence of being an Eels fan. Click here. Ain’t nobody dope as you, you’re just so fresh, so clean.
It’s time to throw away your cursed old Eels gear, replace it with a new piece of merch and support the work of The Cumberland Throw. |
The MVP:
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Any Eels fan who sat through the cold, pouring rain for that inept performance. I am absolutely shattered, but I at least got to watch the Eels lifeless attack on TV. |
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1- Clint Gutherson*Fullback, Parramatta Eels It feels so good to write his name once again, well at least without “I miss” written in front of it. He was excellent tonight; full of energy, desire and emotion. The King’s performance was basically the opposite of our season. My heart is cold, but Gutho lights up my life. |
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2- George JenningsRight Wing, Parramatta Eels Once again, despite the incredibly disappointing result, I actually thought he was pretty good. Maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there, maybe this whole season is a nightmare. |
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3- Michael JenningsRight Centre, Parramatta Eels Terrific offload in the 3rd minute, it was unfortunately to a bloke in lime green. He actually ran the ball well (12 hit ups for 130 metres), and at least both of his errors were made during some rare attacking football from the Eels. |
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4- Kirisome Auva’aLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels Somi basically got the closest to anyone in Blue & Gold to scoring a try, and his 12 runs for 109 metres (and a tackle break) is by no means a bad attacking game. |
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5- Bevan FrenchLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels Didn’t really even notice he was out there, to be honest. I know you’re coming back from an injury Bev, but only one run in 80 minutes? Get in the sea, mate. |
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6- Corey NormanFive-Eighth, Parramatta Eels Outside of a pretty good kicking game, I feel like I don’t even know him anymore. Corey only had 2 runs, 6 missed tackles and a further 3 ineffective tackle attempts. His play and statistics look the epitome of someone not putting in. |
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7- Mitchell MosesHalfback, Parramatta Eels As I’ve said the last couple of weeks, since the last 20 of the Tigers game, at least it looks like Mitch desperately cares about winning a game of football. He certainly cut a forlorn figure in the sheds at full time, and he’s trying his guts out. |
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8- Peni TerepoProp, Parramatta Eels I wish I had something more interesting to say than “Peni Terepo needs to hold the ball“, but I don’t. His 13 runs for 89 metres don’t exactly make up for his tendency to hand the ball over (2 more errors tonight), either. |
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9- Kaysa PritchardHooker, Parramatta Eels Early in the second half, Kaysa pushed Manu out of second marker only to allow Siliva Havili to run straight past him. Kamikaze had 4 missed tackles, had 2 ineffective tackles, conceded 2 penalties and made an error. I liked his 62 tackles and 4 darts from dummy half, but I’m sorry; he is deadset cooked. If Kaysa and I were in a relationship I’d be sending him the “we need to talk” text right about now. |
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10- Tim Mannah (c)Prop, Parramatta Eels The knives will no doubt once again come out, but his 15 runs for 150 metres is quietly pretty good yardage, and he joins T-Rex and Beau Scott (!) as the only Eels forwards to average more than 10 metres per hit up. He did concede a ridiculous 3 penalties, however; and I really don’t want to see him taking another one off, predictably settler hit up in our attacking 20 in future. |
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11- Manu Ma’uBack Row, Parramatta Eels George Jennings was screaming at Manu to come across for the Raiders first try, and he seemed to straight up ignore him. For 2 years Monster Mash was my favourite player, now I think it might be time for him to head to Wenty. Had some close shaves with the tryline, but 10 runs for 68 metres? Needless to say, Manu makes it into my bottom 3 for tonight. |
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12- Tony Williams*Back Row, Parramatta Eels T-Rex was one of the few bright spots in the first half when it was instead our attack that looked extinct. As mentioned above, a pretty commendable 11 runs for 112 metres across his 51 minutes, supported by 4 tackle breaks. Carved out a pretty good game in a game that could not otherwise be described in any way as good. |
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13- Tepai MoreoaLock, Parramatta Eels Loved him bringing back the head tape, hated him bringing back the head injury. Surely yet another HIA means yet another week off for him next week. |
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Interchange
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14- Beau ScottInterchange, Parramatta Eels Sure, Jack Wighton has assault charges hanging over his head, but Beau Scott is the lead suspect in several unsolved murders from the late 80’s. Killer’s running numbers were weirdly effective tonight (7 for 75 metres) and he didn’t miss a tackle from his 32 attempts. I want to blame him, but the tape or stats just don’t allow it. Maybe he should start in Tepai’s presumed absence and then I wouldn’t get so upset about his lack of impact off the bench. I don’t know what to think anymore. Are the Commonwealth Games still on? |
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15- Kenny Edwards*Interchange, Parramatta Eels The 4 tackle breaks were good, the running stats were ok (10 for 87), and as far as I’m aware Mitch Moses did not call him any bad names tonight. |
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16- Daniel Alvaro*Interchange, Parramatta Eels Fun fact: The Eels have had 4 sin bins in the first 6 Rounds. That’s almost as ridiculous as our inept attack; not that Polar is to blame for that, running for 139 metres from 14 hit ups, making 46 tackles. |
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17- Kane EvansInterchange, Parramatta Eels Unfortunately for Kane, despite what you read in the ‘Tortoise and the Hare’, slow and steady does not win the race in NRL. In regards to value for money, Evans is currently neck and neck with the Nigerian lottery. |
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If you’re wondering what the asterisks meant, these are the four players who (as much as I tried) I could not find a reason to blame for tonight’s loss.
Ugh. There’s changes that need to made and they need to made this week.
Go you Eels,
Mitch.
After losing an unprecedented first 6 games of the season, I feel really sorry for our Post Game Grades sponsor. We literally haven’t won a game since he started sponsoring us, so please, buy something from Sportfirst because I’m legitimately considering taking up drinking yoga.
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Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels. Stats courtesy of Champion Data.
Stop reading this and go buy something from SportFirst – Nambucca.
He is not the sole reason we lost tonight, but mark my words Kane Evans will go down as being close to the worst recruit in eels history. Absolutely.
Although I agree Kane Evans wasn’t great tonight, his value for money deal is the last thing I’m concerned about at the moment. I guess it just comes down to the moments we each hung our heads or threw up our hands; for mine it was Kaysa’s miss on Havili.
Hey guys…
First; gutted like everyone else.
Second; I agree with the grades for the most part, still too tough on Kenny :p
Third (and lastly); the Eels players have a problem with respect. They don’t respect each other (swearing and hitting) one another negatively and despite what BA says – I rarely disagree with Him – but this time He is wrong.
Respect starts at home. Respect each other, the coach, the fans, the ball, the ref and the rules. Add heaps of energy and effort. You’ll win more games than you lose.
The 2018 parramatta Eels don’t respect us as fans, or we wouldn’t be 0-6 and that’s the least of their worries because some of those guys surely won’t be playing first grade next week.
And even though it would be a massive mistake to lose BA some must be talking about it. Because this streak of losses without improvement cannot continue and the coach is ultimately to blame.
Moses tries hard, but good leaders lead by example not by yelling and swearing and hitting at the ones who are supposed to follow them. Try hard all you like Mitch but I wouldn’t listen to your shrill squeals either.
Hopefully there’s more to say positively next week….
Yeah Kenny probably was better. I think you make a good and interesting point about respect. Still, I think for the most part the players are trying their guts out, and are just as shattered as we are.
Can somebody tell us why Kane Evans was signed for 3 years again seriously?
Seems a disappointing at the moment. Hopefully he proves us wrong.
I know I am likely to have a very tenuous grip on reality with blind faith of the the Eels but how many games before we didn’t hate Gutho. Pleeease Evans do a Gutho!!! You never know it has happened once before.
PS ready for the white van with the men in white coats to come and take me away ha ha he he ho ho.
This is true, I once despised Gutho.
Mate, I never despised any eels players, I didn’t think much of many, but two words I try to remove and never use when I talk of poor performing people and that can be in all facets of life is hate and despise regarding them as people.
After Gutho came and was on the wing, I admit to calling for his drop to ISP, but once he was shifted off the wing, he showed his prowess, so such terms can bite us on the butte at times, and rightfully so.
Ho Colin, I agree —I don,t like bagging players either. I played Basket ball and Soccer as a kid- Almost got into a Rep side for western Sydney in Basketball as a junior –I never achieved great heights in sport so not going to bag anyone who can get into a first grade side. I will get frustrated sometimes with what they might do on field but thats as far as it goes
Ha boys, please forgive my poetic license, I didn’t actually despise him.
Hi Mitch, its all good and sometimes easy to pluck a word out from the air owing to frustrations.
Well said brother hussey. We might not like ppl as players but as a person in general they good. I dislike the word hate. We don’t use it in our house.
There has to be sackings, apart from Hoffman. Vava, Gower, Matagi? Where are they? Will Smith to half. And cancel training for a week. Freshen them up, maybe they will miss footy
There MUST be changes this week. If we run out the same 17 I suspect the fanbase will riot.
Fair grades its dark times here the positive up to 16 players off contract at years end soend big parra sprnd big.
Ehat Benen produced was shocking he hasvyo be in reggies next week hoffman would of offered more ive hear rumours of bev been upset this only fuels that very poor.
Kane Evans the less said the better
Bloody phone..
*Spend big parra
What Beven produced
Has to go to reggies
I assure im sober
At least the typos gave me a laugh on a night when that was virtually impossible.
Not just 16 players, but 13 of our top 30 – chance for a huge shake up, and one that BA and the team will no doubt take.
Ah that feeling when you realise less than a quarter of the team are actually worth hanging on to.
Seriously mate, do your self a favour, save your time and just copy F grades for each player every week, no one will argue against it.
On a serious note, Mitch went down that path earlier this year.
However, there is something to be found in the grades, especially this week. I really believe that the grades are close to nailing some changes.
Well done on sticking with it Mitch. This is not an easy task.
I’m considering just grading Gutho, Browny, Alvaro, Kenny and T-Rex each week. I suspect it would prove much less irritating.
How are we this bad compared to last year? Honest question. From Top 4 and almost toppling the Storm in the finals, to a distant, distant last.
This doesn’t just “happen”. And surely with all the experts data that NRL teams have at their disposal _someone_ knows what the issue is.
Is the team too old? Too skinny? Too small? Did we underestimate how much Semi carried the team? Were we just supremely lucky last year?
At this stage we need answers and accountability, not just changes. Changes will help us feel vindicated, but they won’t fix our side. With a full team of professionals in charge of fitness, attack, defence, recruitment – how have they got this team so bad so quickly?
If it were one or two players letting us down I’d blame the players. When it’s the whole TEAM letting us down I blame the coaches and the coaching staff.
So, again, I ask why? Who managed to destroy this season before it started and what did they do?
PS Great write-up as always Mitch. How you find the enthusiasm at times like these is admirable.
Look no further than the new fitness coaches, the guy who came from afl. That’s the big change, players are over cooked and flat, trimmed down and have fitness but no strength. Damn we miss Ronnie Palmer
I must admit this is one of my big questions too Jamie. But surely a team of professional trainers could use the wealth of data available to them to see what works in the NRL as opposed to the AFL.
And if this is one of the big issues, gee it’d be great to hear our coach come out and tell us – even if it was vague such as “We wanted to try a new tactic in terms of player fitness and shape, and it hasn’t worked. We’re aware and we’re addressing the issues.” Something!
In the absence of any accountability all you get is speculation and rumours.
Surely Captain. Another good post, mate.
Devil’s Advocate – if we were fit and not strong, why is everyone blaming our lack of fitness? Please note, I’m not suggesting we look strong.
Thanks mate, appreciate you reading and contributing.
When you best player is a guy first up of a 9 month ACL, it says something about the team. They should be utterly and totally embarrassed.
BA is right about one thing, we are all lost for words.
Well said mate.
4 astericks, 4 players only that seem to have put in!!!???? a sad indictment of the eels team of 2018.
If there is a positive out that, I will wait to check on it later, so I guess we just need another 11 players who want to be part of the team.
There comes a time when things go wrong and continue on that same path that changes have to be made, even just for the sake of change, and in our case changes are needed, both for the sake of it and the need of it. How come French did not run until late in the game, did he get the ball at other times or just watching the game from his side of the side line?
I don’t doubt that the whole squad trains together and do so well, but come game time its another matter, it almost as if when they go to play its a Clampant vses McCoy feud in the same team.
We have some young players champing at the bit to have a run, Marata is said to being chased by Cronulla, It is said he’s not showing a lot at Wenty but, maybe its because he sees the cause here at the eels as hopeless for his future, he should be given a chance to show he can play NRL and even he wants to stay.
Lift Stone to 13 even if he becomes the last lift and place filler in the squad. Both he and Marata are off contract end of this year, if the lists are correct, we do not want to lose them.
I don’t want to hack on your maths, Col but I’d like another 13 to put in, rather than have 2 dead weights in the 17.
If Marata doesn’t get a run this week (particularly if Browny and Tepai are out) I think it’s safe to assume he’s committed somewhere else next year (and I couldn’t blame him if he didn’t feel he was going to get a run).
Come on Mitch that maths comments was like shooting Goldfish in a bowl.
Agree with your view on Marata.
Marata must feel down himself, especially if he has not signed elsewhere. From a player who put in last year (another one) based on reports, to one that many say is worse than who we have in the squad now, is hard to comprehend. When he was signed from the Warriors he was interviewed and the reason he chose the eels was that he would get the chance to play first grade. At the time he was being shuffled around the paddock across the ditch.
He also said he was looking forward to the prospect of being in first grade, has he gone that badly since? If he has signed elsewhere does he want to go there now? If he still wants to stay then he needs to be playing where he could be to show he is able.
That is a confidence thing to me.
Yeah mate, Im really hoping we see his name come Tuesday. But we’ll see.
I didn’t see the game but why in the hell did we take 2 instead of trying for 4 points ?
There was 10 seconds left in the half, it was the right call.
I’m sick of going to work & explaining to my work mates why we are so inept n I’m sick of being called Owen …lol.
Hate to say it but we will lose next week vs manly… When will we get our 1st win …lets just say I’ve got more chances of winning lotto …
Although it pains me to say it, i think Corey needs to spend time in Wenty. Some of the plays he made were just down right selfish.
Is Salmon able to play this year or is he restictesd due to contract?
You might just get your wish. I’m told Salmon is still on a development contract (as is Reed) so his inclusion is very unlikely. Hoping Greg L, however (who is our 29th) is fit to come in on one wing though.
If Greg gets a spot back from injury, then it would mean that Bev needs be checked as far as his injury is. Greg IIRC was more a right winger than left side, he can make a try himself of set others up, I am fairly sure that he played outside Dan Aka and was set up by him for tries, and with both of them off contract end of this year I would like to see them together in the top side.
Interesting you mention Greg L, i’d be very interested in throwing Dane Akuafolau in to accompany him at the expense of Auva’a. It would also be a more comfortable debut for both players to play next to eachother
The idea of starting two debutants next to each other didn’t originally strike me as a good one, but I’m willing to try anything.
My only worry regarding Greg L is his defense and under the high ball he was found out alot last year in NYC
How worse can he be than some others who drop the ball on the run?
I think we have enough players chosen each week that have a dropsy problem. and they are experienced at it as well.
Mitch firstly I do not know how you have the fortitude each week to get this blog posted. After each loss I spend 24 hours in the foetal position waiting for someone to rescue me with a positive comment.
Is there a reason that Vave is not getting a look in?
I think that you have nailed it again and as everone on here is saying there needs to be changes made. As Colin rightly said even if they are made for the sake of change but some are needed.
I will be there next week having the same discussion with the same people. Heck we have all agreed to sit together again next year at the Coliseum. Must be glutens for punishment.
Appreciate your reading, John. I think Vave’s fitness is the issue, and if he was brought in and proved that people would lambast the coaches even more. Anyways, as we’ve said above, hoping for some changes come Tuesday.
I’m told Vave is on the outer with BA not halpy about hes shape going into preseason if he wasn’t he would of got a start all ready. But hasn’t got a look in to the 21
Precisely what I’ve heard, Offside.
John I was at a lecture some years back at Moore College (1988) where the head lecturer delivered a topic on change, he went through quite a few different classes of change and the reasoning on them, he spent the most time speaking on a specific topic regarding the need for change, he put a solid arguement up for change out of necessity, one other student asked him if he was advocating change for no other reason than for the sake of it.
The reply came, Yes!, when every other area fails to achieve the necessary change and things remain the same, heading nowhere, then change for the sake/need of/to change no longer is an option and it has to happen ASAP.
He got stunned silence but I along with all the others could not disagree as he presented the case.
As I look at the way the eels are performing, I see that need now.
A Moore College man Colin? I didn’t know that about you mate, good on you.
Regarding change, I think we’re past the point of sake of it, we’re at the doorstep of necessity.
Mitch, when looked at, change for the sake of change is pretty much the same as out of necessity. Few, if any organisations would make a decision to change for the sake of it, as its often just knee jerk to get a reaction, as it did in the lecture room.
Necessity however, is when you have gone past the date when the change was needed and to the end need of it being essential. Survival depends on it.
The lecture was a full day one and more a prep time that had me back into the learning process pre college from 1990-1992, at a place on the sunny banks of Pt Stephens. Sunny when not raining.
The whole issue with the top 30 introduced under the guidance of that moron Teflon Todd, means that you can’t introduce a young player to a) shake up the team with a bit of youthful enthusiasm b) see if a couple of games will prove his ability to play NRL. That was a successful formula used in the past by coaches like Jack Gibson, so why not introduce a rule to prevent this. I really have my doubts about Greenberg, and that is not counting the pathetic financial management that has occurred under his political reign.
Top 30 really stands in the way of youthful injection of players and to my mind development of the game, and basically plays against teams who develop junior talent.
Agreed. It’s near impossible to debut a young bloke in the new system, and boy do we need to this year.
What Big Derek said… And youngsters can develop so quickly that you’re constantly in the need of re-assessing their merits and progress than be forced to comply with a decision one makes in February/March of every year. It defies the logic of progress to have this constraint placed on both the player and the club. The same applies to the six-man development roster – or whatever the NRL wishes to call it. Just what is its purposes when things can – and often will – change in unanticipated ways over a short burst of time – especially for a development club like Parra?!