EELS – 2 (Goals: M. Moses 1 from 1)

Defeated by

RAIDERS – 18 (Tries: J. Rapana, B. Austin, J. Papalii. Goals: J. Croker 3 from 4)

GIO Stadium

Crowd: 12,328

Ummm…. Yeah………. Honestly, I don’t need to say much.

After our sixth consecutive loss the numbers really do speak for themselves. But let’s address two figures that continue to define the Eels of 2018.

Less possession – 44%

Discipline issues – another negative differential after conceding 15 penalties to 11. This figure was actually improved by a surge of penalties to the Eels in the last 15 minutes of the game.

If you enter every match defending more than you attack, you can usually expect one outcome.

 

Full Time Stats

RAIDERS	Team Stats	EELS
56	Possession (%)	44
33/41 (80)	Complete/Total Sets (%)	26/35 (74)
42:52	Time – Opposition Half	38:24
16:25	Time – Opposition 20	12:50
2154	Metres Gained	1902
4	Scrum Win	9
3	Goal Line Dropout	4
11	Penalty Conceded	15
0	Forty Twenty	0

 

1^ST Half Stats

RAIDERS	Team Stats	EELS
52	Possession (%)	48
17/20 (85)	Complete/Total Sets (%)	15/18 (83)
15:10	Time – Opposition Half	26:02
8:20	Time – Opposition 20	6:48
1054	Metres Gained	1027
1	Scrum Win	4
2	Goal Line Dropout	2
6	Penalty Conceded	7
0	Forty Twenty	0

2^nd Half Stats

RAIDERS	Team Stats	EELS
60	Possession (%)	40
16/21 (76)	Complete/Total Sets (%)	11/17 (65)
27:42	Time – Opposition Half	12:22
8:05	Time – Opposition 20	6:02
1100	Metres Gained	875
3	Scrum Win	5
1	Goal Line Dropout	2
5	Penalty Conceded	8
0	Forty Twenty	0

 

The first half looked a bit promising and we completed well in pretty poor conditions. But again, there was no attack to speak of. For all of our time in the Raiders half we walked away with one lonely penalty goal right on half time.

 

Attack:

Not sure what this word means anymore. But I am becoming familiar with the following adjectives –  Flat, Lifeless, Robotic.

Parramatta are throwing no questions to our opposition whatsoever.

When not even one winger can garnish 100 metres, or even worse both can’t  even total 100 metres together, there is something seriously wrong.

In that stat, kudos to Tim Mannah for 150 running metres. But when so few are punching into the line, even having Nathan Brown out there would not have helped.

Six Eels ran for more than 100 metres as to the Raiders 8 players.

Run Metres:

Eels – 1347 metres from 145 runs (9.3m per run)

Raiders – 1474 metres from 166 runs (8.9m per run)

 

Defence:

This was another game where we just gave our opponents so much more possession and we pretty much gassed ourselves out of the game. We gave the Raiders 13 extra sets – teams would be lining up to play any opposition that’s this generous.It’s killing us.

Tackles:

Eels – 379

Raiders – 297

Missed Tackles/Ineffective Tackles:

Eels – 34 missed / 14 ineffective

Raiders – 21 missed / 22 ineffective

Effective Contact:

Eels – 88.75%

Raiders – 87.35%

 

Penalties and Errors:

Penalties Conceded:

Eels – 15

Raiders – 11

Errors:

Eels – 8

Raiders – 8

Well it doesn’t take a Sheldon Cooper to figure out we really need to stop giving away dumb penalties. Our errors weren’t too bad under the greasy conditions but giving away so many penalties, especially in range, is just dumb football. Most other sides are conforming to the new referee edict. But no, not the Eels.

 

Heat Maps:

Set Starts:

Again, plenty of full sets inside the Raiders half with zip to show for it. Really disappointing.

 

Hit Ups:

Only thing that will make you smile about this is what it looks like. It’s just a real shame its not at all funny for the forwards to be making yards in centre field and in front of the opposition try line and then have nothing to show for it.

 

Penalties:

Look at all the piggy back penalties we gave them to give them easy metres. So many opportunities we had to keep them in their own red zone and then we gifted them the chance to get out. Just baffling that we keep doing this to ourselves.

A Final Word

So, another poor performance in Canberra and still nothing in the W column since 2006. What I am not getting is why can’t we go up by two via taking penalty goals? Is this something coming from the bench not to take at least two points as we can’t score, or are the players over riding the bench.

I am just not understanding some of the decision making out there. Especially with what other teams are doing.

If we took points on offer and get a lead, or peg back leads, will this give the boys motivation to keep in the contest, giving us confidence. Who knows until if, or when it may happen.

Yours in Blue and Gold.

Colmac

Stats courtesy of Champion Data.

All these stats and more can be viewed on our match centre at http://mc.championdata.com/nrl/ including live game stats.