Round 10 Drink Of Choice – Old St Andrews Scotch Whisky
Margin Of Error – 3 Games
Parramatta’s tenuous grasp on an unlikely post-season berth slipped that much more on Friday night as the Eels once again battled themselves as much as their opposition in the 20-12 loss. In a game marred frequently by substandard officiating, Parramatta still had every chance to bring home a win but ultimately succumbed to the same demons that have plagued them all season.
As it has been in recent rounds, the effort across the park was largely commendable on the whole but the fact remains that the playing group are letting themselves hugely across a range of fundamental issues.
The root of these problems is perplexing to say the least. Brad Arthur has been a popular target among fans online amidst the understandable backlash of a season that has brutally derailed. Conditioning and the allocation of resources to the football department have been contentious points at various stages this year while the players themselves have attracted plenty of criticism – much of which is valid.
While it is painfully obvious as to how the Eels are caught in this perpetual nightmare, at least when it comes to game day matters, I do not purport to have the answers as to the why of it all. The topic of ‘BA’ on this regard is one of the popular criticisms of this site this year and it has essentially boiled down to a contention that we steadfastly refuse to criticise the head coach.
Personally I feel that when you begin a season 0-6 and sit at 2-8 by Round 10 it should be implicitly be understood that everyone is to blame for the situation. Even beyond that both Sixties and myself have repeatedly and quite publicly lamented the non-selection of Marata Niukore throughout the course of this nightmare run while my criticisms of restart-strategies and even bench management at times are obviously directed beyond just the playing group.
Arthur isn’t immune from criticism here on TCT. However, I will freely admit that he has banked a great deal of good faith from myself and the other founders of this site after first single-handedly dragging this club almost kicking and screaming out of the hole it was in at the end of 2013 and then acting as the beacon for both fans and players to rally around during the near-apocalyptic events of 2016.
Ultimately, neither the coach nor the players are solely to blame for this mess. The answer as with most (but not all) matters of this nature lies somewhere in the middle. I think it is entirely fair to suggest that the Eels misread the adaptations made to the game for the 2018 season – specifically the new ruck interpretations – and that I feel falls on ‘BA’ and his brains trust.
Likewise, there is more than enough evidence this year to suggest that on the rare chance the Eels do execute their fundamentals to a competent degree the game-plan can work…and that I feel is almost entirely on the playing group.
Whoever and what ever is to blame the overriding fact must be that Parramatta has to overcome this immense challenge, just as they did in 2014 and in 2016. It is irrelevant as to whether anyone thinks the finals are beyond us with a margin of error of three games, they are just a bonus at this stage, the Eels must solve the fundamental issues plaguing the team and they must reclaim their identity as a team.
Now, as for the game itself!
The heavy price of defeat
One of the story lines that has flown under the radar in recent weeks is the rapidly mounting injury toll for the Eels. Coming into Round 10 the Eels had seven players riding the pine:
- Tim Mannah – Eye Socket – Round 14
- Kaysa Pritchard – Groin – Round 14
- Kane Evans – Calf – Round 12
- Nathan Brown – Ankle – Round 12
- Jarryd Hayne – Hip flexor – Round 12
- Greg Leleisiuao – Thumb – Round 15
- Tony Williams – ACL – Season
Following the eight point loss to the Bulldogs though there are now clouds over the health of Daniel Alvaro (Concussion) and Beau Scott (Shoulder). Parramatta have only filled out twenty-nine of their Top 30 rosters spots as they desperately pursue a prime-mover in the front-row via a mid-season transfer.
With as many as nine injured Eels come this Tuesday, Brad Arthur will potentially only have twenty fit Top 30 (29) players to pick in his 21. Obviously this might open the path for one or two development players to feature on Team List Tuesday but it is hard to spin this particular outlook as anything but bleak.
A tale of two kicks
While the game may very well have been won and lost across two dozen other decidedly ordinary moments, it is difficult to overlook the contrasting outcomes of grubber kicks laced by Bevan French and Josh Jackson in the second half.
For the Eels it was heartbreak twice over as Michael Jennings – rather contentiously it must be said – was found to have not applied downward pressure with his right hand in the pursuit of an early grubber from French. At the other end of the field it was a rare blemish from Clinton Gutherson that allowed Adam Elliot to capitalise on an air swing from ‘King Gutho’ to score the game-winning try.
It was a microcosm of the season in many ways. Barring the horrors of Round 2, the Eels have constantly battled to put themselves in positions to win or save games only to be let down by their execution.
An understandably shattered Gutherson placed the blame for the loss entirely on his own shoulders after the conclusion of the match. It was certainly an off-game on the balance of play for the talismanic fullback-come-captain after whiffing a chance to put French in for an early brace in the first-half. As noble as his statement may be however, it is entirely unfair to lump him solely with the blame for the defeat. I mentioned it to open this piece but the sum of these problems can not be placed on one player or coach. The team in its entirety simply has to lift.
Pay feeling just fine
Death, taxes and benevolent officiating after a massive fine for criticising the officials. Nothing is surer in life.
While some may decry me for calling the officials out as a reason for why we loss, I think it is fair to suggest I have consistently placed the onus of the team throughout the course of 2018. Friday night was a debacle, there is no more succinct way to phrase it. For the officials to match the Eels in ineptitude is impressive given the depths of misery that Parramatta heaped on themselves through their own errors against the Bulldogs.
Starting with a blatant forward pass from Josh Morris to Brett Morris for the opening try of the game and ending with George Jennings planting a foot on the goal line as he defused a bomb only to be ruled a line drop out, Canterbury were the beneficiaries of a raft of calls throughout the game. There is no doubt that Parramatta should have risen above the handicap, and in 2016 and 2017 they would have, but when everything is falling to shit around you getting caned by the officials puts victory that much more out of your grasp.
Brad Arthur has been admirable in his steadfast refusal to publicly blame officials in his tenure as head coach. It has been a source of frustration among fans, myself and this blog included, but his stoic qualities have reflected in the team as a result…until now at least. Cop out or no, perhaps the thing that ‘BA’ could be do for his team right now is take some of the heat off them from the officials.
The Final Word
Alas my musings are somewhat running short on original source material these days, such is the nature of our performances this year. The Eels have simply failed to learn from their mistake in 2018 and have thus doomed themselves to repeat them to death. Readers of this blog know where I have quite vocally criticised the team for its failings on the field this year so it seems unfair to burden you all with the same thoughts ad nauseam.
As with most of our losses this season there were some genuinely compelling individual performances. Bevan French is back – or close to – his scintillating best while Brad Takairangi and Peni Terepo impressed with powerful showings from centre and prop respectively.
Would this be but a Disney film so all that it would take was an inspiring speech the bring the team together.
Great film by the way.
It isn’t an easy sell after such a demoralising loss but as always, Sportfirst has some of the best deals you can find on Parramatta mechandise and more. As much as the Eels have struggled on the field, they have launched some stellar playing gear so if you want a piece of that popping Indigenous jersey hit the link below and punch in your ‘TCT’ code.
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Agreed, our issues run deep. I love the eels, like a religion, but lets not pretend we are going to turn anything around from where we are at the moment, unless of course you belive in blind faith aka religion.
I agree with you, lets us blood some new kids. Tepai is a player I admire, but he must be having HIA’s in 90% of the games he plays, let us apply duty of care to him, he should not play again this year. It breaks my heart everytime he plays. There is more to life than football.
Love that song by Simon and Garfunkle Forty.
I recall we, Parra were just coming into our renaissance if not our emergence as a thoroughly competitive footy club!
Let’s do it again!
My drink of choice for the last couple’a weeks has been Soy milk Cup o’ chino with the occasional cup of Green Tea. I’m not having anything stronger until we win 3 in a row.
Forty.
A very good, brutal and honest summation, Who to blame, and what to defend?
I sometimes wonder if it might be a good bank deposit for the eels as a club from the very top to make a very honest and open letter to the NRL officialdom about the diabolical incompetent referees that are not just running around the paddocks but ruining around the paddocks. That no try awarded against us was actually repeated in the sharks – raiders match today with an almost identical incident make that try being disallowed, at least it showed up consistency even if it was incompetent.
Problem though is that we have more enemies I believe within the eels network of fair weathered fan base. In all my years of being an eels supporter and going through a lot worse than we are going through today, I never saw the abject bile in the responses from so called fans. That’s as far as I will go with that. But one thing for sure for me is this is a trough, and its a rough trough to try and wade through it, but I believe we will come out the other side much stronger than we are today, also no way am I going to lay the boot in with commentary like found elsewhere, I am not of that ilk and the eels will be my team no matter what, but I would be a lot happier with a few more wins though and be off the bottom of the ladder.
We are on 4 points, the 8th placed teams are on 12, 4 wins apart.
BA, without a doubt needs to take some calculated risks, and that basically means from my perspective 2 things. 1: New faces from within, especially younger ones. Starting finally with Marata. 2: Play to win and that means throwing caution to the wind in the matches and say to the players, you make the calls but you wear the results.
With the news that Kenny is under investigation by the integrity committee we may be without him for some time, so we need someone else from below, Stone should come up into the squad. Hard also to not pick Salmon and lift his pedigree to NRL status.
Finally to finish this joy, is Andrew Voss calling for the NRL to investigate the eels for HIA exploitation. Just to add to the woes. At least this if from outside.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/vossys-verdict-did-parramatta-exploit-the-hia-rules/news-story/3f1c3bd5e9ccd40d346b1d8a9c37a4ca.
Well, well, well!
Doesn’t your musings inspire some thinking outside the box Forty.
I believe we will for one reason or another, have to learn to be patient with the coaching staff and accept that they do know what they’re doing when it comes to assessing the merits of available players in our overall roster. I went to Leichhardt to watch Wenty battle hard in the first half against a spirited Wyong who led with 5 mins to go before halftime, only to smashem in the second stanza? If we are to speculate as to where we could begin to arrest the current status quo? Perhaps it would be prudent to begin with what the players are actually saying which supports what the coaches are doing.
Clint, Corey, Timmy, Jenko, Taka etc all say we are not disciplined for the full 80 mins when it comes to all areas of our play. So do the coaches.
After we lost to the Sharks, Mitch, Gutho, Kedwards and others said we did not make the sharks start their sets where we wanted them to and our kicking game left a lot to be desired. So did the coaches.
We can then look at what BA continues to say week in week out. “We have to be disciplined and patient to give ourselves a chance to play some footy”. We need to get into the grind go set to set with our opponent to earn the right. His example was “Against Manly we didn’t score until about the 30 min mark but got thru our sets and maintained our discipline”. We did much the same against Wests and repeated against the doggies. then imploded with frustration when we couldn’t get over the line having had enough opportunities to win 3 games!
So to summarize, what we need to do is simple, get permission to invest $25,000 in a spray on officials. Get Bernie Gurr to deliver it so BA can maintain his integrity with the refs and his/our team. It’s all their fault, clearly, couldn’t possibly be our team or coaching staff at fault or else all those no-alls on the other site must be right and that’d bring Geoff Toovey into the equation> It’s Ridiculous. There needs to be an investigation into this. It’s Ridiculous! And so are all our excuses! And so are all the fair weather fans!
Go Parra, I’m sticking fats with you good things!
I am usually one to avoid the ref blame game but I am perplexed how when coming from over the ball you can only excert forward momentum on a ball that is touching the ground and apply no downward pressure, and of course that the bunker didn’t intervene to change the restart with the video clearly showing the foot was in goal before the kick was caught. Those two bunker decisions reversed and Parramatta get an undeserved 4 point win, it is amazing how much traction a $25k fine gets you with the officials.
Whinge complete, next round beckons and hopefully Marata gets a run and we can last more than 2 minutes without giving away a penalty!
Sixties/forties are again on the money. Fortunately, this site is the cool voice of reason rather than the crap that filters through on other supporter sites. For the record, there isn’t a bad player playing NRL, and that goes for Parra. Also, the Parramatta forward pack doesn’t suddenly become noncompetitive, and halves don’t suddenly become half-decent. Granted every side could do with a few big bookends, but that’s not the point. Sustained pressure comes from momentum. Parra’s mistake rate has taken the pressure of every team we have played. We limit the mistakes, we gain momentum and build pressure. Forwards go forward and halves play off the back of it. Most teams have grappled with the new interpretation around the ruck – the Sharks V Storm game was the most penalised game I’d ever watched in recent history. But this, coupled with mistakes has been Parra’s enemy. I congratulate Sixties/Forties for their tempered criticism. Ultimately, this team needs our support. BA needs our support, especially given the current injury toll. And given where BA has dragged Parra from, I think the ledger is well and truly tipped in his favour.
Poignant comments Salty. Well done. And we need to support them and will do.
Although my feelings of frustration tend to at time gravitate towards coaching, players, plays and recruitment, overall I tend to agree with Salty here. Well said mate.
Salty, we have made the most tackles in the NRL, we average around 340 per game. That alone says we are giving up a lot of ball. I read some very detailed and technical reasoning for our form, dominant halves, edge forward roles, running lines, bench rotation, dummy half play, etc etc. It’s like an education in Rugby League, it’s great reading, but we are simply giving up too much ball through errors and penalties, and surrendering momentum. We had good stats in our 2 wins.
It would be interesting to create a tape of every error and penalty this year and ask how de we reduce them?
With the penalties I reckon we get pinged for a lot of 50/50 stuff, but surely there’s an approach to try and deal with it.
With promise of a Johnny Walker Blue Label season, unfortunately its turning into a Corio 5 Star season.
Would that I had but more than one upvote to give you my man!
And watered down to boot.
One more thing: Salmon. He’s a gun and a footballer, no doubt. Scored every game in twenties and 3 last week in In-Trust, BUT, he’s coming back from a broken neck! And he is just 19. There is no way BA (who got him to the club – Salmon had clubs chasing him from everywhere) is going to throw him into the NRL before he deems him ready.
SP, I doubt he would be given the nod from the medico’s to play if not ok. Interesting as definitions change over the years, doesn’t seem that long ago that someone with a broken neck would a quadriplegic, can remember the Broncs player Brett Tate having a special neck brace to play the game in his last few years, a very gutsy player.
True Colin. I was just making the point that he is still shy on game time. No doubt his neck is good to go.
I recently broke my neck (C5). I’ve been told that once I’m cleared (ie. the fracture has healed), it will be back to normal and can resume normal activities.
If he’s been given the all clear, he is all good.
I’ve been hoping Salmon could come into the side in the coming weeks if Norman or Moses continued to be shaky, however you raise an excellent point regarding his significant injury. Although he seems to be killing it in the lower grades, i’m sure BA will be waiting until he’s absolutely bursting that door down to play first grade. Marata on the other hand, surely this week!
I think all the points have been made. I would none the less with tongue in cheek address the criticism of BA being not critical enough in the pressor about the refs.
My view is that he is subtle enough to know what is being said without risking the wrath of the powerful referees meetings where they discuss the various players and teams performances.
This silence has meant that Parra gets the best of all the 50/50 calls and our players are never singled out (site Edwards) as trouble makers.
What does this mean? Well one of the things I am judging BA on is that he has made a lot of bad errors this season (hindsight would say before the season commenced)……honesty would be upheld if we mostly agreed on that…..but I hope he has learnt by his mistakes and is not influenced by “barbarous” fans calling him to be more vindictive in the press conferences after the game. i.e. stay subtle BA but please learn that it has to mean something if you hide your wrath.
I remember one of the “great” dilemma’s when Ray Higgs and Terry Fearnley (commencing at half time in a grand final replay),fell out after the Rod Reddy and Gary Cook hiding of Ray Price.
Fearnley lost badly because of his refusal to retaliate and I lost one of my most favourite players ever to Manly.
I hope my parallels are not lost on those around to remember that horror.
Nothing this season produces will ever compare to that atrocity!
My advice to BA is say what you think, be careful saying it and start using a sledge hammer at all points raised inside and outside of the team.
Lets not forget that when Arthuson heard of Higgs signing he made some public comments in regard to how he was expected to play for manly, and he better be more controlled in how he played or he would be moved on.
no arguments there col, it was more about the circumstances that allowed it to happen. very sad!
After watching another Wenty game on the weekend, it seems that the same issues plague both grades regarding discipline & ball security (even though we won).
BA has earned a free pass for the short term future after what he has done for Parra. His position should be safe until at least this time next year. But he does appear worn out & void of solutions, maybe the past few years have taken quite a toll on him. More Questions than Answers.
Is he too close to the players?
Like the team, is he guilty of trying too hard?
Why wont he drop the serial offenders regarding the discipline & game mgmt he keeps talking about?
Even acknowledging the injuries, there’s been some really strange selection decisions from the outside looking in.
Following the Parra certainly is character building to say the least. Can’t wait until we get some cattle back over the coming rounds. Either way, good or bad… Go Eels!
MattL if we look at things realistically and with a degree of rationality there is a lot going on with the teams. I watched the Wenty game on Saturday from the point where they were in front and then Wyong scored before half time. What I saw from both sides was a game very much like 2nd division always has been. The second half though Wenty showed what they had even with mistakes. For me, the likes of Stone, Salmon, Dane Akafolou and Kafusi which I understand was his first game at that level each show they will do well at higher levels.
The aspect with the eels though is that ATM we have only to look at the injury list to see aspects of our problem
Kirisome Auva’a Ribs Indefinite
Tony Williams ACL Next Season
Jarryd Hayne Hip Round 12
Kane Evans Calf Round 12
Tim Mannah Eye socket Round 14
Kaysa Pritchard Groin Round 14
Greg Leleisiuao Thumb Round 15
The other aspect is that of the 2 big props that were trotted out against the dogs, really are just making up the numbers even though in the past they have showed worth, Williams was also showing value but blame him for the injury as all do with Kaysa, they are at fault? How many other teams have the same problem but they also have good back ups, We have both Gutho and Bev just back from injury, losing Tep again is a worry also. Scott I doubt anyone would have thought he would have dropped in class the way he has.
Looking at the dogs, they lost a few players to other sides owing to the cap, but they only have one player I Tolman out injured, and seriously who should have won on Friday nite except for a reject Pommie ref and who was his offsiders as well?
With the skills and match experience even in Wenty, the core of our future will be what was seen at Wenty on Saturday and I believe a few of those who are still in the NRL squad.
If we can only look down, we can never see the sky nor the horizon, just the gloom under the feet, as you go on kicking stones.
Kenny Edwards back in the news again.
Can anyone please explain why Parramatta has had by far the worst off field discipline in the NRL by an unbelievably long stretch?
I guess the coaching staff will be exhortated from this as well. I don’t know
Can someone please explain why we’ve had so many incidents ?
I think its a fair question, and it’s the primary news story around the club this week
The worst?
Nobody wants headlines like the ones from Kenny Edwards, but I hardly think the Eels have the worst.
What would you like, the list on how many incidents there have been in the last few years mate ? There would have to be at least 10 – 15 player incidents off the top of my head.
Tell me, which club has had more than this.
I have absolutely no doubt Parramatta top the list sixties
Tim Mannah – has been good
Kaysa Pritchard – wouldn’t make any other team’s starting side. King overtook him last year
Kane Evans – dropped to wenty – wouldn’t make any other team’s starting side
Nathan Brown – big loss
Jarryd Hayne – now injury prone
Greg Leleisiuao – hasn’t even debut yet
Tony Williams – wouldn’t make any other team’s starting side or 17.
In my opinion there’s only 3 players whowould make a difference.
3 players injured is standard at thispoint of the season.
Penrith have a few crucial positional injuries and are near the top.of the ladder
Kaysa had to get a season ending (bar a stupid bench time with 10 minutes on the paddock) that allowed King to take over.
Hi Forty. I feel your pain brother. Regardless, its just footy so I’ll keep hoping next week things improve. Surely Marata has to play this week. If so heres hoping he gets game time which isnt a given watching our recent bench rotations.
Re French. I love the guys skill and speed but goodness he provides little else of what is required of a winger in todays game. 4 runs for 50 meters of which most would have been from his and Guthos trys involvement. Not good enough Forty surely. I see guys his size and smaller rucking it out with good results. Ado Carr, Thompson, Dufty etc. We need so much more from Bevan.
Bev is not Semi and therefore cannot do a forwards job, he has a lot more to offer but only off a platform that allows same…..no criticism of Guth but he hasn’t made a break from fullback or bent the line bringing it back.
I want to use Ado Carr as an example…..Taylor got rid of him from Wests because of the type of judgement you are making of French.
Can you imagine how effective French would be behind the support of a Melbourne Storm. Ado Carr will be amongst the first half dozen chosen for NSW this year.
Unfortunately talent identification is/can be very subjective, most people with limited vision struggle to see what is in front of them without even trying to look around.
One of the real shames of this season’s performance is going to be Parra’s ability to hold and attract good players……we have lost the magic we had and no longer are people going to come to us because it will be for their own betterment…..we will being paying overs again!
Pops agree re Bev, although he showed good skills on Friday night, he could have bagged another try except for the hopelessly over high pass he could not reach despite his efforts.
Also, just like Gutho as both of them are still feeling their way back after injury. Realistically to me the injuries to key players and the length of time out has had a big affect on the team. I still only see 5-7 of the off contract players to get an extension next year.
While only half a game one player who impressed me with Wenty on Saturday was the young Oregon Kafusi. Reminds me a bit of the Fooey boy at a much younger stage.
Colin I have read elsewhere that the reason Keppie was allowed to go to Manly was because of the Eels desire to keep Kafusi.
Poppa I am not sure how much pull BA has in signing players but irrespective if you want the best you have to pay “Overs” as you put it. Refer Taumololo, McLean and Jack Bird off the top of my head. All went to perceived good clubs on overs.
John, interesting! I don’t recollect seeing Keppie play but he had good reports though. As I said when I saw Kafusi come on to the field he certainly showed some skills, strong runner and did not shirk the tackles either.
Cannot find anything about his age though. While only part of a game I thought he did well