STATS THAT MATTA
Round 3
EELS 18 (Tries: M. Sivo x 2, B Ferguson Goals: M. Moses 3 from 3)
Defeated by
ROOSTERS 32 (Tries: J. Tedesco x 2, M. Aubusson, V. Radley, S. Taukeiaho. Goals: L. Mitchell 6 from 7)
Friday, March 29 2019
ANZ Stadium
Crowd: 13,367
Never mind the score line. The Eels put in a powerful performance to send shock waves through the NRL competition. In probably the game of the season thus far, the lead changed five times until the gallant Eels just ran out of steam and the Roosters were able to put on three quick tries to seal their win.
In no way can the Eels hang their heads low. Anybody who says that the Eels didn’t put in, doesn’t know their rugby league. For a team that more than likely would have been down 32 – 0 at half time last season, the Eels have come a long way in a very short period of time.
For mine there were only a couple of things that did let us down. Twice we scored and twice we lost the ball in the opening return set. It’s dead set blasphemy in rugby league to not complete after putting on points. The Blake Ferguson one definitely left us on the back foot for which we didn’t recover.
The Victor Radley try was a shame as our ‘A’ defenders fell asleep and the young ‘Billy Slater’ took full advantage. No doubt BA and his team would have worked on this at training this week. That last 15 minutes with the Roosters pumping our line was just relentless. We did fare well with all that pressure, but something had to give. This is a game we truly can learn off and I believe we will.
One thing I was absolutely filthy at was the Jake Friend injury.
After injuring his shoulder, Friend was walking off. The Eels were hammering the Roosters line and the Roosters were at sixes and sevens. Friend walked about 10 metres or so with the trainer then all of a sudden he falls to the ground. The ref stops play and there goes the Eels momentum and the Roosters can now have time to set their defensive line.
It appeared that the trainer advised him to do this as word would have come down from Robinson himself. It’s the win at all cost mentality that comes from the Roosters. But if it was the other way round, I bet Robinson would have been blowing up deluxe and on the phone to Todd and the ref’s bosses right after the game.
Rant over.
Lets now look at the Stats that Matta.
Score Flow
| Parramatta Eels | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H | Minute | Name | Event | Score |
| 1 | 5 | B.Ferguson | TRY | 4 – 0 |
| 1 | 7 | M.Moses | CONVERSION | 6 – 0 |
| 1 | 9 | J.Tedesco | TRY | 6 – 4 |
| 1 | 10 | L.Mitchell | CONVERSION MISS | 6 – 4 |
| 1 | 17 | L.Mitchell | PENALTY GOAL | 6 – 6 |
| 1 | 30 | L.Mitchell | PENALTY GOAL | 6 – 8 |
| 2 | 48 | M.Sivo | TRY | 10 – 8 |
| 2 | 50 | M.Moses | CONVERSION | 12 – 8 |
| 2 | 52 | M.Aubusson | TRY | 12 – 12 |
| 2 | 52 | L.Mitchell | CONVERSION | 12 – 14 |
| 2 | 58 | M.Sivo | TRY | 16 – 14 |
| 2 | 59 | M.Moses | CONVERSION | 18 – 14 |
| 2 | 61 | V.Radley | TRY | 18 – 18 |
| 2 | 62 | L.Mitchell | CONVERSION | 18 – 20 |
| 2 | 68 | S.Taukeiaho | TRY | 18 – 24 |
| 2 | 69 | L.Mitchell | CONVERSION | 18 – 26 |
| 2 | 72 | J.Tedesco | TRY | 18 – 30 |
| 2 | 74 | L.Mitchell | CONVERSION | 18 – 32 |
Game Stats
 |
Team Stats
Full Time |
 |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | Possession (%) | 55 |
| 28/37 (76) | Complete/Total Sets (%) | 28/37 (76) |
| 37:48 | Time – Opposition Half | 42:37 |
| 14:18 | Time – Opposition 20 | 17:05 |
| 1961 | Metres Gained | 2028 |
| 11 | Scrum Win | 8 |
| 1 | Goal Line Dropout | 3 |
| 7 | Penalty Conceded | 8 |
| 0 | Forty Twenty | 0 |
 |
Team Stats
First Half |
 |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | Possession (%) | 50 |
| 16/22 (73) | Complete/Total Sets (%) | 14/20 (70) |
| 23:22 | Time – Opposition Half | 17:00 |
| 6:58 | Time – Opposition 20 | 8:47 |
| 1109 | Metres Gained | 1040 |
| 6 | Scrum Win | 5 |
| 0 | Goal Line Dropout | 1 |
| 5 | Penalty Conceded | 5 |
| 0 | Forty Twenty | 0 |
 |
Team Stats
Second Half |
 |
|---|---|---|
| 41 | Possession (%) | 59 |
| 12/15 (80) | Complete/Total Sets (%) | 13/16 (81) |
| 14:26 | Time – Opposition Half | 25:37 |
| 7:20 | Time – Opposition 20 | 8:18 |
| 851 | Metres Gained | 989 |
| 5 | Scrum Win | 3 |
| 1 | Goal Line Dropout | 2 |
| 2 | Penalty Conceded | 3 |
| 0 | Forty Twenty | 0 |
That weight of possession in the second half, especially the final 20 minutes, finally put the game to bed for the Roosters. Teams with around that 60% possession rate in the second half are in the box seat.
Could the Eels have prevented that?
There were only three incomplete sets by Parra in the second half, but the errors made were momentum changing. There are errors and there are ERRORS. We know what type ours were.
Player Stats
Totals
 |
 |
|
| Runs | 147 | 156 |
| Run Metres | 1471 | 1469 |
| Tackles | 322 | 268 |
| Missed Tackles | 29 | 19 |
| Tackle Ineffective | 7 | 26 |
| Effective Tackle Rate | 90% | 86% |
| Errors | 12 | 10 |
Heat Maps
Set Starts
Some very good field position to start our sets. We did apply a lot of pressure to the Roosters. Though this was failed to to be seen by ‘experts’, it was this pressure that kept challenging the Roosters on the field and on the scoreboard.
Runs/Hit Ups
We needed a bit more grunt work in the Roosters side of the field. Perhaps more credit needs to go to the Roosters in limiting our ability to bend their line more than we did.
But all in all a great effort form the Eels.
Summary
As stated in my opening, we did play very well and everyone should be proud of our effort.
Weight of possession and vital errors just saw us fade in the end with all that defending.
As we play our last home game at ANZ Stadium against the Sharks, the Blue and Gold Army should be buoyed by the fact that we are in with a very strong chance of beating the Sharks.
For mine, the Sharks aren’t in fantastic form. And the loss of Matt Moylan and a potentially needled up (every pun intended) Paul Gallen, will put a bit more pressure on the Sharks.
If we come out with the same attitude we did against the Roosters, and lift our intensity as we did against the Panthers and Bulldogs, I can see a very strong win for the Eels.
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.
Colmac, don’t see any player shown with errors against/under their names.
The big thing that as a playing group they have to watch is to guard against the little things, such as early turn overs and the like. Also to hold the ball as you cannot score or make ground without it.
Seems a childish way of putting things but realistically the silly errors cost us.
There weren’t many but they were costly Col.
Colmac superb work my friend.
The friend injury was laughable and again no consistency from refs and we should do the same if this occurs.
Radley try was terrible and made me cringe like last season. There was some poor errors and we need to hit back this wkend and fast imo.
Good read
Reactive not proactive around marker with that Radley try I reckon Milo.
Great Stats Colmac and a very good light shone on the chooks tactics when Friend went down. Are we honestly expected to believe the refs were not privvy to what was going on and how great an impact it would have on our momentum? What’s wrong with the Bunker showing some initiative here and advising the clowns with the whistle?
Watch for more teams doing this. I just hope that it’s dealt with consistently, not ignoring some teams injuries but stopping play with others. That’s where problems occur.
I think you hit the nail on the head. 41% possession in the second half is always going to be very hard to defend. This was brought about as you say by some very costly errors in our own half. We just need to be very vigilant in our own half – not giving away possession and penalties which almost always lead to tries.
That last 15-20 minutes was telling with possession. Not many teams could defend against that possession late in the game. Of course the key is to not gift possession – make the opposition earn it.
59/41 possession second half says it all. I can recall Roosters getting repeat sets from a kick ricochet (30 mtrs our) and a Lane knock on (from a high ball on our line) after the Fergo knock on.Colmac, I don’t think these are in your 3 errors as our sets hadn’t started. At the 60 minute mark, I reckon we still had a bit in our legs and to me the Roosters were there to be plucked.
As a side issue, I think WareaHargreaves might be thinking ‘that Parra pack is a bit scarier this year’…he has made a habit of burning us off for a few years now.
It was willing out in the middle BDon, and I especially liked the impact from Oregon.
When that ricochet happened you could tell the luck was falling the Roosters way. But, good teams do make their own.
The numbers do tell a story, agree Colmac 40% possession in the 2nd half against a quality side was telling and the ERRORs were 1st tackle type errors at the wrong end of the field. The backs made good yards again though the Roosters did match our forwards and won the yardage game. Interestingly Evans led the metres gained for the forwards, that must be a first. Hoping for the ‘strong win’ against the Sharks suggested!
DDay, we can’t criticise Kane Evans performances this year. May he continue to find form.