Parramatta Eels 14
Newcastle Knights 28
Newcastle Knights 28
The Good: |
Well I guess we sort of, kinda, made an attempt of a comeback.
… I guess. |
The Bad: |
Like an ex-girlfriend whose number you just can’t bring yourself to delete, the Eels somehow once again manage to both miraculously establish and subsequently fail to live up to their fans’ hopes and expectations.
If you’re an Eels fan, I bet this tragically feels like home. Giving their fans plenty of joy and optimism one week, and then putting in a completely inept performance against the team coming last the next is extremely on brand for the Parramatta Eels.
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The X-Factor: |
Firstly, the Eels were simply not good enough today and they thoroughly deserved to get beaten. Second, I absolutely detest bringing the refs into the post game discussion but there were three absolutely horrific calls that went against the Eels.
40th minute – Clint Gutherson’s pass is called forward; this would have resulted in a Sivo try. 42nd minutes – Blake Ferguson ruled to have “dropped” the ball on the 1st tackle. Spoiler: It was clearly raked. 56th minute – Michael Jennings penalised for a “high” tackle defending the Eels’ line. Judging by the commentators’ collective responses, these weren’t 50/50 calls and obviously really hurt the Eels’ ability to mount the unlikeliest of comebacks. End rant. Interestingly, the Knights had more missed tackles (38 to 34), and the same number of errors (10) and penalties as the Eels. They clearly just played better than we did. As an aside, the Eels have still only beaten the Knights twice in the last 11 years. File that next to the Raiders in Canberra stat under H for ‘Hoodoo’. |
The MVP:
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Tim Mannah continues to turn back the clock, and very little of what happened out there today was Oregon Kaufusi or Shaun Lane’s fault. Michael Jennings also had an unheard of 10 tackle breaks, and Reed Mahoney made a bucket full of tackles. Still, I thought Maika Sivo was dangerous every time he touched the ball; effectively playing both in the forwards and in the backs for the Eels.
The big Fijian 2.0 had 16 runs for 179 metres, 3 linebreaks and 7 tackle breaks. Today, in arguably our most disappointing performance of the year, Maika Sivo is my vote for MVP. … yay. |
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1- Clint Gutherson (c)Fullback, Parramatta Eels |
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| To be fair, Gutho is likely still exhausted from running more metres than Forrest Gump last week against the Tigers, and from constantly swatting away reporters’ questions about his contract status in every media session.
Don’t get me started on the Lachlan Fitzgibbon try between he and Fergo. |
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Still, this was a very poor game from our most reliable player in Season 2019. I suspect there’s an injury at play here with Gutho’s 6 runs and 54 metre game, because this game was almost the complete opposite of what we’ve come to expect from The Lemon King. |
2- Maika SivoLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels |
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| Maika had a first half try, and probably should have had a second if it weren’t for an aforementioned overzealous forward pass call from the touch judge.
Still, Sivo’s rise is probably the most encouraging aspect of today’s dire loss. |
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3- Michael JenningsLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels |
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| Continuing to distance himself from whoever was impersonating him last year, Michael Jennings had an absolutely incredible 10 tackle breaks this afternoon, paired with 16 runs, 156 metres, 10 tackles and linebreak. Experiencing this Michael Jennings renaissance is quite the time to be alive. | ||
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4- Brad TakairangiRight Centre, Parramatta Eels |
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| It was wonderful work from Brad Takairangi to extend his leg back into the in-goal and swallow up a very difficult catch in the 50th minute. In fact, it was the subsequent 7 tackle set that led to Manu’s try to bring the Eels within 6 of the Knights. His 9 runs for 97 metres, 3 offloads and 2 tackle breaks were also rather excellent. | ||
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5- Blake FergusonRight Wing, Parramatta Eels |
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| It was just good to see him back out there, catching bombs and yelling obscenities at his teammates. Despite a lacklustre performance hindered from his injury, Fergo still ran for over 100 metres (114) from his 14 carries, and had a terrific first half try assist filling in at fullback. However, the aforementioned Fergo/Gutho stop and stare for Lachlan’ Fitzgibbon’s try was completely unacceptable from two of our star players; hence the majority of the grade’s sting. | ||
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6- Jaeman SalmonFive Eighth, Parramatta Eels |
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| Once again, I thought Jaeman played well, and he continues to play good football in general, particularly for someone his age. On the downside, he did miss 4 tackles of his 18 tackle attempts; 3 of these in the opening 25 minutes. | ||
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7- Mitchell MosesHalfback, Parramatta Eels |
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It’s normally the greatest of compliments, but maybe more than any other player, Mitchell Moses embodies the nature, and at times the fortunes, of the Parramatta Eels.  Are we brilliant or so so? How can you tell when he/we can be so different one week to the next? In regards to this week, I won’t lie to you Mitch, that wasn’t great.
Today, Mitch seemed to channel the Moses of old, and not in a cool, biblical way, either. At the very least, Mitch didn’t appear to get all that flustered, and I thought he looked like he was putting in for the full 80 minutes; statements I couldn’t always make about him (among plenty of others) in 2018. |
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14- Peni TerepoProp, Parramatta Eels |
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| Nope. | ||
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9- Reed MahoneyHooker, Parramatta Eels |
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| His game was far from perfect, and funnily enough his missed tackles both directly and indirectly led to a couple of Knights tries. Nonetheless, this afternoon Reed had one mammoth aspect to his game in particular:
Reed’s service was once again stellar. Sure, he’s young, he’s still learning and he is not perfect; but it is still very good to have this young bloke running around in the Blue & Gold. |
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10- Junior PauloProp, Parramatta Eels |
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Junior’s defensive issues stood out like a spotlight today, missing 4 crucial tackles in the middle. His running game (8 for 73 metres) was also a little underdone by his high standards, despite including 3 tackle breaks. Look for the big fella to return to form in a big way next week against the Dragons. |
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11- Shaun LaneSecond Row, Parramatta Eels |
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| There’s currently a push to rename Parramatta’s Church Street “Shaun Lane” and I’m all for it. The tall drink of water got through 89 metres in his 8 runs, as well as a linebreak, tackle break and 31 tackles (with only one miss).
Glide on, the Beast Lane. |
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12- Marata NiukoreSecond Row, Parramatta Eels |
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A Reed-less team high 38 tackles for Marata this afternoon at Marathon Stadium, along with 10 runs for a surprisingly contained 77 running metres. In other news, I heard Marata is so tough he has a tattoo of his own face, over the top of his own face. |
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13- Tepai MoeroaLock, Parramatta Eels |
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It was a tale of two Tepais today, as he was stellar in defence – making 37 tackles with only one miss. However, I much preferred Tepai’s attacking stats from last week, as opposed to the 5 run, 34 metre edition we got this afternoon. To be fair, he did manage to break 3 Knights tackles, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom. |
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15- Tim MannahInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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| The Big Easy just keeps on coming. His 9 run, 106 metre stint put several young middles to shame, as do his 4 tackle breaks and 22 tackles with only 1 miss.
I’m 35, but I want to be Tim Mannah when I grow up. |
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16- Oregon KaufusiInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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| As Oregon grows in experience, so too does my confidence in his game. He once again very much looked like he belonged at an NRL level with 8 runs, 73 metres, 2 tackle breaks and 12 tackles. | ||
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17- Ray StoneInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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Ray Stone play football. Ray Stone play good. |
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18- Manu Ma’uInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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| Evidently Manu was under the impression that he was required to make up 7 missed games worth of runs in his return from injury.
His team-high 16 hit ups is a little bit ridiculous from a bloke who started from the bench, leading to a terrific 124 metres to go with his 22 tackles. He was also rewarded with a try, which he chose to celebrate in one of the more unorthodox fashions I’ve seen in recent years. Also, what a glorious head of hair on the world’s scariest man, making its debut this afternoon for Season 2019. |
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Excuse me while I go take up drinking whilst watching the highlights from last week.
Suddenly next week against the impressive St George Dragons feels a little bit like a must win.
I am looking forward to it a little bit less than I was 80 minutes ago, I can only hope the players feel the exact opposite.
See you then sports fans.
Go you Eels,
Mitch.
Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels. Stats courtesy of the legends over at Champion Data.
Yeah, good call. Canberra got beaten to so it shows that for most teams, there isn’t a lot of difference on their good days. We will get better but we are still in fifth spot. Cheers.
Yeah agree with all of this, good stuff mate.
Paulo should learn to tackle up high 2 metres out from there own line. Can’t blame reed for the tries. Juniors defensive decisions were horrible today.
We kept hanging in there against all adversity. The policing of the ruck was very different for the teams. I am proud the boys stuck solid, their belief in their teams mates is awe inspiring!
The 1st 3rd of the game was dictated by the refs.The speed in the ruck they afforded the Knights compared to us was chalk and cheese.
The 2nd 3rd of the game we started to play some good footy.
The 3rd 3rd we capitulated. We are a team on the rise not a team at the helm.
Whilst Moses is learning his craft, and after me lambasting him in the preseason….
I was most dissapointed in JP tonight, yes, the whole team was poor (maybe Laneo and Mannah the exceptions), but Junior with his missed tackles, and whilst I dont mind him playing like a 5/8, those second phases passes of his were hospital passes. He was going through the motions instead of playing what was in front of him. I have never seen him play such a poor game. We all have bad days. I was thinking JP was a shoe in for Origin this year. I posted this here as I agree with KP’s sentiments.
Paulo, play though the middle against the Saints this week and earn the right to offload to a player in a better position, otherwise tuck it under your arm and run at the line.
The positive? we are in 5th place on the ladder.
Great comment mate. Well said.
Was very disappointed with how we responded after Manu’s try. Maybe the most disappointing aspect of the game when you consider the flow of possession in the opening stanza.
Thanks Mitch. After thinking about my comments on JP, in defense he had those lapses, we were out on our feet. In offensive, I think the word I was looking for when JP had the ball in his hands was predictable. The knights knew exactly how the pass was going to hit. I like our forwards playing the ball, we need to continue the evolution and come up with some more tricks. Whilst not always possible, offloading with 3 players on JP will open up the park for us.
Paulo looked very pedestrian against Newcastle, exactly how he played before he left us the first time. Is anyone questioning Brad Arthurs ability to get this team up, I mean that was the one game, he and the team should have shined after such a significant win, but gee they looked poor through the warm up, I knew we were going to get a smack. Also how badly was Brad Arthur attired for the Anzac celebration, I genuinely found this distasteful, to what this round represents.
Agreed. I/everyone could tell we were going to concede when we were attempting to tackle rampaging forwards 2-3 metres out (instead of 6-7 if we moved up properly.
A fair description overall Cumberland throw very disappointed in our intensity today I just don’t understand we had a full six days to recover from Easter Monday and we still couldn’t get up for game like today I’m front of Newcastle’s home crowd ,Brad Arthur did say during the week this should show where we are at in intensity and how much we have improved it might be one game but we are still four from seven at the beginning of the season I did say if we are four from eight ,r u guys comfortable with this IM NOT
Agree, very disappointing effort, and think plenty more will be on display in our 80 minutes on Sunday. Thanks for reading mate.
I agree Ray!
I can’t agree with the c+’s maybe Moeroa but Moses and Blake were poor. Fergo should have sat out another week. Taka should be a c+ as well.
The rest of the grades were fair.
Our bench was better than our starters and sivo deserves props. Tim mannah was fantastic and I wish the rest of the pack followed lead. Love how he keeps the legs pumping in the tackle.
Pretty disappointing knowing that knights would try start fast. The lack of enthusiasm was concerning.
Refs were rubbish but we were worse.
Sad note to end the weekend on.
I must admit, I was allowing myself to be distracted mid game (turning the TV off in moments of anger), so I take your point.
Hopefully a better end to this weekend. Thanks for reading mate.
We were dreadful today and so were some of the refs decisions but I think you’re incorrect with a couple of those calls. For mine the Gutherson pass was forward as was the pass for the first try from ferguson. With the Jennings high tackle I think they made the correct call as their play was concussed. The shot may have bounced of the ball but its still struck him in the head.
An area that I have noticed Parra lack is their wrestling ability. To my knowledge Parra don’t currently have a wrestling coach in their staff and it shows much like it did against the Roosters. Our players solely rely on good contact from the initial tackle to dominate the ruck and when that doesn’t occur we struggle to control the ruck leaving players lying on the floor. Teams will most likely continue to attempt to beat us directly though the middle unless we fix this area up.
Anyway, hopefully we get another good crowd at Parra next week
Sorry Paul, but that Jennings high shot on review did not show his arm connecting with the head, the ball was carried highis on the chest by the NCL player came off the ball and his forearm was low on the neck, with his wrist and hand at shoulder height on the players left shoulder.
There were many more of similar tackles by the NCLE players and eels yesterday, mostly covered up from the refs view by more than one tackler.
I agree with you on the wrestling tackle aspect but, what I saw with NCLE was they had more of a swarm tactic of pitting up to 5 in the tackle on several occasions, which would have been draining on the tackled player, that tactic allowed the 5 to pressure down on the tackled player and once momentum stopped, 2 or 3 would get up and be back in the line (often off side still but not picked up) ready for the next play to attack. In some ways it was like a heavy dominant tackle that allows for more time to get up by the tacklers.
I was there. Just something that annoyed me at the game. It took about 30 mins before the Main Ref Atkins stood with Newcastle when Eels had the ball. He had Eels back a good 10 metres at all times. Assistant Ref Butler was lucky if he had Newcastle back 9 metres, and then allowing Pearce to get even more offside as he wanted. It was frustrating to watch. Atkins started doing his proper job as Main Ref more in the 2nd half when the match was really gone after 20-0. The 2 refs refereed different games. This is my observation viewing the game from high in the stand. We won’t go further into what I saw as the Fergo “rake” and the “shoulder high” tackle giving penalties to the Knights.
What today proved is that we still have a long way to go, consistency is still just a dream. I hope the team didn’t turn up today because they thought they had already won!!
Anon, coming down off the highs of last Monday was always going to be the big problem for them. The big team selection muffing for me was having Peni start the match rather than Tim. When Tim came on he showed up all the other eels forwards and needed to be there to pull the team together and get their feet back on the ground and heads not looking for clouds in the air.
He led with his runs by example and that’s what we need from a captain.
Colin, they are a professional sporting team, they get paid to play well, week in, week out. Why would you they not maintain the high for the weeks ahead, because the coach doesn’t deliver the mental toughness through his guys.
You tread on thin ice with B.A. doubting here Max. You are obviously correct to my way of seeing it.He appears to know their intent and attitude fluctuate week to week yet cannot correct it. Maybe some good old face slapping instead of a group hug singing Kumbaya!
Yeah I HATE ref bashing, but it really was something else. To be clear, we deserved to lose, but it wasn’t 50/50 for large parts of the game IMO.
Crap day Graz and I see your points. I assumed we would not get the rub of the green. Its a one town city but some calls we have to own. Not a good day and a game we should have one…and this will come back to hurt us I feel in the pursuit of the 8.
You don’t get the long view of every ruck on TV, but the Knights were constantly 1-2 mtrs advanced when the ball was being played, and mostly right in front of the 2nd ref. Same tactics as Raiders with no early whistle. This gives a team a massive leg up in dominating. Big problem, we have no idea how to deal with it. If the refs don’t blow it up, our strategy of compliance with 10 mtrs and no wrestling/holding down becomes a liability. When Atkins finally started pinging the Knights we competed better, but Pearce still gambled that dodgy line speed is the right game plan. The overall speed of their game defied gravity. We did well to hang in and avoid a blowout.
Interesting, in the Manly v Raiders game, every aspect of the Raiders play drew penalties, including being caned for 10mtrs ( or I should say 8). They lost to a depleted Manly team whose discipline was far better and got rewarded.
Having said all that, we looked mentally and physically flat for first 25 minutes. Taka’s tap restart and the look on Mahoney’s face as the ball sailed above him towards the sky summed it all up.
This reply BDon. I can’t add more than you have.
Tks sixties. Could I just add that Reed’s look was not negative, he’s a total team man, just a poker player with hardly a blink, but he was thinking ‘I’m first man off the ball but what’s it doing up there’…
How disappointing. The Eels were out-emphused again (like the Roosters and Canberra).
Sadly it felt like the team from 2018 – expecting to win based on reputation without winning the ruck. The refs were pro Newcastle but that is what happens when you play at home. Gutho’s rating is arguably generous – certainly his first half was a “D”. The bench played well, would have liked to see Stone play more minutes. Agree Dragons is now a must win.
I was talking to friends after the game, and had him much higher originally – I had completely blocked out the Fergo Gutho error for Fitzgibbon’s try!
Here’s hoping we can remember how to get back to our best for Sunday.
Today was disappointing but in truth it took me two days to stop buzzing after Easter Monday, the team looked the same. Today was the perfect storm, a desperate team who had been bagged all week at home with big vocal crowd, couple that with us coming off a high and a referee who loved the sound of his whistle.I am happy they came back. Fergo, Gutho and Marata looked sore, really sore every time they played the ball. Love Junior but he was not on at all today. We forget our forwards played big minutes on Monday with all the HIA’s. It showed today. Our freshest forward Manu was very good. Peni was terrible. Love him but he had one of those games, he has two- three each year and today was certainly it.
Mannah was outstanding, Jennings tried really hard to turn momentum.
Move on, we are 4/7 and 5th. It is not all doom and gloom.
I can’t disagree with much here Mitch TCT. Its just so frustrating watching them today; I had to watch my p’s and q’s around home. To me Parra look a little like Canberra of a few yrs ago…..inconsistent. When hot they are hot, when cold we are bloody avg. I know we have some inexperienced players in the team but some others made some poor errors today. Anyway I cannot say much more. It just makes things that little harder as Saints coming off a loss too and they showed some good effort this week.
To me the next 5-6 matches till our bye will tell how the season will unfold. We have to really put in up to the bye and snag an away win or two….
Mitch. OMG what did I see this afternoon thought I was watching the Eels of 2018 😱
I watched the Game n for mine this ref will be punted next week he was very poor. Like for the life of me why did he go up to the video ref to check on Manu try 🤔 he was right beside him.
On the strip of Ferguson omg why didn’t the video ref talk to the middle ref n have it over turned 🤔 they over turned a call last week vs West tiger’s.
Michael Jennings high shot your kidding me right high if that’s high then I’m going to Mars to Live. Tell me are we really that short on experience In The refs ranks. Who was this guy some of his decision making was of a very poor standard. No matter what though there still my team win lose or draw.
Rev. Last year he was the pin up boy for the NRL as he was shown in the promo TV video running on to the ground, should have either shut that gate or opened one up on the other side and hoped he kept going through it.
Colin, that is Graeme Atkins’s son, yes our 81 GF winger…..
Gee! what in blazes happened? Met Graeme a couple of times and a good player especially at the back, I wonder how they get on especially in discussing eels games.
Those two ref decisions (along with the forward pass) killed me mate.
I can’t believe the touchie didn’t make the call on Fergo in particular.
With all the noise about Newcastle how under pressure the coach is the players underperforming every man and his dog knew an ambush was coming and we gave it up poorly to be behind the eight ball after 20 minutes. For mine the next two games against St George Illawarra and Melbourne will be a true indicator of where we are at in the ideal and perfect world we win both but realistically we need to win 1 of the 2 and then we go into the middle third of the season in reasonable shape. We can’t afford another start like that next week or the Dragons will put us to the sword.
Spot on Anon. After the emotion has gone out of yesterday’s game, I’m now very keen for a chance at redemption.
Got good value from Mau, Stone, Mannah and Kafusi.today..The Knights are the Eels bogey team…..as are the bloody Titans…On the other hand, the Dragons and Manly have struggled against Parra over the past four years.,…
The Knights played very well today…Best game I have seen Pearce play.,.he doiminated us…
Yeah we have a couple of bogey teams, at least we knocked the Sharks off that perch earlier this season.
What really disappointed me, in an overall disappointing performance, was that they just didn’t learn and adjust through the game. The Knights consistently got good metres from dummy half, as they were getting quick play the balls from not being rolled onto their back, and our markers just weren’t in position. In contrast, the Knights managed to slow our play the balls quite effectively most of the game.
Moses was consistently under pressure with his kicks, which was costing us field position. And yet, he didn’t stand a metre or two deeper for more time, and nobody else took the kicks to shift the attention. I commented last week that I thought Mahoney kicking out of dummy half was really effective, and this week certainly backed that up.
Yes, some of the ref calls seemed poor at the ground, but I haven’t found the heart to watch the replay after I got home to judge just how poor. And to be frank, you’re always gunna get some go against you; we need to be better at handling them.
On the upside, Mannah was really good again. It’s good to have Manu back, along with pre-2018 Jenko. Other than the marker defence, it seemed to be primarily individual misses or lapses that led to problems; there was plenty of sound goal-line defence, given we did a lot of it due to our poor field position throughout the match. And we’re still fifth, and about as consistent as the other teams who are sitting one the same number of wins, so there’s no need to hit the panic button just yet.
With such an inexperienced spine, these games are gunna happen. What guts me is that so many of us, BA included, highlighted the danger of a lack of intensity this week, and yet that’s still what we got. I think the players need to wear the responsibility for that.
What would the score have been if the M & M’s for the eels were not playing? Mannah and Mahoney. Oldest and near youngest in the team? Mannah at his pension age showed up all the others in the pack and bench for mine, maybe he could give some of his blood and have it given to the others in the pack. The other young forwards also tried.
I also tend to think after last weeks win they thought all they had to do was run on to the paddock and win, their heads were still in round 6 mode, at games end.
Well said (although at first I thought you meant Mitch and Moses)!
Telling it how it is… as always.
Appreciate you reading mate.
Unfortunately I saw that result coming all week. We were very poor in the opening 20-25 mins. I was happy we managed to stop the flow of points. Last year we wouldn’t have. Mahoney did a great job making all those tackles, but he made some poor errors too. It’s frustrating that we can’t back up performances. In saying that, I’m confident we’ll beat the dragons.
I liked how that comment ended.
I must admit I tipped the Knights for similar reasons (but as always, was desperately hoping I’d be wrong).
Too much was made of the fact the Knights were running last. They’re a better team than that, and with that 14 point win they are now equal 10th (11th on points differential).
Yeah agreed. It just fit the narrative of my tweet.
I deleted a thought about how I would have happily taken a loss to Newcastle preseason, but our elevated expectations (compared to the Knights’ rough start) has flipped the narrative.
I think you were a little generous for some of those grades. The lack of heart and motivation would suggest a few Ds. That Fitzgibbon try was a disgrace from our captain and fullback, especially when he is looking to take top dollar from the club. Fergo got into position to stall the attacking player and all Gutho had to do was fall on the ball. Hopefully he learns from that. The captain also needs to rev his players up and get their heads in the right space. We don’t have anyone doing that which is why we struggle to win when things don’t go our way. You don’t see Easts or Melbourne playing like that.
I also thought our kicking game was pretty mediocre and didn’t put any pressure on the opposition. It didn’t give us a chance to keep Newcastle camped down their end and we found that by the second tackle they were back into our half making good inroads. We need someone who can kick long in those instances, with the support moving up to keep them down that end of the ground.
I don’t know what was going on in the ruck, but we didn’t seem able to put Newcastle players on their backs, giving them the opportunity to make a quick play the ball. We also didn’t show any urgency in getting up, thus enabling Newcastle defense to get into position to rush our attacking players.
The pressure will certainly be on for next week and St George are starting to come good. I reckon Norman will have a top game – ex Eels players inevitably do against Parra.
Longy, I really have never been a fan of Gutho as the captain. We need a player who knows how to read the game, and give the team a razzing when needed, and they certainly needed that yesterday.
When Tim came on he led by example and he should take over the C role at that point. When off the field I would be looking at either MJ or Fergo, MJ however probably needs to concentrate on his playing as he’s been good this year – finally. Fergo has the experience and the way he was yesterday while not brilliant, having him in the roving fullback spot was a good move.
He is just the sort of player that should have the C tag against him, he knows the way to win and is a fierce competitor.
Colin, you advocate the need for a captain to give his troops a razzing, but then suggest Mannah’s capacity to lead by example qualifies him to take over the captaincy from Gutho?
Mitfch, yes. Watching the whole game yesterday I was glad when it ended, & was hard enjoying it, I had toast for dinner as I doubt my stomach could had anything stronger/better.
If you read what I said, why shouldn’t Tim when he came on and lets not forget he has the C next to his name, if he has no role in being captain such as being club captain then he should have the C removed. Thing was that he was still the best forward in the eels side yesterday, when he came on the tempo increased and made more ground than the others. Who really was the better out of him and Gutho overall, Gutho a C with Tim a B??
Please not what I said as far as other players, I suggested either MJ or Fergo, but MJ needed to focus more on his game. Fergo however is the sort of player who could be our best option as Captain for mine, at this point of time anyway. As much as I like Gutho as a player, I would prefer him to concentrate on his play, & have someone else as the captain.
I tend to think it has to be a pretty dramatic moment a player’s entire day to be determined by one moment (Kenny Edwards’ sin binning against the Cows in Townsville in 2017 comes to mind), but I think both Gutho and Fergo did enough good in the other 79 and a half minutes for their game overall to be considered better than a D.
Peni Terepo and Junior Paulo was pretty poor, all over the park, all day IMO; hence the lower overall grades.
Next week a huge test – if there’s any good news, we do tend to show up against tough opposition, particularly after a loss. We’ll see if that theory holds true next week.
True Mitch, and I suppose we didn’t completely capitulate. At one point I thought they were going to put 50 on us, but we did eventually wake up to some extent. The team is still learning and if the players can each take a few learnings from this game then it will be a valuable lesson.
Yeah spot on mate.
Mitch, as Longy said we didn’t completely capitulate, but it was still a poor effort really. I tipped the eels by 8, only because I support them, I made points in a couple of blogs regarding this game and saw it as a big test, and very much a danger game, the knights have been a bogey for us for years now, sure there are a few wins but its a game they need to do a lot of soul searching with, same with the NRL and refs regarding the terrible efforts by those in charge.
It was the sort of game that with the amount of terrible/pathetic decisions and penalties they ruled against the eels that would turn many away from the game.
The next 2 weeks are going to be another test for the team, they have done ok against the saints in the past and have to get points there, the following is the litmus.
Mitch to your “Good news, we tend to show up against tough opposition “. Jack Gibson was once quizzed as to why the Eels as a good side sometimes fell to poorer opponents.
His answer was that you could only spin the narrative so many times. Therefore against some teams they would go in low key and occasionally it back fired
Against better sides they left nothing in the tank. How that translates to the modern game and modern thinking I am not sure.
By the way the words above are mine. They do not belong to the great man.
We were trying to climb back down from one of the greatest days in the club’s history. They were desperate for a win after 5 losses and were at home. It was the perfect storm.
This loss will get us in the right frame of mind for a good week’s preperation for Saints and the tough few weeks ahead.
Losses always sting but I reckon this one was all but unavoidable and in the long run may even be for the best.
Accurate and highly entertaining as usual Mitch. Thanks mate 🙂
Thanks for reading mate. Appreciate your optimism.
Agreed. The losses we have had this year are good losses, if you know what I mean. The boys were just out played. They have never given up. I like this new resolve and whilst I was very disappointed last night, the way this team takes everything in their stride is so impressive. We just need to get the polish, whilst I hate to admit, that does take time.
Kram I sincerely hope you are right. I knew we would be in for a tough one and wasn’t sure how we would back up.
I always take note of the marine biologist…….
Ditto to all the comments above. Frustrating and disappointing after the week before.
Just a few observations on this game and a few others,
why can’t Salmon be a option to kick the ball on the last and take some heat off Moses. We seem pretty one dimensional there.
With most teams being off side or close to it on the play the balls, Why don’t we kick over the heads into space behind. If nothing else their winger will stay back making an overlap possible.
When are players going to learn to run behind the man with the ball and not beside him. It nearly has to be a forward pass every time but if they were back 2-3 meters they would be running on to it and that would take the refs out of the decision making.
Keep up the good work TCT I look forward to reading the reports every week.
Next week Eels up by 8
AB, 100% yes, that was also predictable in our game, so obvious we were going to Enimem. We need more option and variety there. Great observation.
Did not know where to put this comment, but I am worked up after listening to MG and hearing someone of Fox saying the King is going to Manly. I recall Shelley put a posting up the other week calling for the King to be signed and I do agree with that, what I do not like is how this is playing out in the media. We all know the King is a Manly junior and he lives out that way. If he is willing to take from Manly what he wont take from us, then I say, adios. No one is bigger than the club and I mean no one. The way his manager is playing this out in the media has me frothing at the mouth and actually I do not mind him going. We do have a ready made replacement in Bevo. Even Sowie in his NRL rating column today referred to our loss due to contract negotiations. Ridiculous.
posted by !0 Year Member, I was frothing so much I forgot to enter my name!
Anon, that’s been going the rounds for a little while now about him going back to Manly. given that Manly has 24 players off contract end of this year they will have cash to lure players to the club, thing is where will they play him? They have Tom Trbojevic on their books until end of 2020, and Cherry Evans off contract end of 2023,
Both of those players are playing in their preferred positions, and Gutho would not oust Tom T from there, if he goes it would be either in a wing, centre of 5/8 role.
Manly have financial issues and I think they still have cap issues being investigated, with 24 off contract that’s near a full team, and likely free up some good money but how much could they offer Gutho anyway
I don’t believe the loss had anything to do with the contract issue, as there were players still on contract with the eels going into 2020 and beyond and they played dunny like in the game. Their heads were still on last Mondays game, and up near the clouds, they need to come down from there and be more focussed on the game in front of them, No matter who they played and where last week is gone, finished points calculated and they need to focus on the matches ahead if they want to win and win contracts.
Colín I reckon the contract thing has been a media grab, but can become a distraction. The Easter Monday theory has legs. Another is that both the Raiders and Knights did exactly the same thing to us. Nathan Brown (the Newcastle one) said ‘thanks for the formula Ricky’.
Unfortunately for us the refs in both games signed off on the tactics, although Atkins did start to get it, but too late. From our side, we just didn’t know how to manage it. We sat back and played like we were going to stick to our game, when maybe a different approach was necessary. We did try moving the ball to the edges to beat the offside play but it looked soft and ineffective.
As I mentioned in another post,the Raiders got caned (13-5) v Manly for this game plan and lost.
We’re a young, developing team that doesn’t throw in the towel, we”ll get better and better in these situations. I reckon BA is already onto the ‘How to beat the 20 minute ambush’ plan.
Good response Bdon. Many teams often come back to earth after huge wins like we had on the Monday, too good to believe???? Yes and they went to NCLe with helium still in their heads.
The contract issue is being driven by one specific journo in the main, and that is a former one game wonder for the eels, no need to mention his name, but he’s gone further by rubbishing the clubs administration, I wonder why, he also has mentioned in another pressa about the upcoming meeting to vote on the constitution and board admin. Wonder if he is standing or has close associates who will be and swayed by that journo.
Sadly we did not turn up for the Knights game mentally or physically. I expected a better result for our professional football team irrespective of their contract negotiations. After all they are being well rewarded for this years games.
The team enthusiasm, line breaks, support of the line breaks and kicking game we saw last week was not evident. Boys this is the NRL and you need to turn up each week.
I was impressed with Manu’s game and Furgo’s catching though. Next week is a new day and opportunity.
Fair comment Pete. Of course the contract stuff would impact them, but that’s football. They have to be switched on for every game, regardless. They failed to compete in some of the basics of the game. Until we can front up after a big game, it’s hard to predict a performance with any confidence.
A left field question for you sixties.
Maiko Sivo has fantastic stats and he is proving to be a magnificent foil for Ferguson….BUT when he runs, he looks like he is stuck in quicksand.
His highlights reel from Penrith showed that he had real and genuine pace.
There has been talking of cramping up and lactic acid….is there a medical concern?
I think in hindsight and review he has been like this since game 1 but we never actually saw him having to stretch out…..now that he has had the opportunity it is disappointing for what we saw.
Now I am not knocking the bloke, he justifies his position on his current form alone……but is there something amiss or was he the same when he first came to training?
Poppa, having seen him in the ISP quite a few times, he was never lightening quick like Semi, he was more of a strong barn storming winger, but I have to admit when he was in the open against the tigers, it looked like he selected the wrong gear, and his red zone hit ups are really flat, but he is holding his own at this stage as far as the stats go.