The Cumberland Throw

From The Stands – To Hell With The Critics!

It is not the CRITIC who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually IN THE ARENA…

From ‘ The Man in The Arena’ 1910 Theodore Roosevelt

There are players in the great game of rugby league who’ve earned the level of admiration and respect which extends beyond club boundaries.

On Saturday night, we had the pleasure of watching from the stands as Benji and Chris Lawrence played their last game for the Tigers. While we are passionate blue and gold supporters, Benji Marshall is an important player for my family.

My nephew, who is 18, was a tiny kid. He loved footy but did not want to play because he was small. No amount of coaxing could convince him to give it a go. Then he watched Benji play. Watched Benji step and slide past big boys, flick passes and beat players with his speed. My nephew went from a six year old watching footy to a young man who still plays and loves playing footy all because of Benji Marshall.

From the stands we cheered loudly for our boys against the Tigers and after the game my family, including my nephew, stayed to cheer and thank Benji. I am sure he inspired thousands to play the game, to be like Benji, just like he did my nephew.

But of course, Saturday was also a vital game for the Parramatta Eels. A place in the top four all came down to this round 20 match, and the team delivered.

With that behind them, our boys have finished one competition and are about to start another. From the stands I continue to hear plenty of critics. Stranger still, fans of opposition teams who do not even have a start in the finals are gleefully telling us how poor our team are and how they will be beaten comprehensively in the finals. Oh the irony. 

To hell with it I say.

Ooo yeah!!!

The Eels are in the finals. Our boys are still in the arena, still in the fight and I will support them, encourage them and most importantly back them to do well.

Every team can be better but there is much to like about our team this year.

The Eels have learnt to fight back in games, that’s how they beat the Panthers, Raiders and Tigers.

The Eels have learnt how to take a small lead into the final 10 and keep it. That’s how they beat the Sharks, Sea Eagles, Knights and Warriors.

The Eels have also learnt how to keep things in-house, to maintain the sanctity of the dressing room. That is how they’ve become a tighter club.

So we move into the finals knowing that Parra have been able to fix the things that they’ve struggled with in the past, and now they face up to the mountain that they’ve been yet to climb – overcoming the Storm in a finals match.

I have no doubt Parra can beat the Storm. Of course, that means playing well, and of course they will need to tread the fine line between playing with patience and taking the smallest of opportunities given to them.

Both  Parra and Melbourne have vulnerabilities in their backline defensive structures. That said, the victor will be decided in the two places big games are always decided – in the forwards and through the  playmakers. 

Can our forwards, at their best, match Melbourne?

The powerhouse Junior Paulo

Try telling Junior, RCG, Matto and Nathan Brown that they have no chance!

When the Eels fell behind against the Tigers, Junior and Nathan Brown lifted the team onto their backs took them up the field. They got the playmakers in the position to do their job.

Parra’s pack can match the Storm and I predict they will challenge Melbourne’s much vaunted defensive structure.

 Can Mitch and Reed get over Munster and Smith? With the forwards matching up to the Storm, that’s how these games are won. Give Mitch, Reed, Gutho and our 5/8th, whoever that might be, enough ball and space they can get us the points

I’ll ignore the critics and back our team – after all, they’re still in the arena and many of those criticising are not.

But it won’t just be won on ability – this game will also be won or lost in the heads of these players.

Reed Mahoney, sans headgear

The Eels have to believe that they can take that next step, and supporters can help – the team needs our unconditional support. There have been enough death-riders in the back half of the season. It doesn’t help the team when Parra fans become part of that negativity.

BA has now guided the club to three of the last four finals series. They’ve finished top four in 2017 and 2020. The Eels have earned respect and support. Just think back to all the years we missed the eight before you listen to, or worse, join in with the critics.

It won’t be easy away from home, we won’t be able to travel to the Suncorp Stadium stands to support them. But, like the NSW based fans, there’s plenty of Queensland based Eels fans who’ll be believing in the team as they prepare to enter the Arena.

Shelley

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22 thoughts on “From The Stands – To Hell With The Critics!

  1. June

    That’s a great article Shelley, you’ve got right to the heart of it. I’m sick of people death riding us. What’s worse is some of them are Eels supporters . We win our last game and we’re no chance, Roosters get flogged and they’re favourites, it’s in believable

    1. Shelley

      The agenda is obvious but so many fall for it.

      Mick Ennis says Parra’s weakness is Mitch Moses defence, yet he forgets to point out that Cameron Munster has missed only 6 less tackles all year when compared to Mitch and Mitch has played 2 more games. He must have seen Munsters name under Moses when he looked up the stat but it does not fit his narrative so he ignores it.

      Mitch has missed the same amount of tackles as Jarome Luai yet he is not written and spoken about as a weakness. It astounds me that all Parra supporters cannot see the blatant bias and downright untruths being sad and I hope they all stand up, call out the bias and support the team.

      1. BDon

        Ive thought all year that Moses is defending much better. It’s one of those thoughts however that you want to watch each week to make sure you’re speaking English, not Swahili. Blokes run twice as hard at him,big blokes,but he’s hung on to some critical ones near the line. I always noticed Thurston and Cronk unpicking themselves from the desperation pile on tackle out wide to save tries, I’ve noticed our No 7 dusting himself off from the stack up, pretty consistently. We were serial offenders at not pushing across, staying alive, not any more, our scramble is usually good.

      2. Wilhelmina

        Yep BDon, Moses has improved his defence significantly since coming to us – there’s much worse halves out there. Defence is not just about technique and committment, but reading the game. The first two are much easier to teach, and he’s shown improvement in both. He’s got the opposition forwards targetting him most weeks, but he’s now quite prepared to get his body in there, and can at least slow them down.

        I don’t think reading the game is Mitch’s issue – that’d be the bloke next to him, who is constantly rushing out of the line and taking nobody. That can make Moses look ineffective, as he’s left trying to cover a ridiculous hole with no cover to slide in from the outside to help.

        As for the ‘experts’ – they’ve never let the facts get in the way of a good story have they? 🙂

  2. Lisa

    Great article and all so very true.
    I’ll be there on Saturday night Shelley. And I will yell loud enough for all of the Blue and Gold army that wish they could be there but can’t.

  3. eggman

    Can’t sugar coat it,it will be a massive challenge,but no different than it was in 2017 in fact we have a better team now.We won that game except for a few dodgey calls.We have to put all the best eliments of our game together in one game.the rock solid defense with the second phase,throw the ball around,make Melbourne work.I dont think we should get into an arm wrestle with them.It will require a huge effort no mistakes everyone plays their part.We can do this,and yes to the Parra fans who feel they must bag the team and the coach,please go to the pub and do it.We are all realists,we have endured it all as Parra fans,but bagging our team is like telling us our children are ugly,you won’t find an audience for that talk here.

    1. Shelley

      I agree, it won’t be easy but we can do it. If we can get good offloads away, not Evans type forced ones, but offloads we attack from we win. Why? Because if we can get the offloads that means we win the ruck. We win the ruck against Melbourne and we can get to their edges. Brenko Lee, Munster, Vunivalu are as vulnerable in defence as our outside backs are. If we can’t get offloads Melbourne win the ruck and Smith will control the game.

  4. Colin Hussey

    To criticise our team like you suggested Shelley when those doing so are from other teams that are below us, I guess shows their mentality of not giving credit to teams that are better then the one they support.

    I will support the eels all the way, but said earlier after the Jnr incident that I am done with RL, my time watching the game this year will end when the eels play their last game this year, hopefully in the last game of the season and holding the cup up for all non eels fans to boo at.

    1. Shelley

      The junior incident was a joke. It demonstrated the absurd thinking in the NRL. The NRL headquarters have been in a bubble a lot longer than this year. They have lost touch with the average footy fan, their customers.

    1. Shelley

      BA and our leaders have a big job. I don’t see it as a free hit this week, I see it as the most important play. Last week Gutho had to make that tackle on Garner to help change the chocking narrative. He stood up, Mitch did not panic, BA backed the boys to score and did not take the safe option, the kick to tie it up.

      On paper we can match the Storm, they have weaknesses we can exploit, just as we have weaknesses they can exploit. The real test for us is between the ears. Bromwich, Munster, Smith will stand up and lead the team. We need Junior, Mitch, Gutho and N Brown to do the same.

      1. Anonymous

        Just watch how dirty the Storm get when we gain the ascendancy. This is another challenge our boys will need to be prepared for. The storm know how to push the boundaries….and seemly, get away with it.

      2. !0 Year Member

        Just watch how dirty the Storm get when we gain the ascendancy. This is another challenge our boys will need to be prepared for. The storm know how to push the boundaries….and seemly, get away with it.

    2. Milo

      That was good Parra Pete; I have got into the NFL a little since Covid, and that speech was v good mate. Thank you for sharing.

  5. Milo

    Thanks Shelley, and well said and some v fair comments. I for one have no issue with other comments, as i have not heard much this year as I have tuned out to the shows etc. People are going to death ride us and for some good reason; but hey who cares.
    2017 we did well against Melb and yes perhaps should have, could have, would have won…..etc. but we did not. I know and I get it.
    But the next week was diabolical to be honest against the Cows, as we were flat and made them look like millionaires…then go to last year and we were simply overawed / out played etc. in the that Melbourne game. I do not know what happened but it was not good, errors and poor choices.
    Fast forward now and yes I am v happy we are in the top 4, but it will pale into insignificance if we bomb out again without going to the 2nd last / or last weekend. We simply need to aim up for 80 mins. That is it in a nutshell….when was the last time we played for 80 mins? Maybe a couple of weeks ago maybe not…and that for me is the challenge and issue, we need to aim up for 80 mins. We did this earlier in the year and very well.
    We know Melb are going to come out and attempt to blow us out of the park in the first 20-30 like they did twice last season…we need to have a smart game plan, and limit our errors for a start along with hunting as a pack, something we did well earlier in the season; and our kicking game needs to be smart but at times varied. Will they attack our edges, yes of course but they will also attack in other places; they wil probably make Junior and Reg work overtime in defence in order to slow them down, along with Reed, this is where the coaches need to be smart and work on our defence big time. We let in a few soft tries last weekend that were not good enough to be honest, and some marker player was slow and lazy.
    Our defence, well it just needs to be v good across the 17, enough said there.
    Melb will attempt to slow us down when they want and look to catch us napping around the ruck and out wide.
    Can we win? Yes of course. Do I see us winning, to be honest no. But I am very hopeful we can put in an 80 min performance and continue to trend upwards as per Forty and Sixties comments in their postgame show. If we do that we give ourselves a major chance.
    To me Melb are the favourites for the comp. I hate saying that but to me they are. And do not mention the wrestle…..the Nrl has a lot to answer for about this. But no doubt nothing of any substance will happen. The CEO……gee whiz another puppet for my liking.

    1. Shelley

      I have zero complaint with anybody saying they don’t rate the team or don’t think they can win. The problem I have is the experts who use stats to death ride our team but ignore those very same stats when analysing others.
      We can win but it matters not what any of us think it only matters what the boys believe. I have no control over that but what I can control is the support I will give them.

  6. John Marr

    There is no reason we can’t win this game. Parra are more than capable of beating every other team on any given day if they play to their ability.

    1. Shelley

      I agree, we can win and we need to ignore all the critics. Play our game, smart offloads and stop Melbourne controlling the ruck. Brenko Lee and Vunivalu are no better at defence when compared to our two Blake’s. If we are in the game at the 20 minute mark we are a huge chance.

      1. Milo

        Shelley, I think we also need to be in it at half time. That is the key for me, keep up with them till half time, and then wear them down over 80 mins. Sterlo was spot on when he said we need to be able to win in the 80th minutes.

  7. Longfin Eel

    I actually can’t understand the negativity from the media towards Parra. I truly believe the media plays to whatever emotion comes from the fans, especially when it comes to Parra. We need to be better than that as fans and be as confident in our team as the players themselves are.

    Last year’s loss to Melbourne will still be a vivid memory to the players and should spark them on as a learning. I know we can beat Melbourne, even with all their stars and I hope the team can put the media (and the doubters) back in their place.

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