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The Parramatta Eels suffered a heartbreaking 36-24 loss to the Melbourne Storm in Week 1 of the finals in a result that leaves them scrambling to find healthy bodies to throw into the backline.
Forty20 and Sixties dive into the breakdown of a game that was equally scintillating and frustrating to find out where the Eels made progress and conversely where they let themselves down. Sixties turns the focus on the aspects of the loss that Parramatta could and could not control in order to isolate where the Blue & Gold can improve ahead of a sudden death final next week.
Maika Sivo is out for the remainder of the season while Blake Ferguson is under considerable doubt as he awaits scans. The boys consider their likely replacements for the clash against the Rabbitohs or Knights and how the team can compensate for the loss of their two first-choice flankers. The lads close out the show by talking about the significance of the upcoming home final and why the Eels, despite the the tragic loss last night, need to rebound by any means possible.
Out played, out coached, out classed. This Storm team is just too good for our present set up.
Yep
And unlikely to bridge that gap anytime soon
i didn’t expect anything different from you Brett.
I tell it like I see it 60’s.
The Storm deserve credit but the gap isn’t as big as you might suggest with this comment Prometheus.
I agree. Gutted I was with the loss I came away feeling the Eels weren’t that far behind the Storm. As BA said the team was dumb at times. Time for revenge against the Bunnies.
Shaun, we have to control what we can. We can’t control some of the decisions by officials but we can make better defensive decisions and execute better. We were up against the benchmark team of the last two decades, who we have consistently been found short against. We are definitely closer, and next week will be a measure of just how much closer we are.
As a bloke who attended Parra’s first game against Newtown as a six year old, I reckon I have a clue as to what I’m talking about.
Is that you Nostradamus.
Are you suggesting that those that don’t agree are wrong because of that Prometheus? I agree that it’s indisputable that they are better but the gap is diminishing. Last year they had the same possession rate and won 32 nil. Last night they had the benefit of the close calls whereas Parra were disrupted by a sequence of injuries. Parra wasn’t good enough last night but we will bounce back next week.
If maybe you think I’m up myself forget it. I’m just an old c..t that has played and watched a lot of footy. I find it hard to believe that hope and excuses will make us better next week.
Prometheus, I reckon I can read disappointment in your replies. It’s understandable. I might seem like the eternal optimist who excuses bad performances but I get frustrated with and disappointed in individual and team efforts. I don’t always agree with team selections. I’ve expressed that in pods and opinion posts. But above all else I look for why we can rather than why we can’t. It doesn’t mean I ignore why we can’t, it’s simply that I’ve had too many years of why we can’t. I’ve been going to Parra games since the 60s, and you know the roller coaster ride since then. I was too young to see the finals years in the early to mid 60s, and merely envious of other kids who supported winning teams in the late 60s and early 70s. I felt all of the highs of the better years and then the premiership years and then had seasons over my time when I’ve refused to front the next week to watch a game after I believed the team didn’t have a go. In the Kearney era I fumed about a comment by Hindy that the team wouldn’t be giving up in matches now. What! I raised it publicly with Cayless at one of his pre-match forums and when not satisfied with his answer, went and spoke to him after he finished his hosting. I have penned letters to coaches demanding explanations, including Hagan and Anderson. I was a huge critic of Brian Smith after 2001 for his methods and poor roster management. The early 90s were a dark period in my attitude. You can’t be an Eels supporter and not feel disappointment and even anger at times. I’ve been there time after time after time. But when we have a team and coaches totally dedicated to the cause like we have right now, when I know the obstacles faced along the way, and there has been so much to deal with since 2013, when that team is now placing itself in finals footy, I’m going to take a far more positive perspective than negative.
Going by that logic, can we expect the Bunnies to put 70 on us this week ?
I was 6 months old at same game , unfortunately i dont see that as making my opinion any more valid than any one elses .
Therein lies your problem 60’s. The gap is bigger, much bigger than you think it is. We are not in the same galaxy as the Storm or the Roosters.
Everybody else can see it, and what’s worse, we aren’t closing the gap.
Everybody else can see it? I guess I’ll have to acknowledge the wave of support you have here for your anti-Parra opinions.
Love the podcast each week guys. It’s a fresh change from the negativity on other forums. I feel if we didn’t have to make so many changes to our D because of the injuries, I think we could have worked our way back into the game. As a result of our players playing out of position it messed around our forward rotation and we got tired through the middle. And anyone that plays the storm needs to get calls go Thier way to beat them. The storm will always get calls go Thier way
Maybe I should have put a name to the post. Sparky
Cheers for jumping in Sparky. The speed of Melbourne’s offence was always going to be a challenge but you are definitely correct about the back-to-back-to-back reshuffles causing significant disruption to our defensive systems as well as taxing our forward pack as a byproduct.
A sprinkle of luck is one of the most frustrating ingredients in making a deep finals push and it certainly wasn’t there in Week 1. The fact the we managed to push Melbourne that far with that much bad luck and those lopsided possession splits shows that we have bridged the gap a fair way this year.
Hang on Forty, Brett has told us that everyone else can see that Parra haven’t closed the gap at all. We need to ignore everything that happens and just see his perspective. We’ll be much better off that way. 🤣
Thanks Forty. I look forward to listening to this podcast and the Parra podcast every week. You guys put a funny and positive spin on our games. I’m so over the BA bashing and player bashing on other site’s
Cheers Sparky. The Storm are a benchmark team and have been such forever. They don’t need leg ups or luck. But they get it, and they have the best in the business at making sure the refs get reminders during the game.
Not wrong sixties. I was at the game and I always knew the storm get away with a lot, but being there and seeing them blatantly getting away with basically everything they can is frustrating. I am one that feels we have bridged the gap by a lot. I for one love BA as our coach and he has done great things for our club. The defensive issues we have I feel are our defensive structure’s. If it wasn’t then I’m sure it would be fixed by now. You guys would probably know more about this than me. I feel our wingers unfairly get the blame for a lot of it
Ive always had this thought too, but never quite sure. The art of numbering up gets dicked around if your opponents are good at putting you in 2 minds, but usually they still need the same or more numbers than you to execute. Many times, we just get caught short on numbers, and to me, that problem doesn’t start out on the edges. You have to be forming up from the inside and pushing across. As you say, that’s a structural thing. I never heard anyone mention Waqa Blake as a poor defender at Penrith, maybe he was, but never heard it once. There was a great example in Knights v Bunnies, where Joey Johns pointed out how Newcastle didn’t number up when it was a simple read of play/field position to do so. Reynolds/Walker saw it and milked it.
At the start of the season our centres and wingers were smashing attackers as they were catching the ball. I feel if our line speed is better on the Inside to put pressure on thier ball players so as to cut down thier time to sum up the situation. At the start of the season our initial contact was much better too. We were getting our bodies in front of the ball carrier and hitting and sticking. Lately we have been bouncing off tackles and letting ball carriers slide between our defenders allowing a quick play the ball. If we control the middle D this week and limit thier meters then thier backs can’t do much