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They teased us with potentially one of the greatest against-the-odds victories in the history of the club but ultimately the Parramatta Eels fell short in their sudden death final against the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Parramatta’s 38-24 loss was equal parts furious attack and self-flagellation as a raft of second-half errors tipped the scales against the Blue & Gold.
The Eels started game-day with the crushing revelation that Michael Jennings had likely played his final game as an Eel following a positive result from an A-sample and were left to scramble from there. Haze Dunster made his NRL debut on the right wing and Parramatta’s overhauled backline was left with yet another emergency reshuffle. In spite of that they battled admirably and gave themselves a genuine shot to put the Rabbitohs away.
Forty20 leads the post-mortem with the thought that this game was a microcosm of Parramatta’s season. Glorious highs and prolonged flashes of stellar football undermined by self-destructive errors. From there the lads analyse the standouts from Saturday night and hail the efforts of Junior Paulo and Clinton Gutherson. The tables are then turned onto who let the team down before Sixties holds a sidebar to poke fun at some shoddy ground-announcing.
The show is wrapped up with the boys running over the semi-official departures list and what it means for the club before signing off with a message that like the club, TCT is just getting started heading into the off-season.
After the disappointment of last night and the stupidity on social media this morning this was a fantastic and fair summation of what happened. Thanks for the podcast during the season. Always a good listen. Top two finish next year and a deep finals run.
Thanks Shaun.
Hi Mr Sixties.
Well it takes a couple of days to get over the loss. We get used to it.
The thing despite that set back they kept going – they didnt give up. When you start playing catch up things happens – intercept try.
Some of the boys were outstanding – most were great. Moses, won’t forget that moment. It can be liken to Glover’s dropped ball, the Ben Hunt fumble whatever but it will be his nightmare.
A Parra tragic sent me a note after the game and it is somewhat iconic.
“When I die l would like the parra eels to lower my coffin so they can let me down one last time”.
Do we feel let down? Absolutely.
But, as I said before it has been a great season. Beat the broncos twice – rolled manly Upset the Storm and got one back on Newcastle and Cronulla.
If Penrith go through undefeated then we are the only that got one up on them.
Mr Sixties it’s been a great year.
Heads up there is next year.
By the way I am beginning to think we should have a change with the coaching staff. Brian Smith was a great coach but couldn’t crack the GF.
BA needs to re-think his team strategy. Some of the players looked really tired. Shaun Lane has played like a tired man for weeks. BA needs to adjust his rotation.
And the reason for this was highlighted on Saturday night.
I don’t like Bennett – never will – but, his comments are close to the mark.
We have to better understand the human dynamics.
Thanks to you and your great team for keeping us up to date.
I sign off until I get over it.
Kind regards Sixties and to the team.
Kyle Schneider has massive wraps on him. Anyone know why he is leaving the club?
I’m one that has a wrap on Kyle. I would suggest that a top 30 contract is difficult to offer to anyone who couldn’t play footy in 2020. I hope he gets an offer from a club or a second tier deal from us.
SO Schneider is leaving? No way. He was forecast as an up and comer. Pls no way!!!!
It is the reality of the situation when you consider that Mahoney has firmly entrenched himself in the #9. Kyle’s path to first-grade has a pretty big roadblock at the Eels now.
Couple that with Kyle being one of the unfortunate pieces of collateral damage wrought by COVID-19 with lower grades getting cancelled and missing out on a huge year to prove his durability at the Eels to push for a full-time contract.
Terrific kid (and family) and talent but his luck with injuries has been brutal recently. I sincerely hope he does really well wherever he lands.
Thanks Forty I get that and appreciate the reply; my concern is he was primed for nrl at some point I feel, and I only hope we bring in someone who is going to be better for the long term. I heard and saw some v good things from the boy, and think he is only 20?
You only need to look at the backup from Stone this yr. His defence was great but his passing was avg at times.
Disappointing way to go out,the boys tried hard but yes too many errors,Cook absolutely should have been sent which would have made the difference. Move on to next year.
I too have been shocked by the so called fans and the blame games on SM and certain other fan forums which I can’t bring myself to read anymore.
The team should build on this,I do believe we are missing another key forward or three and of course a strike centre, another year under the belt for the spine we will be better next year.
Also if they could get in front and stay there instead of getting us all excited then crushing us in the last 20 minutes, that would be nice too.
Plenty of positives mixed in with some natural disappointment I hear you mate. Like you, I’m over the blame gamers.
Agree Eggman, we need to keep that momentum into the second half and not drop off, and your last sentence was spot on, crushed is how I feel.
This is a bench thing i feel. We still need to back ourselves when we drop the ball / miss a goal and and build pressure.
What a cracker of a game – how could anyone be disappointed with the teams EFFORT particularly Gutho and Junior. They say you make your own luck we just couldn’t snag it last night – Moses Kick for goal hitting the post, If ever there was a professional foul when junior was getting up to play the ball that was Cook last night. Gutho’s lost ball in goal was another (un)lucky moment – reminded me of what happened to Tedesco on Friday night. I said to my wife ( with us sitting behind the southern goal line) this could go either way in next 10 minutes as the Eels are going to chance their arm and mistakes could open them up to being scored against which unfortunately that’s what happened with an intercept and a attempted kick thru by Moses leading to tries but hey they had a go !! The final score did not really reflect the closeness of the game. I understand that BA was disappointed with 5 tries in the 2nd half but that doesn’t really tell the story of a team that gave it a red hot go !! sure mistakes happened but everyone makes mistakes. Looking a the percentage of Eels v Rabbits supporters there last night the Eels were not expected to win – that was right in the end but as I said at the start a good game of footy. Go the mightee EELS
Well said Alan. The turning point around that penalty changed the course of the game. What was going to be an arm wrestle for the last quarter of the game became Parra chancing their arm.due to being 8 down. The first half was some of their best footy of the year despite the outs.
John you thanked us but i think we should be thanking you and Craig. From early yesterday morning i felt crushed i rang poor Craig i rambled ,sorry mate i’m still crushed, be keeping an eye out for all things TCT hope to talk soon,your mate Joe
Cheers Joe. I’m sorry I couldn’t talk much. My phone was in meltdown and I barely had time to scratch myself. The boys responded well, but the errors delivered a heavy price to pay
Much love mate! Looking forward to watching junior footy and reserve grade with you in 2021!
Tks guys, good stuff, a bit of Sunday therapy. I prayed to be first scorer after halftime, we really had their measure. It was a late count missed tackle on Reynolds that changed the momentum, we expected a wide shift and lost intensity in the middle.The last 20 minutes saw impatience and bad luck mixed together like a Putin cocktail(you don’t survive those little beauties). The Cook call dealt us no favours, I didn’t hear Klein’s held call, whether Cook heard it or not, refs don’t usually make a judgement on that, the action warranted professional foul.
The Moses grubber was interesting, I reckon Klein didn’t see the whole thing. Walker, not heading towards the ball which was on the ground 3 mtrs ahead of Moses, made a soft play at Moses’ shoulder but his leg ankle tapped Moses who half stumbled, brushed into Klein then lost balance. It wasn’t a dive.Klein saw the shoulder, rated it soft,but not the ankle tap which denied Moses a play at the ball. The Bunker decided to ignore it. If Walker was running towards the ball, their incidental impact call was probably OK, but he ran directly at Moses and caused the fall. Not a match breaker, but you gotta love the ups and downs of NRL.
Cheers BDon, I don’t like Klein’s officiating but it was Sutton in charge. Junior’s game was close to the best I’ve ever seen from a Parra prop. He was almost unstoppable. He didn’t deserve to walk off the field without a win.
Yes,he was outstanding, BA couldn’t get him back on quick enough, I saw him with the sub card on the sideline at the 47 min mark. We just didn’t nail a decent re-commencement.
Thanks to Sixties and Forty and the entire team for an amazing account of all things Parra for 2020. I am almost emotional as I write this as its been a terrible 24 hours or so. But life moves on.
V fair summation for the team and thanks fellas, it must have been tough to record this one.
Look we showed pure emotion and effort for the game but our execution at critical times was the downfall, and a few poignant parts for me; the intercept, missed goal and Gutho’s lost ball in-goal. For me they hurt us and I do not blame anyone at all. To me we lacked composure and I feel that we need a forward to maybe take on some leadership as lead the Wolfpack. Bring ruthless has to be ingrained into the squad.
We definitely had them last night and did not win the moments that we should have, and I feel it was a lost chance.
I truly hope the coaches review everything in terms of defence / attack etc. as I hope we can build on this. Maybe we need another voice as assistant? something new?
We need a strong centre as mentioned, and another prop and second row, let alone a back up dummy half. If Schneider goes I fail to see who we have in the squad to come on…shame if true.
I am done for 2020 now, and thank you again to the TCT team
Cheers Milo. It wasn’t easy to record this the next day. It was an emotional way to close out the year. We have a massive number of roster spots to fill and a dummy half must now be high on the list, along with a couple of forwards and a centre. We must recruit some quality to keep moving forward.
Great efforts of the guys last night bit there are also bad moments which costs us the game. BTW, Do you have signing rumours? I reckon we need 2 more powerful interchange forwards. When Junior and RCG are rested we lose momentum. Also, we still need someone who is mature and footy IQ that will serve as a calming voice in case things does not turn out well during a game to get their bearings back. Thanks for your podcast. Go PARRA!
Thanks Toleelts – we can’t escape that there were errors that we can only blame ourselves for. Recruitment is paramount. The only signing that we are certain of is Opacic. With the likely loss of Jennings going forward, there’s still 9 places to fill. I’ll tip 2-3 happen internally as you have to reward the best prospects, which leaves 6-7 spots, with at least 4-5 needing to happen by the time preseason kicks off. I’ve watched the next young group go through their paces as a squad a few weeks back, mostly conditioning, and some are probably locked into a Dev contract. Some might be pushing for one in preseason or an NRL preseason might be part of their pathways plan.
Firstly, these Parra players gave their all. No doubt about it. Getting four in the NSW SOO team is a great effort and well deserved. Gutherson, Paulo, and Brown have hearts as big as Pharlap. Much has been said about Mitchell Moses, and most of it is unfair. Goal Kickers miss kicks. The team should have been prepared for that outcome – that is a coach’s decision. When DB injured his back last year, BA bought him back to First Grade immediately. He was underdone, and had 4 ordinary games, but Parr won those game in spite of this so there was no harm done. There is no doubt the same happened this year. DB was underdone – first he had to play Melbourne, then South in the Finals??? This is not a seasoned player like Munster. This is a kid learning his trade. The result – all the pressure falls to Moses. And if DB does one or two good things, well that’s just great. And if he does one or two bad things, well, we say, he’s just a kid and he’s going to be a great player. All the top teams have both halves firing. BA has an unhealthy fixation with certain players, and he just can’t seem to see the big picture with player management. W. Blake should have been dropped months ago. In any other team he would have. Even in the Souths game he still missed 5 tackles, although not a glaringly obvious as past games. I don’t blame any of the Parra players for these losses. These players are giving 110%, but I think BA’s management of the squad in this COVID year has showed up his deficiencies as a coach. Forget getting new assistants, he is in need of a Phil Gould type mentor. I don’t advocate getting rid of BA. I actually like him a lot. But like players, he needs help and guidance. The questions is, is he strong enough and humble enough to accept it? One of the greatest Parra coaches ever had a great foil who was the Player Manager – Jack Gibson and Ron Massey. Is BA in need of a real thinker without feeling threatened by it? I don’t want to sound negative, and if that’s one thing I love about the CT, is that you guys always try to be optimistic so I hope this comes across more as constructive than negative. Sadly, I am a fan of Salmon and Schneider, and looks like I will have to watch their development somewhere else. Both only in their early twenties. Seems such a shame to lose them. Would loved to have seen DB and Salmon combine. We saw glimpses, but alas….. Anyways, enough from me. Congrats to all at CT. It is the best supporter site around. Enjoy the off season and see you on the flip side.
I had heard the rumour about Schneider and it seems to have been confirmed on here that he is leaving/not wanted.
I am not sure how that has been allowed to happen given that we have had no junior games and he is not injured.
This is difficult for me to pontificate because I have never seen the kid play….. but I understood him to be pretty special and yes Reed has put a decent mortgage on the 9 jersey.
Now the way I read things at present is we are short on dummy halves and also halfbacks in the development area. I understand Schneider to be a leader and a playmaker. I don’t know how many of them we have coming through but a half and a hooker is as close as you get these days in a compatible sense……why would we not have this kid on a top 30/Dev contract, if that’s what he wants with a view to making him a half/hooker. Explain to him there is a real role for him.
We have taken Reed and Dylan straight from the u/20’s into first grade and they have acquitted themselves immediately. Something BA seems reluctant to do with our young forwards and just recently Haze Dunster. Not one of BA strengths IMO relative to developing players.
If all is as I suggest then i hope some lateral thought is going into these young players, I suspect we have identified a major weakness given the way our opposition in the last 6 weeks or so of this competition have produced match ready young players, most of us have not heard of. We produced Dunster and had him play when we were crying out for a winger during that whole period…..in the last match of the season! Why??
Why weren’t those other two young forwards blooded, we blooded Stefano, I am not sure what that did for us, probably helped his career at the Tigers next year. I am not sure Evans gave us much in the last 2 months and we kept him above Kafusi, not sure why again?
Poppa, I see Kyle as a victim of circumstance. He was added to the bubble but then that meant he couldn’t play in the 20s competition that was launched later in the season and contained many of our younger pathways players. He was injured in the back half of 2019, after being injured for most of 2018. That makes 3 seasons of limited footy. He needed this year, and he didn’t get it. I am a huge fan of Kyle and had hoped he would have stayed.
Haze was the only other player that could have been debuted, and yes it was later than I would have wanted, but not by much. He was given plenty of individualised coaching and included in captains runs and match day preps so that he would be ready.
Stand by for next year. There is a large group of young players, similar to the 2019 preseason that included Dylan, Stefano, Oregon, Schneider, Haze and Ethan Parry, who will be doing the preseason. It’s the next big push of pathways players.
Thanks Salty. Quick question. What would you have liked BA to do differently with player management?
For example, I believe that Maika needed time out during the back half of the season and I would have debuted Haze then. By the same token, Maika was starting to come good again because they spent so much time working on him at so I can understand their logic. I also would have played Oregon ahead of Kane, but the inexperience without Marata would have been hard to justify. Apart from that, there just weren’t other roster options – and I watched plenty of training to comment on that.
Once again a great podcast guys. Insightful, critical without being negative and overall a positive break down of the game. To say I was disappointed with the result is an understatement, however I was very proud of the way the boys played after all that had happened over the last week or so.
The Game
The first half speaks for itself. We were great. Everyone did their job. Gutho was fantastic and has been all year, deserving his spot in the NSW squad. Paulo was amazing and has taken his game to a whole new level. RCG ran hard all night and was solid defensively as with Nathan Brown. All 4 boys deserve their spot in the NSW squad.
Now everyone is aware that the missed kick by Moses was a turning point and I for one thought we should have gone for the try. I don’t blame Moses at all, the team should always be ready for things like that to happen. Unfortunately Taka didn’t have the pace to get on the ball. But I would rather note that the momentum started to swing when we took off Paulo, RCG and Brown. We lost our go forward but the main thing I saw was our defense got soft around the ruck area. This is where souths got back in the game after halftime. during this time we had Davey and Stone who have both only played a handful of NRL games and Evans who is not the fastest defender around the ruck. Lane was ok but he gets very lazy when he gets tired
Our wingers did a good job, however it was evident that we missed our big wingers in Sivo and Blake despite what their form was like. We srtuggled getting good set starts from the souths kicking game. Our centers defended solidly while having a lot thrown at them. We can not blame any one player for the loss
As I mentioned I thought we should have gone for the try as I believe to win against the rabbits you need to out score them as they can score frequently and this is where we needed to keep the pressure on. Junes was back on the field and looking dangerous and I believe souths defense would have opened up with another one or two sets on their line. Having said that, I was ok with us going for the two to level the score and get the ball back again.
Our Coach
I am happy with BA as our coach. He has taken what was a laughing stock sitting on the bottom of the table to being in 3 finals series and would have been 4 in 7 seasons had we not had 12 pionts taken off us in 2016. We need to realize that we didn’t have much to offer players to come to our club when BA took over. The front office was diabolical, our training facilities were not great. We didn’t have a team to push for a premiership so we had to pay overs for any decent player. Ba has been able to do what many other coach were not able to do. If you listen to anyone who was coached by Wayne Bennett, they will tell you he was a man manager. He had good assistants to do the attacking and defensive structures. He mostly worked on getting the players ready. I think this is BA’s strength. I feel BA needs assistant coaches who can suggest new structures. This year we saw many improvements. Defense was better as we didn’t have many blowouts apart from the one against souths. Our attack was good but it did go missing a little in the middle of the season which could be put down to injuries at different stages to our spine. First Moses and he was not the same when he came back. Then Reedy and Dyl. I felt the injury and suspension to Marata was significant too as he was a massive go forward for us coming off the bench. Or maybe it was our training loads. too much or too little during that period of the season. With no byes in the season who knew how players were going to cope.
I read many BA bashers saying that he hasn’t developed any players under him. I think we have more Parramatta juniors in our squad than we have for many years. Junior Paulo has improved out of sight. RCG was a shadow of himself and has got himself back into State of Origin. Gutho has gotten better and better each year he has been here. Jenko has learnt how to play good again without his speed. Reedy developed towards the end of the year and found a running game. Moses has been a talking point. For me, I think Moses went from trying to do too much last year, to trying to be more of an organizer this year. Joey Johns had some to do with this and I think it is a good way to go. I feel that Moses just needs to find a balance of when to run or ball play to managing and organizing. I feel he will improve and lets face it, there are no other halves out there on the market worth getting anyway.
I feel we are in a good place for next year. We need to develop our team to overcome bad decisions and bad luck. Maybe with The four boys we have in The State of Origin this year they will learn a little from experienced big game players and from coaches of the likes of Freddy, Bedsy, Joey and Brandy. This big game and rep experience is I think what we are lacking in times of adversity. It is a crucial time for our coaches to get recruiting right. We need impact of the bench and a bit more speed would help too.
Clearly I am not a coach or a player. This is my opinion on some things regarding our team. Agree or disagree, we are all wanting the same results in the end.
I look forward to listening to your season review guys
I want to like this ten times Sparky, it totally says what I want to. I really felt we missed Niukore. And I’d be quite interested to see stats on the Eels ‘big game’ experience (finals, SSO, Tests) versus other finals teams’ – it certainly feels like that composure under pressure is still lacking, but improving. The only way to get that exposure is to keep making finals, which also helps get your players into rep teams, which gets further exposure.
Realistically, I recognised earlier in the year that this year probably wasn’t our year just yet, so while I’m hugely disappointed (and it was such a let down standing there trying to cheer the boys at the end of the game), I’m not hugely shocked.
There’s 15 teams who don’t achieve their ultimate goal in any one season. That doesn’t mean they failed, or that they haven’t taken steps toward achieving that goal in the near future. Anyone who isn’t seeing the improvement in our team is letting their disappointment get in the way, and needs to take a step back and re-assess.
Thanks Wilhelmina
I was optimistic at the start of the season but as I mentioned in my post something went off there midway through the season for what ever reason we don’t know. We have the pieces in place to improve again next season
Wilhelmina, ditto for me on Sparky and thank you also for your opinion. You are spot on about the benefit of experience.
Sparky, I can’t thank you enough for the depth of your response. Much appreciated mate.
Keep up the good work TCT!!
Thanks Joshua.