I felt a little uneasy all week about what I wrote in my blog after our defeat to Manly. It is was my immediate, heated reaction to the loss to Manly and while I stand by what I wrote, I have to trust my club and all its people, including our players and coaches to do their job and fix the deficiencies.
Therefore, as always, I was a proud supporter sitting in the stands supporting my team against the Rabbitohs at Stadium Australia.
It was not easy to watch the game at the stadium, in fact there is nothing pleasant at all about being a spectator there. It was cold, and the chill of watching the weakness in our defensive system exposed went through to the bone.
My only comment on the team selection going forward is this; we cannot win big finals games when we constantly allow and through our own actions face overlaps on the wings.
Brad Arthur
Ultimately our squad and its coaches will be judged on their ability to fix the problem. Like many I have had enough of opposition wingers having yards of open space to run into. The saying “if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem“ is applicable to our team.
We are not alone, as every single team has some fault or obstacles they must overcome to win the title.
I hope that the brains trust in our squad and coaching ranks can identify the cause of the problem and make some tough decisions to find solutions. Ultimately, I want my club to build towards winning a competition and you cannot do that when you have such a glaring weakness in your defensive line.
It must be fixed.
Although I was not happy at all with aspects of the defence I was happy with how we kept trying to get ourselves in the game after an early onslaught.
Watching our past two games at the ground, there was to my eyes a noticeable difference.
Against Manly we had absolutely no composure and panicked. However in my view against the Rabbitohs we trusted and gave ourselves a chance to get back into the game. Unfortunately our inability to hold out the left side attack and some dubious or should I say inconsistent referee decisions took any slim chance away.
In truth we were never going to win with the right-side defence having very little ability to withstand any sort of playmaking done at pace. But we did not throw the towel in, we did not panic and if we can fix our leaky right-side defence then those are qualities that we most definitely need in big games.
The Eels defence is not the only problem that needs fixing.
Last Saturday my family spent in excess of $200 for tickets, parking, food and the petrol to drive to the game. We are lucky that for us the cost is not an issue, although for many that is not the case.
We also spent just under 5 hours driving to and from Stadium Australia. We went to a game that we thought we could win but knew in all likelihood we would have to improve and play much better to do so.
My support for my Eels will always be assured. We will always maintain our season membership. Even though we may lament form at times we will always support our players and will always back our coaches whenever push comes to shove.
However, my love and passion for Rugby League outside of my Eels is waning.
Over this round we turned off three games well before the end. That never happens in my house. We turned them off because watching the sport I love is meant to be fun, but I find myself getting annoyed and angry at the inconsistencies that have been created by the all the rule changes and knee jerk overreactions of the crackdown. It is not fun anymore.
Everyone supports the elimination of dangerous and deliberate head shots. But there are significant inconsistencies in how tackles are being assessed which are determining the results of games.
For the first time in over a decade we have not and will not purchase tickets to State of Origin. I will not support an organisation that is showing little respect towards its fans and its players. This is not the game we want and it is not the game we deserve.
This idea that has somehow become the cry from certain media sections of our game that the fans and the players should simply accept that we are ‘white noise’, who should only be consulted when convenient and we need to hand our game over to a select few men in suits to do with as they please simply because they fulfilled their job description last year is absurd.
As my grandfather put so aptly to me over the weekend they, the faceless corporate men who think they own our game, really learnt nothing from the super league war.
Not so good times
During that tumultuous time ordinary fans lined the highway leading back into Newcastle to welcome their victorious premiership team back. Despite the millions poured into the Mariners, the working-class people of Newcastle made it clear that the game in their town was not for anyone to buy.
Then following the “war” many thousands of ordinary fans from different clubs put rivalry and team passion aside to march and demand Souths be reinstated. It was extraordinary to see supporters unite when they see something so grossly unfair in the game they love.
In the time since, families like mine spent year after year turning up to Parramatta Stadium to support a team that, if they got beat by 20 or less, it was a good game.
Every club and every supporter base could tell their own stories.
Ultimately Super league failed because despite the billions spent trying to buy the minds and hearts of people, our loyalty, passion and sense of fairness are not for sale.
Rugby League at its heart is a working-class game, played and watched by people who do not like to be told to sit down, shut up and do what you are told without question.
Peter V’landys
I remind sections of our media who are acting as cheerleaders for the men in suits, including the journo who wants a dictator in charge of our game, about one fact. No one in the NRL headquarters, no one at Fox NRL or the Daily Telegraph has a job without those so-called irrelevant people who speak all the white noise.
Start listening, because just like the recently failed super league competition in European Soccer and our very own failed super league competition here in Australia, ignoring the heart and soul of your game is done at your peril.
As the self-documented child of a migrant family in working class Wollongong, surely Mr V’landys would understand that telling ordinary, hardworking men and women to sit down, be quiet and only speak out when you agree with him is not going to end well.
He cannot ignore the passion of the supporters when that very passion is at the core of the game.
Admit you’ve made mistakes Mr V’landys, and fix them.
Shelley
Pretty good article, relevant points and the right assessment but unfortunately, like most supporters of this great game we are a “Voice in the Wilderness” Simply an annoyance to those who administer the game
The problem for the NRL is that once people turn off it will be very hard and costly to get them back. I can’t believe the line that we owe V’landy’s. It is his job – he gets VIP treatment at all games, he is hardly suffering and giving everything with little personal return. I am not sure what but there is absolutely a News Limited agenda to keep him in the job. The sad thing is I think V’landy’s could be a really good leader if he had strong assistances around him who he allowed to speak.
You have encapsulated my own feelings fairly accurately Shelley. Love your sentiments and wholeheartedly agree. It has been exceedingly frustrating to watch the inconsistencies in the refereeing, which at times has been very one sided and destroying games. To watch hands all over Parramatta faces many times in the Manly game and no action taken was beyond the pale. Presently our game is garbage and I only watch games because of my passion for Parra. I will continue to support my team regardless but under extreme duress.
You can hear already the excuses coming out from the NRL about you cannot expect consistency as all circumstances are different. One could be cynical and suggest that star players and influential clubs is one such circumstance.
Origin will be interesting and you can almost guarantee they will have to make a call on a high shot.
Fantastic article as always. Very much agree with where the game is heading. I’m turning off more and more games because I can’t stand watching matches now, something I never did before. Even this Eels game I tuned out halfway through. The game needs to wake up it itself and remember why we love this game.
We turned off the Titans/ Sharks game yesterday early on when chambers got binned. Wade Graham tackle around the legs and naturally the Titans player fell into Chambers arm down near his side and he got sent for 10. So Chambers got 10minutes because Wade Graham did exactly what the NRL is advocating. It was laughable.
Shelley, I do appreciate your passion for our club and our game.
I’ll be sarcastic and suggest that the brains trust quite like the saying of “don’t worry about what you can’t control” in respect of the right-side defensive issues which have been a problem for so long now. The right-side defense must be so finely tuned, or so fragile, that to be without a particular player, or move a player results in the house of cards tumbling with the result of opposition players scoring try after try virtually untouched.
Is the problem the result of the players, the coaches or a combination of both? Probably the latter but why hasn’t the issue being satisfactorily addressed. That is my number one frustration at the moment. I don’t expect that there is a quick fix, but it has been a problem for so long that it should have been. Hand on heart who did not think what happened on Saturday night would? We’ve all seen it unfold time after time after time. How can the team try to work their way back into the game when the pressure is released so easily with a simple shift to our right.
The club employs coaches to coach a particular skill set and the assessment of players includes what skill set they will bring to the club. If the coach or the player doesn’t work out then move them on and look to get the right mix of coach and players.
To understand V’landy’s you have to understand that the NRL are in the entertainment game. Who doesn’t find it entertaining to see one side play 20 minutes against the other with one less player? Too many changes for the sake of change and I like you am not getting to the end of many games of late.
Keep up your good work!
Well I have to say Shelley’s thoughts are mine.
This crack down started because two players from the Roosters got hurt. No doubt Chief Nick to talked to his compatriot bigger Chief Peter and complained. Hence this out of control confusing mind blowing crackdown that has ruined the game as a spectacle and allows the referee to be the dominant person defining the outcome of games.
The NRL did not learn from Smith. You cannot put a person in charge of our game who it seems has little understanding of its dynamics.
Foul play can always be caught up in the judiciary. And accidental hits are a logical procession in a game that is exceedingly fast.
Some games are of origin intensity and speed.
The referee Sutton how he is our top man is somewhat baffling. He is so inconsistent with understanding that he should be relegated to reserve grade.
I watch most games and he is the same with other games. Calling back play some minutes after an event is so stupid it defies logic. .
If this stupid thinking is not resolved I too am turning away from the games. It now borders on touch and we love the tough bruising games that bring us to the edge of our seats.
V’Landys is worried about the future. Tell me please what player who wants to play the top grade doesn’t understand that the game is hard, fast and will get hurt. Please find one for me.
Everyone who plays this game wants to and understands what may happen to them accidental or on purpose.
This game is ours – it brings people together – it helps people who love it to forget their own problems for an hour or two.
I hate dirty play but I love the toughness and now very soon it will become so gentle that we will invite our women to play alongside.
That then will be the death of what once a great game.
It comes down not to how many people are on a committee but rather the different representation of voices you hear. It looks like V’landy’s hears from a limited few such as Bennett and has therefore locked out a large proportion of the League community. The constant media dribble from Fox and Bennett defending him is not helping it is only serving to reinforce the feeling of disconnect between the fans/ players and NRL- ARLC
One thing I have noticed in the last couple of weeks is that legs tackling has generally improved and there’s been a lot more of them. This is a good trend in my view and should help eliminate some of the wrestling and manourvering oF tackled players Aimed at specifically slowing down the play the ball.
I have found the inconsistency in refereeing very frustrating, and this business of going back several plays to adjudicate something kills the flow and momentum big time. If the officials have missed it, deal with those incidents at half or full time. Perhaps if linespeople got back to the basics of watching closely rather than screeching at players to do this and that, they might contribute a little to the right decisions being made, esp. re forward passes.
As to the Eels, we need to do something very different on that right side defence – at the very least we need to make opposition teams attack differently by getting some real brick wall structure In there. At the moment it is a saloon passage.
See comment above- Chambers got 10 minutes yesterday because Graham did a beautiful legs tackle and surprise surprise the Titans player fell forward straight into Chambers arm which was by his side.
It was so ridiculous, the Sharks got penalised for doing precisely what the NRL have said they want to promote.
100% Shelley. V’Landys and co are behaving like amateurs when professionalism is required. The objective is not unreasonable, the pathway is bordering on ridiculous. A far better approach would have been to develop a new code for high contact with the more intensified definitions and an enforcement regime which took head contact off field for a period of introduction. All with transparency please. Pretty well all players play with the right intent, those that don’t are easily identified. Right now, games are being ruined. Players and the public seem to be finding out about new product specs as administrators, on field officials, off field officials issue edicts on the run eg. we suddenly become aware that different types of contact have different treatments…haven’t they got the business acumen to know you can define this stuff up front and establish the right processes to introduce and manage? Of course not, just shove it out there and play the fear cards…concussion, liability, Mums, registrations etc.
V’Landys, in his own manner, is threatening the credibility of a game that has enough detractors. Family and friends are trying to give him a wake up call.
Peter vlandy’s is sadly like a cancer to the game n must be removed. His been driving me crazy with all these rules n all these sin bins. At the end of the day this guy is about as useful as a sun roof on a submarine.
I hear the press aka the smellygraph n smh are trying to pressure clint Newton into releasing the name of the player’s that want vlandy’s out.
Look vlandy’s is results driven i get that but as they say in Top Gun his writing cheques that his body can’t cash. His ego is out of control.
On Parramatta it’s simple don’t need a degree in rocket science. We are winning then entre Waqa Blake we lose. Fergo n Waqa blend like oil and water.
Other than parra i rarely watch a game past halftime nowadays and turn of even earlier once the overuse of the sin bin starts , vlandys said he would listen to fans but talks cheap . !know alls listen to no one !!!!