Saturday 29th May, 2021
Stadium Australia
EELS 20 defeated by RABBITOHS 38
Half time: Eels 6 – 20
Attendance: 20,743
Eels Scorers:
Tries: C. Gutherson, I. Papali’i, M. Sivo, J. Arthur
Goals: Conversions: M. Moses 2 from 4
Much like last week’s Stats that Matta, it’s an ugly assessment that we need to cover quickly but honestly.
Souths simply dominated in every aspect.
The Eels were again poor with completions with 70% (23 from 33). The tone was set with Gutho’s fumble on the very first touch from the Eels, and you knew then that it was going to be a long night.
Possession was fairly even with the Eels having 49% off the ball. That equates to 39:19 minutes with the ball, but just 11 minutes in the Rabbitohs red zone wasn’t enough to build a victory.
Attack
Once again the Eels showed nothing in attack. There were some glimpses of positive rugby league, but the total of two line breaks for the match emphasised that little impact was being made with the ball in hand.
In total the Eels made 1972 metres, 339 less than their opponents. The running metres were really down this weekend with just 1351 running metres from 159 carries.
In contrast to some of the notable victories earned through the middle, only one Eels forward carried for more than 100 metres and that was Nathan Brown (109m).
Total Post Contact Metres were 423, with Blake Ferguson the highest for the Eels with 50.
Again he and Gutherson topped our run metres with 164 and 174m respectively.
The stats really don’t lie in this one.
Hit Up Heat Map
This is easily our worst heat map in a very long time. There was barely any impact being made in the Rabbitohs half. If anyone was looking for evidence as to where the game was first lost they need look no further than this map. Our middle was just not firing at all, both in attack and defence.
Set Starts
In some respects it was amazing to have four tries to the Eels name. Just three set starts in the Rabbitohs red zone meant that no pressure was applied to their defence. It demonstrates how truly dominant the Bunnies were through the middle third.
Defence
Two tries conceded from scrums really isn’t good enough. Yet, surprisingly, the Eels defensive stats were an improvement on the Manly clash.
In total the Eels completed 347 tackles, with 23 missed and 10 ineffective tackles.
This gives a more than acceptable tackle efficiency rating of 91%. Unfortunately these numbers cannot include the line speed.
Reed Mahoney again topped the tackle count with 49 tackles with only 2 misses.
I do have a personal side note with our defence and some of the criticisms especially toward Blake Ferguson.
I have noted a shift in the way the Eels are defending as opposed to the same time frame last year. The Eels have employed a very compressed defensive line over both seasons, but as opposed to this time last year, our slide is non-existent. This season, it’s just a straight line with no shift and teams are going around us with ease.
So in defence (pun intended) of Blake Ferguson, he is jamming in, but this is following his inside man as he is meant to do, and it’s this movement which is leaving his wing exposed. If he doesn’t come in, the opposition attack will just be running through the gap his inside man has left due to a poor defensive read.
In my opinion, Blake can’t win either way. It seems like the only thing that will rectify this problem is returning Marata Niukore to the centres.
Discipline
Parramatta made 10 errors to Souths 11, and conceded 6 penalties with 1 set restart.
Three Eels players were placed on report, Nathan Brown x 2, Reed Mahoney and Ryan Matterson, with Isaiah Papali’i and Ryan Materson spending time on the naughty chair.
Despite the reports, no suspensions were handed down to Eels players. Only Ryan Matterson was found to have a case to answer, with the fine being the punishment.
Final Thoughts
Thinking too much about this game is giving me a headache. Lets move on.
Stats Player of the Round
This week I am going with Blake Ferguson.
He may have played himself out of a Blues jersey but as I have just said it has not entirely been his fault. This week, he produced impressive attacking stats.
Blake’s Tale of the Tape
- 18 runs
- 164 running metres
- 50 Post Contact Metres
- 1 Line Break
- 1 Line Break Assist
Everyone is going on about his defence and handling but he only made 1 missed tackle (I’m aware that misreads don’t count) and one error.
In my opinion he will be sorely missed next season if the decision to not retain him stays the same. He regularly gets the Eels out of their end and helps the forwards out.
Maybe a switch to centre and Waqa Blake to the wing could see an improvement.
Yours in Blue and Gold
Colmac
Again thanks for your efforts mate, yes while i agree some misreads and poor technique are hurting us, I also think our defensive patterns and lack of trust are our real problem, I thought our forwards and middle were not up to standard last week
Yeah, I wasn’t surprised by the heat maps. Backed up what I saw
The round isn’t complete until your review Colmac, thanks.
“Eels showed nothing in attack” on the back of lack of go forward in middle seems to be the summary.
Agree Fergo is unlucky because he does contribute with good metres and a winner’s attitude but BA has to make some decisions. IMO there’s a number of factors in play here; Fergo may be playing injured (read is he jamming in because injury stops him sliding), Waqa is on big $ on a long term contract (read do you throw this money down the toilet by dropping him), BA is proud about team culture and his picking & sticking policy (read is this a liability), our compressed defense has been a problem on the RHS for too long (read is this really Kidwell’s problem) etc, etc. Bottom line, BA has to bottom this out and Fergo is step 2 (after swapping Opacic and Waqa) in a process of elimination.
Look forward to seeing a bounce back this week and then enjoy freshening up with a week off.
DDay, I don’t think coin would be a determining factor, but BA does look to find a solution for the players rather than dropping them (see Maguire and Walters policy). So I read it that Fergo has perhaps been unable to follow instructions for a period of time for him to be dropped. You don’t want someone that you sought out just 3 years ago, to be running around in reggies, not when they are capable of being a match winner. If Fergo sorts it out, he’ll return to the top grade soon enough.
Well said Sixties. BA said as much at the Captains Run today