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The Parramatta Eels find themselves in a very real quandary as they dropped their third straight game following a 40-12 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Round 21. Sixties and Forty20 try to decipher where it has all gone wrong for the Blue & Gold over the last three rounds and how it can be remedied ahead of a crucial match against the Sea Eagles.
Conversation in the media has now turned to the notion that the Parramatta Eels were never really premiership contenders and the boys discuss the validity of the call. Did the club and fans overestimate the roster and if so how far short are the Eels of contending?
Finally, with Reed Mahoney succumbing to the same shoulder injury that saw him miss State of Origin the Eels have a huge hole to fill. Joey Lussick will step into the breach once more but do the Eels need to make more changes? The boys argue the case for Bryce Cartwright and why the absence of the NSW Cup might shape a multitude of such possible decisions.
What disappointed me most in this game was when Latrell Mitchell elbowed reed Mahoney in the head and not one of the forwards rushed in to bite latrells Mitchell’s head off
too right Luke i was yelling and screaming he was treating us with contempt the whole match
Our aggression not on show Joe.
Is that indicative of the team not being on the same page, not playing for each other? Maybe?
1. Clint Gutherson ©
2. Maika Sivo
3. Waqa Blake
4. Marata Niukore*
5. Blake Ferguson
6. Dylan Brown
7. Mitchell Moses ©
8. Makahesi Makatoa
9. Joey Lussick
10. Junior Paulo ©
11. Ryan Matterson
12. Isaiah Papalii
13. Nathan Brown
14. Will Smith
15. Oregon Kaufusi
16. Shaun Lane
17. Bryce Cartwright
18. Haze Dunster
19. Tom Opacic
20. Will Penisini
21. Wiremu Greig*
reposting here as the conversation seems finished in grades thread.
Using Marata in the centres improves the way we defend outwide; As M. is neither as fast as Opa nor as atheletic as Waqa He is more likely to hold and slide rather than rush up and in. This proved effective against the storm round 2, and basically all other subsequent games save for the one occasion V the Sharks where Will Kennedy got around M. Which brings us to the next point; it re-invigorates Fergo; outside Marata, Fergo will have the extra moment or two to decide when to rush or cover in defence – as M. is more likely to hold – Fergo can trust Him to make the tackle and is therefore more inclined in turn to hold His wing. Thus eliminating a large part of our defensive frailty on this side – our rush up and ins, or our compression.
In attack Fergo will be more useful as M. is a draw and pass old-school centre which suits Fergs to the ground – he can trail outside and look for a tip on or cut back inside for an offload (See Sharks game). Cons: we lose some starch up front; but in shoring up our leaky edge D. we will miss the impact M. brings to the middle less. Tip on effect: Dylan defending inside M. will feel more comfortable and potentially be able to re-focus on His attack.
Steele, I posed Marata’s shift back there during the pod. I think we’re that to happen, and I don’t believe it will, the choice doesn’t just mean dropping Opa, it could be a choice between Haze and Waqa on the wing, and moving Opa back beside Sivo so that it reunites their left side from early in the year. However, that really involves so many changes that I can’t see it happening late in the year.
I like the team but what’s the go with having three captains? I don’t think you need a (c) to your name to be a leader
fair call mate – explained my reasoning in the other thread.
Comment removed. Sorry mate. That enters into personal insult territory. – Sixties
Boys thanks again,after the raiders game we in my opinion have looked tired what do you say. Boy i’ve done it tough this week, poor Reed he broke my heart, chin up mate you’re a good un
Heartbreak for him Joe. Maybe having an operation might be for the best in the long term for him.
Great listening and I agree with Sixies on moving Niukore back into the centre and bring Fergo back on the winger with dropping Opacic. (Sixies only said moving Niukore not the rest of it)
I’ll bring in Makahesi Makatoa and also drop Isaiah Papali’i to the bench (for impact off the bench not because of poor form).
With all this we can play our best style of footy which is the power game.
I’d definitely be giving Maka a run. He’s got a terrific motor. That said, he would have lost some match conditioning lately.
Anyone that thinks we’re beating Manly or making it anywhere near a top 4 finish think again. Not because Mahoney or Rcg is out.
Arthur has forever persisted with chasing collision or front load effort to win games. These tactics work in ends 1 – 14, but fatige sets in and we all know what happens.
No premiership has ever been won on effort alone, and that’s where Arthur falls down.
Not only that but our wide rushing up defense is a disaster. Nobody knows what’s going on anymore and it won’t change until Arthur is out
Reality is we got bitch slapped to the curb by the Rabbitohs and they spat on us as they walked away….
I gotta say, I know that the Cumberland Throw lads follow the team and I love them for it. So it might be hard to make an honest assessment of our roster when you see them train all the time. (im sure and I know they train great)… But that game against the Rabbithos I thought showed up our roster real bad, Brown and Paulo became the 2018 versions of Alvaro and Moeroa again.
Marata played with fire and agression but no one wanted to go with him. Matterson especially. Big Call but I actually think our most aggressive pack backrow starting combo (presently) could be Lane and Marata with Papali’i as lock. Brown has been down since he signed his big deal – not good enough. Also Matterson isnt a leader he needs to be led by a superior backrower like he was with Cordner.
I think too many people, media especially think our roster is better than it really it is. On the positive we are in a good position to wipe our whole roster if they turn into bums.
This year we said we had great depth repeated by the coach/payers, but right now we we miss RCG massively a prop for f sakes.. We need better props ready to go for injuries like this. Kaufusi in comparison to other teams bench props would rank in the bottom half of the comp. Other teams have had way more front row forward injuries than we have had this year but they have just rolled out another winner.
Honestly the buck stops with the General Manager imo, we need our GM to grab his balls and make big calls. And maybe that big call is keep BA but wipe a few of our pretender forwards/ skinny arm backs from the squad. Or maybe not. But the club should be led by the GM not the coach and I think for too long BA did everything. GM needs to talk to the meida more be the media face of the club and let BA coach.
Also stop all the stupid interviews we do on our website too, no other team does that crap and it just reveals our gameplans and headspace too much. Melbourne Storm say F all to the media during the week. We tell them our life story. Keep your cards close to your chest more. We need to think more like a gang and less like we are popstars.
Last comment our club should engage Manu Mau in some capacity. just have him in the team training/coaching/playing keep the pack honest.
I had to make a couple of edits here Chris, whilst keeping your sentiments. It might seem pedantic, but we have always drawn a line on personal comments about players. I note for anyone reading that yours weren’t over the top, but I’d rather not have us slide in that direction. – Sixties
I agree that somehow Cartwright has got to get more minutes. Our attack always looks better when he is asking questions of the defence.
I feel for Tom Opacic given his circumstances but I agree at the moment with Forty that it might be better to give Will a run. Tom’s strength all year has been his defence but he has become a liability.
However if we can’t get our middle fired up, it is all academic. Maybe it is time for Makatoa to make his debut and put Niukore at centre.
I always say that it starts with our aggression in the middle. People may criticise BA’s comments about front loading, but
when it comes to our Eels, how many of us can tell how a match will go in those first five minutes? That hasn’t just been under BA. We know when the team has turned up during that time. We have to start we’ll and we really haven’t in the last couple of weeks.
Certainly a lot to think about from that fella’s.
In the short term Matata to Centre would certainly improve our edge defense. Matata is probably more likely to score than Tom.
Sorry for the team list…but the team is tired and disjointed… They need a circuit breaker.
1. Clint Gutherson ©
2. Waqa Blake
3. Will Penisini
4. Marata Niukore
5. Haze Dunster
6. Bryce Cartwright
7. Mitchell Moses ©
8. Oregon Kaufusi
9. Joey Lussick
10. Junior Paulo ©
11. Ray Stone
12. Shaun Lane
13. I Pappali
14. Dylan Brown
15. Nathan Brown
16. Ryan Matterson
17. Makahesi Makatoa
These changes would destroy Haslers planning and his A.D.D..lol
We probably neeed to do this against the Titans earlier… but Id prefer to rest and test the team now rather than waiting for the finals. Let’s bring the energy from the new guys into the team and allow Brown Brothers and Matto to fire off the bench.
That would be a team list to put the cat amongst the pigeons – with everyone! I’m for some change. The counterpoint I’d present is that it would be completely new combinations, not just in attack, but also defence. It’s a big ask in one week.
I was probably over zealous on that…But you get the idea.
Tks guys. We went set for set for near 20 minutes (10 sets each I think), and this is fact not a whinge, the Bunnies had far more help in that period from 6Agains(they evened out over time) and pena
ties (2 I think). You could see that teritorially, they were shading us consistently in that 20 minutes but our own discipline and the refs calls were the difference. We seemed to clock off for a quick re-set but the Bunnies were patient and pounced. Also Marata, his presence has been disjointed all year, centres, suspension, injury, rotation disruption etc etc…I think the guy deserves a crack at run on, just get his energy on the field and try to lift some of the others who look jaded. RCG gives us energy and agility…look at the props at Storm, Souths, Roosters, Manly…all have got it. And nothing to do with anything, but I bet Kane Evans got a few ‘well done’ texts from other players (kids at home, don’t read that).