The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
The Parramatta Eels needed a palette cleanser after an incredibly frustrating loss to the Wests Tigers on Easter Monday and they found it with a 39-2 clinic against the Newcastle Knights.
It was a case of back to basics for the Eels as they expertly handled a pregame reshuffle to blow the Knights off the park. It was everything both Forty20 and Sixties wanted to see against the Tigers and while that loss still stings, it was hugely encouraging to see the team get everything right this week.
The boys look at the renewed focus on defence, how the Eels were able to able to effectively scheme a new look backline and halves pairing before breaking down some individual performance headlined by the outstanding Ryan Matterson.
As always the review pod caps off with a look at all the other Blue & Gold action from the weekend. This week features an impressive loss from an undermanned NSW Cup list and a heartbreaking defeat for the Tarsha Gale.
The NRL is reserved for those of special talent. How the hell can Jake Arthur be playing in this team ? I dont think I’ve ever seen a player so slow in his body movements as JA. 4 missed tackles, a hospital pass to Brown and one of the worst forward passes this year do not bode well considering he was hardly sighted. How the Knights missed the opportunity to fully expose him shows you how badly they played.
Bit harsh. He went well I thought and given the injuries in the backline, this was probably the best team to put out on the field.
I’d rather enjoy the win, support the team and not bag an easy target.
Sorry but I’m just calling it as I see it and I appreciate that you have a different view and that’s fine.
There are no easy targets and no hard targets.
I thought he was poor.
On a brighter note, I thought every one else in the team played well especially Matto who was superb.
Well said Mrbc
Spark, the fellas get a 39-2 win and you want to bag a 19 year old in the winning team?
Come on sixties you are better than that. Just because we win doesn’t mean we can’t be fair and objective regarding each players ratings. It’s a level playing field and being 19 doesn’t give you extra credits. It’s the reason why TCT has ratings.
Spark, I won’t disagree about the bad forward pass, (the pass to Nathan Brown should have been caught) but to be honest I’m struggling to think of an occasion when he’s thrown a forward pass like that. He had a couple of missed tackles too which is why I’d suggest that Jake has played better games than that. Mind you, if you can find a half back that hasn’t thrown the odd bad pass I’ll be stunned. Also, Jake averages in the high 80s for tackle efficiency, which for a half (I’ll throw in his age here because older halves have worse efficiency).
All that said, I believe that your opinion was coloured by your pre match judgement. You decided that your main comment after a win was to single out Jake for criticism. The selection was made as the best possible way to keep the balance in the team. You saw points continue to be scored on that side of the field. I have watched plenty of Jake and he plays an entirely different game to the other halves. His game is all about composure and organisation. He plays for those around him.
I’ll give you the tip – the other players rate him big time. Dylan even made a point about how good it was to play alongside him post match. And as I said at the start of the year, the opinions that matter in team selections are that of the staff and players.
No. As in any player my opinion was based on his performance on the field during this game. He comes out against NQ and plays well, I will give him due credit. I think Gol summed it up perfectly with his narration when he gave the grades.
I was fine with JA’s selection given the injury crisis as BA explained before the game. He did his job. But the focus should be on the whole team as they also did their job. It was the power game, patience and execution. Everything missing from the week before. Good win. And how good is second place! Well until tomorrow maybe. Lets gone Warriors!
Absolutely Shaun. The attention to detail that was missing last week was there in spades this week.
Also thought that having Dylan in the centres made the team stronger in defence. Only a short term option of course until Opacic or Niukore are back.
It was all about balance and having players familiar with calls, structures in defence and attack and a player that the others trusted.
I really think you’re being harsh on Jake, Spark. He did his job, nothing bad & Dyl played well at centre. The Knights scored 2 points. What do you want??
And that positioning of Dylan was top notch.
Gil, the Knights were so bad yesterday that our reserve grade team would have touched them up. They were a very low bar. Dyl was great, he’s a hell of a
footballer.’
Thanks boy’s for a great podcast.
I don’t understand the hate displayed by some for Jake. He’s only 19 years old and has already achieved more than most people commenting. Haters are gonna hate no matter what. They cannot even enjoy a win without throwing shade on the team performance.
It’s interesting that when Jake played the second half against the Titans the Eels played composed football using their forwards, and the same happened today.
The Eels haven’t been able to field close to their best team and still won comprehensively. I’m going to be happy with that and if the fellas earned criticism last week then they certainly deserve praise this week.
I enjoyed the game and enjoyed the Tip Sheet. I get excited every time we win, still, after 50 years.
That is the way I want them to play every game Make the tackles and keep the errors down to a minimum and grind out the win.
Forcing teams to do a lot of work in defence and not giving them a piggy back down the field with silly errors is what we need to strive for every game.
For me MM was my 3 pointer. He managed the team and the performance in attack and without knowing his stats I thought he really stood up in defence as well.
I thought Matterson played his best game for the Eels in a long time. He was outstanding today. I do not recall him making an error. Some great runs and good defence.
My recollection is that Simonson was slow to work his way into the Raiders system. He has been a bit slow here as well. I got a sense it was like he was getting to know the players and the systems. However in the last few weeks he has made up for that. Playing well at the moment I think.
John Eel, I agree about how well Moses played but I couldn’t go past a couple of forwards for the 3 and 2. It was a great platform today.
Maybe I am a bit biased Sixties.
Your opinion is rated here John.
I don’t know if anyone else near fell off the couch when we messed up the short dropout after a really sound start then spent 10 minutes trying to get back on track. My gut feel was we could have put them to the sword a bit earlier, but NRL is not a game for perfectionists. Just pleased we hit back.
I think Gutho needs to work on his kick
Very happy with the win, beating a team that they should beat, improving their F&A by 37 and for Matto adding some punch from the bench that has been sadly missing, what a game he had. So disappointed to be losing Ice next year.
The Knights were very poor in both attack and defence so hard to gauge the degree of bounce back. Not complaining though, just enjoying the result.
I agree with spark, Jake was extremely bad, and on that performance any other player would be dropped.
The bad kick that went dead by many meters, the bad forward pass, Pongal ran around him like he wasn’t there, Pongal smashed him and snapped him in haf. He’s nowhere near a first grader, yet he’s chosen in games in front of other experienced players, see round 1.
This was the worst game I’ve seen by an eels player for many years
Cartwrightis much better so is rankin who always well in reserves.
The worst game you’ve seen by a parra player in many years? You must have some issues if you hate JA this much. For a young half, he did his job, made a couple of mistakes but don’t most players.