Parramatta Eels 24
Sydney Roosters 31
The Sydney Roosters were pretty good tonight. Let’s not take credit away from the opposition; they completed at 86%, their line speed was ridiculous and it was a big effort from the Parramatta Eels to make a game of this one after half-time.
It was a rare Eels effort where the starters were dominated by the opposition pack but the bench turned the tide. Mitchell Moses was sensational, Isaiah Papali’i being his weapon of choice, and Ryan Matterson continued his sudden explosion of representative form. Still, getting credit for “never giving up” doesn’t get you two competition points, and Parramatta can’t afford to keep dropping games in a competitive mid-field where as many as six teams could be fighting for two spots in the top four.
The Parramatta Eels defence isn’t good enough to spot teams easy tries, and today it was far too easy for the Sydney Roosters in that first half. Clint Gutherson making a mess of a grubber and the on-line defence holding off Jared Waerea-Hargreaves like he was Andrew Johns wasn’t the best start to a game, but poor performance in the ruck and some ill-discipline gave the Roosters those opportunities.
The other bad was the inability of the side to ice plenty of chances that should have seen the Eels run away with the game. Dylan Brown and Bailey Simonsson both selected power drive instead of feathered touch for grubbers to unmarked runners, and Simonsson also got greedy on an early tacke to turn an attacking set into a penalty. You can have defensive lapses but make the most of your chances, or you can be so strong defensively that you get across the line by sheer attacking pressure. Tonight that balance was out for the Blue and Golds.
Here I thought Sam Kerr put on the best soccer display of the year so far:
But the Prince of Egypt has her beat:
Despite the sin-binning, the Eels had the numbers to win this game, they just let the Roosters convert too many chances and didn’t take enough of their own. Those numbers, for those so inclined:
Possession: Eels 52%, Roosters 48%
Completions: Eels 37/42 (88%), Roosters 31/36 (86%)
Metres: Eels 1,785, Roosters 1,722
Tackle breaks: Eels 43, Roosters 31
Offloads: Eels and Roosters, 16 each
Set restarts conceded: Eels 1, Roosters 8
Only one choice tonight, as Mitchell Moses put on a clinic that showcased every skill in the game: running, passing, kicking and rushing up into a guy and slowing them down long enough for someone else to tackle them. It was nice to see the leading man take the team on his back when the going got tough after disappearing a couple of weeks ago against the Cowboys, and while we didn’t get the win, you da MVP Mitchy.
Clint Gutherson
1 – Fullback
Clint Gutherson had a Blake Ferguson moment cleaning up a routine grubber and while he had other solid defensive moments tonight and was decent with the ball in attack, the Eels defence isn’t good enough to be giving away free points and tonight, the King had no clothes.
Hayze Perham
2 – Left Wing
Hayze Perham was wearing platform shoes the day they took his height measurements, because Joseph Suaalii looked two feet taller than him on that catch, not just 12 centimetres. Perham has been solid as a makeshift winger, but he’s been beaten in the air consistently and his size has been exploited in rucking the ball out of our own end. I know it is hard to drop someone after knocking off the defending premiers, but as we’ve said in the grades before: wing is a specialist position, and today a specialist winger watched this game, healthy, from the grandstand.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
I could copy/paste a comment for Will Penisini nearly every week: defended well, made the most of the chances he got, get him the ball in space more. We’ve got a special one here, time to start taking advantage of that.
Tom Opacic
4 – Left Centre
You would think a team that benefited last week from a player being tackled before he caught the ball, would be hyper aware to not tackle a player without the ball. Especially when the tallest, lankiest man in your team is standing in the passing lane to the player you are trying to tackle. Parramatta did well to defend most of that period with 12 men, but the Roosters did score and that falls on the shoulders of the man who left them short.
Bailey Simonsson
5 – Right Wing
I gave him a bit of grief earlier, but it wasn’t the easiest kick to weight into the in-goal for Bailey Simonsson that ended an early Eels chance. The double movement though, that is all on him and showed a lack of composure that was out of sync with the rest of the side. His ruck work was again decent, but for a guy who came to us as a finisher, he’s not doing his job.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
Dylan Brown had another of his workrate games, which isn’t really what we needed tonight. He put two kicks dead, one that should have been a try, and despite a cracking (and also high) shot on Sitili Tupouniua and a few other big tackles, he had 3 misses and 7 ineffective. He’s having a good year, but tonight showed he still has some polish to apply.
Mitch Moses
7 – Halfback
Mitchell Moses only misses the A+ because the result didn’t go the right way, but he was sensational tonight. He put on an individual try of the year contender with his soccer skills, showed his speed and footwork to get Papali’i his first then isolated the defenders and hit Ice perfectly for his second. He parked himself on the short side for kicks and it was clearly a plan, and despite missing 7 tackles I thought he had a decent defensive game, getting up early and slowing the runner down and killing some promising Roosters shifts with his rushes.
RCG
8 – Front Row
Maybe it was the after-effects of illness, or perhaps the turbo-boosted Roosters defensive line that shot off the mark at pace all night, but it wasn’t a game of the usual quality for Reagan Campbell-Gillard. On a short night at the office (only 36 minutes) he wasn’t bad, but we’re used to dominating, not being on the back foot, in those early stages, and it is usually RCG doing the dominating.
Reed Mahoney
9 – Hooker
Maybe I’m just angry about him leaving again, but tonight didn’t feel like a good night for Reed Mahoney. He got crash-bally a few times attacking the line and didn’t have any penetration in attack, and while I’m not going to hold it against him that he couldn’t stop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves dead in his tracks from five out, it wasn’t a game that you’d be happy to be paying three quarters of a million dollars a year for.
Junior Paulo
10 – Front Row
Like his fellow bookend RCG, Junior Paulo was lightly run tonight (43 minutes) and managed a pitiful 72 metres from 10 runs. The Roosters clearly lined up to do a job on the Eels front rowers tonight, but Junior is capable of rising above any opposition gameplan and he needed to do that in this one. He’s the captain and the team needed more from him.
Shaun Lane
11 – Second Row
Shaun Lane’s numbers were about as ordinary as Junior’s, but were closer to what we expect with Lane who makes impact with offloads and line running rather than chewing up metres. I don’t think he was bad tonight, there just wasn’t much spark.
Isaiah Papali’i
12 – Second Row
It took a couple of months, but Isaiah Papali’i has found that rhythm to his running game, getting his timing and lines right when running off Mitchell Moses and creating the angles that allow him to bullock through defenders like they aren’t there. I don’t know how he can keep up this work rate at this level of effectiveness over a full season, but I hope for our sake he can.
Nathan Brown
13 – Lock
Another short stint for Nathan Brown, who was fairly ineffective in the moments he did have. There is an optimal usage of Brown’s talents in this side, but whatever we are doing now is like using the T-800 to sort whites from colours.
Maka Makatoa
14 – Interchange
While I’d like to see a bit more impact from Makahesi Makatoa on his runs, he got an extended amount of time on the field and continued to work at a high rate, which is exactly what he is best at. Soak up the minutes, work hard in defence, take plenty of hitups. It isn’t pretty, but it allows more aggressive attacking players to do their job.
Ryan Matterson
15 – Interchange
Ryan Matterson is going to cost us his weight in gold on his next contract if he keeps this run of form up. That try was a combination of attributes a forward shouldn’t have: agility and a step to get into space, pure strength and force of will to get over the defenders. The way he met James Tedesco like he was running into a tackling bag wasn’t what I’d classify the most efficient way to score that try, but it was surely the most dominant.
Oregon Kaufusi
16 – Interchange
For the first time in a long time, I watched Oregon Kaufusi play football and thought “gee he is having a good game”. He was running hard, getting quick play-the-balls and making strong contact in defence. It might have been the unusually poor night the starters had that made him look good in comparison, or maybe the threat of Marata Niukore’s imminent return to a bench crowded with middles has fired him up, but this tonight, I liked this.
Bryce Cartwright
17 – Interchange
Another week, another token handful of minutes for Bryce Cartwright. It felt like a game he could have had a real impact in, plenty of second phase play and tired defenders, but we’ll never know.
At 25-6 I had a Google Image Search of dog crap ready to go to replace this grades tonight, but it was nice to see the Eels show some real resolve and fight their way back into this game, if only so you all get some real content in the grades.
As I said in the intro, “competing” isn’t enough for a team that should be among the best in the competition. The Roosters were good tonight, but this is a comfortable win for Parramatta if the opening stages are an arm wrestle instead of a comedy of errors. Credit to Sydney for turning the momentum and holding on, in the end I think they had the Eels for fitness and years of well-drilled defensive strength got them home in the closing stages.
We lost a close game to a good team that played well. It’s not the end of the world. Next week we host Manly, who have played like busteds against every good team they’ve faced this year and whose best player is clearly not fit. I want to feast on juicy Sea Eagle innards next weekend, and after a loss like this one the Parramatta Eels better be fired up to deliver a bloodbath against the old enemy.
Until next time, stay slippery Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL
You give Mitch an A but he more then likely lost us the game tonight, yeah had a flash of brilliance, but for possibly the 3/4 week in a row has fails to find grass of his kick options. It’s not good enough and put parra on the back foot every set,
Not even close to a premiership
You are a fool if you think Moses was the problem in this game.
Greg Alexander gave him 3 Dally-M points and he hates Parra.
Anonymous your comments regarding Mitch caused Anon2 to call you a fool.
That was pretty harsh however given that you received 13 thumb’s down, something I have never seen on this site previously, I am in total agreement with him
P.S. Can’t you guys find a name to use.
I just have no idea how we can or will be a top four team; Penrith at this stage are almost certainties for the top four and probably GF qualifier…..and then there is around 4-6 teams who could compete. We are in there somewhere but is it 3rd or 8th?
To me our defence has been avg all season bar a couple of games….i cannot work the team out….and am starting to look at the onfield leadership as we have had more up dips than Dipsy on the Teletubbies.
As BA said last week we are not considered in the ‘elite’ teams and that is spot on. We obviously do not have the cattle to look at other options and this is a concern as we have Manly next week i think and Canberra….
Milo as much as my heart tells me otherwise I believe that you are correct.
In fact I posted a couple of times prior to this game along the same lines.
Apart from the low energy start and the obvious defensive problems I thought there were two points where we lost our momentum in the chase back.
Firstly they had built a lot of pressure just before halftime and Mitch grassed the ball which spoilt an otherwise perfect game.
Secondly was Dylan not finding Gutho on his right late in the game. Gutho did arrive late but he would have gone over untouched.
I have to admit watching the game live I could only see Perham. I did not notice Gutho looming.
HI John and thanks for the reply.
I think we have lost 2-4 points this year in some losses already and am somewhat concerned this will bite us later on when we need a top 4 spot.
I think the coaches would be fuming this was a lost chance as we played well for about 50 mins or so from my view but we let the first part of the game slip.
You are right about some lost chances and thats a shame but we need to aim up each and every week if we are going to be contenders.
I guess at times i am becoming somewhat impatient..and maybe that is because of age 🙂 and also the time we have had between drinks mate!!
We have the team to win a comp but i wish they had the mental fortitude to get up for games more often.
Now we have Manly, and they will be up for it after last week.
Agree Roosters were too good, and thought they were unlucky to have a pass called forward for a No Try early on (granted, I thought one of the lead-up passes in the try just prior was forward).
Not having a whinge about being ‘robbed’, but I thought the whistle-happy ref in the first-half (10 metres), pretty much put it away in the second letting the same infringements go. Thought it was very inconsistent.
As for the Tupouniua tackle by Brown, where else can you reasonably be expected to make contact at that reaction speed, proximity and pace when the runner is lurching forward at a 45 degree angle leading with the head at shoulder height?
Almost back in the game with a couple of stand out players, the team is so close to making a dent in the competition but needs consistency across the board. Difficult in a team sport and obvious, but that is why the coaching staff get the big bucks.
Mahoney again underlined why the club didn’t want to go to the crazy money paid by the Dogs, no running game to threaten the opposition! A first game 9 for the Raiders showed that running from dummy half will open up lanes for the attack.As for crash balls inside the 5 metres,is that all they practices because it’s what we see.
The team is not far short of challenging, but losing so many players at seasons end, and not a lot of pressure from lower grades, let’s hope that the HOF is earning his big bucks because to lose the opportunity by failing to recruit is an F on the scorecard. Acknowledge that the cap is difficult , but top clubs seem to manoeuvre around this obstacle.
As they say, let’s not talk about the bunker, or the first half defence.
Tks Gol, the 3 A graders were standouts. That game had so many pro’s and cons, not like a Penrith game where the summary is pretty brief – ran hard, tackled hard, played for 80, Cleary/Yeo leadership.
Well that result was always on the cards and whilst I dont comment often I read with interest the comments posted, however I am going out on a limb here and saying we do not have a coach with the ability to win a premiership. The bench rotation last night was an absolute joke.
When I die, can parra lower me in the grave, just to let me down one last time!
This weekend was the most I’ve been a le to sit down and really look at the other teams in the comp one thing that stands out is the amount of improvement from teams who were outside the 8 last year.
We haven’t improved we haven’t gone backwards we are exactly the same team as we have been for the last few years.
Our biggest concern is we don’t have big numbers getting out of our own end our back 3 are small only Penisini gets good yardage rucking it out were missing Blake for that part and haven’t replaced What fergo uses to do.
I love the eels but I’ve conceded that this squad once again will fall short the talent is there the mindset and culture is not
I can’t agree there, I think there are definite differences from last year. Our attack is much better, throwing some different looks and shapes, but our physicality, contact and individual defence has suffered for it. We need to get that right, and I agree we could use a bit more help from the backs in rucking it out, but we are still missing big bodies in Waqa and Sivo that could help there (though Sivo hasn’t built a reputation for good early tackle running).
I wouldn’t be making any grand judgments of our ability after that loss, the Roosters were very good and we should have had them if we were properly committed early on.
But who is meant to get the team on? I recall BA previously saying they are professionals and should be motivated enough. Ha. This sport is so tough you need a coach whom can motivate……aka…… Be a master manipulator…….BA is a lovely bloke. I cannot see him doctoring a paper to motivate the team.
It’s pretty tiring that every loss is followed with “sack BA” and yet more coach criticism. He motivated the team just fine last weekend.
I didn’t say sack BA I was pointing out the on going issues with being unable to be consistent
We want BA to stay as long as possible but Gol you must acknowledge his bench rotation is questionable.
It is a fairly common thread through the grades this year, yes.
The bench rotation and use is terrible! That has to be acknowledged even by the most one eyed supporters.
I was not saying to sack BA. I was implying he is the one responsible for getting the team up and into their heads (positively). The buck stops with him.
100% correct!!! We are not mentally tough week in week out!
Thats the question how they fix this issue I’m not sure but till it’s fixed we will be a top 6 team who bows out week 2 of the finals again
I do agree look at the big 3 improvers Cows,Bris,Cronulla,except for Cronulla on weekend with their spine changed.These 3 sides back 5 all are big bodies and carry strong make plenty of yardage out of their end.I do agree re waqa but don’t make me laugh re Sivo.
I think you should go and play and see if you can bring the ball back as a winger
Personally I was totally miffed with the team, sure a few played well, but it didn’t take long to see where the eels were heading against the chooks. The slight attempt at a comeback made the score a bit ok but it was not really a fair roll of the eels dice though, in the end they did not deserve a win anyway.
When did the eels ever have a player that can leap like an AFL player to take a high ball? Chooks had a great one and so do some other clubs. Where are a speed men that are in unison and know how to read the game as they run hard?
I would suggest that when Sivo comes back, wont be any sort of savior on the paddock either, he’s had one good year, in his first and that’s the sum total. Hopefully Waqa will be back soon, also Russel.
I’m hoping komalafe can develop into a strong player plenty of height and hopefully he can fill out.
He’s not the answer!
“We lost a close game to a good team that played well. It’s not the end of the world.” someone just said that!
It was just not necessary, why pick Perham on the wing when he was up against two giants, why have him doing hit ups when he is not built for it….watching him was like he watched previous games and that’s what Parra wingers do….where was the coaching instructions.
Why was JA the 18th man when if in the extreme circumstances of him getting a run, he can only play one position.
We were always going to have Walker and Keary trying to prove something and Heargraves showing our forwards they were not going to dominate him….which of our forwards tried to say…I will look after him….Heargraves obviously said i will look after them, you guys take it from there.
It is fair enough for BA to say we started too slow, but what instructions motivations took place to counteract that…..when they came out, they were casual! no obvious motivation to prove any dominance……something is not right with this team to play so dumb!
Reading the game summary was a bit like, we are a much better team, just wait and we will prove it…..eventually!
Some of those loses is where the opposition captilised on our inexperienced wingers. Actually there are threee loses.
It is a specialist position and losing so many wingers really hurt.
Still don’t think we are getting anywhere near optimum value from our bench.surley it was obvious that Lane was spent well before eventually being replaced and that team may have benifited with a fresh and creative Cartwright for more than 8 minutes?
8 minutes for Cartwright. Why have him in the team? Lane was spent after 50 minutes. BA has a terrible record with the bench and I believe it is hurting the team.
Maka should be replaced by Greig – big body with big movement.
Nailed it Burt!!
I admit I gave up watching at half time. I didn’t see a comeback win in us and whilst they did come close it wasn’t meant to be. It frustrates me to no end when they play like this, especially when they knock off top teams earlier. I don’t know what’s causing this inconsistency but they’ve got to figure out what team they want to be. I certainly do!
I agree, the inconsistency is what is driving Parra fans mad. Last week we played like world beaters, this week you could tell from the first few minutes we weren’t on. Until this is sorted out we won’t be in the hunt for a premiership. Have a look at the tipping comps, majority expected Parra to build on last weeks win, but ……..
Great work Gol.
A real slow start which we cannot afford against good opponents like Roosters.
Both Takiaheo and JWH ran over 150m. Junior and RCG both under 100m.. JWH dominated our boys. He scored the easiest try of his career. Or props looked shell shocked and we actually got back into it when they were off. RCG had a bad miss on JWH for that try.
ICE and Matto were outstanding. Without ICE next year we are going to struggle…(I need to see what our plans are for replacements)
Lane did some good things but looks spent. He should be bending the line more than he is.
Gutho has surely lost his kicking licence for short kickoffs (and short dropouts). Just dive on the ball Gutho… Gutho defending in the line was just great football from Walker.
Dyl not passing to Gutho….and kicking out…was opportunity missed. Bailey double movement…
The ref was a joke. The first few penalties looked Sus…trigger whistle wasn’t applied both ways. It seems that Roosters have impunity.
Unfortunately the Roosters halves copped too much criticism before this game and they would only get better. We could have had them if we took our opportunities but we were too clunky when it counted.
Go Eels!!
I thought Lane looked aweful and spent from 10 minutes in, he doesnt hit the line like he used too!
We are behind the 8 ball before we start. No Waqa, Sivo, Nuikori, Stone and Dunster. We have no metres from the back three, Simmonson is getting better each game. This is our last year to win a comp, if we don’t this year we will be lucky to make the 8 in the next few seasons. We are losing a few players, we have bought ZILCH, and to be honest, there is not much quality left to sign. We need a decent centre, a couple of decent second rowers, a good prop, and a decent backup half, who can cover 6 and 7.
There are some good forwards in the Reggies who been crafted for next year.
Greig
Rodwel
El.Kazaam
Mr Sixties might help us with this.
How has Moretti been going? He looked high energy to me, but perhaps when you’re introduced to new systems and team mates you take time to hit your straps?
He has looked like a reserve grader, I dont think NRL beckons for Moretti and I have seen most games.
Also Brendan Hands can play 6,7 &9
How about a 9!!!!!!!!!
Dylan Brown no charge.
Two things you highlighted deserves repeating –
Why was Perham playing when we have Russell who is a specialist winger available ?
Why oh why are we only giving Carty 5 mins a game ??????
Can someone get a direct line to Brad Arthur so we can get an answer to this very valid question.
The team let themselves down this week in the first half but Arthur lets the team down with his bench rotations.
Other than that maybe some players are still hungover from the flu.
You may not agree with everything BA does, but surely you have enough faith in him to make the call on when Russell is ready to come back. Also worth recognising that he is a back up winger for Dunster who in turn debuted last year and was just starting to settle into first grade. Even at full strength we are light on winger capability. That said, I thought Simmonson had a decent game, bar the two errors.
However on the bench rotation point I agree. Surely Carty is reliable enough to play a solid 20-30mins!?
Absolutely have faith in BA to pick the side- it’s his neck on the line not mine BUT as a casual observer, Russell has probably played a thousand more games at winger than Perham, I think it’s time to recognise that winger is a specialist position.
Firstly I’ll say I share all the fans frustration with our team and the game. Like everyone else I don’t understand the lack of intensity at the start of every game because they looked like they were on valium at the start of this game.
Secondly where a lot of fans are saying we don’t have the players I tend to disagree as was shown against the top two sides we can beat them.
For me we only need two things 1: get the team motivated for EVERY game. And 2: get the bench rotation correct.
Not sure if you saw on the telly but live Lane was gased before the 50th min and was bent over sucking in the big ones until he was taken off.
And with everything that happened e.g. Manu’s flick that went 3mts forward and they score, Brown’s tackle penalty, the kicks dead and double movement.
The team and ability are there they just need to be managed to get the best out of them.
HOW you do that is the question.
Te slow start made it hard to get back in the game and we almost got there. When we play 80 mins, we show what we can do. Getting that consistency is the key.
My 2 observations –
1.agree with a few comments that our back 5 don’t seem to have the power of other back 5s in getting yardage out of our own half
2.bench rotation – in a game that was fairly open and had plenty of points, Carty could have been used more often – seemed like his sort of game. But in general – . Against the Panthers – 0 mins, against roosters 8 mins – is that causing extra fatigue with the others and just seems like we are playing too many games as a 16 man squad
What to say, I think it was clear early in that the Roosters were up for this one. I was happy with the fight and really like this group of players and the coach. As per others my gripe is the bench rotation. Why sign Cartwright and lose Papalii if you have no trust in the guy to send him on? How is he going to get any rhythm or form if he gets 5 minutes game time. We need a game breaker on the bench and he could be the guy but at this rate we will never know. the forwards can all do big minutes so i don’t get it. Plus I fear burnout later in the year with BA use of the bench.