Parramatta Eels 14
Brisbane Broncos 36
Not much of that today. They say “don’t go to bed angry” so I’m busting out these grades tonight and will hopefully sleep as well as a 3 year old with a cold will let me.
The Parramatta Eels have been waddling around and quacking for months, but I’ve convinced myself over and over they’re not a duck, just a swan having a bad day. Nope, when a team looks this gutless, plays this stupid and can’t get out of their own way they’re no good pretenders, and anybody giving this pack of losers any higher hope than a duck egg of winning the premiership is kidding themselves.
The Broncos were there to be beaten tonight and Parramatta couldn’t get out of their own way. The Brisbane kicking game did little more than tempt the unco-ordinated Eels outside backs chances to kick at, trip over and generally fumble the ball. They fell off tackles like they spent their week on the Central Coast jelly-wrestling at Sirens. If you thought New South Wales made Pat Carrigan look good, wait until you see the Eels!
Whatever, here’s some stats:
Running metres: Eels 1,489 Broncos 1,421
Post-contact metres: Broncos 564, Eels 487
Errors: Eels 16, Broncos 8
Sticking a leg or arm out on a pass or kick to give away a repeat set: Eels 14, Broncos 0
Shaun Lane looked dangerous with every touch, and while he probably should have scored that second one himself, he was a legitimate threat in a team full of idiots. You da MVP again, Laney.
Clint Gutherson
1 – Fullback
The King had the kind of game that had me checking when his contract expires (end of 2025 for those wondering). Opposing teams have figured out his positioning tendencies close to the line and are exploiting them, he’s dropping balls and just not making those clutch defensive plays we are used to. They aren’t the most reliable stat, but currently Fox Sports has him at 24 try concedes this year, comfortably leading the NRL. The next closest fullback is Reece Walsh with 17. We’ve paid for the peak years of Clint Gutherson and they may be behind him.
Maika Sivo
2 – Left Wing
He scored some tries, took some hard runs, but I’m acid about this loss and nobody except Laney is cracking above a C.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
It has been so long since Will Penisini has seen clear space he doesn’t know what to do with it when he finds it. He broke a tackle and scooted about 12 metres and that was his best run in two months. The sin bin hurt, though he’s a bit unlucky that the referees decided that moment was the time to finally grow a spine about cynical six agains. I’m not nearly as high on his future as I was before he’d played a dozen first grade games though.
Waqa Blake
4 – Left Centre
The stats tell me this is harsh, but my hoarse throat and sore neck from throwing my head back in disgust suggests Waqa Blake was back to his bad old ways tonight. A lot of that is the dropped kickoff, the kind of backbreaking moment that had fans heading for the exits. Waqa is a visionless ball hog, maybe we should move him back to the wing, I sure wouldn’t mind this next guy disappearing from the team.
Bailey Simonsson
5 – Right Wing
Bailey Simonsson didn’t look like he could have stopped Corey Oates if he had a net, despite having all the time in the world to do something more than run past the guy then fail to tackle him. His rushing in worked well for about three weeks there, but the guy has conceded 22 tries according to Fox Sports, and he’s still equal with Sean Russell in the try scoring department, who you might remember has played 40 minutes of footy this year.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
Dylan has been a bit quiet for a while now. Like the last couple of weeks, if he’d put these numbers up last year I’d have called it a breakout game, but after seeing the actual Dylan Brown breakout game this year I expect a bit more.
Mitch Moses
7 – Halfback
This is a C for effort, as Mitch was clearly playing busted. He can kick us out of trouble, but it turns out he can’t make us not be morons or defend like wet tissues.
RCG
8 – Front Row
Reg had a few customary “let’s turn this one around boys” charges here, but he also missed a team high six tackles. I’m not going to be too hard on him (he might know where I live) but it wasn’t his best.
Reed Mahoney
9 – Hooker
The problem with Reed this year is that the flashes are there, but too often he is killing attacks with crash play after crash play. The clever wrap-around or those beautiful passes like the one Waqa scored off last week, it feels like we saw a lot more of those last year. His service isn’t great, he doesn’t hit runners flat and his long passes come out like he needs to charge them for two seconds like Guile throwing a sonic boom. Go home and be a family (club) man.
Junior Paulo
10 – Front Row
There wasn’t a lot of hustle to Junior’s game this week, and there haven’t been many captain’s knocks in big moments this year. His best is great, it just feels like we get 70% of it too often.
Shaun Lane
11 – Second Row
Look, any other week this game gets a good rating, but I had to endure some Queensland yobbo yelling in my ear all night while watching my team bumble about like losers, so stuff it if anybody is getting an A. Lane was the man most likely and the centrepiece of the Eels red zone attack, perhaps the only piece. I did not think Shaun Lane would be my favourite Eel in season 2022, but the big lanky man has pierced my heart like a knife through avocado skin.
Isaiah Papali’i
12 – Second Row
Ice is getting a stats-based C, because I swear I barely noticed him out there, yet he broke 7 tackles, threw a bunch of offloads and was his usual busy self in defence.
Ryan Matterson
13 – Lock
I want to see Ryan Matterson throwing offloads, not letting them happen. Tonight he distributed well enough but was contained in attack and pretty ordinary in defence, missing 3 tackles and adding 5 more ineffective. He’s starting to dance into contact trying for that offload, he needs to just charge and let it happen naturally.
Maka Makatoa
14 – Interchange
The first time I noticed him in about a month is because he takes a try off the board with a basic error running a decoy. I don’t care if the rule is stupid or players take a dive, it has been a rule long enough now that you just don’t make contact when you run a decoy or the try gets taken away. Basic stuff.
Jake Arthur
15 – Interchange
Five token minutes in this train wreck, he doesn’t deserve to get dragged down with the rest of them. He’s having a tough enough time because it turns out a lot of Eels fans are arseholes.
Oregon Kaufusi
16 – Interchange
I know you’re a prop, but when you have a winger with such open space he could put the ball between his knees and waddle the ten metres to score, just pass it to him hey?
Marata Niukore
17 – Interchange
Nothing wrong with his game, I suppose, but I bet Warriors fans love that they’ll be paying him well over half a million a season.
I can’t say this game broke me, because the Bulldogs loss did that. This just left me angry. Then sad. Then depressed. Then a bit angry again. Now I’m just tired. Tired of supporting this team that just can’t get its act together for more than a couple of weeks at a time. They’re a hot mess, the friend who can never hold a job or a relationship, bumbling from one disaster to the next. Unfortunately we’re all the suckers who took that hot mess home to meet mum and are stuck holding her hair back while she vomits this garbage all over the field every second weekend.
I can’t wait until we beat Penrith next week and the cycle of hope begins anew.
Until next time, stay slippery Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL
I’m in as good a mood as you Gol. I decided on the long drive home (and it’s a longer one after a loss with far too much thinking time, let me tell you) that I need to find a new hobby. One that costs less of my money, takes up less of my time, doesn’t involve crappy overpriced food and drink, and actually brings me joy. Cos the Eels aren’t it.
Plus I don’t want to be part of a fanbase that will boo a 19yo kid for running onto the field, cos of something his dad did. You sucked as bad as your team Parra fans. That was disgraceful.
Yeah I definitely spent a bit of time laying in bed last night wondering what a life without footy would be like. Haven’t really thought like that before, but as life gets busier and footy stays so disappointing it is hard to justify the space it takes up.
Wilhelmina I completely agree with you. We are a 2-1/2 hour down and same time back members We had been discussing on the trip down yesterday afternoon that maybe this would be our last year as season ticket holders after a very long time for the same reasons as you. If anything it was becoming depressing, fellow supporters around us in the stadium saying “who is going to turn up tonight “? Time for younger more resilient, less battle hardened, supporters to take our seats.
Yep it’s better to just stay home and not have the long drive home to stew in it
Can I say – “I told you so “ without sounding smug ?
We just don’t have the defence this year to win. We have a disconnect between the coaching staff and the players.
Billy Slater is correct – we are one trick ponies, a boring footy team that brings nothing to the table.
You cannot concede 20+ each game and believe that you have any chance in hell of winning a premiership and I still believe we will miss the eight.
This is a full strength team remember without major injuries.
As for the grades,
Moses tried his guts out but surely Gutho is an F – ? He’s playing like a 50 year old and was directly responsible for 3 of their tries -that’s 18 points! Alas, it’s a typical Gutho performance this year.
Waqa has all the finesse of an elephant in a China shop.
To safeguard any chance of a complete waste ground of a season we need to just do defence drills for the rest of the year. Fix our defence and we will be fine.
– and give Gutho a week or two off to freshen up.
We never agree on much Spark, but after the match I was wondering aloud about resting the King. The replacement choice might be harder to make. His effort cannot be questioned but this year he has an inability to clean up kicks and his cover defence in the red zone where fullbacks have to start in the line then get back and across is often coming up short. I suspect that an injury is hampering him but maybe I’m clutching at straws.
Agree with you Sixties. The problem is Gutho has rested. He didn’t play origin but was in Camp. Most players come back from rep rounds and put on a clinic i.e. Carrigan and Haas. Junior and Gutho resume mediocrity. If BA doesn’t hold players accountable then it’s on his shoulders.
Hayze to Fullback
Russell for Simmonson
Marata for Penisini
Rodwell on the bench
Rein or dare I say JA to 9. As anything is better than Mahoney.
Ok I’ll play-
In the backs I’m just changing it around
I’m moving Waqa to the wing and moving Sivo to the centres. I saw sivo play centre once and he was very good. Sivo has a good pass and can engage his man giving Waqa a run to the line.
On the other side I’m dropping Penisini and putting Marata in the centres for the same reason.
We will basically have two monsters in the centres – very hard to handle.
Anyway it’s all for nothing – BA won’t drop anyone and will only call for more effort. There’s plenty of effort but hard when you are getting smashed because you are only playing with 15 – 16 players.
This has long been the issue. In no other team is mediocre rewarded this much. Never in doubt of losing your spot.
I’d like to see those
There’s no question Blake looks better on the wing… he had a monster first half of the season
i liked the way Jack Gibsons approached bad performances off to reserve grade
Jordan Rankin ?
Why don’t we rest Brad Arthur
Agree. Except Gutho is finished.
OK, I have had some time to think and its not good.
Have the players lost faith in the leadership group and or coaches? Gee it seems to be this way at times.
How many games have we seen sub par performances this year?
For me it has to be the leadership within the team and the coaching staff. They have had ample time to sort things and I don’t buy the team has reached its ceiling, as i feel we have the players to win a comp / challenge for one, but the coaching staff are not getting the best from them each week.
I have lost faith in us making the top 4 and this was a few weeks ago and now we don’t know which team is turning up each week. Not good. Another crap weekend coming up.
Can’t disagree with much of what you said above. Our defence is soft and you win a comp based on defence. In previous years it was our defence out wide that let us down but this year thru the middle we are also weak. As a team we have gone backwards and I don’t think the coaching staff know how to fix it. And yes I now feel sick in the guts knowing Gutho is here to 2025….his drop in form this year is alarming he is a shadow of his former self
I have suspected what you say about Gutho perhaps being ‘past his best’ for a good deal of this season. For a player who had built his brand on his dependability and consistency – this years drops and misses have been uncharacteristic, and uncertainly unkingly.
The alarm bells rang for me last night when Haas of Payne scored – neither Paulo and Papalai who were in the vicinity bothered with an attempt on him, and stood there looking at each other like bozos.
Given that these are our two best forwards who I cannot knock for their effort/performance in any other game, 100% confirms for me that something is busted in the character of the team.
I’ve always been a bit of a BA apologist, and am thankful he got us off of the floor and competitive again, but I just think as a realist the partnership has run its course, and any premiership opportunities with him are well and truly exhausted, because it isn’t happening this year.
Gol, I am not sure if I share your optimism for the Panthers game next week, and see us being the only team in the Top 8 (8th) with a negative points differential 🙁
Tks Gol, I feel better now too. Not much but a bit. The only thing I thought during the game was that the ball was bouncing the Broncos way every time it hit the deck, even Fittler made some comment along this line, but the longer it went you could feel they were just better in effort, attitude and execution.They even showed us how to jam, now that’s really rubbing it in.
These grades Gol are one of your best. Accurate and funny from start to finish. I loved the jelly wrestling reference in particular.
As for the Eels, I don’t get it. There is something fundamentally wrong. The squad is on paper as strong as it has been in decades, yet we get flogged every other week by teams which to be honest are not very good. The press conference with BA and Gutho was despondent and it looked like they are genuinely out of answers.
On a separate note, loving what Lane is doing this year. Deserves much more praise than he’s received.
Thanks for the grades Gol although I thought Oregon went a bit better than graded. Looking through blue & gold glasses nothing seemed to go their way last night with six agains, a fluke try, a sin binning, insufficient visuals to support a challenge etc. Taking those glasses off though and they were just themselves. Poor defence, schoolboy errors, panicky play, not pressuring the kicker amongst the list that identifies them as pretenders and not contenders. I’d previously written about who in this team refuse to be beaten, that player or players who will rally the rest when things aren’t going their way. That leadership is missing. There are obvious problems with our 1 and 9. The defence has been particularly poor all year and results like last night aren’t unexpected. To think that average performances against bog average teams the last two weeks combined with a five day camp was going to be the platform to launch their challenge is the stuff of dreams.
Definitely feel you could make excuses for the team, not a lot went their way in the first half, but there were enough moments of potential and missed opportunities that they don’t deserve any excuses.
There is something to be said for freshening up mid-season and coming home strong, especially clearing their heads mentally, but the only thing fresh about last night was the air Payne Haas ran straight into to score.
That was nice how Ice gave Haas a push along too. Like a kid on a swing.
Gol, well done for putting in such a good match grades report. I think D was generous lol.
We saw a million dollar halfback tonight and he wasn’t ours.
We saw a $150k Fullback and he wasn’t ours.
We saw Haas run 130m in the First half from 12 runs. Junior was 99m for the game. Reg tried he was around 130m.
Gutho is an absolute embarrassment. He leads by effort and example. But his effort and example stinks!! When we need a captain’s knock he’s dropping the ball or out of position or missing tackles. He’s past his best. He catted out after the Parera tackle late in the game and his play the ball speed is too slow. We need cap space he’s taking plenty and just ‘laughing’ at the presser.
Mahoney is a joke a few good things and to many downsides.
Penisini tried but it’s just beyond him.
Simmonson ran for 88m and is another embarrassment. Get Russell back and put Marata in the centres.
JA doesn’t deserve the hate. I think he looked good at 9 for the 5 minutes he had some crisp passes. If Rein can’t get time. Put JA to start at 9. I know a lot of people will slam that but he did look better.
I got the feeling all we had to do was give the ball to Sivo and he would have scored. But we were too inept.
If BA doesn’t make some changes we can only expect the same results.
I think you are right re Gutho and leading by example. Time to look for a captain with some courage and conviction. Most likely we need a bit of a clean out too because this poor attitude is infectious. I really can’t see us winning more than one more game this season, which could leave us sitting as low as 12th. What a complete disaster that would be for a team some thought could win the premiership! Without any real changes the next couple of years could be even worse. Much to look forward to. 😞
It won’t happen but need Moses to be captain.
If we have to keep Gutho put him in the centres next year and get a new fullback. Tesi Nu will be looking for a new club I’m sure. He’s better than our current one.
Yes Pete i was keen for Moses to be captain; he leads the team or should be.
I’m as negative as they come with this club but these grades actually made me feel sad to see your heading to the same sad reality that many of us are at is not good.
The fact our coach is looking for an out the fact 4 out of our starting 17 are already set for departure says to me that we have big problems and that’s what we are seeing on the field
Thank you for saying what we all think. Plenty of others say it too but I appreciate it comes from guys that call a spade a spade, good and bad. I too am at my closest ever point of walking away. I can’t justify any of this poor performance.
Laney was great and Sivo really wound up for some tough carries. Moses tried but playing both behind a beaten pack and likely busted as you noted Gol, not much he could do. Penisini had a shocker and Gutho is not in good shape. Alas, the Eels are at the crossroads. BA has done a great job in rebuilding the Eels but his work is starting to come undone. There is plenty of potential in this team but it seems someone else is needed to realise it.
The “someone else” is the big problem. There are about 6 or 7 good NRL coaches going round, and we’ve got the guy who ranks 6th or 7th. Nobody with a better one is giving them up, and the failure to success rate of new coaches is alarmingly bad.
I remember having the same chat last year about getting help for BA into the coaching box, whether that is new ideas, new assistants or changes to the mental approach of the players. We got new faces this year in Woolford, Mary and Ennis, and things have just got worse. There has to be an answer, a right combination, but we need to be bold enough to find it.
A straight coach swap does nothing for me. There’s a reason even the bottom-dwelling clubs skipped over Green and Flanagan, Madge is a dinosaur and any other option is untried. I’ve suggested before going with an NFL style system where BA is the “man-manager” and specialists control attack and defence (this forwards and backs shit we do is not working) but BA isn’t even getting that man-management stuff right anymore.
If it was an easy problem we’d have solved it at some point in the last five years. I just hope the team we have in place are capable of a creative solution.
Agree. I don’t get the obsession some have with Flanagan and the other usual suspects. Any change is a gamble but I do think a carefully considered left field option may be what is required.
HI Gol, can i just jump in here ?
Shaun, there is more to the game than ball play, Lane does not use his shoulders in defence, he is a turnstyle in defence and a liability in the defensive line.
I’m not sorry that I am not in agreement with a lot written today/last night. The refereeing went against us at 4-5 crucial moments. The bounce of the ball went against us … as it has been for awhile. I’m disappointed with some of our decision making. I am suspicious that some of what we coach is not helping and that plenty of our team are playing a bit busted. But there where things there tonight that were a breath away from being amazingly good. I’m going to keep faith even though I feel a bit empty this morning.
And yes some Parra supporters are not conducting themselves very well.
Agree.
Some officiating was baffling. Penisini in the bin for what is a normal play the ball speed against us. A few tries disallowed seems to be the standard game these days.
The “inconclusive bunker reviews” all seemed to work against us. Try as I might I cannot see Maika’s hand on that ball that went out. etc etc !
Ref: Bunker Review please?
Bunker: Who’s requesting?
Ref: it’s Parra disputing my decision again…
Bunker: ok review only camera angles that don’t show a try.
Punter: Does it cover the spread +13 points?
Bunker: We have our decision
Bunker: “Computer says No”
I’m as Parra as they come but that was 10 in the bin all day every day. Imagine the blue murder if the roles were reversed. The only real decision I have an issue with is the disallowed try. They have been spruiking this inside – outside shoulder distinction for a while now and he clearly ran to the inside shoulder so seems they have moved the goalposts again. Did it cost us? Some respectability maybe but we were never really in that game based on our defensive efforts anyway
And Reynolds committed to standing square on in Maka’s path when there was no way the ball was coming to Maka. He braced to tackle,not move across and play a role in the defensive system. Even Kevin Walters called it a 50/50 but laughed and said he had to go with his own player.
i’ve been keeping the faith since 1974 at least i got to see parra win 4 but i just dont see them doing that again
The first game where I left early for probably 10 years. My daughter said before the game, we seem to have the team to win , but are we overrating them or is it something else.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any development in playing structure, I would go so far as to say BORING and PREDICTABLE. Ot helped for a moment by a dummy half who doesn’t engage the defence for a second, spins the ball 3 players wide so the defence doesn’t have to work in the middle as he doesn’t run at all. Oops, yes he did , he tried once and was tackled for half a metre.
The frustration is at boiling point, we are a better team than we have been for 90% of this season, but structure of consistently running unders plays and alternating it with crash plays is mind numbing. A simple run around almost led to 2 tries , who is responsible for the lack of constructive plays.
Reed Mahoney seems to have decided he would rather be elsewhere and it impacts everyone, lazy night Moses and Brown worked tirelessly and were easy tp contain as the defence ignored the ruck in the middle and concentrated on picking off played wider.
Apologies for the rant, but serious questions need to be asked at the pointy end of the club, 11k and 12k at the last 2 home games tell the tale. Fans are turning off and the club possible needs a reset, look hard internally and do what is needed.The players are better than the performances they have put up, whether it’s coaching, training or desire – find out and fix it.
Well the trip down from the Central Coast was well worth the effort, to watch what is a disjointed, inept and mentally fragile team deliver what they did tonight! When is the management of this club at least going to consider the fans, the fans investment and their absolute disappointment at what is a terribly inconsistent rugby league team. Our coach I think is spent, and some could suggest rightly so, as he is always placed under enormous media pressure Ricky Stuart same tenure of 9 years, worse record and not a whisper from the media, because he’d give it back.
I am such a disappointed Parra fan, I dont want to win everything, but Id love to be competitive week in week out.
I no longer make the trip from the coast handed away my membership don’t have it in me anymore
I wonder what the CC environment does for the team having that time together to refresh???? Maybe the CC air and wet sand hills took it too much out of their forward thinking abilities, or maybe they were looking to escape back there and remain.
I had a bad feel for the game well before the actual match, and commented that way in the last team blog, I wonder really as to who is coaching the team, especially when I watch the games we have lost and the way the opponents have mastered the art of passing the ball from near the ground to support players who take the ball up and score.
Opposition teams like last night’s opponents can read the eels in fine print as there is mostly a game plan that provides little overall difference in the said plan that ends up providing no variations and plans to defeat the opposition. Last week we were doing ok but slakened off to let the opposition score two late tries on the left edge, which were terrible misses in defence.
Last night was the second time I turned the box off and went to Solatair on the computer, more exciting than watching inept eels, along with inept refs and a bunker that needs be blown away. These days I am seeing less and less game time especially winning times.
Sooo what position are you playing next week.?
I can’t for the life of me understand why we continue to play with 16 every week, I feel so bad for Jake and to the supporters who are continue to treat him like that we don’t want them at our club. We honestly just look like we are going through the motions at times. It’s the same story week after week and the same press conferences week after week. What did the camp away do apart from a holiday for the boys? Penrith will make a statement next week and I even think we might not even make the 8 the way we are playing.
I think some fans including me believe there is nepotism going on. The times this year where some players didn’t get off the bench and even the sixteenth man got minimal time.
But The coach picks his son on the bench and gives him token minutes.
We didn’t get the bounce of the ball but we didn’t deserve it either!
Brad Arthur rating = Z
this team is bipolar
the only good thing is it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they beat the panthers next week it’s doctor jekyll’s turn in the rotation
You are actually right there!
No chance we’ll beat the panthers again.
Literally every bounce of the ball or ricochet went Brisbane’s way. 5 set restarts from ball contacting legs or arms on the last tackle. Along with every 50/50 call.
These are excuses but the gas they took out of our tank meant we weren’t turning those half chances in to tries in the second half. How many times did a player make a half break and the support arrived 2 seconds too late. It happened at least half a dozen times I saw. That’s effort and energy but it’s also to a degree circumstantial. They were absolutely torched off the back of doing 90 more tackles in the first half and so much scramble.
Having said all that, we had more than enough opportunities to get back in to that game. Penisini’s sin binning was his own dumb fault. It was the last tackle and most of the players were back in the line, we probably would have held on there without him holding down that bit extra. Waqa and Lane dropping the ball off the lock is the kind of skill error that you can’t afford when down a man and trailing by 14 points.
And even though Maka was unlucky Reynolds took a dive, he still had to try to avoid contact as that lead runner.
I’m going to go as far as to say that the game would have been very different without those three momentum killing errors.
Spot on with those momentum killers.
But we needed a captain’s knock and we got errors.
What a joke of a post. We had 36 points put in us and your blaming the bounce of the ball
12 of those points were the direct result of 50/50 deflections going the way of Brisbane. Another 12 of those points came directly following the two dumb errors I detailed – sin bin and dropped kick off.
There was a decent degree of luck and plain dumb play involved in Brisbane leading 24-10 at haltime – rather than them just being heads and shoulders better than us across the part.
If even one of those tries is stopped, and we don’t defend 10 minutes straight due to 6-agains from deflecitons in the first half – it could have been a very different back end to the game.
Taking into context our talent and expectations, we are an absolute dumpster fire. We probably have been since the Bulldogs loss, but you could go back and say that the Tigers loss on such an auspicious occasion was enough evidence to suggest that either the ingredients of this team (i.e. the players) or the way in which the ingredients are put together (i.e. the coach) is inherently flawed. There is no doubt that this footy team aren’t cellar dwellers, but they aren’t premiership winners either. They are somewhere in the middle and have been since 2019. Granted, this is more than can be said for most clubs but it is nonetheless frustrating that the team has not fulfilled its potential (a preliminary final, at least). ‘Growth’ rather than change has largely been the mantra during this time, but a change / new direction may be what is needed. Critically, the fans booing the squad, in particular JA (which is a disgrace) is showing that the ‘mob’ are starting to turn en masse. I don’t want to imagine the scenes if there is another insipid performance next week…
People booing JA should be kicked out of the stadium and banned. He doesn’t deserve that. He’s a good kid that tries his best.
People are booing his selection not Jake. BA is responsible for this. We have some very experienced players in reserve grade and Jake gets 3 minutes from the bench to receive Mahoney.
They are entitled to show their feelings its a free country. Its all on Brad
Mate if they boo the kid when he runs on. They are booing him!?
If they are booing his selection that happens Tuesday afternoon. Not on game day. And yes BA is picking him. So no need to boo JA at all.
As I said if imbeciles are booing the kid they should be kicked out and banned.
Pete,
I agree with you to a degree, the kid is a fabulous kid, but he is not NRL standard and that remains the fault of his father for picking him. As a father I couldnt watch my kid cop that, based on my decision!
And I’m entitled to call them pieces of shit, which is exactly what you are if you think booing a kid just for being selected is a good idea.
They also booed the coach last night. Says it all.
The problems with the Parramatta Eels are many but for some time now it remains clear that the people in the top jobs are very ordinary and lack imagination (our most successful coach – Gibson – said it all. )They are reactive not proactive – they hear that someone is interested in Arthur as a coach so they give him another 3 years. A manager leaks to the press that Tigers wants Moses back – lets offer him more on a longer contract. We offer our best player from 21 a lowball offer and yet a couple of years prior they pay N. Brown overs because they hear Manly are interested. We lose Mahoney so lets sign another (past prime hooker with injury issues). I have had issues with the press saying that this year the eels are in a premiership window – they are as ordinary as Arthurs coaching methods as for mine this team is not well balanced at all. For a turnaround at the Eels we not only need a new coach but we need a Football Manager and recruitment officer with vision and foresight to build a young balanced team for the future. I will still support the Eels as I always have but they have become weekend killers for me.
Yep, agree with it all, but especially with this comment, you nailed it. “ He’s having a tough enough time because it turns out a lot of Eels fans are arseholes.”
one of those games where if you want a good nights sleep after it’s best to go watch something on netflix straight after and forget the game even happened.
That’s what i did.
I left it to this morning to write anything on that game as honestly I was too angry before the game, during the game and after to write anything sensible.
The booing of Jake is appalling. I don’t personally understand his selection, but he is not picking the team. This is not a team being picked with a long list of injuries. This is essentially what is considered our best 17 and that is concerning and something that I find very hard to justify. I also question other selections besides Jake but I also understand this is not uncommon for any supporter base. A group of 15-20 men with some children behind us were doing this booing, obviously others were doing this as well. What great role models they are to their children. No wonder this country has a devastating trend to children bullying and harassing people anonymously online, even sending death threats on line. We left with 5 to go as I could see Jake was coming on and I did not want my son to witness a very ugly side within our fan base like he did and was shocked with before the game. It is bullying, harassment and gutless being done in the darkness of a stand. Pathetic
On the game itself as long as we continue to:
we won’t win or have a chance to win the title. It does not matter who we picked we will not beat top teams, or should I say not win 3-4 games in a final series.
For me these grades as on point but the real questions is this. Either our players are not doing as they instructed to do or they are doing exactly what the game plan is designed to get them to do.
Whatever the answer is, it does not reflect well on our team. At this point either players needs to be dropped and be made accountable or BA needs to be called on to justify his game plan. We cannot keep giving our opposition a 12 point head start as I can almost guarantee before each game that we will concede a try by jamming and taking no one and Gutho being caught out and unable to get back to cover a short kick.
I have a really hard time accepting that for all our inconsistency and repeated poor and costly errors in games from highly paid players the only player held accountable and dropped has been Nathan Brown.
Yes this is the thing Shelley. It’s the real bolts of the issue – either the team is coached like that or they consistently stray from the implicit instructions. It’s one or the other, you can’t have it both ways but in any case there has to be consequences.
BA does himself no favours when he adopts a rinse and repeat strategy for the same results all the time !
Hell, he couldn’t dumb down the game plan any more than he has done !
He sits there every week and sprouts the same oft used adjectives that he invites himself to criticism! A BA presser is like grinding your teeth, the same script, the same bobble head.
Dammit kick a chair ! Tell a reporter he’s a dickhead – ( Sixties I’m talking metaphorically here – before you say BA is a kind gentle man ) do something to show the common man that he’s as invested as they are with the rise and fall of the performances, he no doubt is but his recent interview where he commented that he lives 7 mins from training etc , came across, in my opinion, as smug and somewhat arrogant – something BA, having met and talked to him at length is not but it’s all about perception!
People here lampoon Ricky Stuart and I personally think he can’t coach for shit, but the fact you know Sticky is 1000% invested in the team.
As for Jake as crazy as it sounds, I’m actually starting to think he’s selecting Jake just to show the fan base that “I’m in charge dammit and I’ll select him if I want to “ – a dangerous disconnect and if that’s the case, then one of the assistants should be stepping up and making a stand. Surely the assistants have raised the point and if they are happy just to accept -“because I pick the team” then they deserve to be backslappers and yes men moving forward but if they genuinely believe that Jake and the use of the bench in general is the best for the team, then don’t let BA carry the can alone. It’s a coaching team.
Hey Spark, on your comment: BA does himself no favours when he adopts a rinse and repeat strategy for the same results all the time !
I just read the article where BA was saying the performance was not good enough, which included the quote:
‘”We prepared the same as we do every other week,” he said.’
This comment astounds me with the team coming off a noticeable cycle of WLWLW – you would think you probably would want to change how you prepare if you are aiming to fix a consistency issue.
Real worrying comment for mine.
Yes it does. The more I look at it the more I see a very dictatorial approach at the Eels. It’s quite obvious that there was a fall out between Kidwell and BA and it appears BA is getting more and more isolated. You think it’s bad now, wait until we crash and burn this year and watch Rome burn ! Oh it’s coming and it’s not going to be pretty.
Maybe you are right.
Maybe the HOF told Kidwell if there’s no improvement in defence he’ll be out the door.
The HOF elevated the NSW cup coach to assist BA. No advertisement or going to market. That’s fine internal appointment is normal. Easy transition into the role and setup.
HOF doesn’t advertise for reserve grade coach? Again appoints internally. Not the Fleg coach but the current Fullback as captain coach. Not many captain coach in NSW cup these days. That’s fine career progression and maybe Rankin with assistance from other Parra staff will manage. But will we win the NSW cup comp? Only time will tell. Maybe Rankin will be a great coach and takes it on next year full time. The problem is we don’t have a spare Fullback that can slot in if he’s captain coaching the NSW cup team.
So just maybe the HOF has been clearing the decks in the coaching ranks so that only 1 has to be paid out next year and not 3? I don’t know but given the way NRL clubs operate and the recent rumours about BA. Who knows?
That could all be true.
My point, and I said it many weeks ago, is that the Eels would miss the eight.
I just can’t see us jagging another win.
There is a lot of unrest at the moment from the fan base. If we miss the eight this year it’s going to be absolutely nuclear and the board is going to cop some serious serious heat.
Absolutely woeful decison from the Board to extend BA when they did. It wasn’t like he was about the jump ship to another team, but the Board were young and inexperienced.
If it all goes bad this year they will have to make a decison to be all in with Brad or cut the cord. I fear that if they pick the former, they might find themselves all looking for new jobs soon.
I mostly agree with this… I think Dylbags was alright… he looked more dangerous with the ball than Moses and he’s a part of Lane’s attack (those two in attack have been a really strong combo this year… personally I think there were a couple of Fs that could have been handed out… I have to say though Lane is the most consistent player all season in a really inconsistent side
Defensively poor!
Yes the season is over! Looking at their run home they’ll be battling to win 1 game, yes even against the bulldogs. By by BA!
Long time listener, first time poster.
Tough night, really hurts our chances at a second bite of the cherry.
Create your own luck, brizzy did that. They would have been up for it knowing our record against them.
Agreed gents Brisbane found their front a lot which is attributed to our attitude in defence and them winning the collisions. A lot of lazy efforts out there which is frustrating given the nature of the importance this match was for our hopes.
Headlines in the week leading up dont help e.g mitchy, BA and the fact brizzy would love an ambush you could sense something is up. This is the same thing penrith fans will be feeling once we beat them next week (i hope for my sake as the wife is a panther fan) and our new born is getting arm dragged to either a panther or an eel (im not sure if i could put him through this pain).
As for Jake, come on fans get around the kid, hes chasing a dream and his teammates arent making it easier for him given the crap he has to come on and be apart of. I reckon he is probably showing abit more ticker and enthusiasm then some at the moment.
Gutted but Onto next week.
Agree it is not Jake Arthur’s fault that he is selected in the team, and booing by supposed supporters is not on. It is however someone’s fault that he is selected to be in the reserve bench, technically weakening our interchange capacity. It is an error in judgement, a lack of objective thinking, call it what you want, but the coach must stand up and take the criticism. Its simply not good enough to turn up to the press conference with this befuddled look, fans want answers and solutions. You cant help but feel that there is another 5 year rebuilding plan just around the corner.
I think it is a mental thing – we can match it with the best ( Panthers / Storm / first half Roosters) when we look like we can win the comp and are 10/10 quality.. Then we lost to Bulldogs and Tigers where we are 0/10. And a lot of our wins ( Warriors, 2nd game v Tigers ) we were only a 4/10 or 5/10 and just lucky the opposition were a 1/10 or 2/10.
When things go bad during a game – ref decision, unlucky bounce. disallowed try – we just cannot seem to get back to a level of a 7 or 8/10 performance where we get back into the contest and go set for set and grind out a win. It is either rocks or diamonds
The wins against quality opposition show it is not an ability thing – we have plenty of it. It can only be a mental thing – that mindset / attitude / desire / hunger to win / desire to compete
To look at another sport – Nick Kyrgios – all the talent in the world and can step it up against top players and can defeat them…..but then goes through long periods of average and early losses in tournaments. To his credit, he has said that often he lacks the desire and hunger of a Nadal of Djokovic
How do you create that hunger? That attitude. A lot is just internal – and some competitors have more than others.
But I think a sports psychologist would add value and may unlock what is going on – eg – people like Ben Crowe, or like a Greg Harden who worked with Tom Brady.
Good post Greg and velly true,
Plus the players are not MUD RUNNERS….as soon as it rains they turn into pumpkins..When it is raining I always fear the worst…
This is what baffles me, as our big pack and good kicking game should be made for wet conditions. Instead we turn into a clown show.
Some good points Greg and I personally think it’s down to attitude. Minor examples are the offside at the kickoff vs. warriors; Lane/Blake not calling for the catch vs. broncos; conceding a brace of late tries vs tigers & warriors, but above all their week in week out defence which is so poor. Beating Penrith and storm seems to have instilled some belief that they can match them when they play in the finals. But guess what, they’ve got to get the chance to play them. You can’t win lotto without a ticket. How many times is it said that the tigers play their best two games a year against the eels, the old dogs rivalry means that they’re always tough opposition and even that the warriors played their best game of the year against the eels. It’s rubbish. The eels have the ability to be genuine contenders but their attitude drags them back to where they rightly sit and that is in the race to just make up the eight. They don’t react well to setbacks and their game plan which relies on positive attitude on and off the ball is being picked apart by oppositions who know they only have to frustrate them for them to implode. Friday night vs Penrith will answer some questions.
Sounds like there is generally agreement that it’s a grey matter issue. I think 60s called it correctly a few weeks ago. They are a low footy IQ team. Which amounts to the wrong decisions being made in the heat of the moment far too often like throwing a leg or arm at a ball being kicked, charging a kick down and giving another set, throwing a bad pass, jamming in defence at the wrong time etc etc. We see it regularly in every game where the Eels play poorly. When they play well, it might only happen once or twice.
I think sometimes it comes down to taking a lazy option, but most of the time it’s just flat out dumb footy. That’s why you generally see effort out there, but it’s effort directed the wrong way.
It would also explain why we capitulate so often even against poor teams. Once momentum is lost, they fall into quicksand and just suffocate themselves.
At least that’s my guess …..
Agree. Good example also is not bringing the ball closer to the posts for a try when there is opportunity to do so to help the goal kicker. I think they believed on the early write-ups about them when they beat the Panthers and Storms. Even Gutho said talked about the ‘small game’ againsts the Bulldogs.
Hello ladies and gentlemen, Just popping in to see what you guys are up to. Haven’t done it in a long time.
Gees, seems a lot of you gents are almost as disillusioned as our 1EE community. Am I overstretching a bit?
No HOE – think we are the same…just disappointed/ frustrated and concerned fans who think we deserve better from this squad / coaching staff. 09 was a while ago……
Milo, you’re right. And everyone has a different temperament and ideological framework expressing the same frustration and disappointment (anger and perhaps fear too).
Question is what do you honestly think is the problem? No judgements.
Broncos played with more passion. Look at the desperation in defence and everything they did.
We are not premiership material, hitherto:
• Three 20+ hidings
• Defence leaking 22ppg
• Not even one 4-straight winning run
• Poor P/D (becomes a factor, tell tale sign eventually if you study premier’s stats)
• Poor on goal line defence
• Often struggle to score in 20m red zone
• Usually concede one to three tries early, either side of half time, or at the death last
• erratic performances and errors galore
• List goes on and on
Cheers,
HOE
HOE, for me it started with the defence early into the season, and now to me it seems to be lack of on-field leadership and coaching staff needs a tune up.
As you said conceding points early could be the players not being into the game / or anything to be honest.
I think we have seen some players go from good to not so good this year.
Yes mate we are not premiership material….and its so frustrating and hurts.
We are not all gents by the way.
Even those who are male..
Ive been watching for such a long time and have been through the darker years, but last nights game was really crushing. Its one thing to know you dont have a good team, and are rebuilding, but its another to have a team you really thought had a chance only to watch it wither away.
Looking at our games ahead, Im not sure who we are actually going to beat. Our defensive structures dont work, and every time a team gets deep into our territory, you just know we cant stop them. Gutho isnt working at fullback atm, and Simonsson shouldnt be out there, but I dont even know who would take their places now.
Gol I really do not know how you do it….but I take my hat off to you for puting these scores together after such debilitating loses. Thank you.
I’ve been a Parra tragic since 1963 and, up and til now, no one would ever doubt my loyalty as a fan. I’m not dirty when we lose, I’m dirty when they gel like oil and water and play as a disorganised rabble. To me, the Moses ‘didn’t try’ spoke volumes about team mentality. I’ve not once written a bad word about the coach but there comes a time when change is required. I also laugh when I hear that anyone in our team is worth a million bucks a year. In nearly 60 years as a supporter, I can’t think of an Eels team with such an enormous gap between their best and worst. It’s hard to stomach.
Jeff, you and I are in the same group, although I may have been a supporter a year earlier.
A reflection of those years up until I ended up out of Sydney for different periods, were quite hard to take, but every week no matter the grounds we played out, the eels often lost more games than winning, yet supporters back then still supported the eels, and still do, & I still do but with health and age I am not able to go to matches now, especially night games and several hours to drive back home in the dark is no longer something I can do.
I looked forward to the upcoming game on a Saturday Afternoon for myself and wife, but I was blown away by the ticket pricing these days.
For me now, with the advent of Kayo I can watch every eels game and generally watch the whole game, however I have turned the box off twice this year, with the last match being pretty much the worst of the season, hopefully the last like it this year.
I believe that the team believed they were certain winners against the broncs, but the results showed how far away they were from the opposition and its not the first game this year they have been in that mode.
I actually wonder whether they are playing a game of chicken against the opposition, with the win one lose one repeats just to keep them on the ladder at a reasonable level, problem is that, that sort of complacency will end up with them doing the same should they fluke into the finals this year.
The team has the potential with the players but how many are doing it, certainly there are several are playing to their abilities/standard but some are the opposite. WHY?
Give Sean Russell a go. Can’t be any worse. He plays with heart and applies himself. I like him.