The Cumberland Throw

The Tip Sheet – 2022 Ep 63: Instant Reaction, The Curse Rolls On Feat. Brett Kenny

The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!

As always, win or lose, the boys are live from Jacks Bar & Grill at a home game to break down all of the action. Unfortunately, South Sydney’s stranglehold on the Eels continues with their cruisy 26-0 victory over the Blue & Gold in Round 22.

Brett Kenny joins the show this week to help breakdown the loss as well as field some fun questions juxtaposing the modern game against the 80s. From whom among his team mates that would thrive in the social media era to Brett’s legendary acting chops, it all gets a good run!

The boys close out the show by looking at the loss to Souths and how Parramatta’s forwards were rolled from the opening set. Kenny wants to see more eyes-up footy from the Eels moving forwards as they prepare for the Bulldogs.

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55 thoughts on “The Tip Sheet – 2022 Ep 63: Instant Reaction, The Curse Rolls On Feat. Brett Kenny

    1. adz4parra

      I think it’s harsh people are ripping in to Dylan and JA. Neither played well, but neither was the reason we lost. We lost because they owned the middle for the entire first half.

      Yes, both made poor errors, but the entire team was clunky and lacked intensity.

      1. Zach

        For me, I am more critical of the fact that both Moses and Brown have let Arthur be dominant in kicking when he partners one of them. It isn’t a good look for our more experienced halves. I wouldn’t say that specifically cost us the game, but it is something that weakens the team.

  1. adz4parra

    Clearly we can’t “chase the collisions” for 30 NRL games in a season without having some nights where you just can’t sustain the intensity needed.

    You could tell from Dylan’s first dropped pass that we were just off slightly, which was never going to be enough against a team that excels against us every time. We didn’t ice the last pass on three genuine try chances and looked really clunky until the final 5 minutes when there was nothing to lose. We also didn’t get any 50/50s in the first half and Atkins was poor I thought too, but that wasn’t the determining factor in that result.

    Weird bench use from BA again. Cartwright being used as a bash and barge middle when he had Ogden on the bench who really could have benefited from some decent time in the middle. Cartwright is not a dynamic tackle breaking forward and should never be used in that manner. Reid made too many poor pass decisions when we did have them under pressure in the second half, I genuinely think there would be no harm in having Mitch Rein on the bench to play 20 minutes between the two halves.

    Nathan Brown is also a must once fit again. He was exactly the type of forward we needed last night and even playing below his best he would have been better than any of the middles. Bury the hatchet BA and Browny, pull your finger out and fight for your next contract.

    We are too far down the road to change styles now, so we just have to hope that when it matters, we don’t get left at the starters gate again. I agree with BA, we have not played well once against Souths in about four years. If we’d played well last night and still gotten beaten by 20 I’d be more concerned but there’s on one win against Souths we’ll need this season and that’s if we play them in the final.

    I think if we can win 2/3 heading in to the finals, we probably finish 6th and we get a home final and end up on the same side of the draw as the Cowboys.

    1. sixties

      Some honest and frank observations adz4. Relying on Reed for 80 minutes of quality service is fraught with danger.
      A couple of things. Brown was due to be selected a couple of weeks ago but injured his hand/thumb. He’ll be out for a couple more weeks. I think it was a measure of how poorly our middles were going that Brad injected Carty as the lick. I understand your thoughts on Ogden, but if there’s a question mark over him it’s his mobility in defence, and they were carving us there.
      i can see where you are coming from with the difficulty in sustaining the intensity in a long season, but geez we were bad from the opening whistle.

  2. Spark

    It’s a reoccurring theme. Cody Walker plays in a dinner suit and we get thumped. Other teams put pressure on him and he folds. We are like deers in headlights worried about what he’s going to do.
    Why hasn’t this been addressed ?????
    Surely just surely someone had to have an assignment to put him on his arse whenever he got the ball.

    1. Milo

      Agreed Spark, we made them look good by not taking it to them in the middle to work them over; you work them over and hit them on their inexperience edge.
      I also cannot believe we did not with kicking and not blaming JA a more belt Mitchell approach; how many times do we see him push off tackles? First hit has to be his midriff or lower and then the next over the top, he does not like being belted!
      We we’re seriously poor and it started in the forwards for me.
      We have had too many poor games this year…..something has to give either in the coaching / players chosen etc. To me Junior looks tired at times and has had a big season….maybe he plays less mins and others step up. Mahoney for me has been too much rocks than diamonds…..need Rein etc. to come on and help and i have to say to that the limited use of Ogden was not great….

  3. Swampy Miller

    Arthurs coaching tactics are about as imaginative as his press conferences. You have no right to expect to win a premiership when you are not prepared to play football – the only time the urgency to play football is on is when the game is gone. You cannot win games consistently at this level when your half is not involved in the game (almost protected from the game) and even leading the play. I feel for this kid as he looks like a deer in the headlights.

    1. sixties

      Losing that had nothing to do with either half. We have been hammered worse with Moses there. The reasons were obvious in the opening set. Our pack, apart from Lane, was passive.

      1. Spark

        I must say though I couldn’t understand the reason to make JA the primary playmaker instead of just following the blueprint and using Browns side like they did against Manly or did I miss something here ?

      2. The Captain

        At this stage the whole “passive pack” routine is getting old. We have had this same “problem” multiple seasons in a row where our pack runs out of steam as the season goes on.

        This is now a coaching/man management problem more than a player problem. We have one of the best packs on paper, some weeks they’re unbelievable, other weeks they’re trash.

        Why has this problem continued to haunt us for years now?

  4. pete

    6 runs for 69m played 38 minutes. That stat illustrates how we were dominated in the middle.
    Don’t get me started on tackles the missed, ineffective and just sit my but on the ground while they score no effort plays. If you don’t make the effort it’s not counted as missed. Errors too many and the ref gave us nothing.

    If I was coach they’d be hitting the Kurnell sandhills Saturday and Sunday at 4am.

    The imbeciles blaming Jake are just dumb. Yes he made mistakes and missed tackles he wasn’t Robinson Crusoe. But, when the pack is playing rubbish Joey Johns wouldn’t have done much either. Moses would have been the same in that game. Jake wasn’t the reason we lost.
    South’s are a better team they have shown last 5 games. We just can’t cope with their line speed, wrestling and flat advantage line attack.
    We were outplayed!

    1. Swampy Miller

      People are not blaming Jake for the loss – You might win some games by thumping it up the middle and then putting up the bomb (although most of ours are uncontested) but you have to have constructed slick attack (like the cowboys, sharks, panthers etc). Brad Arthur has coached this side the same way now for over 3-4 years and it doesn’t cut the mustard at the pointy end of the season. If Jake is good enough to be our No. 2 halfback then he should have been in the thick of it with ball in hand setting up the play. If the diehards think it is up to Brown and Gutherson to step in and play the semi halfback role then their is something massively wrong with the coaching set-up. The Tigers lose their halfback and Madden steps and put his stamp on the game. Penrith lose Cleary and O’Sullivan steps up. If coach Arthur thinks Jake is good enough he should be expected to play the fair dinkum halfback role and not hang on the blind side until it is time for a kick.

    2. sixties

      Pete, agree absolutely. We knew what was on from the opening set. Our forwards letting them run at will.

      1. pete

        We actually looked better in the first half when Junior was off. I don’t know if he’s injured but 6 carries is pathetic. He just looked flat.

  5. Chris K

    Souths were definitely ‘on’ last night, and we weren’t.

    I think the Rabbitohs would have touched up most teams in that first 40.

    We gave about 15 minutes in the second half, but didn’t have the fortitude to stick with it when we couldn’t crack the line. Add to that some dumb plays – Opacic giving away the penalty, and it fell into the too hard basket, with Waqa Blake letting the bomb bounce and leaving Gutho fuming typifying where the team were at after that, showing no mental resolve.

    Definitely a bogey side, who can shift the ball out wide quickly and hit our weak spots more often tham other teams.

    If we meet them in an elimination final, then preparation has to go to another level.

    Despite not loving the loss, I think Souths are playing a great brand of football without the niggle and deliberate slowing/spoiling of play you see with other sides.

    They are in a good place at the moment, I think we have about 2 weeks to hit a similar mindset if we are any chance of being a contender in the finals.

    1. sixties

      Chris, I think you are right to praise Souths but I am incredibly disappointed that we offered such little resistance from the opening whistle.

    2. Joe Vass

      Souths are not a bogey side they are a better side. There are reasons why they are so dominant over us. They have figured out (as some other teams have) that we cannot handle a straight line in your face physical defence. When you consistently run one out with no other players in motion then the defence doesn’t have too many decisions to make. We get multiple repeat sets at the start of the second half, never look like scoring, the first time they get up the other end they score through our porous right side defence. We are not playing well enough to be seen as a legitimate contender.

  6. Danny Crnkovich

    Brad Arthur’s tactics last night:
    Lolly pop kicks to the same Souths winger on every set with zero pressure.
    Crash ball after crash ball when attacking Souths tryline.
    About as imaginative as most other games, we can’t keep relying on tries from Moses kicks or lucky bounces of the ball or Lane getting an arm free. We need creative set plays! Why can’t this coach see that & come up with something? Even in the 80s when teams only trained 3 times a week & had jobs, they used set plays & put the defence in two minds.
    We can barely get a block play right without crabbing sideways.
    We can still do a Bradbury & win the comp BUT with the side we have on paper, a better coach would have us challenging for a GF spot, if not this year than definitely 2020 or 2021.
    We should be entrenched in the top 4.
    We’ve wasted the last 3 years with this coach, obviously though his ‘fan club’ are happy just to make the 8 each year, content with mediocrity, when is someone at this club going to be ruthless & show some killer instinct for success?

  7. BDon

    Good opinions from Brett Kenny. Talking about Jack Gibson always engages you.Souths’ first set and our first set error had me worried,a stroll over try then we didn’t get an attacking set start til the 36th minute. Fourteen blot at oranges was probably a bonus,had to be first to score in 2nd half but they held us off then scored from first attack, say goodnight.
    Some randoms – that camera shot of Junior with his back to the play while Murray inside to Mitchell hit the hole perfectly said it all. The bunker cleared the Tass aerial challenge on Waqa,
    really???Took his eyes off the ball, backed into him, then grabbed his arm with no chance of competing for the ball WTF? Souths line speed great for 80 minutes but in their own 20 changed the rule to 7 mtrs, OK with Atkins, why can’t we do that? Our defensive line out wide in our 20 were trying so hard to act as one they forgot that you have to stop the opposition before the goal line.

    1. sixties

      BDon, Atkins and the Bunker gave us nothing. I agree. That said, our forwards apart from Lane gave us nothing.

  8. Anonymous

    Still without moses, what should our 1-17 be for next week? Me thinks
    1 Perham 2 Sivo 3 Blake 4 Niuhkore 5 simonson 6 Gutherson 7 Brown. the rest speaks for itself….

  9. Ray

    Hello 60s hope you are well champ I go on here and talk occasionally I listen to all your podcasts which I love and read all our posts what I would like to ask you what are your thoughts on Brad Arthur and moving forward we’ve had a coach for nearly 10 years with no plates to show ?, Also as paying member why doesn’t the club come out and explain things to us via members email and explain things to us why we haven’t done this example ice situation Lodge situation top 30 squad when we had one or two spots left open and we waited till the last minute our salary cap situation money to spend I don’t want to know what players
    r earning what I do want to know if we lose 3 to 4 players what are we doing about it I wish we can have a members forum at Parramatta Leagues club and speak to the CEO Jim at asking the hard questions what concerns me this clubs all about membership Drive making sure that we are salary cap compliant and the Leagues club are in the black who gives a shit about the fans who pay The players if we don’t win the competition this year we have a lot of questions to ask and rightfully so I hope you answer this big in depth reply thank you mate appreciate your time

    1. sixties

      Thanks Ray, hope you are going well too.
      I’m criticised for being a BA supporter. If I tackle your question on why I support him as coach, I’ll probably just be going over my old ground and I doubt that will satisfy anyone after a loss. Let me simply say that I’m an not biased towards him. I get no access to him or the players. Anyone can attend the training that I watch. I am an Eels supporter first and a supporter of any coach or player second. I only want the best people for our club. If I had doubts about someone being the best option for coach, I’d say so. There is plenty of criticism that fans are expressing about BA on TCT. That hasn’t been stopped. By the way, there is one person who is banned here but is obsessed with TCT and keeps popping up under other aliases then complaining that no criticism of the coach is allowed when his comments are trashed. The problem isn’t his comments, it’s him. He has a home elsewhere.
      That said, I’m not without my criticisms. I think Brad’s Kryptonite is his own loyalty. I think he keeps faith at times when some players haven’t earned it. I’m also no fan of our crash plays run off Reed and I don’t understand why that remains in our game.
      Apart from that I watch enough training to see when the team are following match plans or not. I guarantee there were no instructions for the Eels line speed last night to be passive, for Reed’s service to be ordinary or for our attack to be in slow motion.
      I would also like to know about the processes about late top 30 signings and have approached Mark O’Neill to appear on the pod.

      1. Charlo

        Sixties it would be great if you could get Mark O’Neil on your podcast to explain a few things. I think fans are confused about how the cap being managed. For example losing all the players we have but not signing anyone to replace. Yes we signed Hodgson to replace Reed but nothing to replace Marata, Ice, Kafusi, etc…
        Does mark expect a few kids from reserves are ready to come up and plug the gaps? Why aren’t we ever in the market for marquee players?

  10. Parra Pete

    Rabbits too good on the night. This was, in my opinion, the Eels worst performance this season – by far. Hopefully they can bounce back. It ain’t over until it’s over.

    1. sixties

      Pete, it’s got some challengers for the worst of the season award. But it’s a definite contender as far as poor attitude is concerned

  11. DDay

    Loved hearing from Bert. Agree he should be an immortal.

    And his summary is simply, lost the middle and not enough eyes up football – sounds right.
    Can’t see it changing this season.

    I’m surprised Mary McGregor hasn’t had more impact – I expected more variation to the attack and the edge defence with his involvement.

  12. Shaun

    Pretty happy with my choice to go see Amyl and the Sniffers instead of the game. Ignored the game after I saw the early score and had a great night.

      1. Shaun

        Yep. I’ve purposely avoided any “highlights” of the game today. Got the gist of what happened from the comments.

        1. BDon

          ’…a tattooed love god halfback gone feral’.. comment on the Sniffers’ drummer, probably better reading today.

          1. Shaun

            Ha! Pretty close but I reckon he’d play in the forwards. It was a great gig and a cure for the Parra Eels blues.

  13. greg okladnikov

    The concerns for me are the things that keep coming up regularly:

    Tries being scored so regularly on the outside of our wingers who either jam in when not needed, or shuffle backwards towards our line / or run towards our line with the attacker ( Blake). Why not move up quicker and put pressure on your opposite player ( get in their face) and stay on the outside of them, There is some theory that the sideline is your friend in defence…but definitely not a friend of ours.
    Alex Johnston must dream about playing us each week

    Kicking game – does any team repeat the same ineffective kick to the same player so often for no reward . JA last night – every kick to the same player with no pressure. Commentators said it was a slippery surface and we didn’t put a single kick low on the ground?

    Bench rotation – against a big team again we play with 16 players vs 17. Cartwright plays as a middle ( ?) , and Ogden only gets a few minutes at the end when the game is done and no chance of any impact of a game changing run.

    And i think maybe there is a spot for Nathan Brown – maybe even if for his aggression. Who is our aggressive “hard” player. I think every team needs one or 2 who can offer that intimidation factor and who wont take crap from anyone . It sometimes looks like we miss a player who has that instinct. Like that aggression and “edge’ – more than just physicality – that a JWH / Lattrell /Fisher Harris ( or any number of Panthers)/ Nelson /Carrigan at the Broncos bring to a team and lead the team with.. For example – The 2nd time when Walker dragged JA over the sideline ( classic Walker) and it was after the whistle for a knock on, not a single Parra player reacted. If that was done to a young Roosters / Souths / Panthers halfback you would have seen a Jared / Latrell / a number of Panthers run in to protect and maybe even verbal the opponent.

    But if we can make the 8 – and the good Parra turn up – we are still good enough to beat anyone ….except maybe Souths

    1. Milo

      Hi Greg, i could not agree more about your comments. All of it makes sense.
      The bench? I don’t get it, why choose Oggy if he is not used at better times and Carty isn’t a middle forward.
      The outside defence is again shown up…..and i bet we see the same type of team next week. I think BA needs to have Junior either rested / or give him less mins as he looks tired to me, and we need to see others take on some leadership and Ogden given a longer go on the field. I also would have Brown there.
      As for aggression, i said this earlier in the season when a similar thing occurred…..we lack on the field aggression and this is where i feel some teams get over us. I go back to when we even had Beau Scott. He had some mongrel and would’ve been into Walker and not taken a back foot. I think this is reflective on the leadership of the team and senior players, and while we don’t know the mantra of the coaching staff, i would def stick up for all on the team. There is little or no push back, its simple.

    2. sixties

      Hi Greg, Nathan Browns hand injury ruled him out when he was getting a recall a couple of weeks back. He was interviewed before the game this week and is likely to be out for a couple more weeks.
      What concerns me the most with our kicking game is our refusal to contest kicks or slow chase. On Friday night, we were under pressure with most of our receptions but Souths were not.
      As for Carty’s role, he came in as a lock and I thought he went better than Matto did in his first stint. In fact I was very concerned about our starting middles and I thought we tidied up the mobility of our middle defence when those bench players came on.
      In one way, I knew why Ogden didn’t come on during that period – his mobility in defence is probably not his strength. That said, I thought he should have come on earlier in the second half as we needed some punch in attack.

      1. Anonymous

        Agree . Kick chase was non existent. I remember Cam Smith once saying that he always knew the attitude of his team by the kick chase . And i also agree Carty went well – and would have looked better if he had players pushing up with him – and then gave him options . And Ogden yes – maybe start him second half – to get some momentum.

  14. MickB

    Pretty insipid performance that. It seemed the Bunnies were just too quick for us and once they got a roll on, we just packed it up. Perhaps not surprising given we have a big forward pack. But if they can play to their strengths why can’t we play to ours?

    It’s hard to see what we’ve improved as a squad this year. I don’t expect to win every game, but is it too much to ask that they be competitive in every game and show signs that they are fixing known issues? It’s really deflating limping into yet another finals series where we are most likely just making up numbers again.

  15. Gianni

    Seriously we have a premiership winning dummy half in regies who surely can offer more than the crap Reed has been dishing up.His passes and general dummy half play was atrocious.He has regressed greatly and I did see him carrying his knee towards the end so hopefully this change happens.Our kicking game was diabolical and kick chase non existent,Not to mention our defensive line speed all in all an extremely poor performance where we barely fired a shot.

      1. Brissy dolphin

        I’ve changed my thoughts after this inept performance. Arthur must go and take his boy with him. Its just getting too much

        1. sixties

          Chief, the reason you are banned and continue to be banned is your childish behaviour. For example, you are clearly impersonating another person here, something you’ve done many times in the past. Get over your obsession. Move along and stop wasting your time.

      2. sixties

        Theres no shortage of negative replies here champ but your name calling reply that I edited and shots at the site make me wonder why you are bothering to visit.
        That game was awful. We were full of criticism and did so in front of a live audience with a legend who, if you listened, was very blunt in his comments. Nothing has been edited out. There are many critical replies in this post, all of which give examples from the game as validation. Robust footy debate is always welcome. They haven’t resorted to cheap shots. We have always drawn the line there, from day 1.

  16. Trapped in the 1970’s

    I never leave before the end of a game but I did on Friday with 25 to go. A big day a work, a rush to get there, a 45 minute trip home and an early start next day to witness that rubbish. I blame that interview with Bernie Gurr for giving me false hope, but who amongst us didn’t know that they were shot after that dropped ball from Dylan in the first five minutes.
    Reed’s A &D has regressed so far it’s staggering.
    Hats off to Lane who never stopped trying and was the one shining light on the night. Whatever is the opposite of that goes to Reed for his crash plays that never, ever, ever work.
    As for JA not many options when he’s kicking from our 30 or 40 mtr line but the worry is that
    when he was closer he gave away a 7 tackle set for a catch in the in goal & the kick on the floor from a distance went out the back for another 7 tackle restart. In a game of cms he is well off. He might be an unpolished gem but too early to say that it’s a diamond.

    1. Parra Matters

      We left early also, something we rarely do, but for the life of me I cant understand why our team cant turn up “ready to play”. From the early sets our forwards were wandering back like lost sheep, no energy, no enthusiasm and you could see we just werent “on”. Who should take the blame for that? Look at all the other teams around us jockeying for final spots, Cronulla, Brisbane, Souths, Roosters etc. All bringing their A game. What did we bring? Something is off somewhere.

  17. The Captain

    Such a disappointing game. Unfortunately it looks like this season will end the same as the last few, petering out with a whimper.

    It’s so disheartening to see a team who can match it with the very best continue to get so easily out coached and out classed. We simply can’t seem to play to our potential week in, week out and these same issues have persisted across multiple seasons now. The game plan we are using relies on us winning the possession game so as soon as any team manages to get on top, we inevitably get rolled and just can’t get back in the grind.

    I have been the biggest supporter of BA, and I continue to adore what he’s done for our club. But I am still baffled by the fact that we can’t fix the same fundamental problems we’ve been having for years – and at this stage that has to land at the coaches feet.

    So disappointing to realise again that we simply haven’t learned our lessons and this will be another year where we look like we’ll make up the numbers.

    Urgh it’s depressing being a Parra fan sometimes. I’ll never get rid of this blue and gold blood, but dang if it doesn’t lead to some depressing weekends.

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