Being at the footy on a sunny Saturday arvo was brilliant. And my message from the stands is simple. Thank you!
Thank you to the Eels and Bulldogs fans who turned up, cheered and made for a wonderful atmosphere. I feel for other clubs that don’t have those rivalries or the stadium that we are blessed to call home..
Thank you to all the officials and stadium workers who did such a wonderful job of managing a large crowd.
Ray Price and other Eels legends on their walk (image Eels media)
Thank you to the Blue and Gold Alliance for staging a tremendous reunion of past players whom we were able to acknowledge as they completed a lap of honour prior to the NRL game. These are the legends that my son has heard about so many times, so it was a pleasure to be able to point them out as they walked past.
Finally, my biggest thank you has to go to our players.
Try time
Our team and players often come in for much attention and pressure but this past weekend these players did their job and in doing so they enabled my family and I to have a wonderful experience, and a really fun day.
I’m not going to criticise any element of the game, I will let others do that. Nor am I going to talk about who is off contract or who is going to be let go. I’m sure the media will write about it enough for anyone who still wants to read it.
Instead, I want to praise our Eels for the way they were able to grind down one of their fiercest rivals.
I really enjoyed the sliding defence and how the team defended as one. I loved how we played with speed and ran with intensity. I loved how superbly we picked the Bulldogs apart with a highly skilful kicking game.
But the thing I loved the most was seeing our players show emotion and care.
At our core, supporters want to see players have a genuine crack and above all else, care about the result.
Waqa Blake missed a straight forward tackle, which unfortunately can happen to any player. He was annoyed with himself, slamming his fist into the ground. There were no more tries scored on his edge.
Mitch Moses
Mitch Moses, a player who was once heavily scrutinised for his defensive desire, played with courage and commitment whilst hampered by injury to help us succeed in a highly important game.
These are just two examples of the care and commitment that I witnessed from our players, but I wanted to highlight them.
Why?
There’s been enough negativity written about our club. The Eels have been hammered from pillar to post by the media and their own fans. After certain losses they have deserved the criticism.
However, just as the team should be held to account for sub-standard efforts, so too should they be praised for a win that brought plenty of smiles to supporters in the stands. If supporters can’t find the joy or the positives in a win, then they’ll always be hard to please.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed last Saturday. Sitting in the afternoon sun, in a packed stadium playing a bitter rival was like travelling back in time to the footy experience I had as a young child. Days like that turned me into a lifelong supporter.
And when our Eels play with passion and commitment, it’s even better.
Shelley
Well said Shelley. It’s great to see some positive words about our club for once. You have to think that all the negativity around this season has to get to the heads of the players. As fans we really owe it to ourselves and the club to support them through thick and thin, but yes obviously keeping them to account. Let’s hope for more of this passion from the players and the fans alike for the rest of the season.
Love Saturday afternoon games at the footy, especially with 2 games falling before the headliner. Unfortunately due to the media’s obsession with showing every game live there are only 3 spots a week, 2 for half of the season, where fans can enjoy arvo footy. If the NRL are insistent on expanding both the NRLM and the NRLW at some point they’ll have to make a decision on how many games are shown live as there are only so many time-slots for footy
Hey Ham. Is it going to reach the point, especially if there are 16 NRLW teams, that they play either in a different time of the season or on different days, as a stand alone competition? Especially as the NRL is likely to go to 18 teams at some point – meaning nine time slots.
Which is one reason why Perth is a no brainer for the 18th team.
Hey, you still playing in your band ?
Totally agree with the comments on Perth
Thanks for the simple post of gratitude in what you have said, and doubt there would be any form of the opposite which is writh on the various sites.
It was a great game to watch, even on Kayo which is a frustrating platform. However, Kayo had the reserves comp running and I missed half of the NRL game, but I was more than pleased to watch the effort of the players in that squad.
Greg, has slimmed down and showing a hard edge in his game, also Hands I believe will be worth watching in the hooker department with Reed’s departure.
Thank you Shelley. The over 26,000 crowd surely has a message for the NRL. Thursday night would have been struggling to get 10,000. I love your positivity. Yes, let’s leave rumours, gossip and negativity to the media (and other sources) as that’s their way to sell their product. For the rest of us, a splendid day of footy.
That it was Graz!
The opposition is much more of a factor than time slot.
Tks Shelley. My grandson, his father and some friends attended and had a great day. I asked him for his highlights…the Waqa dive over and the Sivo walk over. More afternoon games and I would find a way to take him, we live 90 minutes driving distance away.
BDon are you on the Central coast?
No JE, not North, out West up the hill via the Gt Western Highway.
I reckon there are quite a few Eels fans in this boat.
Except this was also a substandard performance punctuated with periods of dominance against a badly overmatched opponent with nothing to play for. The reality is we didn’t move the needle with anyone of consequence. This was the kind of performance we’re BA needed to make some very pointed public criticisms of the performance, which was patchy at best. There’s no hiding from that.