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A brace of first half sin bins against Will Penisini and Bailey Simonsson put the Parramatta Eels heavily on the backfoot against the Sydney Roosters. It proved to be too much of a handicap for the Blue & Gold as the Roosters ran out 28-20 victors.
The Tip Sheet looks at the rather bizarre Round 5 match as Sixties and Forty20 are left to rue Parramatta’s 4th loss of the season. On a night where plenty went wrong for Parra, the Roosters had a generous dose of luck but also flashes of the great play their squad is capable of.
The team were great. I was so proud of the effort that was shown from most of the team. They just never gave in and in seasons gone by we would have lost by 40.
Everything they did came off – one of those nights.
The Penisini sin bin was absolutely rediculous. I was flabbergasted but somehow not surprised.
The penalties for the Greig high shot and Hopgood strip … and probably more. the bunker continues to show its absolute incompetence and it’s games like this that you sometimes wonder if there hasn’t been a sneaky game of golf arranged.
Simonssons sin bin I can live with but Teddy continues to crouch when he is about to be tackled. He will continue to receive head knocks if he continues to do this.
Honourable mentions to Carty who continues to surprise , Emu who was immense and to Gutho – what a game.
Sivo continues to be nothing but a flat track bully, Simonsson , despite being the fastest player on the field , giving up and refusing to chase when Keary scored and Waqa Blake .. being Waqa.
Hmmm, hasn’t this type of game occurred before against Easts where they get the running / run of green?
Pls can someone pls answer this, when have the refs been consistent with anything over the last 10 yrs?? Serious question, and I mean consistent in rulings besides being consistently stuffed. It’s appalling and fans deserve better.
How quick were the reviews!
Exactly my thoughts on the two sin-binnings. I’ve never seen a ref go to the whistle and sin bin as quickly as what was done with Penisini last night. Penalty sure, but there was another defender there, and I didn’t say any ‘professional foul’ stopping a try scoring opportunity at all.
Yep, Simonsson hit Tedesco high, but I thought was unlucky in how the tackle came off as it was at an extremely high pace and where he aimed and ended up, as Teddy did dip (and is reknown for falling in tackles), are two different things.
Hopgood’s ‘strip’? No security holding the ball from JWH, and the hands on the ball were incidental contact in the tackle. The fact that the Bunker made the decision on one look was absolutely ridiculous, and another example of their famed incompetence and inconsistency.
Too true. Couldn’t fault the team on effort at all and the sin binning of Will was extreme in my opinion. If that is the benchmark for a professional foul warranting a sin bin then there could be multiples in each and every game.
That sin binning was such a leg up if easts coming off the bye and parra coming of a golden point win against the reigning premiers wasn’t already.
Little luck went the eels way all night typified by a couple of cross kicks that went out the back that just needed a regular irregular footy ball bounce to make things interesting.
That said there was some poor execution as well and while anyone can make an error Hodgson’s at 8-16 with possession and position was a momentum killer with easts scoring soon after.
I’ve seen him live in 5 of the last 6 games including the last trial and I’m not sure if he is engaging the A and B defenders or just creating uncertainty in the ball runner as they regularly seem to need to alter their stride and or pace so as not to overrun his flat passes. Hands passing just looks so much crisper by comparison.
Hopefully the result and the break has the team cherry ripe to take on wests on Easter Monday.
I thought Matto was more to blame for that Hodgson error. There was nothing to be gained from the offload.
Yes, I noticed quite a few time the runners almost overrunning Hodgson. His timing does seem off.
The biggest grievance with that error was Hodgson burning our captains challenge. That was pretty inexcusable
It was stunning for how quick the look was. When is it ever that fast?
The scramble defence and desperation during periods of no possession and a player down was a huge reason for belief.
They were outplayed but were brave and never gave up. Lots to admire. A run of wins will happen.
I share your optimism McFersie.
As much as I can’t fault the effort of some players we again are exposed to the flaws of this team. They usually let the other team dictate how they play. Zero line speed and the backline don’t run hard enough out the backfield/ don’t do enough work (especially sivo, waqa and simonsson). The poor forwards have to defend then just back early for hit ups as the backs are ineffective. We just end up getting soft out in the middle as the game progresses and leaking tries/line breaks. I don’t know how waqa is still a centre and simonsson is still on the wing tbh after the horrific games they have played this year. we need a workhorse winger and if we had someone like
Kiraz we would be much better for it. Instead we trot out the same players with the same deficiencies and hope we don’t make errors so our completion rate and possession can cover up defensive deficiencies. May sound a bit unfair in context of this game but its been a long term issue. Not really sure where this team is at. It seems like it tries hard but either plays dumb or gets rolled because some players let others down.
Well this is the point isn’t it and the one question that must be asked of the coaching staff – Why is Waqa Blake still in the team?
BA will probably counter with – He is the best person for job.
Really ?
It’s that old insanity quote over and over and over again.
Sure they have identified that he won’t be resigned but in the interim, let’s worry about this year now!
Surely it’s time we throw Asi into the team at his expense. Surely we have come to a point that no matter how we bend, shape or try and sell things, we just can’t afford his continual mistakes.
No doubt poor Bailey Simonsson will probably get 6 weeks for hitting the golden child so we will need Dunster to step up as well.
Chances of Dunster AND Asi starting against the Tigers …..
Mr Atkins certainly had us on the back foot, funny that. Arthur continually picking players he shouldn’t, funny that. Give Hands the start, he’s up for it.
When omitting players it’s always a case of having better options. I believe we have that now with players returning from injury or getting match fitness.
What pisses me off about our roster is that we fans( and opposition + the recruitment team) have known about these issues for years. We have watched other teams (south’s, manly, storm, Penrith in final) tear us apart with speedy, athletic outside backs. We watched last year our team be one of worst for metres conceded. Instead we are slow to adapt to the smarter way of playing footy (rucking it out in early tackles through athletic, workhorse outside backs). Instead we continue to flog junior and reg and hope we get enough possession to get home. This slowness to adapt is frustrating. Our forward heavy style isn’t sustainable. It requires high effort and high energy all the time. When BA last year kept saying to “front load efforts”, that is not sustainable in the nrl. You need your backs to help your forwards. The fact we dominated penriths forwards should ordinarily mean by BA’s “win the collision” logic that we dominate the game. But no, their backs helped massively for their forwards. If the roles were reversed and junior and reg only ran 80m each we would have got blown out by 20.
Ron, I agree that we have holes in our roster that need to be filled. I also believe that we shouldn’t have gone into 2023 with 27 on the roster knowing that a number of them wouldn’t be available through injury or suspension. But as you have done before, you describe the last few years as if we are major failures rather than regular finalists.
I hear you 60s. I won’t minimise our relative success in the last few years. We have been a good team that had holes in it (see finals where Melbourne ripped up our edges, south’s ripping our edges and Penrith in the gf ripping up our edges and middle).
This year we are a still a good/decent team with even more holes in it with the departure of key forwards/opacic, the suspensions/injuries and dodgy form of the same faces in the outside backs. What I am getting at is that we need to adapt the way we play. It can’t be so forward dominant when the coaching staff knew that key forwards would be missing this year. As you point out, having 27 players is also silly when you knew that you had key outs to start the year. I understand it appears that I’m a bit negative but I have watched this team closely over the years and I am frustrated at the lack of development in some areas of our play/defence more generally.
We aren’t far off getting things together but I don’t see the discipline and cohesion in this team on a consistent basis (we only managed to get our act consistently together towards back end of last year). Where do we find this consistency, discipline and execution? Well it comes from ba lifting the boys or the boys themselves. I won’t not chuck carty in their against the tigers. You train as a outside back for a reason. You have other outside backs on the roster for a reason. Bloody pick them. Why else are you giving a host of other outside backs contracts who you don’t really trust? I think carty to start one edge with lane on other. Matto for bench punch, Russell in at centre. Lumelume in at right wing (at least he runs hard)
Also I think that the whole thing about us having forwards out with matto suspended and lane injured is really just an excuse used by fans re losses this year as a coping mechanism. Melbourne have had heaps of injuries and found ways to win (game against us and tigers). South’s forward pack has been hit hard and they still beat manly.
I don’t know that it’s been used as an excuse so much as a reason we will improve. Depends on your perspective.
I am on the same page about not playing people out of position. However we have had short term “success” with a back rower like Marata at centre in short term bursts. I only see Carty the same way. My preference is for a fit Dunster and or Russell to fill the roles in the backs but both are returning from injuries so rather than two new faces in one week I’m suggesting Carty move out wider for the short term.
It’s why I proposed Carty to centre as a short term solution.
Correct me if I am wrong here, but I thought Sivo was standing far too close to the sideline to be able to do anything. Each time he got the ball near the try line, he was budled over the sideline as he didn’t have enough room to move. If he comes in a bit and/or Blake passes back inside to Gutho there would have been a couple of tries there.
We also need to face the fact that the refs are not on our side. Like it or not, that is the reality. With that in mind the sin binnings were very disappointing and ended up costing us the game. I get that we need to find an advantage, but we can’t be giving the opposition such an easy time.
We also missed our on numerous occasions by not contesting the high ball. The good teams create chances there, but we were never in the hunt for those. That’s disappointing as well.
Plenty to be positive about though, I thought our forwards were outstanding, as was our defence. We just need to get on a roll these next few weeks and get the wins.
Sivo and Blake together are an absolute nightmare.
Many times last night both Gutho and Moses remonstrated with both Sivo and Blake asking them pointedly why they ran certain lines.
Yes, running lines and running over the sideline..
Noticed that.
Longfin, I know how important discipline is for the Eels. We literally give teams an advantage in ruck speed because we don’t push the limit in the “wrestle” and we don’t get offside. It was rewarded last year when we conceded the least penalties/restarts. Yet there was plenty found last night despite that ruck speed difference again in evidence.
It’s tough watching two weeks in a row the outside backs of the opposition making Sivo look lazy and uninspiring. Other than Penisini which has been very good so far this year our other 3 have almost certainly contributed to at least 2 of our losses.
Let’s just give some young blokes a crack!
MA there is a massive step up from Cup to NRL. But Russell and Dunster would be close.
Tks guys. Couldn’t sleep thinking about that game, it was just weird. Listened to the podcast around 2.30 and when forty said ‘bizarre’ I thought it wasn’t just me making it up. Also couldn’t believe when I looked at the stats, there were some minor differences but nothing indicating that we basically struggled all night. My best, uneducated guess was the sin binnings and 16-2 killed us off against a team that runs and tackles hard.
If Penisini deserved binning, maybe a case for Keary’s intentional interference with Simonsson? Moses got tackled in the air, clear as day, the ball hit Cartwright’s shin not his hand,the ball hit Sualii’s arm first right in front of the touchie, Greig hit Hutchison’s arm/chest. The Hopgood strip was 50/50, they didn’t even re-look at how his hand was in contact with the ball, it was clear it was there in the course of the tackle.Having said all that, the Roosters were better on the night.
BDon, no 50/50 calls went our way. And those bunker reviews were so fast. It’s why I was so furious with the footy gods. It’s like we weren’t destined to be in the game. But credit to the Roosters as I said, they played smart eyes up footy on a couple of those significant line breaks.
Listened to the podcast at midnight guys, and you were far more balanced than I guess most felt.
Atkins and Parra games is a concern, Penisini to the sin bin for a professional foul. Keary pulls back a chaser for a professional foul, nothing.
Not sure about Simmonson sin bin, hit him across chest and bounces up as Tedesco again drops into the tackle, seems to be a lot of reports due to Tedesco’s style at tackles.
Wiremu gives away a penalty for tackling too hard, wasn’t high and Roosters out of trouble, JWH drops the ball and a cursory look by Sutton in the bunker and penalty given, are they blind. .
So many other 50/50s, there seem ps to more when playing the Roosters at their ground! The influence of their talking heads seems to grow.
Waqa really has some serious deficiencies, positioning and tackling is a concern and that is making both Drown and Sivo commit to cover their and his lack of confidence. Waqa passing to Sivo as he crowds him to within 50cm of the sideline, should take the tackle and reset.
This set of fixtures are concerning, the bye situation agst 3 top 4 teams in a row and Thursday night games, Annesley and Abdo talk but don’t understand the problems.
Recruitment has failed to address the lack of an experienced back up prop and strike centre which have been there for at least 2/3 seasons.
Some seriously important games coming up to rescue the move into the top 8, it is achievable , just get selections and officials correct.
Meant to add, Hodgson needs to be given a breather after 25 minutes or so, his performance drops considerably around that time. Better use of the interchange, recognising this would be good.
Ive only seen Hands twice but he has ‘competent’ written all over his game.The modern No9 also seems like a Harvard scholarship wouldn’t be ridiculous, he interviewed well with an alertness of mind, He’s a great age for trust and responsibility, maybe BA should gradually reverse the roles of H & H, great opportunity for the club to get maximum value out of Hodgson’s experience and Hands’ potential.
Fair call mate.
Derek, I’m on board with an earlier rest for Hodgson, ten to fifteen minutes either side of half time.
Unfortunately Parra came up against the Chooks best performance of the year by a country mile. In theory you don’t get a better shot at beating them with Manu and Teddy out, plus a host of others like Toupinoua (spelling?), Crichton etc. However I do think Teddy is as much a hinderance as he is a help sometimes. He revels in broken play, and it always looks to me like running structures and shapes with him is hard work for the halves to control.
On the head-knock, hard to see another outcome than 10 in the bin for Simonsson, but as Spark said, Teddy is perpetually falling into contact, and if a player was to aim around the hips and stomach, Teddy is either getting the pass away or the defender is putting their own head into a bad position for contact. Its not going to happen this way, but refs and match review committee should look at contributory negligence. The guys with repeated HIA issues seem to have flaws in either their attack or defence that makes them more likely to get hit. So those players need to work on getting themselves out of harms way, rather than making the other 16 teams and 480 players across the NRL do it for them.
Calls went both ways, but it felt like most things important went the Chooks way.
Deflating is probably the way I’d characterise this one. We were never really in the hunt, and probably ditto against Manly (notwithstanding the come back), so I feel like the look-back on the season is going to shine a spotlight on the Storm and Sharks games which we should / needed to have iced.
Yeah, Forty and I struggled to assess the game as we would have liked. The effort areas for most players were through the roof. Yet we never felt like we were in the game and the calls were a part of it. The thing was there was maybe only one or two really tough calls. The others were 50/50 and could have gone either way.
It was an ugly game because we let it be ugly. We rarely dictate how the game goes. We just let others teams dictate the style and tempo of the game and we try to react to it.
Anon, I hardly think we always let others dictate and react. But last night was one of those times.
I hate rugba leeg.
Countdown to our next win is required Shaun!
10 days! Alas I will about halfway on a trip to Ireland when the game starts.
If Penisini is a sin bin?? Keary should have been! WTF does the Bunker actually do. It smacks of corruption. Because it happens too often to be an error. We are in danger of becoming a hard hitting pantomime. Where the outcome is predetermined based on betting markets and ratings. Bunker just rubber stamps bad decisions just like laundering money at the casino. It washes the bad decision and makes it appear clean when we all see the cancer that it is.
Overall, the guys tried hard so can’t be critical!
Hodgo and Greig had some strong contact in first stanza.
Waqa offers NOTHING. Anybody would be better. He should be llike Toupou basically the same body type. Waqa constantly crowding Sivo into touch. He needs to cut back in and give Sivo some room and then offload after drawing his opposite giving Sivo a 1 on 1…Waqa needs to go. Cartwright can cover as Marata did. Can’t keep doing this every week??
Is Sivo injured or just gun shy?
Simonson, is poor! His 1% ers giving up on a chase on Keary! That is unforgivable. If my old coach saw that on video that player would be villified and dropped!!
Penisini is going great. Sin bin was a trigger finger. Like Atkins had money on first player binned!
Cartwright Reg and Matto great.
Spine good. Hodgo was tired out in defence. Brown poor pass helped Roosters at 6 : 2 handed over possession in good field position. We had Simmonson in the bin. Huge defence at that point Probably costly. Luckily Roosters made a few mistakes. Then Brown penalised for ruck interference was a joke and Toupou scored 10:2 where Simmonson would have defended. That 20 minutes was crucial in taking our fuel out of the tank. Roosters much fresher after the bye. We only had 39% possession in first half.
Smith, Keary and Walker great footballers. Just see what’s happening in the line and exploit it.
Need x-factor? Maybe that’s a wake up call.
Yes Cartwright to centre as Marata did. It just makes sense.
I still can’t believe more isn’t being made of how bad Hodgson is. We’re now 5 weeks in and there is little to no improvement. Three first half line breaks and he is the lazy defender on the inside on all of them. His lateral defence is bad. Even the Tupou try, which isn’t his fault, but he is the only defender who doesn’t get off the line and it slows RCG up that fraction which gets the Roosters outside us.
He finally runs the ball from dummy half, and it is a stacked blindside on the last tackle and no one knew what he was doing. Twice he decided to try no look passes and his team mates were the most surprised. When he tackles high he gets bumped backwards – every – single – time. And most notably, when he came off after 50 minutes on Thursday, Moses and Brown looked far more dangerous and had room to run. Brown in particular given how poor Hodgson passes right to left. There was even a Roosters kick where granted he put on some kick pressure. But after the kick return the kick netted less than 30m and he still didn’t get behind the ruck until tackle 4.
The sooner they admit the mistakes made by O’Neill and give Hodgson a role captaining the NSW Cup side or something, the better. Because quite seriously we have gone from having a clear top 5 hooker in the comp to having a bottom 2 or 3 hooker in the comp, if not the worst staring hooker in the comp.