Parramatta Eels 20
Sydney Roosters 28
While I didn’t come away from that performance impressed by any means, I felt like the Parramatta Eels gave a decent account of themselves considering the circumstances. A loss is a loss, but the real good is that this was our last Thursday night game until the final days of winter, and we’ll finally be taking on some teams not on the top lines of premiership betting from next weekend.
I’ve been understanding with our start this year; the schedule is tough, teams off of byes, injuries and new combinations, but I’m well sick of losing. I’d like some wins, of any kind, rather than more noble losses please.
20 minutes played with 12 men and conceding two tries was the X-factor in this one, though that Luke Keary try just before halftime was the one that really hurt. Looking at those completion numbers, it really looks like the NRL stats boffins spilled coffee over their keyboards to get the possession totals. Still, for the numbers inclined:
Possession: Eels 49%, Roosters 51%
Completions: Eels 26/34 (76%), Roosters 34/40 (85%)
Run metres: Roosters 1,699, Eels 1,496
Line breaks: Roosters 7, Eels 3
Errors: Roosters 6, Eels 10
Penalties conceded: Roosters 5, Eels 5
Six agains conceded: Roosters 2, Eels 4
Sin bins: Roosters 0, Eels 2
Not a lot of standouts in this one, but I’ve given Clint Gutherson the highest grade and I think this would make it three in a row for the King, so good for him. You da MVP, King.
Clint Gutherson
1 – Fullback
In a week where heretics spoke openly about dethroning the King, Clint Gutherson responded in the regal way, playing yet another strong, safe game in a team that couldn’t get out of its own way.
Maika Sivo
2 – Left Wing
Not the happiest of times for Maika Sivo, who once again killed a key attacking raid by hitting a “power drive” grubber that required “feathered touch”. He was squeezed for room on the end of several backline plays, which isn’t his fault, but his kick returns and runs were noticeably low impact and when he isn’t leaving bodies in his wake there isn’t a lot to like about his game.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
If you take away that sin binning this is probably an A-grade performance for Will Penisini, but if you take away that sin binning this might have been an Eels victory and it would be raining A grades. Willy P continues to show attacking spark to go along with his defensive prowess, and I wish we had two of him.
Waqa Blake
4 – Left Centre
People more generous than I am have put Waqa Blake’s struggles down to a lack of confidence. Before this year he was rather resilient in putting bad efforts behind him, so I’m going to go with blaming his lack of footballing nous. He’s not a good defender, risky under the high ball and this week he proved he can’t reliably draw and pass in a backline movement. When you’ve driven the ever-stoic Sixties to start suggesting Carty to centre, you know you aren’t playing well. Hook him.
Bailey Simonsson
19 – Right Wing
While I can’t condone Bailey Simonsson taking out the best player on the Roosters team, I will say it was his most notable contribution to the first grade side in 2023. He’ll sit for a couple of weeks for that shot, and the last time he missed a couple of games he couldn’t win his spot back. I dare say Haze Dunster will be keeping him out of first grade in a couple of weeks time. I’d like to see Simonsson get another crack in the centres before booking him a one way ticket to London, but right now I’d be happy for Mick Vella to come out of retirement and play centre for us instead of Waqa.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
I reckon Dylan Brown would be over at Shaun Lane’s place every night feeding him steak smoothies and promising him a cut of his 20 year deal if he can make it back on the field by Easter Monday. He’s playing okay right now, but our expectations are higher this year and we aren’t winning so there is only so thrilled I can be with Dyl.
Mitchell Moses
7 – Halfback
I was at the game live and I’m not watching a replay of that one, but beyond that kick at goal that had one touchie glancing at their buddy to figure out if it went over or not, I have little memory of the game Mitchell Moses played.
RCG
8 – Front Row
Games like this one are why you don’t burn your best big men for 60+ minutes a week when you don’t need to. RCG looked tired and didn’t have that extra gear against a tough, fresh Roosters pack. 12 runs, 30 tackles and 4 misses in 68 minutes, and he’s averaging 10 minutes per game more than last season. It’s unsustainable, and while the draw opens up for us after a tough opening month he’s too important a part of the gameplan to be tired by April.
Josh Hodgson
9 – Hooker
I’m running out of patience for Josh Hodgson to start being the real difference maker I was promised based on pre-season reports. Right now he just looks old, slow and tired. Criticising Brad Arthur for bench usage is like complaining your dog can’t talk, but seriously, get Hands on in the 30th minute so poor old Hodgo isn’t in the background of yet another line break from a dummy half scoot.
Wiremu Greig
10 – Front Row
This might be a bit harsh on Wiremu, who played bigger minutes than normal and held his own for the most part, but like Josh Hodgson the Roosters ruthlessly targeted him every time he had to stack efforts in defence. I’d be trying Makatoa in the starting role next week.
Bryce Cartwright
11 – Second Row
A game of football for Bryce Cartwright, who led the forwards in metres gained and kicking licenses lost. His emergence as a solid worker in the back row has been a welcome surprise in 2023, but we’re also one win from five so I’m not exactly holding a party for the Carty Party here.
Ryan Matterson
12 – Second Row
Matto continues to work his way back into favour of fans and teammates alike, making 41 tackles, missing one and showing a bit more of that distribution and offloading that makes the fans swoon.
J’maine Hopgood
13 – Lock
After starting the season like he was fired from a cannon, J’maine Hopgood hit the walls of the new Sydney Football Stadium hard, making only 6 runs but tackling himself to a standstill. Hoppy set a high standard in his first month and it was his offloads and playmaking that got us excited, not his ability to rack up 40 tackles. More of the good stuff, please.
Matt Doorey
14 – Interchange
A solid stint for Matt Doorey off the bench, though how do you only make ten post-contact metres with four tackle breaks? Shaun Lane’s (hopefully) imminent return will put pressure on Doorey to hold his spot, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen for the most part.
Brendan Hands
15 – Interchange
It wasn’t quite his debut, but my affection for Brendan Hands only grows as the starting nine for the Eels continues to let me down. Just get him on in the first half, please!
Jack Murchie
16 – Interchange
Solid game from Murchie, an assessment I hope is not inaccurate as it is made entirely by looking at his statistics as I have little memory of his actual performance.
Makahesi Makatoa
17 – Interchange
Let’s just give these bench middles a B- and get on with our lives, shall we?
This was one of those games where it could have been an Eels win with a few breaks, or it could have been an absolute shellacking if the Roosters could get their wide attack in sync against 12 men. Just add it to the list of “what could have been” losses that we racked up in March.
The early schedule has seen me far more forgiving of a 1-4 start to the year than I’d be in most cases. The Eels have been in every game, played flashes of good footy and to write them off as an ordinary side purely by looking at their record would be foolish. The time for forgiveness, however, is done.
A loss next week is unacceptable. Like, “there won’t be any grades” level of unacceptable. There is no way an Eels team with one win in a month can take any opponent lightly, even one as pitiful as Wests.
Looking at the next run of games, anything less than five wins from six is making life real hard for ourselves. There is no margin for a down week. This side can definitely do it, but seeing is believing.
Until then, stay slippery Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media
Seems like we can play anyone so time to bring Moretti in.
Maybe give Cini a run against a destroyed Tigers.
How did Ogden go in NSW Cup? He should be busting doors down to play NRL?
Did you see the tackle Cini missed close to the line yesterday
A lot of people asking for Cini to get upgraded are not watching the lower grades it would seem. If you’re going to promote someone he’s gotta be better than the bloke he’s replacing and whilst I too wish Cini and some of the youngsters get a call up, he’s certainly not there yet, based on these early rounds at least.
Hope things improve across all the grades so we can bring people through
Cini isn’t top 30, not going to happen, unless he’s upgraded or the club applies for dispensation
Neither is Hands or Lumelume.
I respectfully disagree with the grades. We watched two different games.
C+ for Grieg? Lunacy
What grade would you give Wirremu Anon?
I think Anon was watching a different game to me. I need to seriously watch the game again
b
Wiremu played a lot better than most of the people you gave B’s too. I have noticed for whatever reason you don’t rate him very much or are more harsh on him than others who get it a lot easier. Wiremu made strong carries and smash JWH a couple of times. He wasn’t perfect and was found out for one of Rooster tries but you can say the same about Penisini and Moses.
I thought he held his own v JWH , fitness is his downfall but with more 30+ min appearances he will go very well. Was great to see him hit one the games biggest grubs a few times. Solid defender but caught out with fatigue. His Carrie’s were really strong into the forwards defence, didn’t shy away from that at all. I wouldn’t start Maka this week, Grieg to start with Reg but jeez Reg needs less overall minutes also, lost some vigour v Chooks, guessing he was gassed.
Like the big Mak but like you I don’t see him as a starter
I to thought Wiremu impressive. Just needs more 1st grade match fitness. Some forwards being thrashed to death. A recurring theme at this club.
I was a critic of Greig going into this game and I thought he played above my expectations.
Overall Gol I though your ratings were very poorly judged. If you give Gutherson a B and call him our MVP, then you did watch a game different to most of us.
You say you didn’t notice Moses, if you missed his cover tackle on Toupo then you missed a season highlight. Moses defence was outstanding and with the exception of Penisi any outside back he tried to set up were not up to it. Brown’s defensive heroics were also very noticeable.
RCG had a great game and I thought his one on one with JWH where they both singled each other out for someone to be on top was a feature of the game.
You made no reference to the standard of referring or touch judging, not to mention the bunker.
You did make mention of Hodgson being rested and it was a terrible coaching error to leave Hodgson on after the completion of the first sin binning, which you imply Penisini was restricted in his rating because of that, Can i suggest that you dont go to the game in future, stay at home and get the seeing eye dog to call the game for you.
Finally many of us went away frustrated that we didn’t get a fair “suck of the sav” and equally a lot went away encouraged by the brave heroic defences we lifted ourselves to.
I dont know where you get your stats from but maybe you should both get together with the dog and work out a plan.
As a team we are not athletic enough, I think the coach needs to have long think about his decisions and how it effected the game.
My rating was a D minus for the coach and the same rating for your review.
He held his own but his fitness isn’t first grade standard if he can’t get back into the line properly when he has to make two tackles in a row. I’ve definitely focused on the negatives in his grade, but we lost and I’m shitty about it so sometimes players will cop a harsh bake in grades, especially when I’m not going back to watch it on tape.
Agree fitness is an issue. Hodgo and Wiremu. Wiremu was warming the pine instead of getting time on the field is part of the reason he’s not fit.
True. The only way to get Emu up to 1st grade pace is to give him more time on the field.
Unfortunately I think time has caught up with Hodgson and he needs less minutes.
Agree with much of the reasoning in all of that. But if by definition a C grade is a pass mark, then Blake, Simonsson and Hodgson have been graded too generously.
It’s a theme. Very flattering grades – no one gets a D!
BA might ban them from watching training if they are too critical. These guys talked up Jirah Momisea as the second coming of Gordon Tallis during the off season so take their ratings with a grain of salt.
Jirah, what a catch ! He’s played 1st grade though. Something our real promising lower graders can’t get a shot at.
We lost by 8 to the second premiership favourite, the Ds are saved for true shockers and bad losses.
You’re far kinder with the grades than a lot of people would have been.
Let’s not get into the refereeing performance, Forty and Sixties covered it in the post game pod well enough but that was a rough match to watch, outside of Gutho trying his guts out can’t really say the team as a whole did a lot to help him out.
Bang on about RCG, everyone is sick of pointing out the flaws in BAs bench rotation, it’s bitten us in the arse far too many times and this game is one of them.
If we lose to West’s the blow up will be massive and I’m sure the boys will know the Tigers will step up and the team have to be ready for it.
Gol just a couple of points. That was Woodies first time starting and while Junior and Reg have nothing to fear with regard to their starting spots. Thought his game was ok. Put on a couple of nice hits and worked hard in his first 20 minutes.
The other point is Doorey. He has impressed me each time I see him. I like Edge forwards with previous experience as centres
agree
I don’t agree with most of these grades at all. apart from Blake, Simonnsen & Hodgson, the team went pretty well and I was quite proud of the performance. The scramble defence was amazing. You watched a different game.
My thoughts exactly!
Some are saying I was too soft, some too harsh, it was just one of those games. Like I said, it could’ve been a win just as easily as it could’ve been a 20+ loss.
I feel that if we are saying to ourselves “we didn’t win but we played well”, we are in a bad way as a club. That’s what I remember people saying in the early 90s.
There are a few things we need to get right asap, starting next week. As you say, anything less than a complete performance from Parra is unacceptable.
I was a young’un in the stands for those early 90s games, but anybody saying we played well had to be related to one of the men running around on the field. We’re definitely in a spot where “playing well but not winning” isn’t good enough, but it’s an important reminder considering how tough the draw has been. The Tigers, Raiders, they’ve got real problems, we’ve just had a tough draw and not been able to get it done in a couple of close games.
Yes Gol, “happy with effort” is wearing thin.
Yes. It’s like…. They trained well.
!0 Year Member, we really need to go on a winning run now. If we don’t we are in deep trouble..
Tigers did it to us last year.
Mostly ok with the grades, but Waqa was at best a D and Sivo based on his effort was a Z. I know we have very little in the way of talent to fall back on, but Waqa and Sivo need to spend time in reserve grade. What else do they have to do to get dropped??? Stupid footballers and no heart.
Personally I thought it was one of the best games that I’ve ever seen from Gutho, he was absolutely everywhere.
Can someone tell me where Bailey Simonssons speed has disappeared to ??
The bloke was seriously fast at the Raiders. The only time I have ever seen a fast turn of speed from him in an Eels jumper was in the GF last year on the run just before he busted his shoulder.
We desperately need a new centre and winger.
Can we grade the referees ??
They were again poor.
I’ve always rallied against the conspiracy leanings but I’m having second thoughts lately.
It’s not just the Eels. Anyone who saw that try taken from Bradman Best yesterday would be thinking similar thoughts.
Something smells.
Tks Spark re Bradman Best, was going to blog it but thought ‘don’t moan on’. Since you have… unbelievable, the ball never, repeat never, travelled forward, it was always behind his arm. The ball stuttered but the first response was Best’s arm projecting it backwards into the Manly arm Not even a second look. It wasn’t possible for the ball to be projected forward into the Manly arm.
You are tremendously observant Spark, Gutho as you say and Simonsson’s speed, what did happen?. Sivo was almost frightened to take the ball into the tackle, there were kicks he should have taken on the full and again chickened out…..he should be dropped for that performance. We all agree Waqar is next to useless at the moment and we all agree that Simmos better in the centres, again the coach keeps them away from where they were selected in the GF.
I am proud of the way they defended on the night but a few of our backs namely, Simmo, Sivo and Blake need to be axed.
My understanding of our second grade were the backs were just as bad.
Poppa, when Sivo plays like that, it is, as an Eels fan, one of the most gut-wrenching things. He is built like a tank and has shown in the past that he knows how to apply himself. Every now and so, he throws in rubbish games where his tentative and unfocussed ways just absolutely fires me up. A real shame, I wish he was Mr. Damage every bloody game
i reckon simmo was good , lots of intent in his running and eager to contribute. i think u will see his speed if we can get him into some space
Not a Simmo fan at all but I thought it was one of his better games. Its just so obvious Waqa is just a dumb arse. Keeps shuffling it out to Sivo when he is well covered and already on the line.
yes but sivo needs to pre empt and cut back on the inside. kenny was a master of the behind flick pass to eric, shld be intuitive even for a school boy
That being true but mostly they are well covered and Waqa just needs to take the tackle.
Bradman Best ‘No try’ decision was a joke. It’s happening too often to be considered just an error.
sivo needs to watch saints ravalawa and take notice of how he runs the ball back with vigour
100% and Ravalawa and Lomax know the white thing along the ground isn’t always your friend.
Ravalawa – I am a fan. He resents being tackled, fights hard to play the ball fast, applies himself , every game i have seen him. Uses 100% of his talent each game. I wish i could say the same of Sivo
i think rava is able to get up to top speed quicker than sivo on his returns and this is important in busting the line
I would have swapped them 2 years ago, I think the Sivo monster is a myth and the opposition players know it.
Look he is a good finisher but he is not doing that now and he needs to learn if he is being crowded into the touchline then he can cut back on the inside. No football brains at all. Waqar again showed he cannot set up an outside player, why is BA blind to this?
PS His work (Sivo) under the high ball has been very good up until this game and credit where credit is due. Its just not good enough in an all-round sense.
Poppa, I think Sivo is over protecting himself against injuries. I reckon, he is being selfish by thinking first of his livelihood instead of giving it all out for the team which is paying him. He had changed his attack since he got injured. He is avoiding hard contacts and literally jogs when returning the ball. No longer barging when trying to score. Needs to be talked to by BA or O’Neill about his attitude.
How does Sivo get a C. Name one positive contribution he made. His runs out of the red zone were at best inept, his play the balls are horrendous, and his defensive reads are horrible. I think both you and Sixties are thinking of the pre injury Sivo. He was mostly ordinary last year. I for one was disappointed to see him resign. We have much better wingers in the club like Dunster and Russel.
Totally agree with your take on Blake. This backline will be lucky to take us to the 8.
Sivo was a bee’s Will Penisini away from a D+ here, but you only need to go back to last week to see a good game from him. People are treating him like he’s Waqa Blake after that game and that’s not fair on him at all.
Sivo this week caught Waqa’s ‘lack of confidence’ He seemed gun shy.
Our back 5 have to be making the hard yards coming out of our end! Waqa is invisible in our end. It’s just not good enough. He looks like Tarzan but plays like Jane!! Him and Sivo should be beasts coming off the back fence. If you look how Toupou and Suallii come out of trouble we are too soft.
Gol, Sivo frustrates me. When he applies himself, he is a weapon, and is reliable in defence, if not really great. When is hands in a shocker, he makes my hair fall out. His play-the-balls had no sense of urgency at all. I was screaming at him! All the little things, if we did them all well, may have resulted in a far different result against the roosters. I hope B. Arthur puts a rocket up him
He shows occasional flashes but overall he has been poor since coming back from injury. Presently he is an average reserve grader.
i like him but he lacks any speed
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 fitness is an issue.
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 did ok
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 was a wake up call.
Yes Cartwright to centre as Marata did.
I’m surprised at the number of comments getting agitated about the grades. This is half satire guys, calm down!
That said, I thought the comments on RCG and Hodgo were spot on. As is the requirement of the team for the next 5-6 weeks. To be honest, we can only afford a handful more losses through the remainder of the season.
Hodgson slows down after the first 20 minute mark, Hands needs to be on from then. Depending on the game parameters it should be sorted out how long hes on for
To say we were in this game at 28 – 8 with four minutes to go astounds me. We were never in the game. Around the ruck we were exploited once again. The biggest momentum shift was around the 48 min mark when we were on their line and Matto attempts the most ridiculous off load which Hodgo knocked on and they march up the field and score. That play was the crescendo of our overall inept performance.
Probably not in it at 28-8, but at 16-8 it definitely felt like we’d make a good shout of it if we could score next and it wasn’t until the Walker penalty goal that I stopped thinking we had a hope.
Tks Gol. One of those games you can shake your head and say ‘what happened there?’ The score board seemed to always have its foot on our throat, 12 men for 20 of first 30 minutes, a couple of dodgy calls and a couple of 50/50’s go our way and a different momentum occurs, but some recurring self-harm themes…poor attacking play near the sideline, stepping back behind our ruck finds gaps,slower play the ball,kick chase ordinary,…enough to prevent an A grade ratings love-in but we competed and didn’t fold, more we just gradually faltered under a 1000 cuts.
Yes, the refereeing was poor which definitely contributes to results. I thought for a moment Atkinson was going to do a Bill Harrigan with the urge to keep sin binning players. There comes a time when Tedesco must accept that he contributes to these tackles that hit him high. Even Robinson said it was a 50/50 call. Tedesco drops his body when running and generally when passing. With the normal stature of most players he would be hit around the chest. It could have ended up being a great tackle. By the way in the GF Bailey, before being injured, had a great game and showed scintillating speed. That question needs to be answered. Did he and Blake have a pre-season. And, I really believe Blake is carrying an injury with his arm.
The referee for every game this year continues to overlook how the other team lies over the tackled player. How else can you explain the one second or more difference in playing the ball speed. BA should make some noise about this to the NRL.
Parra actually could have been at 3 from five or maybe 4 from five for two reasons. Mitchell’s goal kicking is not the same as last year. Why does he get the yips just to the right side of the post. He should take the ball another ten meters to open up the goal face. Secondly, against the Storm they received a gift two points and didn’t take it. The following passage of played was a downer. In the end it was the difference before golden point. Against East they again had a gift two points and despite being told to take it they played on and again the passage was a downer. Had they went for goal and got it the difference is six points. Parra where slowly getting on top and so they would have had a rest for a minute or so and got the ball back. What happened they fumbled and East score down the other end.
Like it or not – that is plain bad captaincy. Gutherson should get an F for these thoughtless acts of not taking gift points. Sure, this doesn’t apply all the time but, someone has to be thinking. As for Hodgson – I am waiting for the player that Mr Sixties talked up in the preseason. When Hodgson makes mistakes he is gassed and gives away either penalties or lost ball. His service from dummy half is excellent but line ball with his passes.
That tackle of Moses on Tupou was A plus. To lose two players in the bin in the twenty five minutes did not help. It did gas them before half time and just like last year in the first round that try on the bell broke the camel’s back. They had nothing in the tank when they walked off at half time. I thought the Emu had a great game in defence but, it is obvious his fitness and speed doesn’t measure up.
One from five is not a good look but, I seem to recall the Sharks were Zero – five and made the semis, possibly the year the won.
The obese lady is yet to sing. We hang in there and give the boys some encouragement.
One last question – is there someone who can replace Blake anyone? We might get Poppa to put on a jumper on.
The most frustrating thing person is Maika Sivo taking hit ups from his own end he deadset goes missing offers sweet F all it drives me nuts then he does something special the backs as a whole don’t offer enough.
I’ve lost all patience with Hodgson and Blake.
If we f up against the tigers we write the season off
Cheers Gol, fair grades and tbh I’m not too offended by them but like the honesty and passion.
Parra just need to find ways to win. We never get the rub of the green off the refs…that’s another story.
Our bench rotations need to be better. Greig did well for me.
Just win this week and then start again.
How funny was waqa claiming obstruction after the paulo try