The Cumberland Throw

The Tip Sheet – 2023 Ep 32: Delayed Reaction, Eels Can’t Find That Magic Feeling

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Post-game coverage starts at 20:00

The Tip Sheet is back…after some technical difficulties involving a missing power cable. Regardless, Sixties and Forty20 are able to finally breakdown a frustrating loss to the Gold Coast Titans at the conclusion of Magic Round.

Despite dominating the ground game, the Blue & Gold were on the wrong end of a string of big moments in Round 10 including the sinbinning of their captain Clinton Gutherson and the eventual interception he would later throw. The boys are left to lament the growing pile of coin-toss results that are going against Parramatta and what they need from their best players in order to snap the funk.

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31 thoughts on “The Tip Sheet – 2023 Ep 32: Delayed Reaction, Eels Can’t Find That Magic Feeling

  1. Chris K

    I am mainly lamenting Mitch having a quiet one – hope a Sports psychologist is working with and can cut through his tendency to go into his shell when his confidence is down.

    Case in point vs GC in missing difficult conversions he has kicked in recent weeks, was he was not so effective in attack versus the world beater he has been recently.

    Given how incredible Dylan Brown was, I can only imagine our attacking potential last week if Mitch was anywhere near his recent form.

    1. sixties

      I think it been said a number of times that his first kick is indicative of not just how he’ll kick in the match but also how he’ll play

  2. Danny Crnkovich

    10 years under Arthur.
    Same old same old.
    We win games on individual talent, not on being well drilled & consistent.
    Our defence is a shambles.
    Moses just runs sideways all the time & wants $1.2m.
    Dylan Brown should be modelling his game on Foran,. instead he runs & steps often without any shape around him.
    Our general shape in attack is embarrassing compared to other teams, we struggle to create numbers as easily as other teams create on us.
    Even the years we made the top 4 & GF, we still had so many flaws. We won the lotto last year playing a depleted Storm in rd26 for a top 4 spot then falling on the same side of the finals draw as Raiders & Cowboys.
    The frustration is that this team has had the talent since 2020 & probably now wasted our premiership window.
    Time for a change.
    Arthur gotta go.
    3 premiership winning coaches currently looking for a job.
    If we were a European or EPL football club Arthur would have been sacked 8 times in the last decade.
    This club needs a more ruthless attitude otherwise we’ll continue to float in this mediocrity year after year.

  3. BDon

    Tks men. Frustrating game that one.The Gutho intercepted pass..I thought he had run out of room to throw that, Dunster was right on the stripe, the geometry looked too tight. Whilst we were rolling through the middle strongly, either Tino or a wide shift seemed to get the Titans back upfield, we couldn’t quite pin them down and create high pressure, plus their scramble was keeping them in the game. This is not an excuse, but penalties blown against us looked like things you see 50 times in a game. And Campbell, got his upper body weight moving across and over Sivo to avoid full contact with the knees but his first action was to drop and slide on the knees for which he must be pulled up before he gets it totally wrong again.

    1. sixties

      The Eels were penalised by 7 to 3, and yes they could barely get a penalty. There were some tough calls against us, but I was just as baffled by the calls that we weren’t getting too.

  4. Iron Mike

    You could tell watching that game we were the far stronger team, Titians had a lot of things go their way. Sin binning, 7- 3 penalty count which helped them massively especially when we were all over them in the second half, an intercept try and their last try came from a offload that only happened because Moses knocked himself out in the tackle. After all that the difference was goal kicking. Good luck to them for getting the job done but wow they had a lot of luck.

    1. sixties

      We can be much better, indeed must play much better, but yes, it was one of those games that things fell the Titans way.

  5. Spark

    Delayed – I thought perhaps you boys had finally decided to give it up !! Good to see you are still going strong.

    Look, I and many others have said it before… if the side is giving up 40 odd miss tackles every game, you know it’s not a serious contender.
    We have the attack but we just miss too many tackles. We are all arm grabs and ineffective one on ones.
    Until we address our lack of defence we are going nowhere.

    At a time where every club has heavily invested in speed on the flanks as their number one priority, the Eels continue with the opposite. Is every other club wrong or do we know something they don’t ?
    Is Dunster and Russell really our future on the wings ?
    There just seems to be a fair bit of deadwood at the club that won’t amount to the players we need.
    Every team also tends to blood juniors at a very young age.
    Just how long is Sanders and Talagi going to hang around for ?
    In past times clubs waited for kids to turn 20 + before debut, not anymore.
    The NRL is full of 18 and 19 year olds getting a run and we had better get with this trend lest we lose those players.

    I’ve no problem with Gutho throwing that intercept. Intercepts happen and if every player gave all like Gutho then we would be very healthy.
    Shout out to Simmonson. I thought he was our best player. Ran hard and chased everything.
    He is definitely a keeper in the centres.

    1. Ron

      I agree with a lot of this but parra has shown they are slow to react to trends. They will probably get some speedy and workhorse outside backs in 2025 and then realise the game has a new trend has started. So frustrating to watch the lack of mental/tactical agility in coaching and team make up.

    2. sixties

      You might have noticed the Ball players elevated to Flegg this week. That will be just the start. I agree about the need for pace. It must be a recruitment priority for 2024 (if not for our open roster spots this year).

      1. Spark

        I did see the elevation but they may have to be fast tracked.
        We also need to make some decisions regarding some of the fringe players.
        Whilst it’s great to have pathways for some of these kids, if they haven’t shown anything, it’s time to move on. Sam Loizou is a case in point.

  6. pete

    No excuses. But No QLD team lost in magic round. Coincidence…? But those leg up penalties 4/1 in first half. 3/2 second half.

    Our defence and technique is a real issue and it hasn’t improved. We will never win a comp until we fix our defence! We lack a workhorse.

    Some good stats with the ball and we left a few points out there. But that counts for nothing when a team can score 5 tries against us.

    Paulo has lost his umph! He’s not Origin standard. Is he saving himself for it? He looks overweight!!
    Sivo too slow out of trouble and doesn’t chase.
    Lane hasn’t been good. He started like this last year.
    Cartwright has been good but a bad miss on Kelly.
    Davey- I like him. But he couldn’t get a start at Bulldogs. But gets parachuted in front of Matto and Cartwright. Sends a bad message.
    Gutho has been good but that pass was terrible.
    Centre three-quarters are ineffective.
    If we lose these next 2 games we are in deep $hiet

    1. sixties

      Davey – I was a bit surprised but the teams that add mid season signings are usually adding someone they want to use in NRL not NSW Cup so I reckon all players expect a top grade selection from such players.

      1. pete

        Yes, but would have expected him on the bench first. Cartwright was unlucky as was Matto and Ogden. A winning team doesn’t usually get changed by BA.
        Greig was also not used enough…
        I’d like to see Ogden instead of Maka this week.

        1. Anon

          Totally agree with your comment here Pete. Doesn’t seem right for those guys when their performance the previous week surpass the performances Davey gave earlier in the year and especially on Sunday. Mid year buy could just be to fill the bottom 30 tier as not everyone parra wants are available. Davey provides no spark or even consistency at the least

          1. pete

            True, if it was Angus Crichton or Liam Martin or Cam Murray or someone who started in other teams then yes. Our recruitment is such that we cannot sign anyone that other clubs want.
            We have holes in our roster and holes in our defence.

    2. Shane

      My problem is, since we lost a big prop like RCG, shouldn’t we add a big prop to the bench? I think that’s why it worked so well the game before. We had a big body in Ogden to make up for it. Matto should start and stay on the edge and play 80 mins (or even majority of the game) not be moved to make way for Davey. The experiment to have Davey mark Fifita failed when Matto could have done the job just fine

      1. pete

        Agree, Ogden needs to be there and has shown he can do it. Matto Lane and Hopgood should all be 80 minutes. But (Hopgood isn’t quite ready for 80 minutes – He should be).

  7. MickB

    Frustrating game, frustrating season. I think 60s nailed it with our key players not clicking at the same time and generally being pretty patchy on performance, combined with outside backs issues has been the thing killing us.

    Junior and Brown (until this week) haven’t been hungry enough with involvement, and Hodgson needs to come off the bench if he’s going to play, rather than starting.

  8. !0 Year Member

    Does anyone know why the Gutho sin binning for the tackled player without the ball did not lead to a penalty try?

    1. BDon

      I thought at the time it might be on the cards, but if the Titans player had bent down and scooped up the ball, Gutho was right on his back,so the scoring of a try would not have been a certainty. A circular argument I know, but not unreasonable.

    2. sixties

      If they awarded a penalty try he wouldn’t have been binned. It’s one or the other to the extent that if it is deemed a professional foul they will either award a penalty try or if they can’t justify a penalty try they will send the player to the bin. They won’t do both.

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