Parramatta Eels 10
NZ Warriors 46
You won’t find many easier games to write off the result of than this one. There is no shame in being a bad football side without your Origin halfback and fullback, sometimes the weight of adversity is just too much to carry.
While the result is easy to write off, there are some real defensive concerns coming from that performance. The Warriors carved the Eels up on the edge with short passing, and once the heads went down the efforts just got worse and worse. Some of that is probably combinations, but plenty of it is effort and midway through that first half some Parramatta forwards just packed it in. Now we’ve thrown away a good chunk of hard won points differential.
Absolutely none of it in this one, at least none wearing Blue and Gold. For the numbers inclined:
Possession: Warriors 56%, Eels 44%
Completions: Warriors 31/42 (73%), Eels 25/36 (69%)
Run metres: Warriors 1,984, Eels 1,445
Line breaks: Warriors 12, Eels 3
Kicking metres: Warriors 520, Eels 446
Errors: Warriors 16, Eels 12
I haven’t even got an amusing MVP choice here, so let’s just give it to Junior Paulo and call it a day. You da MVP, Junez.
Sean Russell
1 – Fullback
For those looking for a new nickname for Clint Gutherson may I suggest Cattledog, because it turns out the fullback barking orders is the only thing keeping our edge defence from collapsing. We knew Sean Russell wasn’t going to provide the attacking input the King does, but two passes and 17 touches is a long way from the efforts we get from Gutho, and it showed. Russell wasn’t much chop defensively either, but I’m not holding that against him when he was usually facing a three on one through the middle because nobody in front of him could tackle.
Maika Sivo
2 – Left Wing
It’d be nice if Maika Sivo would go looking for the ball a bit more, but at this point it’s like asking a dog to stop barking or Braith Anasta to stop saying stupid things; you are asking him to go against nature.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
Willy P was apparently under the weather all week and lucky to play on Saturday night. I don’t blame him, Greg Alexander made me sick too when he admitted the NSW selectors failed at the most basic task of their job (evaluating eligible players) by not discussing Penisini. Regardless, it showed in his game, with uncharacteristic defensive misses, errors and misreads. We know he can be a lot better.
Bailey Simonsson
4 – Left Centre
That try was pretty nice, and Bailey had the luxury of being on the side of the field that didn’t have the glaring defensive weakness on the flank. He still missed too many tackles, but he’s one of the few Eels who still gets Maccas on the trip home this week.
Isaac Lumelume
5 – Right Wing
Well, I can see why the NSW Cup side gets 50 put on them every week. Lumelume defends like the only tapes in the Parramatta video library under “wing defence” come from the Waqa Blake/Blake Ferguson collection. I’m not one to encourage burning books (or videos in this case), but I reckon those should have ended up in a bonfire, along with any future team sheet that includes Lumelume’s name.
Ryan Matterson
6 – Five Eighth
Matterson is a chronic head-dropper when things go wrong, so it was no surprise to see him lagging behind a couple of the weak breaks the Warriors made through the edges in the first half. You can’t miss tackles when you are never in the position to make them, but Matto’s one miss, one ineffective stat line hides some unfortunately lazy efforts.
Daejarn Asi
7 – Halfback
In a game where we needed a strong long kicking game, we found out that Daejarn Asi doesn’t really have one. Footy is an easy game when you start sets 40 metres out from your own line, and the Warriors got plenty of head starts this week. It isn’t often a team that gets flogged in the metres battle also gets beaten in the kicking metres battle, so it is extra impressive how little distance Asi managed on some kicks. Still, not his fault, he’s not the one who chose to let our backup halfback leave for Manly mid-season for nothing in return.
Ofahiki Ogden
8 – Front Row
We were bashed and beaten through the middle so not many forwards are going to come out of this grades with something to stick on the fridge door. Ogden missed four tackles while making 14, numbers that just aren’t good enough for an NRL middle.
Brendan Hands
9 – Hooker
Six missed tackles and a lot of “just doing his job”, it wasn’t a game for a rake to shine and shine Brendan hands most certainly didn’t.
Junior Paulo
10 – Front Row
The captain tried, but there weren’t any set of shoulders big enough to carry the Eels this week, not even Junior’s.
Bryce Cartwright
11 – Second Row
Another guy who loves to compound failure by phoning it in once the scoreboard gets away from us, Cartwright will be hoping Brad Arthur skips the instant replays in film review this week because an awful lot of them will show him behind the play, looking straight back at the gap he just left in the line that a Warriors player has strolled through. We needed a huge game from Carty and we got whatever this crap was.
Andrew Davey
12 – Second Row
How do you play 50+ minutes and make just four runs? Andrew Davey almost gave away as many penalties as he had hitups. If he’s just out there for his defence, well I’ve got some bad news about how that worked out for us this week, it’s called the scoreboard.
J’maine Hopgood
13 – Lock
I hope Hoppy got something out of being in the Queensland camp all week, so he can at least take a positive out of the round.
Luca Moretti
14 – Interchange
I liked Moretti’s energy, shame he couldn’t get on the field when this one was a contest. Probably deserves higher than a C, but we just had 40 put on us at home so deserve ain’t got nothing to do with it.
Joe Ofahengaue
15 – Interchange
Joe Ofahengaue might be the only Queenslander in the last 15 years to have a losing State of Origin record. Making bold statements like that usually sets me off on a path to verify said statement, which led me to two fun facts: Gordon Tallis had a 29% winning record in Origin, and Brad Thorn won only 1 of his 11 Origins. As for Joe O, he’s not quite the worst, but if we’re paying Origin forward price for him we’re paying too much.
Shaun Lane
16 – Interchange
Too many errors again from Lane, but as a comeback game this was solid enough. We need him to find his 2022 form after a rough start to the year, so brushing off the cobwebs in a write-off game isn’t a terrible resul
Makahesi Makatoa
16 – Interchange
In the Joe Ofahengaue v Makahesi Makatoa battle for the final bench prop spot when RCG is back next week, I’m asking Wiremu Greig if he’s healthy.
Well I guess we got our answer as to how important Clint Gutherson is to this Eels side. It’s a disappointing result but the loss isn’t exactly unexpected and for that, it’s somewhat easier to deal with. It isn’t worth the gnashing of teeth or rending of garments, or even getting biblical about for that matter. At least one of our prime finals rivals in South Sydney copped a similar Origin-impacted loss, and that was to a much more embarrassing side.
Next week regular programming resumes, as all Eels Origin players should back up four days later for a Sunday night clash with the Titans. Revenge better be on some minds, as dropping any more games as favourites will put the Eels in a perilous position for finals football. This is a side that has shown in the last two months it deserves to play finals footy, but it is far from a foregone conclusion.
Until next time, stay slippery Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media
Thankfully was on a flight so missed this red-hot mess, and not even going to bother with the ‘highlights’
I think your perspective on the importance of Gutho is crucial.
Sounds like we lacked a leader, and that too many of the team just clocked off and just didn’t bother with no-one on-field to answer to.
Would also imagine Moses would have made a difference here – as they are certainly the two biggest competitors in the team.
Only positive I am taking is that Warriors didn’t reach 50, so we are still a chance for the premiership if you subscribe to that theory which I only learned last night is called the ‘Bailey Zone’.
Tough games ahead, but looking forward to having Gutho, Moses and RCG back …
And Brown
New it was going to struggle with this one but wow I didn’t think we would be that bad. You can’t even say the effort was there because really it wasn’t for most of the game. Knew we’d miss gutho but again wow the Russell experiment was a big failure. People have been calling for Sivo to be sacked and bring in Lumelume but he’s worse. hate to say it but we also missed JA as back up. We’ll turn it around next next week but jeez better hope we don’t lose gutho to injury and we definately miss brown as well and believe he’ll be unstoppable when he comes back
The gnashing of teeth and the rendering of garments, will have to be considered if we end up losing next week……or if you don’t subscribe to the almighty Christ Jesus!
Jesus is not almighty!
Two points to take out this lot of poo.
I hope Dylan Brown realises what a beer or two too many can do to an unfortunate victim and his standing in society. We needed him out there tonight but his selfishness has let down his team, his club and the fans.
Secondly some of the established players need to decide if they want to ever win a GF or just be a player, the output by Cartwright and Davey was abysmal and an F was to high a grade for Penisini
Penisini was not well this week and didn’t train. Given his form this year, I think that comment is a bit harsh.
It’s a shocker though Sixties. Perhaps better to have rested him
up untill now i was very happy how small injuries, suspensions ,and rep footy have caused us to give everyone a run and its worked because I reckon wehave the best depth in the NRL.
hopgood , luca, doorey ,wiremu ogden, aji et al have all been given good amounts of game time to shine and get nrl experience. I doubt we make top 4 but I believe we have a good chance to make the gf and I think ourbest performances this year are superior to our best performances last year. and as for winning the gf from outside of the top4 I point out thatwearethe only team to have a bye right before the finals start, that could be huge, so lets keep andos efforts in 09 fresh in the memory.
thx gol for great appraisals , c , d f only meaningful to me in context of what his teammates got and so I think hopgood should have been a c
I am no fan of Brownie’s actions. I would think it’s more stupidity from him
I think parra have done well to bring in some forwards this year (wiremu, ogden, Moretti, Cartwright etc) that have done a role this year but that doesn’t cover the fact our nsw cup and junior development as been pretty rubbish over the years with respect to outside backs and forwards. This game just highlights how we rely too much on journeyman nsw cups players (Davey, lumelume, maka, Ogden etc) for “squad depth” instead of bright youngsters like souths did last night (Tallis Duncan, Munro, the young hooker, taffe etc). Honestly, Sivo probably has one more year in him max before we need to move him on and find young speedy wingers that have workrate to take over from Sivo and Russell. It is such a paper thin squad in terms of top quality that, when compounded with injuries or unavailability it can unravel quickly (see Cronulla game when gutho went for HIA). I get this might seem like a disproportionate response to last night but it’s a long held view I’ve ventilated. Our junior development and retention has been shocking for a while so BA has to bring in people from outside parra and polish them. Would love TCT to do a deep dive on why there is such dearth of top end junior talent development that has only been recognised more recently (with success of sg ball and some promising Flegg players like brazel, Bentham misa etc)
There isn’t one cause, but some bad luck has meant some juniors haven’t come through as expected. Covid cost players valuable development time and probably contributed to players like Hollis and Hughes not coming through as expected, while others like Loizou can’t stay healthy and Dunster is recovering from a serious injury. Now we’ve got some guns coming through at Ball level that are still a year or two away from being good first grade depth.
You definitely need some old heads in a NSW Cup side to both mentor young players and step up and do a job if needed, Souths have those young guys getting a game at the moment, but they’ve also got vets like Kennar, Milne, Jacob Gagai and Dean Hawkins in there too.
Also give some credit to our junior development, it has given us Dylan Brown and Will Penisini through the grades, plus made first graders out of Hands, Simonsson, Ogden, Greig and Makatoa. That’s before considering the improvements we got out of Mahoney and Papali’i and the revival of Bryce Cartwright (last night excluded).
If in three years time our current crop have washed out, then I’ll listen to criticism of the junior pathways, but right now I think calling it “shocking” is a massive disservice.
One might also point out that Souths juniors didn’t get the job done either…
Why is Cayless back as NSW Cup coach? Unfortunate that we lose Ryan Carr to Dragons. I reckon Carr was doing a goo job with the guys there.
No doubt covid slowed the progression of some juniors and threw up novel challenges for parra but Penrith, bunnies, sharks, cowboys and titans for example have all managed to bring through a stream of juniors in recent times that already are, or will flourish throughout the years (e.g. Tago, taruva, taylan may, crichton, liam henry, tyrone munro, Isiah tass, davvy moale, tom chester, cotter, tom gilbert, nanai, griffin neame etc).
Yes we have had injuries to some bright younger players we thought would kick on whilst others left for more money (oregon, stefano, reed etc), but the opportunity cost of our poor decisions re: prioritisation of the wrong juniors is just staggering. We have consistently put money and time into players on development deals that have done nothing for the first team and/or floated away (Michael Gabrael, Sam Loiziou, Josh touipolotu, Jabriel Kalache, Zac Cini, Sam Hughes, David Hollis, Ethan Parry, Stefano).
The saving grace for those in the Parrra junior development program and BA’s NRL team are Dylan, Will P and Reed. They were developed well and will always praise BA and his team for their mighty efforts. But makatoa, ogden, Sivo were on the scrap heap prior to coming to parra for a chance and Hands, Simonsson, Papalii we not rated by their teams by dint of their poor performances. Sure, BA and his team did an amazing job to get those players playing well above their pay packet for periods of time but my criticism is about our junior development system, not BA;’s heroic efforts to make bog average players better in the parra NRL system. I am saying that BA should not always be expected to take players from the scrap heap of other clubs (Davey, Wiremu, Ogden, Lane, Asi, Sivo, Papalii, Simonsson, Bryce Cartwright, Hands) and get them playing above their pay packet. We should be developing (at least) some of our own exciting talent with higher ceilings to address the clear holes in our first team squad.
As you note, the next few years will be a real litmus test. We have an exciting sg ball squad who have already displaced alot of the flegg players (suggesting that parra’s flegg team even this year was somewhat weak in many positions). I expect those sg players to be retained as best we can (starting with sanders!!!) and some of them to be fast-tracked (Sanders, Blaze talagi, sam tuivati etc). But our recent history suggests they will be poached or fizzle out. That’s my real concern.
Long time reader, first time commenting…..I appreciate these grades are based on on field performance however I can’t help but feel a few things should be included when assessing this particular game.
1. The opposition. Warriors are on the rise. After being towelled up the previous week, they were licking their lips to make up against a weakened home side. I thought we did well, particularly in the 2nd half, to limit the damage.
2. First game for ‘the spine’. Name me one team that would do better with a never before seen spine playing it’s first game? ….and after a bye!
3. As painful as it was, I feel this result will do more good than harm. A little dose of humility won’t hurt us at all. I really hope in future we are discussing this game as the turning point for this team and this season.
Keep up your good work TCT,
Cheers
E4L
I agree Ian, we basically had the most inexperienced team for a while playing.
Besides Junior / Matto and Carty who else has had the experience?
Hopgood is in his first yr in NRL and plays well and Hands has done a great job without Hodgson there and I thought Hands looked tired.
For me the defence was the issue and we got dusted up mainly from errors and penalties in first half.
Our kicks in red zone needed to be varied and more grinners for me.
Not the end of world. But defence in last 15 mins of first half was key.
We were gassed. Poor attacking options. Disappointing…. Yes.
Hands got injured in the 20th minute ( bruised thigh) and played next 60mins unable to run at full speed which impacted his tackling .
I didn’t see the game, easy miss owing to no game on the box, I can be thankfull for the miss though as from reading the game results should have stayed outside and watched a rerun of a repeat of a Tom Cruse movie that at least had a winning end.
I would suggest that the results of last nights game, should stayed in the dugout rather than wasting the time on the field and made for a more miserable night than was on show.
Looking at the team and stats, I cannot understand or whatever how Sivo can in one minute receive the wonderful ratings but show nothing for the remainder of the hours he is said to be playing, unless its being a fool and in wasting space.
While he is but one of the players, it still shows a real lack of purpose in the way the team played, & while I did not watch/see the game, the reports really highlight the lack of effort and on field playing abilities.
Based on that game, I doubt the eels as a whole are actually working as a team together and have a winning desire, let alone ability to win when just 3 of the leading players are being wasted, or unable to show out on how to win.
I think Sivo is just playing mainly for money now. No more hunger or love for the game and desire to win. He seems just happy to take some hit-ups and then take to the ground instead of trying to get more PCMs. The he just strolls for the give me tries and does not try to improve the goal position. I reckon since he got injured, he realised that he may not be able to get another contract if gets a serious injury and is now trying to protect his livelihood. Sad but can we blame him?
I think the coach limits his involvement. And yes…. He has lost a bit of sparkle since that injury. But he will come good
I turned this one off after about 30 mins when it was 24-4. Didn’t see any more good news coming and it’s a shame they didn’t prove me wrong and claw it back a bit.
I didn’t really expect to win this, but our squad should have been solid defensively. So there was no excuse for just constantly falling off tackles with arm grabs and weak efforts. Leaking points like that was just unacceptable.
From the 30 mins I saw, I thought the ref was trying to blow the pea out of the whistle. He seemed to give away 6 agains and penalties for nothing, and despite the scoreboard at that point we had a good run of possession and field position, so all the infringements called really didn’t help (or seem fair).
The whole origin farce really makes this harder to swallow. Ruining club games over a dead rubber really rubs salt in the wound, and it’s compounded by Fittlers meat raffle style selection approach.
Anyway hopefully the lads lift for next week and through the remainder of the season to put a run on the top 4.
Good commentary.. Apart from you first paragraph…..a true supporter watches it all…. Even if the family have to suffer around you
Alot of bad things to come out of that game I feel even with the 3 missing to origin we would of got the same result the warriors are a good team this year.
Hopefully it’s a kick up the butt we needed we have won pretty comfortably for the past month Hopefully this gets the team back into gear.
Our lack of depth is a real concern considering we are supposed to be a devolpment club
What I love about Gutho is his sheer will to put in and compete, no matter what. Adversity does not seem to dull his application, in fact it seems to steel him even more. Every team needs a player like that. It is infectious and inspirational. He is our Captain. Last night, none of our senior players had that will to compete on every little thing, for the whole game. It takes a game like that to highlight Gutho’s true overall value to the Eels. The new Pricey. The new Hindmarsh. You won’t see those guys ever dial it in
Gutho is in a league all of his so l own. It showed in our performance last night
I just don’t get the logic behind the NRL deciding to sideline Brown for another 4 weeks. As far as I know he is still being paid to have a holiday and Parras team and supporters get short shafted. How is that penalising Brown for his actions. Why not find him 4 weeks salary instead? I really hope our administration expressed discontent with the nrl
I know there were excuses for yesterday but our team and individual efforts were miserable. Let’s hope it doesn’t have lasting ramifications because most of our first grade pack played and were ordinary. Giving up is not on but it was a contagious malady yesterday.
The irony is that they stood him down for a few games already, he was fined and has to do community service. Why did they need to add further punishment?
That’s NRL trying to be relevant and become woke. Curant punched a 16 yr old teenager and was allowed to play. Only got suspended after there was court judgement. Amone ran after a guy with a hammer, but allowed to play after a week I reckon. Brown’s offence is towards a woman and NRL is trying to show that they are relevant to the times (not condoning Dylan’s action but the inconsistencyof NRL biased decisions)
It’s about the money stupid….. Betting and alcohol…. Domains of alpha males are on the nose and the revenue will stop due to regulation and self policing. We are a tough hard game but we need money. Attempting to have a clean image is what the NRL is about to ensure mainstream revenue streams. This is not just punishing Dylan and Parra supporters it’s about setting standards and sending a message to all. I back the NRL in this one. I am sure there are multiple counter arguments… But if taking a stand on a man gropping a woman without her consent is woke….. Then I guess I am Mr Woke
Agree with your summary but who are you to be calling people stupid ,most of your dribble puts you in same category but no ones called you names 👎👎👎👎
We know your only 10 , i blame lack of parental control !
I find it hard to disagree with Brown’s punishment. BUT the others should have been similar. Action against women is seen as a factor that increases the sentence. So should action against a minor (16yo) or with a weapon (hammer). There’s no transparency on how they make these calls. Appearances suggest it’s media outrage whipping up broader outrage. And we know Parra sells.
Had similar thoughts, and he did cop a large fine, $20k or $40k not sure. I’m pretty sure being found guilty and receiving a corrections order gives him a criminal record. Think about that, it’s no laughing matter, the law has punished him. The initial stand down of 3 weeks and the fine should be the NRL’s statement, although playing him immediately after the court sentencing is maybe not best for anyone, perhaps another week’s breather.
I enjoyed the first 20min of this match. Very much in the game and very back and forth. Unfortunately after the Warriors 2nd try the Eels defence just gave up. Very disappointing
Our edges just lost their confidence from there I believe
Just gassed. Warriors played at 100 miles an hour and ruthlessly exposed the fatigue
Gutho is not just an integral part of our spine, he is the sides heartbeat. This is what happens when you remove the heart and soul.
True, there should also be a back up plan….. But the better your back up…. More chance they will be offered more money else where.
I assume the backup plan is Asi. But nobody can or should plan on losing your entire spine at once.
And you’re totally right about good backups. That’s their path into first grade, and good opportunities elsewhere can mean they leave a club they’d otherwise want to stay with and that wants them. Some of them go on to shine, some of them are just ok, and some get found out with consistent NRL.
Of the players who have left our club in the last few years, is there anyone in the first category?
This result shows how important it was not to put the cue in the rack against the Dolphins a few weeks back. 42 – zip at half time should have ended at least 70+ – zip. The Cowboys and Knights showed how it’s done.
For & against will be crucial at the end of the regular season. Whilst we can look at the Origin players being out as a reason why our attack was clunky, we can’t blame that for missed tackles & lazy defenders.
The value the King 👑 offers in defence was there for all to see
It was just one of those games. After nearly twenty weeks we put in a bad one. The good news it is out of the way. As one said earlier it didn’t reach fifty and that was a relief. I thought the referee was a little harsh on Parra. Sure we missed those origin players but Parra has done it tough all year and the Warriors were ready to rip. Lumelume should never play first grade ever again.
I am certain the Titans are going to pay for yesterday’s effort. So chin up and back up next week. We had no shape in our attack and were after the first twenty minutes on the back foot. It is hard for a team to score let alone win with 40% possession. We had 31 missed tackles in the first half and I believe in the second half it was considerably less. How can we really define/explain game results. A team gets flogged 66-16 or whatever and the rematch turns it around to 74-0. How can anyone explain that. The same with the Bulldogs 66-0 and beats a top eight team. Anyone who bets on football games is either a genius or foolish. We live another week so does the team. Go the Eels.
Gol, some v strong grades and that is your call.
Yes we should have been more committed in defence particularly in the first half; but for me it was the forwards job to tighten the ruck up but they didn’t and allowed a quick ruck.
Some poor reads out wide.
I can’t agree with some of your grades for example Russell for me did well for a young kid Playing at the back. But you have the job of grades and it’s an emotional one too 😭
I also thought Carty was ok too…but we all see things differently at times.
Milo did you go to the game on Saturday?
Hi mate, yes I did. Took the wife to game…albeit not the best evening so I blamed her for loss…joke
Ask Sixties for my personal details John. Happy to exchange.
Staying in Sydney for time being.
I normally have a spare ticket if you ever need one. Having said that probably not Sundays game.
Sivo is a massive unit that should be ploughing over players all over the field not just at the try line, maybe a solution to this dilemma is to find him a third party sponsor that pays him by the meter to see if this brings out the wrecking ball in him rucking it out in defence.
I say; show him his high-lights package, then ask him to explain where its gone.
Plain and simple our pack got beaten up, and our right edge became their nectar. No plugging back into the game, it was a loss that we needed, a lesson for all that were on the field, to taste that type of defeat and to re ognise the signs earlier to prevent it happening again….we just didn’t get effort on effort in synch…onto the next Job…I’m picking Eels will now go on an unbeaten run, and if they run into the warriors in the post season expect the same score bit this time in favour of the blue and gold…
Go parraa!!!!
It’s not a loss we had to have it’s an indication our squad is lacking. The inability to go 80 when the hammer is put on us has plagued us for years. That’s preparation.
It’s pretty obvious we have a more than handy basis for a challenge to the premiership, depth like most clubs is an issue. There is definitely a need for the club to step up its external recruitment for a back up quick half and probably a winger and a centre .
Despite some murmuring of lack of juniors, they are there but a couple of years away, although one or two could well make their NRL debut next season. The pipeline from junior reps now appears to be much more organised, Flegg are preparing younger players coming through and looks like Matts and Ball will be very competitive again.
If the club can provide some better second tier players to work alongside the younger players in Cup then that will help.The HOF in conjunction with the coaching staff has an opportunity to take the club to next level with an astute off season .
A reasonable run over the next few games, we will make the 8 and with a clear roster we can beat anyone.
i blame cleary he had to get a hammy injury to upset our plans
A test of our depth and we failed but not all that unexpected. Warriors are a seriously good football team. Line speed in defence was outstanding as was their kick chase. Physically much stronger than us. Again we are clueless against a straight line in your face defence, The Warriors will challenge for the premiership in the next few years if they continue to improve at their current rate.
Tks Gol, I thought the most disappointing thing was basically we had a near top level starting pack that got shredded.Junior in the D’s as well. Wade Egan looked like he was going through an unopposed training run.
May as well talk nonsense…the bunker said Russell pushed out with his arm and caused CNK to miss the ball, not disputing the decision but no way Russell extended his arm with a shoving move on him, definitely touched him but I reckon the ball stood up and he misjudged it. They just went with the on field call.
She should not be in the bunker. She has had a few errors. Most notably Haas putting RCG out for 8 weeks.
I have said before that the bunker is a specialist position. There should be a small team of specialist bunker refs picked on merit.
Exactly, but he was graded a D, please! He was aweful!
My screen has a C?
On the way to the game my son said ‘Gutho’s getting old’ (or older, either way it was no disrespect just a view to the future) and I said I fine know, we are going to have to find someone in the next couple of years. Last night told me two things:
One that is was right that we are going to find so one because there is no one in the ranks at the moment that I can see that can fill the effort and passion in every game, the defensive and balances fb roll, nor the captaincy.
Secondly I truly realise that Gutho should be made for origin. He is what almost ever QLD player is it turns into when they put the maroon jersey on.
I know his previous series didn’t set the word in fire, but if he, and others with his passion and effort has been main stays of the NSW outfit for the last 5 years I think there would be a vastly different culture and success rate.
On a side note it was great to see my first live TCT podcast with the boys and Brett Kenny on the night. Keep up the great work!!
The Stat that surprised me after that bad loss to Warriors was we haven’t won since 2017 with Gutho out of the Team that shows just like most top Fullbacks that defensive reads at the back is a crucial part of our game now and that was sadly lacking as BA said it didn’t matter who was out there it was unacceptable that’s BA in a nutshell tells it as it is not like other Coaches looking for excuses that’s why BA will always have my respect as our Coach
To be fair, he’s missed 6 games in that time, almost all at the start of 2018 coming back from an ACL tear.
Brendan Hands injured in 20th min (corked bruised thigh) played next 60mins as there was no subs , had difficulty running at full speed ,ended up being a bruised thigh so back to full speed this week 💙💛 let’s hope no more injuries and our origin boys come back ready to win !