Parramatta Eels 18
Penrith Panthers 26
While ignoring the result completely misses the point of competitive sport, if you don’t look at the loss here there was a lot to like about this performance from the Parramatta Eels. They were challenged in the middle and didn’t back down, the defence scrambled reasonably well considering one edge was thrown together with spare parts, and the attack made the best defence in NRL history look downright amateur several times. Performances like these are going to win plenty of games of football.
Beating the Panthers is tough enough on a good day, but when you lose an outside back three minutes in and have to reshuffle an entire edge, good luck to you. The Panthers were ruthless in exploiting the mismatch out wide (it was probably their gameplan even if Bailey stayed out there) and it is kind of incredible this one didn’t blow out considering the saloon passage Izack Tago had all night long.
It’s a testament to how good the Eels were that despite the setback, this feels like one that got away. When Brad Arthur complains about the officiating in the press conference you know it must have been bad, and take your pick for the most egregious call; I’m going with no sin bin for the swinging arm to the jaw, ignoring a couple of years of crackdown, just edging out the downtown rule crackdown not applying to tryscoring situations.
Yes, the Eels beat themselves out there too with too many mistakes in the second half, but the last time the Eels played a 12-man Penrith they neary beat the clock scoring in the first half and a clean swinging arm to the face that knocks a guy out for the game is marching orders in the 2024 game. Whether he’s falling in the tackle or not hasn’t mattered for years. You hit them in the head, you go.
The Eels usually defy the numbers against Penrith, and the easy passage the Panthers got out of their own territory by shifting to the right made this one look even worse than it was. This was a competitive game by the eye test and the scoreboard, but not the stat sheet. I don’t remember seeing many times that run counts and tackle counts were basically equal but one team made 500 metres more, yet barely won the post-contact battle. All those extra metres were basically down the edge. Anybody talking about Panther dominance in the middle of the park is easily exposed as a number watcher and not a game watcher.
For the numbers inclined:
Metres: Panthers 2,050 Eels 1,597
Post-contact metres: Panthers 625, Eels 576
Line breaks: Panthers 9, Eels 3
Offloads: Panthers 14, Eels 14
Tackles: Panthers 337, Eels 327
Tackle efficiency: Panthers 83.4%, Eels 85.8%
Errors: Panthers 14, Eels 10
Penalties conceded: Panthers 4, Eels 5
Six agains conceded: Panthers 5, Eels 1
Sin bins and Send offs: Panthers 0, Eels 0
High shots that knocked players out of the game: Panthers 1, Eels 0
A tough choice, but the moment of the game changed when Junior Paulo came onto the field, so I’m going with the big man just ahead of Dylan Brown. Junior was immense, he was magnificent, he turned the match when he arrived on the scene and did so against one of the most lauded packs in the game. We’re in for a special year from the most inaccurately named man on the planet. You da MVP, Junez.
Clint Gutherson
1 – Fullback
The captain was once again as safe as can be at the back, under both incredible pressure from the chase and the wobbling, challenging kicks that Nathan Cleary bombarded him with. His return and rucking work was excellent in the toughest of conditions, and on a weekend where talking heads are lauding Reece Walsh as the new best fullback in the game, I remain steadfast that I wouldn’t trade Clint Gutherson for any other custodian in the NRL.
Bailey Simonsson
2 – Left Wing
That swinging arm decision was an absolute joke from a referee that has made a career out of being a joke. We’ll go back two sets to put a player on report for minor infringements but can’t take a bloke off the field for concussing somebody? Junior Paulo once got sat for the whiplash caused by hitting a guy in the chest too hard, but Luai stays on? Contact sport is under increasing scrutiny every year for head injuries and their long term impacts, English Super League is about to stop tackling around the chest and shoulders, taking the lead from rugby union that has done the same. A cute “got that one wrong, oh well” just won’t cut it anymore. If I was a forklift driver and dropped a pallet on someone’s head I’d get sacked; if referees and video officials can miss something so obviously dangerous to player safety, they should be looking for a new career.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
Willy P was immense in his ruck work, posting Panthers-like numbers out of the backfield. Discipline and handling could use some work, and we continue to await the beginning of the Penisini breakout attacking year. Maybe next week he’ll find some space on Moses’ edge.
Morgan Harper
4 – Left Centre
It wasn’t a great game from Morgan Harper, but I’m going to cut him some slack given that he is a) not a winger and b) defended on the wing without a centre. Defensively the scramble was decent and ultimately succeeded in a “bend but only occasionally break” strategy; the Panther tries on that edge all required a bit of work. Still, his contest on the kick try was abysmal, he dropped a ball cold with space in front of him and he missed six tackles.
Sean Russell
5 – Right Wing
A backbreaking error marred what was otherwise shaping as another “he’s really solid” kind of game for Sean Russell. Yes, the attacker shouldn’t be allowed to fake a contest for the ball anymore, but he did not look comfortable under that ball at any point. His work with the ball was strong and underappreciated in a match where the Eels came out of their own end time and again, but he’ll be facing more bombs in the coming weeks based on his level of confidence there.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
Dylan Brown was the attack this week, putting Shaun Lane and J’maine Hopgood into gaping holes created by the threat he possesses running the ball and some elite lines from his forwards. Those combinations are going to be lethal all season long.
Mitchell Moses
7 – Halfback
It was one of those kicking games for Mitchell Moses, who got the Eels out of trouble time and again with the boot, but rarely got the chance to put much on with the ball in hand. His relinquishing of the goalkicking suggests he still wasn’t 100% with the groin, and his effectiveness in the running game backs that up. Here’s hoping a long turnaround to the Sea Eagles game gives him the time to get right.
RCG
8 – Front Row
How can you not love a man so tough that even if you try and take him out illegally, you end up getting hurt? That contact with James Fisher-Harris is everything I love about rugby league; two big slices of beef coming together, and the Eel coming out on top. The Mo with the Most is in good touch this year.
Joey Lussick
9 – Hooker
On the bright side, he scored a wombat burrow against the stingiest defence in rugby league. Then he got stepped by a front row forward in open space, in a moment that will probably be played in highlight reels forever. Just saying he was stepped does a disservice to how badly Lussick was beaten by Moses Leota, a fire hydrant would’ve got closer to stopping the big man.
Joe Ofahengaue
16 – Prop
Ofahengaue is looking solid in his time on the field, and held his own for the most part against a solid Panthers starting pack. We’ll just ignore that desperation offload when getting driven back to his own line that started a chain reaction of failure. Just gotta take the L sometimes, big man.
Shaun Lane
11 – Second Row
The Tall Glass of Water made the big attacking play running off Dylan Brown, the first of what will be many times they combine this year to make defences look deficient. He has a knack for coming up with the attacking play against the Panthers, but these contests otherwise aren’t made for him to shine. Lane needs some space and attacking opportunity, putting the head down for hard yards isn’t his strength, and this was a game that mostly needed those tough runs.
Bryce Cartwright
12 – Second Row
Ditto for Bryce Cartwright, this wasn’t a game that suited his strengths. He wasn’t bad, he tried to get things going and looked dangerous the few times he got some space, but the Panthers are a lot tougher than the Bulldogs and made Carty work for every opportunity.
J’maine Hopgood
13 – Interchange
Gee I love this bloke. From the excellent line and tough run for his try to the relentless hard yards he puts in with and without the ball, anybody who doesn’t rate J’maine Hopgood is a bum.
Brendan Hands
14 – Interchange
With four minutes on the field I’d say I wish an outside back had this place on the bench instead, except we don’t have any more outside backs to put there. Until the NRL allows immediate replacements with the 18th man for foul play, I think coaches will start to use this spare fourth bench spot for versatile outside backs rather than traditional utilities i.e. hookers that can maybe play somewhere else if needed. Lussick can clearly play 80 and we don’t need four forwards on the bench, so until the rules match the modern game let’s recruit some backs and get one out there on the bench.
Ryan Matterson
15 – Interchange
We’re crediting Junior with changing the game when he came on, but Ryan Matterson did his part as well. He topped the forwards for total runs, edging out Junior by one, even if he didn’t quite match Paulo’s metre total. Few clubs are lucky enough to be able to bring a guy like Matto off their bench, and I don’t think us Eels fans appreciate that often enough.
Junior Paulo
10 – Interchange
Very tempted to bust out the A+ two weeks in a row for Junior, and if we’d won that may have sealed the deal. He was brilliant out there, he truly turned the game when he came onto the field. He led Eels forwards in metres pre and post contact and along with Shaun Lane (and Bailey Simonsson, who played 3 minutes) was the only Parramatta player to not miss a tackle. Paulo is a lean, mean, metre eating machine in 2024.
Kelma Tuilagi
17 – Interchange
This was an all-time disaster level performance from Kelma Tuilagi, but much like I’d make a mess if asked to fix an engine or build a kitchen, you can’t hold it against a guy for being no good at a job he isn’t qualified for. I’d say I miss Marata Niukore in situations like this, but he’d probably be injured or suspended anyway. Big Kelma did put on one of those kinds of hits that scares my dog as I jump up yelping in excitement, and that is what saved him from the big F stamp here. I hope his shoulder isn’t too serious, he deserves a shot at redemption. In the forwards.
Some quick hits:
- I don’t know what the official punishment for an facial is, but it should be the opposing kicker lining you up for a direct boot to the nards. It’s the ultimate in grubbery that should be punished more harshly than it is (which was not at all here).
- Speaking of punishment, Dan Ginnane remains an absolute punish as a television commentator. I’m not sure how a guy can be such a good radio caller then fall to pieces on television, but he is infuriating to listen to when you have a side in the game.
In a year where every win is going to matter, fans will undoubtedly be holding this one in the memory bank should one result here or there make the difference. At the same time, the way the Eels played this week I don’t think we need to be too worried about being in that fringe battle for eighth spot. This is a better side than that.
It will be a tough assignment hosting another old rival in Manly next Sunday, a side that might have done even more damage than Penrith did to a makeshift edge. The handling has to improve to limit the opportunities, and the middle has to be totally dominant. This is the first true 50/50 game for the Eels this year, the ones that decide if you are a have or a have not come September. At full strength I’d feel confident, down two outside backs it is going to take a big effort.
Sunday afternoon, Parra and Manly, a packed CommBank Stadium and an absolute shed-load on the line. You normally have to wait until September for matches this huge. I cannot wait. Until next week, stay slippery, Eels fans.
Until next time, stay slippery Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media
The lack of attention to detail is still our Achilles Heel, and in his 11th season in charge, that isn’t going to change under BA. We must have the worst or close to the worst kick chase in the league. It’s abysmal, seriously there was zero urgency.
Agreed / it’s always been a problem and it’s pathetic at times. Free 20/30 metres for fullbacks. Our kick pressure is pretty poor aswell.
But I should note that we also do a lot well so if we get the main stuff right now( attitude, defence, attack) hopefully we see the small details like kick chase and kick pressure by end of the year cause it’s the only way to win a premiership if we a serious about doing that
You give Tuilagi a bashing what about the coach. He hung Kelma out to dry.
Yes and I thought kelma did a lot of good as well.
Whoever the coach put there was going to struggle. We had zero people capable of playing centre. Tuilagi was probably the best option.
Totally agree with your comment re Dan Ginnane. I can’t stand watching games when he is commentating. Imagine how bad it would be if Ginnane and Gus Gould were together in a broadcast. Bloody intolerable.
Gutho, Hopwood, Brown, RCG had good games. These blokes never stop TRYING
You never heard Fittler saying Parra scored 3 tries from luck? Whenever Parra had the ball the C9 team would start talking about their game of golf, mowing the lawn, anything but the game. Joey was the only one willing to mention Parra at all!
Yes, there aren’t many commentators who jump to Parra’s defence. I think there might be “a cash for comment” situation happening, otherwise Im not sure why we never seem to get much support from the media.
Maybe we need to hire our own lobbyist?
The only time I’ll hear from Freddy through the year will be his in-game interviews during Origin. Kayo is the best money you’ll ever spend as a footy fan. A Gus-free life is a good life.
100% agree…$15/month for Kayo is the 1st bill I pay!
Dennis always had something good to say about Parra a year or so back when he was on the Parra payroll 🤑🤣🤑
I think you were a bit harsh on Morgan the poor bastard tried so hard and I know he made some mistakes and dropped a sitter for definate try but as soon as Bailey went off we were stuffed down that side. Just imagine if Sivo was there it could of been worse. As for Russell I just struggle to see why he’s there doesn’t seem to do a lot and he’s attempts at the high ball are atrocious.
Klein needs sacking ,simple as that
Sean Russell made the most metres of any Eel. 153m off 15 runs. If you can’t see why he’s there that’s your problem.
Russell is the most improved over the last few seasons.
The high ball drop should have been a penalty but yeah Klein was the Ref and doesn’t know the new rules..
Well said brother
Not just Klein, Atkins in the bunker was an absolute disgrace. Just by the way Penrith have a 70% success rate when Atkins is in charge. How can the NRL look at a stat like that and not be very worried about fairness?
I don’t get why BA left Tuilangi in the centres when it was an obvious fail. Hands into the halves and Brown into the centres at least in defence. BA is one stubborn coach often to his and the teams detriment.
I was impressed with our commitment and endeavour against the odds (ie Klein and T Atkins. The future looks just fine.
Well Penrith have won about 85% of their total games the last four years, so is that record really so bad? Klein and Atkins are both bad referees, but I don’t think they’re biased to Penrith or against the Eels. Complaining about bias towards certain teams distracts from the main problem: these refs are not good at their jobs and make basic mistakes.
Gol my statistics weren’t for the past 4yrs, they were for the entirety of Atkins career where Penrith were at 60% success during the time of his career and 70% when he was in charge. I don’t agree with your lack of bias conclusion.
Agree , Russell did not really want to get involved.
I agree with Harper being harshly treated, he did some very good things using his initiative seeing he was posted out there with only Dylan sweeping across to help.
No body at this stage of the thread has mentioned that if Hands was selected purely to give Lussick a rest, what was the point. He could have moved into feeding the scrum and having Moses and Brown playing one spot wider, alleviating the embarrassing need of Tulagi being in the centres. First choice Telagi for this role no problems, but 5 minutes into his new position it was obvious he had no lateral defensive ability. Surely this was realised in the pre season?……it really was that obvious!
I hate providing ammunition to the BA haters but really some lateral thinking here was not hard. IMO this game was given away by poor decisions intra game by the coaching staff in not addressing this situation within 5 minutes of it being obvious. If we did not have a cover defender the likes of Dylan Brown the score could have been anything.
KIck chasing and putting pressure on the Penrith defenders was too obvious to be true and the embarrassing tries (2) that Penrith scored with half plus of the team being stationary was very difficult to accept.
We can complain all we want but the team should be lined up and kicked up the arse. Then the coaching staff also lined up and kicked up the arse by the players for being let down by their off field leaders.
This is 2 points we won’t get back and reminds me of games last year we should have won!
History will show Morgan will be one of the Eels poorest purchases.
Credit were credit is due he does have some attack in him, but he is a deadset turnstile in defence. Our edge defence has issues at the best of times but how Morgan was seen as a possible answer I will never know.
Sorry it’s harsh but only because it is true
Massive over-reaction. We’ve signed Poms that never even landed on our shores, or took one look at the place and left, Michael Oldfield had what, two games for us and one of them was way worse than either Tuilagi or Harper last night. Even if Morgan’s Eels career ended right now, I reckon I can find ten worse signings in the last decade. Morgan will do fine for us, he’s just not a winger I’m not going to go in with studs up on him for his effort out of position against the best team in footy.
I wasn’t impressed by Harper last night either and also concede being out of position didn’t help. But I also wonder how much of the Zac Lomax talk is playing on his mind, potentially looking at being replaced after 1 round.
If the Lomax talk was playing on his mind before or during the match, it’s going to be 10 times louder after that performance.
He was given a tough assignment, but he absolutely botched it still.
Harper is good depth, if he’s ever first picked (in his current form) it means our backline talent is sub standard. We need some talented backs, no way around it.
I personally didn’t think we threw a lot at them in attack. Pretty predictable most of the time. We just don’t have that spark.
Speaking of quick hits, specifically punishment –
Tripping is amongst the grubiest acts out there on the field. How “Romy” didn’t get binned is beyond me and would have been natural justice for taking out our back line in the first 1.5 minutes of the game
Stay slippery
Not only did he not get binned he has just been fined for both indiscretions. How the smash to Simmonsen’s face is considered grade 1 careless I don’t know (especially given Sivo got 3 weeks). And once upon a time tripping used to be instant send off.
It’s incomprehensible that he escapes with just a fine. Our complaint about the referee should be upgraded now, given we didnt even get justice after the event.
Wether it was fatigue or not I’m not sure but the one out runs that dominated our 2nd half just reminded me of the early 2010’s and it did achieve much or work then either…
Having said that the grit and determination we showed was outstanding……
I think the Morgan Harper comments are a bit harsh. He had a couple of ordinary moments, but overall I thought he made the most of a bad situation.
Thought Hands might have been a better option at replacement centre. Certainly a better tackler and faster than Tuilagi. If BA could see him struggling from the get go why didn’t he change him? Poor, poor coaching imo.
Couldn’t agree more. It was a tough ask…
There are some pretty hard comments on Harper here! He’s defending on the wing in an unfamiliar position with a forward playing in the centres who through no fault of his own wasn’t capable of playing that position.
I thought both Harper and Tualigi did there best, so I proud if there and the team effort.
But any winger will struggle having to try and cover the centre and wing simultaneously!
I agree that Harper and Tuilagi both did their best. It wasn’t an attitude problem. It’s a talent problem.
Tuilagi deserves another shot in the forwards, but we have such strength there I’d say his shots will be limited if we’re at full strength.
And Harper is very clearly depth at best. He’s probably in that annoying area of being too good for reserves but not quite good enough for 1st Grade. He should only play if we have injuries. But let’s be honest, surely no one here thought that Harper was the answer to our backs, he was just some added depth. As depth he’s fine…but the Panthers showed what will happen if he’s used as a 1st Grader and something happens (ie injuries force backline shuffle). Opacic he ain’t.
How does the downtown rule apply to the guy who played the ball?
The rule is “line of the play the ball” I believe, not “man who played the ball”. If he walks forward of the mark where he plays the ball before the ball is kicked, he’s in an illegal position.
So we lose Bailey for 2 full games now while Luai gets the equivalent of a $2 fine in real people’s money.
I was truly sorry for Morgan Harper. He’s certainly a specialist centre and did a good job against The Bulldogs; I can’t remember him ever playing on the wing. New club, one year conyract, young family, trying to establish himself, stuck out of position outside an inexperienced centre with wave after wave of the best attack in the business coming at him – he could have done a lot worse. I also think that Joe is doing a mighty job starting, allowing Junior to come on fresh and terrorise. It will be intetesting to dee how we go when ee have Wiremu to jpin Junior as interchange.
Without a doubt Luai should have been sent off for both the tackle and the trip. How he got anyway with both of these is a travesty and shows the NRL up as being incompetent and potentially corrupt. Yes I’m going to say that because that was some pretty poor refereeing out there, yet we see the same referees being rewarded for incompetence week after week.
Despite this, we did play well to keep Penrith to within 8 points, and were in this match until the last 8 min or so. It also raises the question should the 28th man be allowed to come on in the case where a player was taken out of the game due to foul play. I believe they should be. Luai will no doubt get suspended for this, but that only helps Brisbane not Parra. Where is the fairness in that?
Great post. Agree with most, if not all you have said. However I also think the coach needs to take some of the slack in this. This is solely my opinion and I am in no way bashing the coach, I’m just stating what I think.
When Bailey came off why wasn’t Carty moved to the centre? Alternatively Dylan could have moved there. Tuilagi at centre was a big mistake from the outset. As soon as I saw him there I said “Oh no!”
The true leader looks at his or her performance first. I hope the coach does likewise. We learn valuable lessons from our mistakes and from objective analysis.
The refereeing was atrocious. Will he be dropped, who knows, but it was bad. We all know what we saw.
The judiciary likewise needs to have a good long hard look at itself. How on earth the Penrith 5/8 gets off with a fine is beyond me.
Next week will be a test for us. I agree that at full strength we win. However, when the chips are down character is revealed and from what I saw last night I feel the boys are mentally stronger this year. Hopefully we win.
This will be a good year for us. How far and how deep we go will depend on the boys and coach.
There’s a lot of coach comments, I’ll reply to all of them in this. BA has watched this team more than anybody, all off-season long. I doubt he was happy to move Tuilagi out to centre, but I’ll trust he considered it the best choice he had. Carty was coming off his best ever game, I’d be reluctant to move him. Hands may never have played centre in his life. Maybe he should’ve switched things up at halftime, but by that point Dylan had set up two tries and it would’ve been crazy to move him. It’s a shit situation.
Trying to kill a coach for not picking the right forward to replace his injured centre in the third minute reeks to me of long standing agendas. Arthur is a bloody good coach who does a lot more right than wrong. I’ve yet to see a reasonable response to the question “who could we get that would do a better job?” from any BA basher, and that’s because there isn’t anybody.
Gol because a poster happens to disagree with a coaches decision does not mean they are BA bashers.. I have always supported Brad but his decision to not change things up when Tuilag was an obvious fail was poor.
Let me assure you that I am not and have never been a BA basher, ever. I’ve always supported him and will continue to do so. What I said is that I didn’t agree with moving Tuilagi to centre. I also stand firm in my opinion that either Carty or Dylan should have been moved there. It’s just an opinion that’s all. But as soon as I saw it happen my immediate thought was “Oh no”.
I also feel because Carty has been playing so well his confidence would have been sky high and would have brought that same attitude and confidence to the positional switch for the game.
In the end it doesn’t matter. We lost. Time to move on to next week.
You thought “oh no” but we scored 18 points and let in 16 with Tuilagi at centre. As soon as he got injured, and the referee failed to blow time off for an obviously injured player, we scored 0 and let in 10 points.
I mentioned this in a pre-season blog that NRL benches now need to be 6 or 8 so that if this exact situation occurred a coach could have a specialist centre or winger on the bench. No one watching, Arthur included, wanted to see Tuilagi in the centres. Despite the shit hand the team was dealt with they made the most of it with unbelievable scrambling defence.
Gol and you are missing the point Ham.
No body disagrees with the initial decision to put Talagi in the centres, face value logic i would have done the same.
Two points , firstly his preseason should have included the contingency of the coaching staff being aware that his lateral defence would not work in the centres, lets assume no such vision was forthcoming. Secondly 5 minutes into his sojourn at centre it was blindingly obvious that he was completely out of his depth defending there. Opportunities were available then and at halftime to adjust accordingly. Again the obvious one was to have Hands feed the scrum and push the halves one spot out. No tactics change but the centre position is defended principally by Dyllan and secondly by Moses.
I said in my post that I do not like to feed the BA haters but when criticism is due, it needs to be given,
As an after thought we may have been in front at half time but the ship was never steady as the Pennies continued to charge down the left side. Have a look at the stats there, you cannot argue with them.
It is very hard to defend BA on this one, I believe he cost us the 2 points with his poor decisions.
18-16 with Tuilagi at centre. 0-10 whilst he was injured and went off. That’s the only point that needs to be made.
No they didn’t Ham, their defence was fortunate, as the Penrith Coach said, “we left a lot of tries out there” The fact we were in front at half time was because of our good attack given limited opportunities was very effective.
The point you make about 10 nil after Tulagi going off injured had nothing to do with the points we gave up with our jeft edge being a mess, he still didn’t bring on Hands, what was he there for? and he still defended that edge with a forward.
In your case Ham in the land of the blind he with one eye is King untill someone with two turns up,
How many NRL games have you coached? No long spiel, just a number. If it’s over 1 I will bow down to your great knowledge, if it’s under I’m going to take the opinion of the one who has coached 250+
Sarantinos needs to write to Abdo about the numerous indiscretions made by officials against the Eels. We need to make a huge deal about it if we want anything to change. Otherwise it will just keep happening.
Luai should have been binned high shot. Then trip?
Yeo almost touched the ball he was so offside. No try based on Downtown.
Leota try was soft
Panthers outside backs are full of running.
Our back 5 are too narrow and easily picked by markers.
Panthers just loitering around our ruck.
We have been negligent in recruitment depth. Every team gets injury and suspension/HIA so we need contingency. Harper was our contingency for 2024. Just not enough and to me it’s either poor planning or negligence.
Hands should have been used? Hands is a good player. This was not good use of players.
I have no issue with the Yeo decision. He didn’t affect the play in any manner. It was a common sense decision by the bunker.
But it’s not the rule… You see a ref blow a penalty as soon as a player runs Infront of the play the ball on kicks… They don’t give them a chance to stop and go back they may not affect the play either but don’t get the chance..
That’s not the situation the rule was designed to stop. Yeo didn’t run to protect Cleary, he was pushing up in support, which he is perfectly entitled to do. When he realised where he had gotten himself he got out of the way. The rule was put in place to stop players from impeding the kick pressure. Rules aren’t there just to be enforced, they are there for specific reasons and should called only for those situations. If it was in that situation I’d be dirty for taking that try off us. It was the common sense decision.
The downtown rule has nothing to do with pressuring the kicker
7 tackle set restarts weren’t designed to stop players knocking the ball on in goal, they were to stop players kicking the ball dead from their own half. What yeo did was illegal by the letter of the law, it should have been penalised.
Ham, what a ridiculous argument you just put up, I am actually done more coaching than you would care to know, including an Australian Sports Medal but that is totally irrelevant to any arguments you want to put up about my knowledge compared to BA’s, I would not dare compete with him and certainly don’t compare myself to anyone with any coaching experience at his level. Does that prevent me from making/having an opinion? I hope not as it would be a waste of time having these types of forums.
When you walk into a room Ham I immediately think there are smarter people here than me. How do I make this judgement? by listening to the discussion. You were a immature poster 10 years ago with great knowledge of the junior ranks, I have watched you mature where your comments are now interesting and valuable. When you stop listening and close your eyes to what you don’t want to know, means you are now the smartest person in the room in your opinion…..is that true Ham? because some people probably think so.
Don’t let me down….. but take note, there is always someone smarter and its not me.
So that’s 0? Got it. I’ll take the actions of a seasoned professional than some mug on an internet forum who claims to have all these awards yet decides to post under a pseudonym. Post your real name so we can verify your claims of being such a self-imposed highly touted sports analyst.
Thank you Hamsammich, I don’t think we need to discuss further, anyone that posts under their real name like yourself is too good for me.
I hope you don’t have any siblings that are a Sammich short of a picnic!
Bring back Mitch ASAP. This was as bad as listening to Dan Ginane. Honestly giving Tualagi a D for not being able to defend at centre is ridiculous. The coach put him there. Carty is more mobile, Brown could have defended 2 in with Tualagi 3 in. Any other option would have been better than that.
Tks Gol, yeah, Junior really looked the goods and with RCG we’re well served for the front row.I didn’t enjoy that result but I got a generally OK vibe about how we might fare this year. The big proviso..availability of the better part of our roster..ground hog day.
The overall performance by our team was strong – and we will win many more games than we lose this year. The Panthers attacked the weak point like a smart team that they are. And with the refereeing decisions leaving the Eels with 16 players – and then our interchange only using 15 – just making it a very hard position.
Definitely could of used Hands earlier – even for some “fresh legs”. I felt sorry for Kelma. -effort was good and you could see how he chased when they went past him – but he could never compete on speed against the Panthers. Morgan was unfortunate – new position / no centre inside him – conceded meters but was often in. a 2 on 1 situation.
The real challenge – as has been said many times – recruitment of outside backs – surely in NSW Cup there isa player with speed looking for an opportunity – if we cant develop them, we need to find someone for 2024 as no one in NSW Cup coming into the centres ( if Bailey is out) has me feeling confident if Tommy Turbo is running at them next week.
But….hopefully – we can get this issue sorted quickly – and get the recruitment team to fill the free spots on the roster
After watching NSW Cup, I’m not confident about where things stand should there be more injuries. I can take a positive that Haze was very good in yardage, but if we lose a centre?
This weekend’s games highlighted the speed issue big time, how many tries were scored reasonably long range by speedy centres and wingers. This has been ignored for too long by our so called recruitment gurus.
Manly for instance signed Garrick and Saab for speed and Koulau from union to add that.
Not really relevant but Dom Young and the winger from union for next year by the Roosters for similar reasons.
The Hammer, Holmes, Timoko, Papenhuyzen , Meaney ,warbrick , Oates etc all add that, so disappointing as that seems to be an area we lack and haven’t gone hard for externally.
Lets hope this issue is high on the agenda, no use the Leagues Club board performing that well that we are regarded as one of the most sound financially, When the Football Board isn’t performing at the same level.
Board has nothing to do with recruitment, hasn’t for years. They do, however, hold hiring and firing power over those that do.
The person that bears most responsibility in this situation is the recruitment and retention committee especially mark O’Neil. He’s been so mediocre as head of football in my opinion.
That’s true Gol, the role of the board is to oversee the operations of the football club and its performance. They shouldn’t be happy with the failure to recruit the most obvious need since they assumed their position, imagine if that was in most companies. Failure has repercussions.
There were a couple of blokes playing full back and five eight for Wigan a few weeks ago who are pretty quick; there’s a bloke called Opacic going around in Super League who is a marvelous organiser of defence out wide; where were ghey all before their current appointments I wonder.
For mine the biggest issue is out back 5 don’t provide any help out of our end this isn’t a new issue.
Russell did some hard work but we need more.
I love Gutho my only criticism is on kick returns he puts no fear of the unexpected in the opposition none of our back 3 do you look at Penrith you can’t rest on kicks they all have the ability to brake tackles and get the set rolling.
If your going to carry a player on the bench who may not play pick someone like Asi he can cover the backline.
I think its more of a mentality than doing the unexpected. Edwards, To’o and Turuva don’t do anything spectacular. They just put their head down charge into the line with a bit of late footwork to get between defenders. I think Russell and Penisini get it, Dunster gets it, it’s just that he had to come back from that horrific knee injury. I also think Talagi has that mentality, whilst he has a bit to learn in the technical side of playing fullback he’s currently top 10 for running metres and top 5 for PCM in reserve grade.
I don’t mind the loss. We aimed up but came up short. Despite a few things not going our way we almost did it. At least we cannot rest on our laurels thinking we beat Penrith. We need to learn and improve.
Well said. They played it out to the end.
Reading some of these comments from the couch coaches, things like move Moses and Brown one out, bring on Hands to play half, the problem with that is there are too many positional changes, which in turn disrupts our attack and defence. Our biggest problem is we don’t work hard enough for each other. I felt sorry for DB because of all the covering he did for Tuilagi, where were the rest. Look at Melbourne, if a team makes a break down an edge, they seem to have half a dozen players coming across in cover, with us it’s only Dylan or Gutho. We need to scramble better, in turn we won’t have posters on here bagging our centres and wingers for bad defensive reads.