How fired up were you after last week’s loss to the Panthers?
This Penrith team will be remembered as an all time great unit. Few sides have dominated over successive seasons as they have.
So if your team loses to them it’s usually because they’ve been far too good – see the 2022 Grand Final – you have to accept it and move on.
However, last weekend wasn’t such an occasion. Don’t get me wrong. Penrith are just as formidable, but Parra deserved better and I’m still fuming.
Outside of that, there are big selection calls and even recruitment decisions to be made in the fallout from the loss.
Enough of the preamble. Let’s get on with this week’s column.
Bumpers Up!
Eels Resilience
Despite the loss, I was buoyed by the Eels resilience against the Panthers last Friday night.
The tale of the tape was evident in the 450 extra run metres for the Panthers, and post contact metres that were almost equivalent for both teams.
A moment of celebration from Friday
To be succinct, the Eels were running uphill and the Panthers downhill. Easy metres were found in targeting the Eels left, where a second rower was marking an elite, fast centre.
This meant that the Eels defensive line was retreating whenever the ball was spun wide. By the time Parra received possession, they’d be regularly doing so from deep within their own half.
For the Eels to lead at half time, and for the score to not blow out when fatigue set in, was testimony to Parra’s positive mind set.
Given they were playing the three-peat premiers, there was plenty to like.
Injustice
In my opinion, the result of Friday night’s game was determined by Jarome Luai’s shot on Bailey Simonsson in the opening minutes of the match.
The swinging arm to the head has effectively put Simonsson out for two matches – the Panthers game and this week’s clash with the Sea Eagles.
And the consequence? No sin bin, no suspension.
For the Eels, it meant playing a man down on the interchange and using a back rower at centre. And though it wouldn’t solve Parra’s problems moving forward, it’s insulting for fans to see the player concerned face only a fine for this shot and a later tripping incident.
That high shot
What more would necessitate a sin bin or suspension? It was clear, direct, forceful contact to the head of an opponent using a swinging arm, with the injured player unable to return to the game.
If ever there was an example of why coaches should be able to activate an additional player, it’s surely as a result of foul play. As things stand, there’s a massive injustice for any team who lose a player due to a high shot, especially when there is minimal consequence for the offending team.
As for Luai, it’s at least the second occasion that he has determined the result in an Eels match through fouling an opponent.
Back in the 2021 finals series, his interference with Moses on a Will Penisini break somehow went undetected by all match officials and prevented any chance of a critical try.
The consequence for such interference is typically a penalty and a sin bin call. A penalty goal would likely have taken that game into extra time against a 12 man opponent. Ultimately it ended the Eels season. The referee was Ashley Klein.
The Eels can’t afford to dwell on the past, but supporters are entitled to maintain the rage.
Being a referee is a tough gig, and I firmly believe that the refs these days are light years ahead of those of yesteryear. They are full time professionals and athletes in their own right. Furthermore, the NRL doesn’t make things easy for them through all of the rule changes and variations to interpretations.
For those reasons I don’t advocate bagging of refs. Supporters regularly get emotional and blame match officials rather than looking at their team for why a loss happened. It’s an easy out for us.
However, the officiating I witnessed last week from Mr Klein was not acceptable. I’m not talking bias, I’m talking performance and competency. Some decisions were head scratching, particularly the blatant facial delivered to Bryce Cartwright which inexplicably resulted in a penalty to the Panthers.
When the powers that be give a match like that the tick of approval, it’s not productive for any party.
Criticism Of Arthur
The coach blaming that occurred after full time was no surprise. Social media was buzzing with finger pointing over the decision from Brad Arthur to put Kelma Tuilagi in the centres. It came from the usual quarters.
BA is a coach that works on the minimal disruption principle. If a player is missing you solve it with as fewer positional changes as possible.
Unless you keep an outside back on the bench, which coaches usually avoid, there is no perfect solution to losing a centre or winger.
Part of the reason for this is that defence systems rely on players knowing their role, especially the edge defenders and outside backs. Positioning, decision making, communication and combination with the players beside you are all factors that are drilled at training.
If a solution involves multiple players switching positions, as a number of supporters have suggested, the confusion and disruption extends to more parts of the defence line.
Tuilagi’s lies injured on the turf
The other point to remember is that despite Penrith’s incursions through Tuilagi, the Eels were leading the contest. They only kicked away when there was the interference on Shaun Russell that went undetected by all officials, and then when play continued despite a serious injury to Tuilagi.
Would Carty or Matto have performed better than Kelma? That’s highly doubtful. They’d have been lined up against a fast, powerful and elusive centre.
So I guess we have to defer to the observation from coach Cleary.
The Panthers got “lucky” with the injury to Simonsson.
Selection Intrigue
The concussion injury suffered by Bailey Simonsson, and the loss of Kelma Tuilagi, both make for interesting selection decisions over the next two weeks.
Who will be brought in this week to fill the vacant backline spot? What will Arthur do with the interchange bench?
Those questions might even be answered by the time you read this column.
But the dilemma will extend to next week. Both Simonsson and Maika Sivo will be available for selection. Will they both return to the NRL team? If there’s a victory this week, will BA retain the winning team or make just one change?
Furthermore, a forward will need to come in for Tuilagi, and there’s also conjecture as to whether Arthur will select Hands given his minimal game time in the first two rounds. Will he add another forward or select a back?
You might want to add your thoughts after the team list is announced.
Roster Places
I might not be accurate, but by my calculations the departures of Jirah Momoisea and Ky Rodwell leave three roster places available for the Eels to fill.
Everybody is aware of the pursuit of Zac Lomax. Whether that transpires or not, you don’t need to be Einstein to conclude that the club needs to recruit outside backs.
In the first two rounds, the Eels fielded two backs in the NSW Cup who sit outside the top 30 – Samuel Loizou and Isaac Lumelume.
Official media for Momoisea’s release
Season ending injuries to Richie Penisini and Arthur Miller-Stephen left the lower grade stocks very low. The injury to Simonsson and the suspension of Sivo have been most untimely. Ethyn Martin was selected at fullback in Ron Massey Cup last week and whether he’s called up this week remains to be seen.
Parramatta isn’t the only club in the player market. The rumours of clubs ready to swoop on certain individuals is indicative that dominoes could be about to fall, triggering multiple moves.
It promises to be interesting times over the next month.
Latrell’s Language
Unlike others, I’ve never been bothered by the perceived “attitude” of Latrell Mitchell.
I wouldn’t go so far as to describe myself as a supporter of Trell. I admire his football exploits and try to have perspective on the matters he speaks out on.
Anybody who engages with social media knows that players who use such platforms are subjected to horrific trolling. With Latrell, it reaches absurd levels. I’ve read racist comments about him many times in the past and as recently as last weekend, and it’s evident that people sweat on him to speak out, or stuff up, to let such bigotry loose.
To those people, they should probably try to walk a mile in his shoes.
Latrell Mitchell in that interview
However, there can be no justifiable reasons or excuses for his expletive riddled interview on Triple M at the conclusion of the Bunnies and Broncos match.
We’ve all heard players accidentally drop an F bomb in the emotion of the moment when interviewed live after full time. But it doesn’t take long for them to rein it in and apologise.
Latrell was different. He acknowledged his language and essentially declared that he didn’t care.
The code is prospering because of the money pumped in via media deals. We all have our issues with media influence, but the simplest thing that broadcasters are entitled to for their coin is reasonable access to the players.
That means post match interviews. It’s not something that’s sprung without notice on these players. It’s part of the gig, and therefore there’s a responsibility to represent supporters, the club and the code in a professional manner.
Players aren’t robots. They can’t be expected to switch off emotions. They’ll make mistakes. But if Latrell Mitchell can’t conduct a very basic post match interview without care about his language, then at the very least he needs the intervention of his club or the NRL to assist him.
Who knows, it could even be symptomatic of a cry for help. Not responding to it only buries the issue much deeper.
Match Day At Parra Leagues
Parra Leagues is “The Home of the Eels” and on match days it’s the place to be both before and after the big match at CommBank Stadium.
Whether you head inside the club or take advantage of the activations in the car park, there’s something for everyone.
Our live podcast
We’ll be back in Sterlos after full time on Sunday, with another Eels legend, John Muggleton as our guest. Come in, grab a drink and listen to us talk footy with Muggo and give our takes on the Eels/Manly clash in the live version of our Instant Reaction podcast.
A massive thanks to all of those people who hung around after the podcast last week to grab a photo with the great Steve Ella and to have a chat with us and Steve.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Tks sixties. I see Taylan May is likely testing the market?
There will be players available. As I said, dominoes will fall
Agree on the impact of the Luai tackle, but good teams have to adjust. Watching the Leota try where Harper, playing on the wing, having missed a couple of tackles was just walking with his hands on his hips like he had been doing something, was infuriating. The non call on the Russell interference in the lead up to the last try, was also as infuriating as the time it takes Yeo, Edwards, Leota, Kenny and co. to release a player. Why Klein calls ‘release” if he isn’t going to penalise, beggers belief.
But where Parra have to take responsibility – and by Parra, BA and the players, is the complete and utter lack of kick pressure on Cleary. There was zero kick pressure on him all night. Not once. That meant Cleary could boot it as far as he liked and we were inevitably working off our own line with our wingers who couldn’t break a peanut. That no adjustment was made there at any point in the game wasn’t good enough as it was glaringly obvious given the pressure Penrith were putting on Moses.
As for who plays this week – Given we entered the season without a full NRL level backline, we are now going to be digging into jersey flegg and Ron Massey Cup. When the Eels miss the eight and people start playing with excuses about injuries, it shouldn’t be an excuse, because we never had the squad to begin with. That is, and continues to be O’Neill.
On a total side note: I have watched young Joe Chan (son of Alex) at the Storm. He is going really well and could be anything and Eels fans should take note: We had first crack at him in 2022 and botched it, instead signing Momoisea….. And how did that work out…?
Hopelessly, fingers crossed that Oneil can pull something like a Lomax out of his proverbial!
I echo a lot of that. We can’t have another year where we blame injuries (esp in the outside back). It’s another year where we go into the season with a top 30 that isn’t complete, a backline that is wafer thin and little to no depth at fullback/half either. Mark oneil hasn’t been able to address persistent issues in his time and oversaw some of the most unproductive signings in recent memory last year. There is no agility in recruitment (in aus or even England cf for example knights and raiders). We have also known we need a bench utility for a while but haven’t found one – we a forcing hands into that. There are overinflated contracts for lane (after one good year) and bench players such as matto (after a good few weeks in his contract year and dolphins pressure). There has been a worryingly long extension for sivo. Ofa has been signed notwithstanding we need modern backs and the squad is aging. There is more to say but i think that tells us enough about mark oneills handling of this as head of football. He is responsible for putting the team together now and in future and his ineffective approach to recruitment/retention was mirrored in the nswrl (which we are slowly recovering from). Time for parra’s executives to show they are serious about winning and not simply making up the numbers. Brad deserves better in my opinion from the club and this recruitment/retention committee/so called head of football
Your the bloke who said Momoisea was a great athlete and would be a sensation at centre. But I suppose you forget that.
If you’re talking to me and not Brett, I said no such thing I didn’t know anything about that bloke and was sceptical as soon as I realised Melbourne turfed him and knights wouldn’t play him. And All it took was one pre season trial against Penrith to confirm my suspicions about him.
Not directed at you Ron, Mr Allen is the premature enthusiast. What you say Ron is usually on the mark, not really appreciated on this platform.
Brett, given the circumstances of last Friday night, there might be some nit picking in your observations. I reckon that apart from the trip incident the Moses was not under much more kick pressure than Cleary. As I wrote, for me the Eels were running uphill and the Panthers downhill.
If we are looking at an outside back and have the money to afford him I believe the smarter money may be to sign Turuva. Lomax has said he doesn’t want to play on the left or on the wing, for mine those 2 spots are of biggest concern to us. Turuva is exactly what we are after, a speedy winger who is willing to ruck the ball out 15-20 times per game. Lomax is doing well on the wing and has had great numbers in his first 2 games this year but if he isn’t willing to do what’s best for his team is he the sort of player we want?
People who are blaming the loss on the selection of Tuilagi in the centres watched a completely different game to me. Whilst we had that set up we scored 3 tries and conceded 2. They can come up with all the excuses in the world about why it was bad but the cold hard truth these people don’t want to hear is that we were leading right up until Tuilagi was injured and then penrith were only able to score when the out of position second rower was completely out of the line. Rather than praise the scramble and attitude of the team they’d rather batter and bash what was working.
penrith fans love to have a win over “big brother” and skite about it. Walking into work on Monday I was expecting a few words from the toothless wonders and to my surprise they said they should not have won that game. Luai should’ve been binned and they don’t know how they received the penalty for edwards hands on the face to Carty. Definitely not as chirpy as usual.
Finally on Latrell. I’m not sure if this is his intention but he’s using similar language to what certain media and sections of fans were using when Mam called out the racist slur. “Get over it” “words can’t hurt anybody” “sticks and stones”. I see this incident similar to Graham Kennedy’s infamous crow joke, maybe Latrell doesn’t want to do media anymore and this is his way of making sure that doesn’t happen?
As usual Ham, you’ve fired some very accurate shots. Interesting that the main NRL response is to pull Triple M into line.
Your comments are akin to a blind man Ham, there is no way that any Penrith supporter would have said “they should not have won that game” You can argue for ever about the biased incidents but you show your naivety repeatedly by believing what others think. They were feeling sorry for you or taking the piss, which in your case I understand.
By the way no one’s blaming Tuilagi for our left edge falling to pieces, he quiet simply was not suited to being there after it was realised he had no lateral defensive ability.
You made a point of saying how many games of NRL I had coached and that’s fine, but unlike the person you think you are you seem to have missed all the independent critics such as Cronk, Johns, Ennis and Graham who all said the same thing.
So rather than critique me (a shit head no nothing) you demonstrated your further belligerence on the matter of you taking the critique of BA personally, wheras the only thing you should offer is your own critique.
This is not BA bashing it is a subjective criticism and I like many I was pleased circumstantially with our overall performance. BUT our left edge defence was shown up very badly by just looking at the Penrith center’s statistics. I believe and I stress just not me, that playing Tuilagi there when it became obvious, he had no lateral movement was a mistake. You point out for example that it was just Parra’s good scrambling defence that averted it being a landslide down that side…. you will note that 60’s defended the situation by saying that BA obviously didn’t want to upset the structure he had in place. That is subjective criticism that no one can take exception too, because it is a view by explanation. Whether people agree or not makes it subjective.
Thats what makes a discussion what it is Ham and by the way BA knows my real name, not that means anything other than what you said of me hiding behind a pseudonym.
Poppa, where has Ham had a go at you in the replies here?
The match day replies in the gradings I think, but no probs.’ he is aware of our conversation and his comments whilst veiled in this segment were aimed notwithstanding.
Its not a matter of being right or wrong, just circumspect in terms of a discussion i.e he played the man and not the ball. I respect Ham’s knowledge, just disagree on this one. Good healthy debate nothing more.
Sorry Poppa, but as an uninvolved reader, it’s you that’s acting like a knob by carrying your beef over to another thread entirely. You’ve done exactly what you’ve said you haven’t / accused him of. You got personal. That’s not good healthy debate. Let it go buddy.
Just read that again and I said BA knows my name, typo 60’s it was meant to say 60’s knows my name…. apologies to you and Ham for misleading.
Neville Nobody at a guess !
Good read.
I like Latrell Mitchell and I think the swearing thing is a storm in a teacup – he acknowledged it, because he was running on emotion. Though not a player, but still a representative of the game through media, I recall Gallen dropping C Bombs all over his socials some years ago which was far worse.
The issue I have with the media storm around Mitchell’s blue language, is it takes away the focus from the discusson of more important issues facing the game, like how Sivo cops three weeks for a forceful tackle on the sternum that crept up, versus Luai getting off scot-free for a swinging arm to the head, and a tripping incident.
Ultimately it’s just a distraction from what is really wrong with the game at the moment.
Fair call about the distraction aspect Chris. Those questions about the different outcomes to those tackles are relevant.
The thing I hate the most about the NRL is the inconsistency everywhere. Whether it be in refereeing or in other aspects like third party payments. The unfairness is inescapable and palpable. And it is a real turn off. Luai should buy a lottery ticket. Wait. The refree was Klein. We should have all known. He has form. Bad form
And Atkins in the bunker. How did the NRL think that was a good idea?
Atkins is more to blame than Klein imho. He could sit back in his armchair see Luai smashing Simmonson face and say nothing to see here. And that was one of many decisions made by Atkins that were completely wrong or even not made at all. Yet the NRL was not critical of either men of little talent.
It was time for BA to sacrifice $10000 and be explicit in his condemnation as well as the leaders of our club. This is not the first time we have been dudded and yet we hear deathly silence.
You know what, I don’t think it would matter one iota what BA would have said. The outcome from Klein games will remain the same.
I watched the Annesly response on the game. However I don’t know if I seen the full review or an edited version but he never mentioned the incident with Simonson or Russell being hit in the air. Just ignored both issues.
Can’t disagree. The main consistency that we witness is whenever the Eels decide to take on the judiciary. It’s the same outcome every time.
I never really agree with Phil Gould but for his own sake Latrell needs to be pulled into line. Through family connections I know first hand the wonderful charity work he does and it is genuine and makes a huge difference but you can not say to people they need to respect others and then openly and knowingly do the wrong thing. He said it himself in the interview that he knew it was wrong. Not once has he apologised, others have said he is sorry and all he has said is to ‘move on’. His desire is to foster respect towards Indigenous Australians and I support that 100% but all he is doing is achieving the exact opposite. People are not blind, they can see the NRL double standards and will call it out. Abdo today said being a superstar means he has a little more power/ influence. Really that sums up the NRL and its problems. The draw is unfair, the NRL match review is inconsistent and unfair, the rule interpretation is unfair and inconsistent all because some clubs and some players are more important or as Abdo said some are superstars and have more influence.
I am equally nervous and excited for Blaze. Play well young man.
Shelley, I’m glad to hear about your experience with Latrell’s charity work. I think I have more of an issue with the NRL only seeming to respond after the public outrage. If they had been more proactive, informing the media that they would be dealing with Latrell, no matter what the consequence, it wouldn’t have been such a big story. They’ve let it spiral.