Parramatta Eels 26
Newcastle Knights 34
Well we aren’t last anymore. That’s something. I’ve left it three days and I still haven’t got much good to say about anything from Saturday night, or about the Eels in general right now. Top to bottom, the club is a shambles.
While I’m sure that was an entertaining game for the neutrals, between the aggravating officiating errors and the even more disgusting Parramatta defence I haven’t found many positives to take out of this loss. Another game where the Eels played down to their opposition and got done, a winnable game thrown away.
Let’s not kid ourselves, while there were some refereeing clangers, this Parramatta side just conceded 34 points to the worst attacking team in the competition. Yes, some of those tries were runaways, but we’ve conceded enough of those this year for it to be more than just bad luck. Some of the defensive passages given to the Knights out wide were embarrassing, and yet again the 30th minute mark ticked over and the Eels middle suddenly went to jelly.
Credit to Newcastle, they put in and held tough even after the Eels managed to repel a lot of early attack. The difference maker was Jayden Brailey, as soon as he got onto the field the service was crisp and Jackson Hastings looked more dangerous immediately. With that came the wide shifts that Parramatta continue to be unable to defend, and thus the points flowed.
Now it’s time for some ref bashing. If it’s good enough for Wayne Bennett, it’s good enough for me. Graham Annesley has overseen rugby league officiating falling to the lowest level I have seen, ably assisted by Peter V’landys driving rule changes seemingly through a desire to be liked by the panel on NRL360. The lineup of disasters is impressive: one referee, the six again, video reviews for every try scored, and perhaps worst of all the blight of interpretation that has left fans and apparently the video referees confused about what the rules of the game actually are.
Then there are the inexcusable mistakes. “No video evidence” to overturn a decision when you can see a foot or a ball on a line. Reading a player’s mind as to their intent to strip a ball or not. Freeze frames of blurred fingers used as definitive evidence of a knock on or a grounding. An inability to measure ten seconds for a challenge to be legal. I haven’t even started talking about the consistency of punishments for high shots and foul play.
I haven’t got answers, and officiating has nothing to do with the absolute mess that is the 2024 Parramatta Eels season, but I’ve got a forum here and today I want to use it to have a whinge. The NRL is rotting from the top down, an all too familiar story for Parramatta fans.
Oh I don’t know, let’s just give it to Bryce Cartwright and call it a night.
Clint Gutherson
1 – Fullback
The usual solid day from Clint Gutherson, who did well to combine his fullback duties with teaching the referee the rules of the game. It wasn’t perfect, but he is hardly a concern in this squad.
Maika Sivo
4 – Left Wing
There was a bit of hard running from Maika Sivo early, so of course he finished the game hobbling. Way to reward that good behaviour, fates. His defensive decision making looks increasingly like guesswork, but absence over the last couple of weeks definitely made my heart grow fonder. If given a choice between bad defence and what Sivo does with the ball, or bad defence and what his replacements can do, give me Sivo.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
Did a lot of work but the errors and the missed tackles continue, and his attacking football does not make up for it. He’s not getting a lot of help from those around him, but he can’t keep falling off tackles.
Sean Russell
4 – Left Centre
Workmanlike and solid, but gee his tackle efficiency could use some work. If centre is to be his spot, he needs some work on that side of the ball.
Blaize Talagi
5 – Right Wing
As the young next big thing you can forgive a fair bit in the name of building experience, but the kid can certainly make an error and if he’s going to be blooded on the wing for a year or two, he needs an off season working under the high ball. His rucking is strong considering his size, but a lot of tries are coming down his side of the field and he comfortably leads the NRL in the (admittedly flawed) tries conceded metric.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
The numbers are there, but I felt at the end of the game that we could have used more from Dylan Brown. That might be because of his pay packet, his position in the halves and the expectations we now have for him, but games like these feel perfectly set up for a player of plus talents to take the game by the neck, and Brown hasn’t managed it.
Mitchell Moses
7 – Halfback
Those two tries were great, exploiting a speed advantage and (finally!) some clever play from scrums, and the kicking game kept a tired pack in the game, but again we needed some composure to win the game and Moses didn’t get the result. Losing close, winnable games usually means plenty of blame can be shared around, but the halves need to wear a bit of it for being the directors of the side.
RCG
8 – Front Row
Huge minutes for Reg, and huge minutes just doesn’t suit the 2024 edition of the Mo with the Most. He looked slow at the end of his stints and missed far too many tackles for a middle, and I feel like most of my complaints with RCG’s game would be solved by his being limited to 20 minute stints. Somebody show the Eels coaching staff what a tired man looks like, because Reg looks like one regularly out there and still stays on the field for another ten minutes.
Brendan Hands
9 – Hooker
Brendan Hands got worked over in the middle by the Knights, and missed far too many tackles accordingly. He’s there for service primarily, but he needs to be stronger in his contact.
Junior Paulo
10 – Interchange
Maybe it was just me, but it felt like Junior was in first gear on every run, like he was running in quicksand. It was particularly noticeable on his kick returns, and even scoring a key try doesn’t make me any less concerned about what we are getting from our captain.
Bryce Cartwright
12 – Second Row
There was a bit of Ferrari about this effort, with Carty well below the rest of the forwards in runs and metres made, but he put two tries on and attack just happened around him. We need that, and the Party continues to deliver.
Shaun Lane
11 – Second Row
The numbers are fine and he was doing a lot of work with the ball, but there is only so many times I can watch Shaun Lane spin into contact and not get a ball away. A lot of wider attacking play goes to Lane and he is not making anything of it; compare that to what Bryce Cartwright is doing with the ball. His hustle just isn’t there, and it’s a shame his front row stint was ended prematurely by injury as that felt like the best footy he played all year.
Joe Ofahengaue
13 – Lock
In a team that falls off tackles at a faster rate than Graham Annesley spins bad refereeing decisions, Joe O is a bastion of defensive prowess. He’s looked really good for us this year, and if he can play a few more minutes I’d be giving them to him, he rarely stretches beyond the 40 minute total.
Matt Arthur
14 – Interchange
It wasn’t a thrilling debut for Matt Arthur, who was very much out there to get a taste of what first grade is like. He ran early on, got in and made tackles and while there weren’t many highlights, he didn’t look out of his depth either. Let’s hope we see plenty more of him this year.
Makahesi Makatoa
15 – Prop
We don’t have many options, but when Reg is playing 65 minutes and spends at least 15 of those exhausted, can’t we get a prop that plays more than 21 minutes? Maka doesn’t exactly offer prime attacking football, but all the more reason to use his best weapon, his gas tank, instead of treating him like an impact forward that never makes an impact.
Ryan Matterson
17 – Interchange
Matto got the offloads out this week, but it was at the expense of running performance. He went sideways an awful lot, but I wouldn’t say he was a problem. He just isn’t at his peak.
Matt Doorey
16 – Interchange
Good to see Doorey out there for the first time this year, and while he didn’t shine he certainly didn’t disappoint. Defensive efficiency and a few solid runs, we need more of him in the future but given he hasn’t played grade for a while, this was fine.
As you can see, it is hard to be too critical of any individuals in that loss. This is just a team that has forgotten how to win. You earn your luck in rugby league, and the lack of scramble and second efforts, the lack of polish that turns backline movements into runaway tries, the general lack of confidence you get when you barely win a game all year, it is all adding up.
We’re getting into needing two hands territory to count the wins the Eels have left on the table this year, but that is cold comfort when you are in a battle for the spoon. Now we back up on a short turnaround and start a run of prime time football, starting with a Thursday against the Rabbitohs. Sterlo help us.
Until then, stay slippery, Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media
Well done Gol, It is so bloody refreshing reading your grades as you are not afraid to say it like it is.
I reckon you were a little rough on Moses as he’s really got a bunch of donkeys around him and if Brown helped him out a bit instead of being zoned out in the clouds perhaps he may have looked even better.
Lane is as soft as jelly and his failure to bend down and pick up that ball on the line was just inexcusable.
Paulo just looks overweight and unfit and again I think the strength and conditioning people need a rocket.
Perhaps being part of the leadership group, Paulo can smash the Macca’s without fear of retribution as per Tim Mannahs comments ?
What did Tim Mannah say mate?
I also agree about Moses, there is only so much he can do surrounded by players out of form and low on confidence.
Mate if I could send a link to the podcast I would , perhaps someone with some skill can do it.
To paraphrase, he said that under BA coaching if you were.in the leadership group, which he was as Captain, BA would go very easy on them and extra hard on those not in the group. You could miss tackles, drop balls etc without retribution.
He said that it was great if you were in the leadership group but caused resentment for those outside.
Now before anyone loses their panties, I’m paraphrasing but that’s pretty close to what he said.
Now I used to run a business and it’s business 101. You are harder on your leaders because they are the leaders.
If you let your leaders do short cuts then how can you expect the business to function?
Thanks spark
I didn’t know this but it kind of reflects what we have seen
Older players getting a free ride on poor form and dramatic inconsistency with zero pressure on them being dropped or being shopped off to other clubs
Hopefully new leadership in the club and a new coach can cultivate a new culture moving forward
I would argue the issue is not necessarily the leadership group being held to a lower standard, but who was selected for the leadership group in the first place.
Can you imagine Moses or Gutherson not setting high standards for themselves and being reliant on an external enforcer? I can’t.
Imo, anyone who doesn’t shouldn’t be in the leadership group. That doesn’t mean occasional external enforcement is not required or shouldn’t exist, but if you need it on a regular basis, you’re not a leader. Not everyone is, and it’s absolutelyfine if you’re not.
The role shouldn’t be allocated on seniority, but on personal attributes and behaviour. That’s clearly a cultural shift we need.
Maybe an axe to grind from Tim.
After all he did finish his career in reserve grade when BA was the coach.
Tim was probably telling the truth Ben, I doubt he would have made all of that up as a story from nothing.
There’s evidently a comfort / safety zone at the eels once you are a senior player.
The players we keep and don’t ship off.
Trust me even at the bulldogs or tigers many of them would of been gone LONG ago,
We tend to be so soft and loyal to players just because they were good 2-3 years ago.
Other NRL clubs simply do not do that.
Not blaming our old coach.
But rather identifying a culture we have adopted of being a strange club.
When young players come in they are usually quickly removed for making mistakes or dropped balls.
Where’s senior players can literally cost us matches, play absolutely atrocious.
And they’ll rarely pay a price for it.
There’s no pressure at the eels that they’ll shop you off.
When was the last time we heard of our club shipping off players?
Waqa blake?
And don’t get me started on that.
You could argue Morgan Harper is even worst than Waqa.
And we replaced waqa with Harper.
So not only do we take years to move on players that clearly are not going to win us a competition.
We shop them off and then replace them…
With players who are even worst for a “bargain”
Honestly all other clubs do not settle on players.
If you start slipping, you get shopped off or pushed out.
Where’s we keep old players who are so average now they can’t even get NRL starting spots at other clubs if we sold them.
Waqa blake was our starting back and didn’t even get offers from 1 NRL team apparently.
That’s how bad our roster is – and we replaced him with someone no better.
So when Tim M says these things.
I’m honestly not surprised.
You watch out young players if that stuff up over the years?
They get sent back to NSW cup within 1-2 games unless they basically make no mistakes.
And most of our player promotions are forced due to injuries or suspensions.
We RARELY ever reward NSW cup players with promotion due to performances at cup.
All they get is a call up if the old NRL squad is on its ass from injuries and suspensions.
I’ll end on this note:
At least we are seeing Guymer, Tago, Boods, blaize get a run.
But like usual it’s probably over due – it’s a forced promotion due to injuries.
We need to start playing for the future.
Sivo, lane, makatoa, these guys have no future at our club.
By next year or the year after they will not even likely be playing NRL for any team.
Some of those juniors I just named may have 5-10 year NRL playing years ahead of them.
Our club needs to start looking at them as our highly valued assets and Investing game time into them.
This is how the panthers are so successful.
You see their young starts consistently debut year after year.
More than half of our NRL team are on their last 1-3 years left of NRL.
We need a shift in culture.
Give Moses and Hopgood when his back the captaincy.
That’s our two origin players now who are our best players.
Guthos legs are done, paulo is a shadow of himself from 2-3 years ago.
The eels need to build a new culture and new thinking.
We are known as a retirement home.
As an eels fan it’s shameful that we known as having the slowest team and a hotbed cor old players to collect fat cheques and you don’t need to turn up every week.
It’s honestly a disgraceful reputation we have built.
Imagine being a financial & support base power house club like the eels.
And you do not have 1 fast player currently playing on your whole team and coming equal last after being in a grand final 2 years ago.
It’s honestly unbelievable, you would have to do almost everything wrong to fall that far so fast.
You would think a organisation with tens of millions of dollars would have the brains to employ faster players who aren’t fat or almost ready to retire – clearly that’s too complex for them to comprehend.
Tims a known backstabber so no surprises there , complete rubbish . He couldnt handle the truth about his own poor form that finished his playing career .
I’ll take the word of an ex captain of the Eels over most. I would think he would know what goes on and he’s not the sort of bloke who would lie about it.
“As you can see, it is hard to be too critical of any individuals in that loss. ”
Apart from Penisini who had the worst game I’ve seen from him, I agree.
It’s still the wrong defensive approach for the outside backs to squash in and the winger to come up. It NEVER works.
The outside backs need to push the attackers towards the sideline as the forwards chase the attack out while the other side of the field marks up in case of a cross-field kick.
The current plan gives them a 20 metre corridor down the sideline.
Unfortunately the players are taking the blame for not being able to make an unworkable system work.
The two – three tries a game we bleed down the wings have cost us an unfathomable number of games in the last 5 years.
They don’t use the proper system because our outside backs are cumbersome. They get burnt by speed in every game. Speed and ball movement and good defence is the modern game. The only reason the Broncs survived the first 20 minutes against the riff in last years GF was the speed and defensive efficiency of their backs.
Like you I have spent many years being a fan of Parra. I am the most despondent I have ever been knowing that change at the top is not going to happen any time soon. There is absolutely FA accountability with our leadership and it was in full display when dumb and dumberer held a press conference after sacking BA. It was all Brads fault.
Hi John, I like your comment on dumb and dumber.
They appear to me as fools.
Not only did they display no accountability or show class for sacking Brad,
They blamed him solely.
And when media asked out CEO if he believes they had the roster to win the comp?
He said yes he believed we do.
When I saw that it all became clearer.
Our club is ran by imbeciles.
How can you have the slowest team in the comp.
With an old forward pack.
And have paper thin depth across the roster.
With virtually no proper NRL quality back up players for almost ANY position.
How can you get on TV knowing that, and knowing you never even have a 30 man roster.
And tell us on TV this roster can win a comp?
This was the CEO of the parra eels.
99% of footballs fans and not just parramatta fans all would string disagree with his assessment.
1% of people would agree with him on that one.
This was the moment I knew we were truly in trouble.
This is a man who is either absolute clueless.
Or was simply gaslighting us fans to cover up their roster blunders – and to sack BA as their scape goat to be the blame.
Absolutely delusional and no accountability from our CEO.
Maybe nrl 360 should have done a poll.
“Do you believe the eels have the roster to win the premiership?
98-99% of footy fans would of selected “no”
Yet our CEO was busy blowing smoke up our tails trying to make out it’s all BA’s fault and the roster is genuine premiership winning threat roster. 😂
You are right, it was dumb & dumber.
It’s the worst roster for depth and speed in the whole competition.
Even the tigers, bulldogs & titans have speed for days compared to us.
Our backline and ageing forward pack on insane money is possibly the worst roster management currently in the NRL.
Our leaders are clueless or simply lying to deflect blame over to BA to cover up their own mess.
Looks like Moses underlined what teams with him at 7 can perform like with a decent contributing forward pack, and some speedy backs with a decent defensive mind set.
That the backline needed an upgrade has been evident for a few seasons with nothing really done, doesn’t appear to be a lot of quality out there, so probably dependent on releases and moving players on. Actually an ability to move quickly when players are available is not something we see under current personnel, let’s hope there are lessons learnt and a strong leader coming to the club with a chance to make change where it obviously doesn’t work at best practice level.
Not enough cap budget allocated to our backs
Zero speed accept 1 player Simmonson
Good teams have stars in the backs not just forwards and halves
We have not have rep level or even close to that standard backs for years
Hopefully this lesson we are going through my influence them to change their roster management moving forwards
Sorry I understand will p is a rep level player for Tonga, i more meant a SOO or kangaroos level back. We simply never have backs close to that level
No clubs who win the comp have ever had mostly B level backs every year
Maybe our edge defence isn’t just a weakness due to technique
But also player quality – we invest Little on the edges compared to say forwards or halves for years
I do believe Bailey & Lomax are very high quality backs tho
They may be very important players for our team next year
Especially if guthos time is nearing the end
In our great run in 21 and 22 Junior, Reg and Sean Lane were devastating. I note your comments on this game, and thry’re only going to slow down morr as time passes. We have relied very heavily on them. Time’s up for that approach. Two of them are signed for two morr years., the third, I think, gor next year. Total cost, nearly four million bucks. It will be a long wait for improvement whomever the next coach might be.
And for the second time in many weeks, Parramatta will have a 5 day turn around and play a team coming of the bye, just like our last home game against the Roosters. The NRL really hates us.
This will be controversial take but here goes.
Gutho should be removed from captaincy I know the ref’s are not great but how he speaks to them the hand waving carry on its embrassing I hope a Ref soon has the balls to sit him down. I coach junior league and we drill into the kids to respect ref’s same should apply at the highest level.
Overall we got the result we deserve we are in the ladder postion we deserve I’ve had enough of Paulo struggling out there same with Lane.
I go into every game expecting a loss and a 10 to 15 min fade put and the club never dissapoints with that.
Good thing is each game is one week closer to the season ending and cricket and soccer on TV to distract me from this terrible football club I’ve invested so much of my time on.
The more prominent Jarryd Hayne became, the more he harassed the refs. It looked to me like we paid a price for that via the whistle. Ben Cummins just soaked it up without expression, but like clockwork the whistle came out for a nit picker here and there. Gutho just needs to keep it composed and respectful. I reckon he tries but frustration is there.
Juniors leg speed and defensive agility have never been his strengths. High error/low completion games are not his favourite conditions.
We miss Bailey out there
I have said it before and will say it again, referees Influence the outcome of the game with their decisions. There were three tries Parra had disallowed and you begin to wonder is it motivated by other factors or is it sheer incompetence? Everyone seems to be dumping on RCG and Paulo and Gol has it right they have become twenty minute players. Why? Apart from the obvious reason they are tired footballers but, we should think back to our peak periods 20-21-22 when BA was flogging them on the field with big minutes. BA you may recall pathetically used his bench not to the maximum but to the minimum. On top of that these blokes played a lot of off season rep football. They are not busted but mentally and physically exhausted. The same happened to Jason Taumalo from the Cowboys, he is a shadow of his former days because they flogged him to death. And, the six again has dramatically changed the nature of the game. We signed those two for an extended period and at the time everyone was happy. They have given the Eels good service and they cannot do it like they did in the past. We are stuck with them for another year or two so we either off load them or better manage their playing minutes. RCG doesn’t stop trying but he is really tired – this I noticed last year. Who really is to blame? The coach who refused to better manage the bench. Why? Because he wanted his best players on the field most of the time.
As for Parra, they trying to win but, mistakes let them down. Young Blaize is a player of the future but at the moment he is learning the wrong lessons. It would be better to have Harper out there with Russel on the wing. As for Penisini he too has played off season rep football which should make him a better player. I find him at the moment making the wrong decision particularly attacking close to the line. He is not a greedy player but, sometimes he should be because he has the strength to force his way over the line rather than throw a difficult pass to his outside man. I thought young Matt had a safe game. If only he had picked up that ball near the try line and it might have broken the Knights because Parra were on top at the time.
Our season is dead in the water – let’s try something different – let’s pick some the younger forwards from the reggies and give them the incentive to work really hard for next year. And let’s not forget injuries and suspensions have contributed to a very poor season along with some pathetic refereeing. One final thing, the NRL draw has to be better managed to create equality from top to bottom. They work so hard on the salary cap which is rorted through third party contracts and ignore the quality of the draw. Things will turn around for Parra but not this year.
Actually you will find it Moses who really gives it to the refer
Good work Gol,
My notes:
I think it poor by the NRL allocating this game to Gough given the recent stuff up he and the bunker made in the Bulldogs game and the public interactions that he had with Gutho at the end of the game. Cause when you ref the same team two weeks later, and disallow three tries they score, and award three tries to the other team, only for the Bunker to have to correct you – that is bad optics.
And bless you B.A, but wasn’t it nice after 10 years to finally see a scrum play!
As for the grades: Its time to be tougher on Brown. Step up mate you are coasting through 65 minutes and working 15..
I thought Moses did all he could and probably got close to an A
Penisini… I think the next coach needs to deliver him an ultimatum because he isn’t getting better.
Sivo. Well he ran hard a couple of times, so that was an improvement
Arthur. He wasn’t the worst hooker on the field (my goodness, we got penalised for being off side twice when in fact it was just Crossland’s diabolically slow delivery out of dummy half), but there were a lot of passes high and behind the halves. I hope they keep playing him though at this point to give him the reps.
Give Lane the Ken Stephens medal and wish him all the best with his off field career. 2022 was the outlier, this is what he has always been.
Junior has had a good few weeks i thought, but my gosh, that wasn’t good. I agree with you Gol on him
Hey fellas I wanted to ask what you all think:
We looked good the first few weeks post BA
I liked the first adjustments in the team how we played
Now we have started playing completely differently each game
Is this Trent Barret not being a good coach?
Too much complexity or constant changes in the game plans?
Too much experimentation all at once for them..
after years of “win the collision” type mindset where we relied on our forwards winning the middle first?
Because that doesn’t seem to work anymore with our forwards.
I’m interested to see what you guys think.
I feel like our players are playing softer in defence.
I feel like there’s no aggression in the tackles.
A few years ago the first few sets when you faced the eels were INTENSE & aggressive.
Remember Marata, Paulo, RCG, or even Mahoney all over people during our first few sets in defence?
We lack that intensity now.
I am not saying the players aren’t trying hard.
But maybe they lack the physical aggression out there now that we once had.
I haven’t watched our team recently and been like “wow, the boys are fired up!”
It doesn’t look like an aggressive & dominant forward pack (or team) anymore.
Remember the physicality from a few years back?
Is that what’s also largely missing?
I was watching a few rely games from the eels from a couple of years back to compare the difference.
We looked far more intense and aggressive especially during early exchanges of a game, both in attack and defence.
Love to hear your thoughts and if you think this is something you believe is missing from us in 24’
P.s see the impact Nsw blues had with their physicality & aggression?
It looked like QLD was scared to run the ball at times (especially Walsh)
I feel like even if we sometimes joked about BA saying “win the collision” and all of that.
That we do not look the same as a team since that mongrel has reduced significantly.
Brett why don’t you tell us what you really think?
No arguments from me. Just on Brown. He has until round 10 2025 to tell the club if he will be taking up his option.
This is something I have been bringing up on social media for years. People don’t want to talk about it and almost all disagree with me. You can’t allow players to have options in their favour. It takes away the clubs control of the roster and hands it to the Player manager.
The Eels now have the most PO’s in the NRL. It used to be the Broncos but they hired a new manager from Melbourne and they have subsequently eliminated all player options.
Even Hooper on NRL360 brought it up on last nights show. This current administration has a lot to answer for despite Michael Curryanus cheering them on saying the club gave BA every opportunity to turn it around.
Apart from giving him the player resources he needed for a successful team
I know this is part satire, but I agree with the sentiment in Moses. I don’t think you can allocate blame on him not getting us across the line, I think it’s the opposite – he kept us competitive, but no one player could make this side properly competitive. The team is toast.
Similarly, while he’s far from the problem, Brown doesn’t look engaged enough. When the ball comes his way in attack or defence, you can’t fault him for effort or skill, but to me he has these games where he doesn’t seem to go looking for involvement (enough).
I get the motivation may not be there fighting to stay off the bottom of the table, but I read something recently that said the generational elite sportsmen hate losing more than they like winning. There seems to be an attitude of accepting fate at the moment in this team. But id rather we didn’t extend our embarrassing club spoon record.
The official explanation of the Talagi no-try included a statement that basically said if Talagi’s arm had been in the air and he released the ball, it would have fallen to the ground constituting a knock on. Am I missing something here? That didn’t happen, the ball stayed on the ground, the arm never left it and momentum caused all the movement.
If that’s a no-try please give us an explanation which doesn’t concoct a false circumstance. In fast motion replay you could see Talagi had no time to deliberately roll the ball forward.In Origin Mitchell scored a try where deliberately dived short of the line and the ball first touched the ground 2 feet short then he slid with momentum over the line with no separation. (Comments not an excuse for loss).
By that standard, most play the balls would be knock ons. Annesley would rather bastardise the rules of the game than have to admit to the number of mistakes his refs make. If we’re going to have forensic analysis of every try as we do now, we need the rules to be crystal clear on what can and can’t be done, and we need to accept that the rules for try scoring scenarios are going to be different, because you can’t apply that kind of lens to every play of the game. With that, the captains challenge should be taken out as well, why should a couple of select plays a game get a forensic viewing when general tackles and in-play mistakes can’t be reviewed?