Parramatta Eels 18
Melbourne Storm 56
None. You might try and take some positives out of this one not ending up as bad as it looked it could be at halftime, but I’m not in the business of giving credit to a side that plays like that in their first forty minutes of footy for the year.
As an Eels fan I’m certainly no stranger to being embarrassed by the football club I support, but rarely have I been hiding jerseys in shame and scraping bumper stickers off cars in the second week of March. What a humiliation.
To call the first half a tale of men against boys does a disservice to the effort I’d expect from a reasonably coached under 12s outfit. Some 11 year olds could definitely jump higher than Jake Tago contesting a bomb. If it was just the clunky attack and horrendous, clueless options being taken I could at least blame it on the absence of Mitch Moses, but the way this team were dominated in the ruck and the cluelessness on display in the defensive line are problems that have me wondering if the season ticket refund window has closed.
If Sixties didn’t have photographic evidence of field sessions in the off season I’d be seriously questioning whether this team had thrown a football together over the last three months or if they’d spent their whole time running laps. All that fitness work seems to have done is make it easier for bigger, stronger players to throw them around the ruck.
This was an unmitigated disaster and an ominous omen for Jason Ryles. If this is how they come out and play for him in round one, what is it going to look like in a couple of months? I was hoping he’d bring some of that Storm ruck dominance to the club, or at least some of the grubbery. Instead all he’s brought so far is the curse of Craig Bellamy assistants going out on their own.
Last year I gave it six weeks until people were calling for Ryles’ head in the comments, here I am doing it in the first week of grades. It was that kind of day.
Nah I’m good, how about we get around to handing out Fs?
Isaiah Iongi
1 – Fullback
One of the few remaining joys I have this season is the prospect of Blocker trying to pronounce Iongi.
Sean Russell
2 – Left Wing
This isn’t really about Sean Russell, but that first set where the Eels backs tried to play Panther footy and made about 7 metres between them, that’s when I started to worry I might look a bit foolish for talking the Eels up in the preview.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
Not sure I even noticed him until the 20th minute, but considering what had happened in the time before that it’s probably a good thing. He broke more tackles than the rest of the backline combined.
Zac Lomax
4 – Left Centre
My initial impressions of Zac Lomax are that he’s a bloke who starts to try too hard when things aren’t going well. He’ll be throwing tunnel ball offloads by round three at this pace.
Jake Tago
5 – Right Wing
Performances like this will have Jason Ryles studying an online medical degree on the plane home in an effort to resolve the injury crisis that has left Jake Tago the only healthy winger we have left.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
Word is that just before halftime, Newcastle police gave the Knights general manager a full escort to go and shred that $13 million offer they had on the table for Dylan Brown.
Ronald Volkman
7 – Halfback
We spent so long asking whether we could play Ronald Volkman this weekend, we forgot to ask if we should.
Joe Ofahengaue
8 – Front Row
I’m not saying this is all Joe Ofahengaue’s fault, but he came on board in 2023 and we’ve played like busteds ever since. It isn’t just an Eels thing, Joe hasn’t been part of a winning season since 2018 with Brisbane, and boasts a record of 27 wins and 79 losses since the start of 2020. He’s the only Queenslander who played in their dominant era to have a losing record in Origin, too.
Brendan Hands
9 – Hooker
I’m not sure that the plan was always a 50/30 split of minutes to the debutant Ryley Smith, but Brendan Hands’ service and defence sure made it seem like one of the few calls Jason Ryles got right this week.
Junior Paulo
10 – Front Row
If Junior’s workrate is going to shrink with his waistline we’re going to have to start sneaking protein powder into his kale shakes.
Jack Williams
11 – Second Row
He wasn’t alone (and the inside defenders hardly helped him), but gee it was an ordinary sign when Jack Williams managed to mark nobody while defending next to the posts as a front rower crashed over.
Kelma Tuilagi
12 – Second Row
If Kelma is ever going to play first grade again, and after today that might not be likely, can he at least ditch the headgear so the opposition has to work just a bit to pick him out of the defensive line? Jason Ryles would’ve been better off having the team play with 12 than sending Tuilagi back out there, when he was hooked after 12 minutes I thought Ryles might just have this coaching thing down.
J’maine Hopgood
13 – Lock
Hopgood was okay, which currently makes him the hot favourite to take out the Thornett Medal for 2025.
Ryley Smith
14 – Interchange
He was hardly perfect, but Smith looked a class above Hands in both effort and execution and in a time where drastic actions may be taken we could be seeing a lot more of him in coming weeks. The Supercoach discourse around him might be the only positive discussions about an Eel this week.
Matt Doorey
15 – Interchange
Didn’t get out there until the Storm had shifted to cruise control and put their feet up on the dash, but the way the guys in front of him played Doorey might be starting next week.
Charlie Guymer
17 – Interchange
With the time he had out there I expected a bit more involvement from Guymer, who didn’t bring that fresh energy I loved so much last year.
Sam Tuivaiti
21 – Interchange
Didn’t do much wrong, but also got on the field about 55 minutes after the game was a contest. Certainly deserves another shot ahead of a few in this side.
I can’t believe I need to go on a footy media blackout in round one of the season. What an embarrassment. For a team with a new coach, a dozen new players and supposedly a new attitude, that looked an awful lot like the crap dished up for the last two seasons and especially the second half of last year. The only difference I could see was the collapse came in the first 15 minutes instead of the last. I wouldn’t call that an improvement.
There’s a lot to turn around in a week, and the casualty ward is so packed that if Ryles wants to drop somebody he’ll be looking to the SG Ball team for a replacement. At least they’re top of the table. Why do we do this to ourselves?
Stay slippery, Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media
Honestly Gol, I tip my hat for such a measured assessment after the massive psychological and emotional damage inflicted to fans in Round bloody 1. Having stepped into the hot seat myself a couple of times over the years, writing Post-Game Grades SUCKS after efforts like these.
Maybe you can chalk it up to a nasty cocktail of a rookie coach meeting his mentor in Round 1 and all the hype of the famous Melbourne streak but it was beyond deflating to see us so out-schemed, out-enthused, out-paced and out-muscled in the first half.
Melbourne and Penrith are by some considerable margin the best teams in the NRL and a loss – even by a solid margin – was the most likely outcome today but we should have been closer to them in fundamental areas.
Goes without saying that turning it around against Wests in now a non-negotiable.
tago least of our problems, scored a nice try and bundled coates into touch thus preventing
a try which is no mean feat considering coates strike rate from that proximity to the try line. All that with a pretty nasty looking injury. He is one player who looks and plays like he cares.
Go Gol !
mate you and sixties are two sides of the coin that’s for sure !!
Ryles will have to learn quickly how to put some mongrel in to this team or we’ll get steam rolled regularly. Cut the rot bring in the young blokes and give them license to be tough and rough. I’m sick of seeing our eels play like the Brady Bunch.
But apparently they trained really well???
Honestly everyone saw this coming anyone who expected anything other than a flogging is kidding themselves
Yes it’s a new coach and some new players but there is alot of the same players who have been part of our loosing culture
Throw in the injuries and this is what you get Tago and Russell wouldn’t make any other teams top 30 yet there all we have left.
Strap yourselves in it’s going to be a long season
Everyone can look good at training.
It’s a bit like in cricket hitting them good in the nets doesn’t always translate to runs out in the middle.
We have had great pre-seasons for years and it hasn’t translated to any success other then a 1 x GF appearance that was over by the time the national anthem was finished.
Losing culture takes a bit to weed out. Unfortunately now it seems to have crept in to the joint. Some of the senior players today were some of our worst players.
Ciraldo needed 2 x off seasons to get the Dogs to defend the way he wanted them too.
I suspect Ryles is going to need at least a year to clear out the deadwood and get the full crop of players he wants and trust in the system he wants to create.
Leave the snide training comments at the door Offside. If you want to challenge the work done (and reported on) in the preseason there are ways to phrase any number of questions that are respectful of everyone involved.
I’m not going to tell you that you are doomtelling after just one Round 1 because the reality is that we got well and truly trounced today. It was an abjectly awful week (fortnight considering Vegas?) for the NRL though with the Warriors, Roosters, Tigers, Knights, Rabbitohs, Dolphins, Dragons, Bulldogs and Cowboys all looking off-the-pace ranging from degrees of thoroughly mediocre to outright ugly.
Parramatta are clearly orders of magnitude behind the likes of Melbourne, Penrith and perhaps Brisbane as it stands but they get the chance in the next two weeks to show everyone how they fare against the midfield. Injured/suspended players will come back into the fold and our rookie coach will get a better grip on match preparation and we could be looking back at this ugly loss as critical teaching tape.
John, the real concern is that the NRL are planning to expand to 20 teams. There is simply not enough talent to go around. Super Rugby is a classic case of going to big and failing miserably as the quality of games went south at a rate of knots
Thanks Wally; you’re saying what I have been saying too. It’s all piss and wind for the NRL to talk expansion. What’s worrying is the lack of development at younger levels and kids being promoted without much Reggie football – clubs keeping kids and paying large wages.
Wasn’t a dig at your reports it was a dig at all the talk from the players and Jrs new frame yet what was served up was the worst I’ve seen in years.
Fair play mate. I certainly can’t argue with you on what was served up. Just a diabolical start to the year.
My expectations were low for this season
Now they are even lower hopefully that’s as bad as it gets.
Let’s give Melbourne credit they were 3 levels above us
Offside I still think we will be better this year. But this will take time. Jason is going to be doing a rebuild more or less maybe similar to what ba had to do. I think we made finals not long after ba did a rebuild. I think we must also consider about 8 ppl in the top 30 not available and we would of looked completely different had we fielded a full strength team like Storm did + had a home game advantage and a 20 year 100% win record in rd 1. A lot of contributing factors here. I think eels will look decent once full strength.
I get your point Muz that players were missing but even with those guys available, Kelma still plays, Paulo still plays, and Brown still plays the former has never been a first grade player and the latter 2 are 18 months removed from their best. They all stunk today (and weren’t alone).
And ok Moses and Carr probably make the team better (if Carr can stay on the field), but Simmonson is no game changer, Lane has had one good season in his career, Matto hasn’t played well since since 22 either and Carty looked dreadful in the trials. So whatever you are looking for to come in, is unlikely to change the needle much. It all depends on Iongi, Guymer, Ryley Smith and co learning how to play in the NRL real fast, and for Lomax to prove himself to Eels fans.
Some good points ba sports can’t disagree with you.
Maybe the more experienced players will just hold up the defence a bit better I thought.
What is worrying though mate is like we saw last year, is brand new rookies are coming in and being the stand outs in the team.
If your zero nrl game rookies are coming in and standing out then it’s a sign the club needs a clean out of the NRL roster of older players unfortunately.
For any side in the top 8 or even top 12 you rarely see players with no nrl experience come on and show up experienced first graders. We saw that yesterday and at times last year when Guymer came on and showed up the first graders on big money.
Big job ahead, no doubt. Ryley Smith did well though and is one positive.
I appreciate your measured words Muz. I agree that it’s one game with a lot going against us before a ball was kicked. What I can’t cope with however is how abjectly poor Paulo and Brown were. Throw in Offa as well and don’t even get me started on how pathetic Kelma was. 2 of our most senior and highest paid players were awful. If these players are included in the film strength team, which of course they should be, with the exception of Kelma, who should never see first grade again, we aren’t improving much. We got absolutely dominated in the forwards and this will continue.
Wally I agree paulo brown and Joffa didn’t step up like we have seen from them in the past
I didn’t expect Jnr to offer a lot after missing most of last year
But I expected more hustle from Joffa and brown who last year offered a lot of effort even during our losses
Brown looked disinterested and Joffa didn’t play like he was happy or committed either like he did last year
Who knows why
More credit needs to go for the two young debutants Ryley and Tuivaiti. I would give both of them a B grade minimum such was the state of the game they arrived into, and both made a significant difference.
You can’t expect miracles from players players their first match
Kelma was terrible in the Tigers trial and diabolical against Melbourne. Should never play first grade again. But apparently he was the ‘standout’ of the off season. This has Hodgson and Momoisea vibes about it.
i agree re those 2
I think the grades for the young brigade were a bit harsh. Probably could’ve given them higher grades and allocated an F- to the more experienced members of the team.
These youngsters are going to be the future corner stone of the squad and I really hope they get some more chances.
For the more seasoned players I hope Ryles is ruthless in his assessment and sends a message early that standards need to be met or there are consequences
It is about relativity with Gol’s grades. C’s in a game where the weighted average elsewhere is close to F are arguably worth more than B’s when most others are getting C’s. Like scaling scores in academia (plus Gol can be a tough marker!).
I am 100% with you on the hopeful ruthless response from Ryles. He showed that kind of intent in hooking Tuilagi before Williams’ HIA circumvented the call. With the likes of Moretti and Matterson hopefully back alongside Lane, Cartwright and Greig plus Mataele he does have options in the pack to a degree.
Regardless of any other factors, Dean Hawkins will replace Volkman purely from a roster slot stand point given he holds a T30 contract and Volkman is second tier.
Im starting to see why Manly didnt go out of their way to retain Kelma, did you see the way he just stared at that loose ball which was pounced on by the storm and then converted to a storm try. The positive is that I think we roll over when its really hot, like in Darwin. Im expecting a big bounce against the tigers. I would bring in Hawkins for Volkman. I think Cartwright and moretti and matto can offer plenty. Gotta keep big sam in fg he was good and surely will be huge in a not so hot day. Id like to start smith but then worry that he might be getting rushed.
Kelma will be such a threat once Moses is back but in the meantime he needs a run in cup to work on his contact.
I thought all the bench players were ok and will be starters for us in the years to come so might as well keep giving them the opportunity.
Problem I have with your assumption on Kelma EELectric, is the fact that regardless of Moses being back, he is lazy and a very very ordinary defender.
Really entertaining read. I almost feel bad for our players reading it though to be honest.
I said it once and I’ll unfortunately say it again the outside backs depth curse that’s plagued us for years was on show today.
You simply cannot compare against top teams if your wingers are both NSW cup quality, there’s guys who can play wing at other clubs who are 3-5 spots down the pecking order and would be walk up starts at our club over everyone besides Josh Ado car or Simmonson when he’s at his best.
I still think Zac Lomax is going to struggle to offer us much at centre compared to Will Penisni.
I think Jason Ryles has to flip a coin here – I think today at least 2-3 of those tries would not of happened had Lomax been our winger and not Tago.
That plus our kick returns are poor because they almost entirely rely on Iongi.
I would love to see Papalii Lomax and Iongi as our back 3. I could see that speed and X factor both getting good meters but also creating line breaks from pure speed and footwork.
We just saw today how the speed and acceleration at the back from Ryan Pap absolutely dazzled our parra defenders.
Joash Papalii would absolutely offer something similar to that on kick returns helping iongi if he was to be a winger. Our current wingers don’t offer a running threat or or fast accelerating speed.
Bit harsh on Russell as he worked harder than most and got little service, he’s become a bit of a target and generally plays a fair bit better than most give him credit for.
As for Tago and Tualagi, both signed after showing their true worth last season which tells us a fair bit about possiblly the R&R team and their judgement over the past 3/4 years. They are good RMC level players, that we see them as opportunistic NRL players is a statement in itself.
The props need to pull their socks up and be damaging, not something we have seen for a while. A terrible start to the coaching career of Ryles, he needs to grab the recruitment team by the balls and demand better. As for placing so many options in contracts, we are seeing the results as players are extending beyond their real worth to the club.
On to the Tigpies, let’s not think what will happen if we turn up with this weeks first 25/30 minute attitude
Spot on re Russell B&G. I can’t believe the hate for him, he can hold his head up after today, he did everything asked of him. Same goes for IIongi and Penisini.
I don’t know what the go is with Brown, he was very quiet, didn’t take the line on, just stood and passed most of the game. Is his head out of here already, or is he showing his suitors that he’s doesn’t really want to leave here. On another note, I just finished watching the game “again”, and what I did notice was the amount of players, mostly our, slipping over, losing their footing on the turf. Melbourne caught us out a few times turning the ball back inside, I noticed our players couldn’t get a decent grip, it was like playing on a wet ground. I think Melbourne were fully aware of the condition and played to it to perfection. This scoreline was always on the cards, next week is our season defining game.
I remember getting a drubbing from Manly at the SCG. 71 I think.
Ken Thornett never missed a tackle. Manly scored because they had support for the tackled players.
Today, Iongi never made a tackle. I. don’t care how you can run. If you have #1 on your back you must tackle.
He should watch some videos of Matt Seers playing for Norths in the 90s. He was the best tackling fullback I’ve ever seen.
Russel played ok and can’t fault him a lot. It’s probably just tago. But I think we need more speed in the back 3 besides iongi. You saw what speed did for Melbourne on their kick returns, we could hardly get a hand on them at times. Lomax & Russel would be a better combo since Lomax can get good meters on kick returns going off last year.
Can’t argue with a thing. Pretty spot on.. Well Kelma would have got an F to for me. But well written. Best thing in a crappy day for Eels fans.
Disappointed with how not disappointed Ryles was. Maybe he knew we wouldn’t get close to them.
I had the Eels losing this by 30, so I didn’t come in with high hopes, but boy, they still managed lower my expectations even further.
Mate Ryles wasnt disappointed.. he was seething.
If the players think they can let him and thier teammates down, they are going to learn some lessons.
The one thing that Ryles has learnt from the Storm and it’s the one thing that he talks about all the time it’s – accountability.
If there is a grade worst than F than todays captain deserves it. 3 hit ups for 18m I noticed with about 10mins to go a poor effort from our whole front row but junior was captain today and is our forward leader and he was poor. He was infact worse than poor. Halves struggled but some of that was on the forwards lack of go forward. Mitch could have kicked us out of trouble a few times but Volkman does t have that long kick like Mitch and Dylan nearly kicked and when he did they were attacking kicks inside their 30. One thing to look at is our poor starts to sets and have a look at the size and power difference between our wingers and theirs. Storm in a different class to us we just had t muscle up early and we didn’t. Starting the season with 8 unavailable doesn’t help.
Paulo got: 78 run meters.
34 of them were from kick off returns.
So we basically only got 40 non kick return run meters in a whole game from our main forward over 50 minutes.
Joffa: 38 total run meters. Only 38 meters… from a starting prop.
Jack Williams and Hopgood both got over 100 meters which is decent.
Sam Tuivaiti only played for 18 minutes and got 47 run meters.
Sam got more run meters than our starting prop in Joffa.
Whilst I think a lot of us have shown frustration in a lot of players yesterday – I think there was no platform laid down. Our forwards and backs didn’t run anywhere near as hard.
Our backs in Peninsi and Iongi were clearly our best backline players.
Iongi: 178 run meters. Penisini: 182 run meters. Tago: only 38 run meters. Russel: 88 run meters. Lomax: 101 run meters.
Now look at the difference in meters from Storm backs:
Ryan pap: 153 run meters. Warbrick: 187 run meters. Jack Howarth: 249 run meters. Meany: 190 run meters. Coates: 156 run meters.
Storms props: Stefano 89 run meters. Josh King 105 run meters.
I was so disappointed in JR. I really had hoped he was going to turn it around this year. Whilst it’s one game where we got smacked this is properly a career defining year for him because he’s a previous captain in the leadership group and he had 18 metres for 3 runs at halftime. Diabolical stuff.
Luk maybe he was pacing himself because he was required to play big mins and apparently it was hot down there. He had missed most of last year too.
I think his experience will be handy but as we’ve all known for a long time his best years are behind him and this team won’t see massive moves up in the ladder until players like him on apparently $1 million are either reduced contracts or moved on.
You can’t compete with say sharks or broncos when their $1m forwards are Payne Haas or Pat Carigan or say Fonua Blake who are on similar money.
This is a lot to do with past roster mismanagement and unfortunately Jason Ryles will be hammered in a lot of games until he can get our cap & roster fully dialled in again.
Majority of our highest paid forwards are on the same money as in 2022 but have gone from elite in the game to possibly not wanted by other clubs even at a heavily reduced rate unfortunately.
Glad I didn’t put too much weight behind the pre season reports, sounded like we were going to win the comp based on all the hype on here
Storm approach round 1 like its the GF!
They up all their preparation, video on every player. Every player is dialled in to their opponent and what they need to do to dominate.
Bellamy giving it to them at half time for conceding that try he wanted Zero in the first half…
Storm have a killer instinct! Every play they know what they are doing because they talk non stop.
Unlike the Stotm “We don’t talk anymore” A great song but we don’t!! Gutho and Mitch did all the talking both were not there! Junior and Dylan are quiet on the field. Volk and Iongi only played a handful of games. Smith was the only one talking when he came on around 30min mark. If nobody wants to lead the team we are going nowhere!! It doesn’t matter how good you are or what you do at training you are being told what to do and when! Who’s running the team in the game ? Nobody!
I think it is a wake up call for Ryles not expecting that his senior players would fold like beach chairs. Instead of leading the new players.
We’ve had the luxury of seeing it before but now Ryles has seen it for himself.
Pete It was surprising to see Joffa and brown not lead the time like we saw last season.
I mean in terms of their own efforts, both of them stood out in this respect.
Both of them looked disinterested or not happy in our team anymore.
The Storm was prepared like it was a GF, we looked like we just got out of bed.
Did it look unlike brown and Joffa to you? They looked far less caring compared to last year in that game.
Agree, last year Joffa and Brown helped hold things together to stop the ship from sinking. Yesterday both as you say looked unhappy. Maybe they both realised they won’t be here in the future? Who knows? But now Ryles knows first hand Junior and Brown cannot lead the team and now add joffa to that list.
It’s going to take two years minimum (2 off seasons) to turn this ship around. We have about 15 players off contract in 2026 and about 6 this year. So expect a lot of movement this year and next.
I don’t know if I like this though mate. Brown and Joffa were players who looked to hold if together. Joffa was close to our best player in 2024. Brown also especially in defence saved our tails too many times to mention.
If these two blokes look disinterested next week – it’s a sign there’s a rift or dissatisfaction inside the minds of some of the players.
I’m hoping it was just a first game thing and next week is different.
But make no mistake, if Joffa and brown show up disinterested again next week, there’s a chance we get flogged.
Tyrell may looked twice as good leading tigers than any forwards we have.
And Galvin looks 3x more dangerous than Dylan brown from any sample size we’ve seen in trials or games in 2025 so far.
Then Laui who’s obviously a lot more experienced than Volkman.
If Beown and our last year close to best player Joffa show up at 50% I can almost guarantee we lose.
If our best players don’t show up next week, we can all expect it to come out later / soon they are leaving the club or something has happened or they simply are not happy.
Let’s hope next weeks completely different attitude wise or we are in deep trouble.
The fact that we have to field half a Reserve Grade team in Round 1 is a real concern. With a team like that we wouldn’t have beaten any full strength NRL team. I know some of the missing players are out of our control (Ado Carr), but we do seem to attract more than our fair share of injuries, and injuries during the preseason are not just bad luck – I say they are bad management. Until we get some NRL players back, it’s going to be more of the same over the next few weeks.
I was watching the game and I couldn’t work out who was captain. There was no talk out there, nobody was rallying the troops, no defensive structures in place. This is unforgivable, especially given that we still had some experienced players out there. Why didn’t they step up and fill the void?
Good points Long Fin.
The injuries I’d question
Lane- getting an elective knee Arthroscopy that usually get done at the end of the (2024) season. Harry Grant mentioned something about these type of injuries yesterday. He said they’re used to get out of training. Given the changes in coaching staff Lane would have decided when he wanted it done.
Matto – Not sure what his injury is. But he famously pulled out just before the magic round thumping And BA got punted! He has chosen his player option early and remember he took the first part of the season off last year instead of paying the fine. We all remember that…
These are two senior players and their decisions permeate through the club. Good and bad.
Is Dylan injured? Was he playing within himself because of it? He’s on $850k. Wishart is on $350k just sayin
Junior is a bench forward on $900k
There’s definitely a psychological component to the club based on poor contracts and players knowing they have been overpaid and its playing out on the field.
Interesting Pete. I think there’s many factors at play here like you mentioned.
People need to understand Matto, paulo, lane, take up a fair chunk of our cap and are literally 1/2 the players they were a few seasons ago and are on the same money I think?
It’s not their fault. It’s the roster mismanagement which Jason’s adopted and will improve but it’s not going to be an instant fix.
There’s players at our club who aren’t mentally 100% committed anymore. That’s what it looks like anyhow.
The first half was a horror show, so I switched off after that. Defence was non-existent. You could see on every set that it was just a matter of time before they ran through us. They completely let Melbourne dictate the speed of the game, where the game was played etc. I don’t think Melbourne finished a set in their own half, and from memory, there were only 2 sets where they kicked from just over half way (ie these were our 2 best defensive sets).
I don’t understand how a team can be unprepared or unfocused for the first 40 minutes of a season. It’s just mind boggling.
I’m worried about Junior. He’s had 2 very poor years in a row, and having dropped the kgs, doesn’t look any more effective on either side the ball. Sure it’s round 1, but he’s had a tonne of time off to get his body right and he was supposed to be the captain leading the way.
On a positive note – I liked what I saw from Sean Russell. He looked to get involved and gave his all.
I usually wake up angry after a loss. Today was different, I woke up feeling sad for our boys and Jason.
I was dreading this game all week, like most fans, I could see this result from afar.
We were lambs led to our slaughter and the preparation started when we drew Melbourne in Melbourne. There are no excuses for what eventuated but the reasons are as clear as a blood written message on a wall at murder scene.
We spent the offseason changing everything from coaches, players, training methods, defensive structures and attacking methods.
Fast forward to team list Tuesday, we learn our captain, our playmaker, our general, our organiser and our general kicker is ruled out. Further, we learn Moretti and Kautoga are unavailable and we lose Matterson.
We sign Hawkins as cover for Moses and he’s out injured. We sign one of the best wingers in the game but can’t use him until round 3.
Game day, we turn up with six players making their club debut, two of which are making their NRL debut. Iongi is playing his second game in the NRL, Volkman is our third string halfback and playing in his seventh NRL game, Tago is our fourth string winger with a handful of NRL games under his belt and Guymer is playing his second NRL game.
Paulo, Guymer and Hopgood are returning from long stints on the sideline and Brown spent a large part of the offseason in rehab.
Who do we draw in round 1? A team with an unbeaten round 1 record at full strength at home on a hot dry afternoon. Grand finalists, premiership favourites with a world class spine that have played together for years. Of course we do.
It was like Tyson fighting my grandmother, you can only imagine the nerves the players and the coaches had all week, imagine our players looking at each other in the dressing room knowing what’s about to come. And poor Ryles knowing he was just about to lead his men to their slaughter without a white flag.
It’s little wonder we looked panicked and without a game plan, our boys went into survival mode, at times they stopped playing all together.
This game was deadset an episode of Seconds from Disaster which began to unfold a week ago.
There is no one to blame, the odds and circumstances were hideously against us.
No amount of training or planning can stop a falling plane from going splat.
There’s no point trying to overanalyse a game like this. Cream mixes with crap and they all smell bad.
This is going to be a slow, clunky start to the season, it was always going to be.
I still believe we will challenge for a top 8 spot.
Thanks Joseph for putting it all into perspective. Pick any one of their spine and they will have more NRL games then about 8 of our players combined, so we were always up against it.
One of the main things that worry me is the lack of talking and communication within our team. Sixties wrote in preseason reports about how well they were talking in defence and to each other and to go quiet in the first game is a concern.
I really think that Ryles and the team will learn alot from that game and what is acceptable and what is not.
I’m hoping for a better effort in our next few games before I make any judgement calls on them.
They will do better.
Joseph from the points you made including how many players out but also players returning from being out paints a true but also sad picture of the club at the moment.
Players returning from injury as we know can take time to get back to their best. Several players with little to no NRL experience.
It literally was a recipe for disaster. I hoped we could do well but that was obviously not the case.
Parramatta needs to honestly have a blinder next week and sheer luck and to play out of their skin the next few weeks to hold any chances of finals footy, if we get stuck on the bottom for the first 6 rds it will be a hard climb up from dead last (or close to it).
I get where you’re coming from, Joseph, but it doesn’t cut it for me. Right from the 1st set there was no intent in the tackles and seemingly nobody wanted to be involved in the hard stuff. Some fans are over the moon that “chasing the collision” is no longer a buzz word of the Eels coach, but JR damn well better find another saying for it quick smart, because that’s what wins footy games. I said a week or two ago that I was concerned about the lack of size in the Eels pack and that JR seemingly being intent on mobility was not the right thing in my mind. I even referenced the Panthers big men and how they dominated other packs. Guess what, when the Eels were regularly competing with and beating the Panthers in recent years (GF aside of course!!) that’s how they did it, they simply got on top of the opposition packs and allowed time and space for the backline to do their thing. Now the backline has been rightly strengthened to include some much needed speed, but that will mean nothing if the forwards aren’t chasing the collision and front loading their efforts – I think I’ve heard those terms somewhere before??? If I were to be honest rating the forward packs across the competition I’m not quite sure who I would place behind the Eels at the moment. For me Ryles getting rid of RCG was a massive loss and a mistake.
Stubby they looked like they dearly missed RCG out there yesterday.
Eels forwards laid down no platform.
Muz, I get there were some debutants and new players to the club, but there’s just no excuse to have players in your Top 30 that don’t put in regardless of the circumstances. There doesn’t appear to be a forward leader, someone like a Liam Martin, Spencer Leniu, Fisher-Harris type that says here’s the benchmark, just follow me. RCG wasn’t that intimidating forward, but he always rolled his sleeves up and did the hard yards and it would have been hard not to follow him. Junior is not that player and neither is Joe O. I was expecting a loss and said that the manner of the loss will go a long way to determining the Eels chances this year. Well that performance loudly screamed “no chance”. You’ve trained all off-season and it’s the 1st game of the year yet nobody put their body on the line from the opening whistle. A lot of people have been critical of the Eels defence out wide, what is more concerning to me was watching A and B defenders leave gaping holes, improper spacing and grabbing instead of hitting with shoulders. Sadly, that’s U12 basics that were lacking.
Stubby the haters will hate it but the truth is no team can win consistently without wining the collision. No teams win the comp without dominant forward packs who are very physical and aggressive.
Stubb, those years where we competed with and defeated Storm and Panthers my memory says we turned in great stats which enabled BA’s game style to work best, but you’re right about ‘the collision’, only got to look at Panthers,Storm and Broncos, their forwards are fast, mobile and aggressive, and the Roosters may be following our example.
Hey Stubby
Our smaller mobile pack may prove to be a mistake or it could be the change we need as the season progresses. We missed the finals two years running and narrowly avoided the spoon. Granted we gave the Panthers a run for their money but that’s little consolation when we are playing spoon bowl.
I’m certainly no league expert but what we were doing was not working, we stopped winning the collision two years ago, was the game plan becoming too predictable or was our aging pack to blame, I honestly don’t know. I’m guessing the idea is right if your pack is mobile, fast and powerful, this is where I worry, the quality may not match the game plan this year. We may have the quality under our noses like big Sam, you never know. We obviously can’t match the big guns this season but we should have enough across the park to play finals.
My post is just my opinion why we were dismantled yesterday, moving forward you could well be right Stubby but yesterdays result just showed what Goliath can do to David when a dreamer is not writing the plot. We were absolutely no chance across the park, I hate to say it but I doubt the coach or the team thought they could complete, further, I’m sure they knew that a smashing was in order. They were mentally exhausted before they ran on, I’m sure they were shitting themselves all week, on the plane and in the dressing room. They’re only human, we knew it, the media knew it, the bookies sure knew it and they knew it too.
Good post, Joseph. I don’t have an issue with mobile forwards, you especially need them on the edges as that’s where the outside defence starts from. But you need to balance it with some mongrel in the middle. I think a big reason for the 23 and 24 issues, long term injuries and suspensions to crucial players aside, was the loss of Ice and Niukore. They just never got replaced. I think JR just hasn’t got the balance right and that’s on him not BA as some are suggesting.
Joseph I think that what happened partly mate is not that Brads game style completely stopped working
But rather the players we had winning us those games have all significantly declined since 2022 with age + the game speed increases with 6 agains, etc.
I think it’s much more complex than just blaming Brad. We managed our roster incorrectly while top teams like Storm or melb constantly let go of good players right before their stock drops, where’s we hold on to players until no other club will more or less even take them.
Majority of players who leave us end up in the super league. Paulo, Matto, lane, carty will probably all end up in super league in the next season or two as well.
Craig Bellamy would have not signed them all at the ages they were on contracts this long, his elite roster management would have avoided this crisis in advance. That’s on us as a club to learn & hopefully grow better at management of our roster.
I agree though the more mobile forward pack may end up helping us much like what we’ve seen at bulldogs who beat us easily last season in the ladder. But I still think we severely lacked physicality in that game Vs Storm and we won’t win games unless the forwards are much more physical and aggressive.
I should have added: as stubby mentioned the loss of Niukore and ice also hurt us. We didn’t replace them. Ultimately we did a lot of things wrong with roster management. We now need a rebuild more or less in the forward pack.
After watching the short highlights again. Wow it’s actually scary how Melbourne made us look so second rate for a period.
As soon as teams turn the heat up on us some of these existing squad players just completely drop there bundle and surrender. It’s becoming like muscle memory and it’s ingrained in a few of these players heads.
This is massively a mental thing that is going to take some getting over. Teams have worked out a lot of our squads tendencies and blood is in the water if you get on top.
Ryles job is a big one and will take some patience because I think we’ll see a few more blowouts in the near future. It’s gunna take time