Welcome back to another season of From The Stands.
Unfortunately, this season of footy has not been so welcoming.
Each new year of the NRL is always full of anticipation. And so it was for my family when we arrived at CommBank Stadium last Sunday.
As we took our seats behind the posts and the temperature seemed to rise every minute, I felt that strange mixture of nerves and excitement.
That said, those feelings were tempered. You see, I love the footy and I love my Eels, but I am a realist.
Our team is so young in key positions and let’s just say we have some growing pains under our new coach, which means some games will be tough.
Jordan Samrani – one of the young players
We can all discuss the things beyond our control such as injuries, the opposition, the bounce of the ball, but the truth is that players can only gain experience by being given opportunities.
Complaining about what was dished up in the first two games of this season is the right of every fan. That said, complaining about things will not help us this week. Moses is not coming to save us, although I wish he was.
But one thing we can control, and that is directed at both the team and us as fans, is attitude.
I love our Eels and I could never imagine swapping teams. But this is not my job or my profession, it is my entertainment.
As a fan you have a right to be disappointed, to be upset, to be annoyed but if you want our team to succeed, which ultimately most fans do, turning on each other never works. It achieves nothing but disharmony and distrust.
Players come and go but that disharmony can rot away at the foundations and cause trouble long after a player moves on. I will always cheer for any player who wears our jersey and I would hope all fans do the same.
And now to the players.
Sunday’s scoreboard was bad enough but I was more concerned with their attitude to the little things.
On the footy field, attitude is easy to see.
Players and teams with a good attitude defend as one, they don’t dart out of the line leaving gaps. They have good line speed, they support each other, they chase kicks, every kick, in unison.
And if an opposition player makes a break, even if it seems a lost cause, they chase because anything could happen – a trip, a hamstring tear, a dropped ball. Just as importantly they compete for any ball that hits the ground, whether it’s cleaning up a mistake or taking advantage of one.
But above all else, players with the right attitude keep going when things are tough, and pick up others when they are down.
Now I recognise it was excruciatingly hot last Sunday, sitting in the stands was exhausting enough so I cannot imagine how tough it was playing in those conditions.
However, there was a point early in the match that defined what was about to unfold.
When the Tigers scored their first try, and the Eels players gathered behind the try line, it was directly in front of our seats in the stand. As we looked on, it took about 45 seconds for any player to say something. It was painful to watch.
That try was the first of the match and yet at that point I knew the Eels had lost. Their attitude was not close to what it should be.
Parra will only turn this ship around if the players have each others back. It must start with the senior players finding their voices. They must set the standards and demand a winning/competitive attitude from their team mates.
This Eels team might not be full of experience, or star power, but every player has absolute control over their attitude.
It matters little if the player is staying or leaving, of if they have played one game or 101 games. Everyone who dons the jersey is part of this club, this family, a club built by hardworking men and women who sacrificed much.
Players who show that wearing the Blue and Gold means something to them through their attitude, passion and determination will have the crowd supporting them.
I believe in my heart that our players, every player, cares. But it needs to manifest on the field and there were examples to be found.
As last Sunday played out, I kept a close eye on one of the newest Eels, Zac Lomax.
Zac Lomax
Throughout the second half he kept switching sides looking to get involved in our attack. He had to to go chasing it as for some reason, be it tactical or the play was not working towards Parra’s best attacking weapon.
When Lonax did go looking for the ball in the Tigers half and red zone, the Eels butchered so many opportunities to get him involved. I could see his frustration. But what impressed me was his persistence, he kept going and trying. He did not sulk, he tried to get involved and he tried to do something to stop the ship sinking.
This Sunday is an opportunity for redemption. But the players must front up with the right attitude. It must be a do or die attitude against the Bulldogs because Parra fans will expect nothing less against one of our greatest rivals.
Speaking of the fans, prepare for the banter and “friendly animosity” that is always evident when the two clubs clash. The two supporter bases mark these clashes down on the calendar for a reason.
This game even splits many a family. There will be ‘bets’ taking place inside households all over western Sydney. And those Doggies supporters will no doubt turn up in numbers to our home ground expecting an easy win.
As fans we will roar our passionate support and do all that we can to remind the Dogs and their fans that they are in Blue and Gold territory.
But ultimately, the job of winning can only be done by those on the field. The senior Eels players know what a Parra and Dogs game means to us in the stands. They need to show that they care about the jersey as much as we do.
It’s later than we want, but let’s get this season started now!
Shelley
Anyone know where Jock Brazel ended up?
Well said i hope players n staff read your comments I’ll be there cheering them on as usual
Good read Shelley, glad you’re back.
Hopefully the rivalry means as much to our players as it means to us fans.
I don’t know much about Hawkins but I hope he can offer a kicking game that puts Lomax and the Foxx in the game.
I’m not confident we can win, I mean how could anyone after our last two performances but I’m not writing-off a win. Like you said, let’s get this season started!
Nice sentiments, I just wish this team had the same positive attitude.. the fact no one spoke for that long says volumes about the lack of an alpha and the lack of leadership our captain Paulo displays. I could not believe he didn’t go looking to take any of the early hit ups. He used to be such a good player but now is not worthy of the top 17.
As we eels supporters say “oh well there’s always next year.”
Attitude…I think the player most likely to inspire some on field leadership and energy is Junior, but he really needs to ark up big time, get involved more, run and hit harder and rev up the forwards…if our back 5 are taking more hit ups, we should expect far more energy from 8-13 as a unit.
Will be interesting to see if Hawkins can extract some sense of purpose, our bumbling efforts to capitalise on territorial gain last week will never win games.
Sadly BDon, Jnr has never been that player. He isn’t a vocal leader and he isn’t a “follow me” type leader with a barnstorming run or a couple of massive hits. He’s just a toiler that prefers to try and off load than doing the hard yards.
My thoughts exactly mate.
Why the hell is Jnr captain? That is on the coach and I cannot understand how he is still playing first grade let alone captain.
He hasn’t played at this level for a couple of years and doesn’t talk, or lead by example. I think a wake up call in Reggie’s is on the cards. He hasn’t played a painfully slow play the ball especially for a fitter and big bloke. Opposing forwards are licking their lips when he takes a hit up because they know he is so easy to dominate in defence.
Then there is Brown as a leader…
If we are developing a team for the future and getting experience for the youngsters, why are we persisting with Brown? Makes absolutely zero sense.
Yhank god your not on the coaching staff
Yeah lucky hey mate…
We are going so well, I would stuff everything and we would probably be at the ass end of the ladder again.
Oh wait…
Unfortunately, Malcolm, it’s just the facts. Junior is just not a leader, never has been. Some people are born to do it, others learn – he’s neither. And you surely can’t argue with Grunta re DB’s form, which at the moment is putrid. People like Grunta and myself don’t want it to be the case, but it just is.
I’ve been very disappointed virtually the whole team but his not going to drop the whole team my problem is to put most of the. Blame on brown n to n to say volkman played much better is where the debate started from
I would give lomax the captaincy
If parra can complete high and lay a platform and our forwards can turn up aggressive we stand a chance.
If parra forwards easily get ran over by bulldogs pack we will get absolutely flogged. Those bulldogs outside backs will score tries easily in 1-1 opportunities against Will P & Russel if he plays on that wing – you can bet there’s a 99% chance they will attack us all there all game.
I don’t know what’s going on with our Snr players like Joffa who were clear team leaders last year. But we need a big performance from our forwards or our backs will be fed to slaughter again, if our forwards don’t get big meters and we give away easy field possession again? We hand them the easy win.
I know some people have noted our lack of experience – but the worst performances are definitely not coming from any of our rookies and new recruits, in fact it’s been completely the opposite.
Experience isn’t the problem with this team at the moment – It looks like the Snr parramatta eels haven’t bought into Jason Ryles or they’ve seemingly declined by 20-40% in one off season. 😬
Guys who can’t crack first grade at other clubs, or are largely used at bench players, have come to us and are looking like the best players in the club. Jack Williams and Samrani are good examples. Those guys have been honestly phenomenal. Both in trials games + nrl.
I mentioned before samrani debuted that he will offer us big meters which the other eels wingers don’t really offer. But I didn’t expect about 200 meters on his nrl debut! This is huge for us.
That’s true Muz.
Lane, Penisini, Russell and Brown in total missed 15 tackles on that edge. (Lane 5 and Will 6). These guys have been playing together for years.
Williams, Lomax, Samrani and Volk in total missed 6 tackles. (Volk only missed 1 tackle)
These guys only their second game together..
Junior 3 missed
Joe 4 missed
Hopgood 3 missed
Iongi missed 4
Now looking at the missed tackles between Lane, Brown, Will and Russell- all played together for years. Now watch Lane’s video again and tell me what you think.
Lewis Dodd could be a short term option or a loan option. He’s on $600k playing reserve grade behind Humphrey’s in the pecking order. He killed it in reserve grade on the weeknd set up a few tries and scored. Can play left or right side has a left foot kick. He’s an England international. If we released Brown and got Dodd who can play 6 or 7 without all the drama that sulking Brown has brought. Im not saying Dodd is an immortal. But, Anything is better than sitting through the slow
death of the season and a player that’s checked out.
No chance. A person who hasn’t ever played nrl, who was dropped to English reserve grade last year and now is playing reserve grade in nrl on 650k. That’s a hard pass even if we are desperate
Fair points there Ron.
Dodd is all that you said and will probably go to Dragons so no loss really to us. I think he was dropped after he signed with Rabbits but was replaced by Jack Welsby who is better than Dodd.
The only issue we have that remains is we have someone on $900k who didn’t
support his new halves partner well
enough in the first two games and now
we have Hawkins in this game and Brown has arguably put on a dinner suit
for the rest of the year. Do we persist and hope Brown improves.?
Brown will improve but he needs fowards to lay a platform. It all starts at ruck and with the forwards.
Unfortunately it’s just the beginning of the pain
Last week was just the Entree for shit that will be coming
Hopefully it’s the pain we need to endure till things change.
Good luck to anyone going out sitting through it on Sunday at Penriths home ground being out cheered by bulldogs fans..