Parramatta Eels 8
Bulldogs 16
While this wasn’t a corner turning performance by any stretch, it was nice to see the Eels putting in for a full 80, in the contest the whole way. Josh Addo-Carr’s debut brought with it the expected injection of energy, and Junior Paulo had one of his better games in some time which provided a platform to work from. Zac Lomax worked himself to a standstill. Efforts like this will eventually produce results.
Plus Sparky was back, knocking one existential crisis off of the list. Welcome back buddy.
Let’s not kid ourselves here, this was an improvement from a very low bar and there is still a lot of work to be done. Some of the defence that led to tries was abysmal, amateur stuff, especially that first try right through the guts. The attack, and you are being generous calling it that, offered no threat and rarely created opportunities.
The Bulldogs threw absolutely nothing at the Eels the entire second half and just focused on their defence; while they gave away plenty of field position they were rarely tested in any serious way. Some of that will be the missing playmaker and edge threat, of course, but Parramatta threw five hitups and a kick at them for the entirety of the second forty and the Bulldogs just ate it up and asked for more.
That chip and chase was the blinding light on an otherwise dark attacking day for the Eels, but Zac Lomax cantered home for MVP thanks to his ridiculous 31 runs for 303 metres, including 9 tackle breaks. Almost every single one of those metres was hard earned, rucking the ball out of our half against tough defensive lines. A true MVP performance.
Isaiah Iongi
1 – Fullback
A relatively clean, hardworking performance from Iongi, who I can only really criticise here by noting who he is not. When Dylan Brown went missing last year it was Clint Gutherson who often chipped in to lead the attack, and Iongi just doesn’t have that command yet when somebody needs to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.
On the other side of the ball, there was a moment when Bulldogs fullback Connor Tracey made a crushing cover tackle only a metre or two out to stop a certain try, and while those kinds of moments are surely coming for Iongi too, it’ll be great to see a bit more special to go along with the steady.
Josh Addo-Carr
2 – Left Wing
The energy on that left edge was different as Addo-Carr directed traffic, there was one notable moment where the cameras caught him pointing and yelling at his inside men who to cover, the kind of veteran assistance in defence we’ve too often lacked in recent years. He didn’t get many opportunities to work with the ball, and he’s not a Panther-ball rucking specialist, but when Lomax and Iongi are combining for 500 metres, does he need to be? Let’s just get him some decent ball.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
Will just isn’t quite where he needs to be on both sides of the ball right now. His try was an exercise in classy decision making, but his cover on the Bulldogs third try was slow and left Iongi with an impossible job to put the winger into touch. There’ll be a good combination there eventually with Addo-Carr, I feel it, but teams are figuring him out and exploiting his speed right now.
Zac Lomax
4 – Left Centre
The numbers are gaudy, but Lomax had to work hard to every metre he made out there. The big 300 is an easy stat to lean on but what I loved most was his kick chase and contests for the ball. If we aren’t going to give him good attacking kicks to get after, he’ll just have to do his best chasing down the midfield bombs instead.
Jordan Samrani
5 – Right Wing
I like how Samrani plays the game; the tough, hard runs with an edge about him, but he’s got a bit to learn about defending out wide. He’ll make Jason Ryles think about it, but Bailey Simonsson should be taking this spot back when he’s ready for it.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
This week Dylan’s game was worth a pair of knock-off Blitz and Bolt plushies, sold by the same guy peddling hot dogs at the end of Northcott Lane. This was a game there to be taken by the scruff of the neck, and Brown prodded it around his plate like a kid who left his broccoli to last. Taking the money was meant to free him, but Dylan is playing well within himself right now.
Dean Hawkins
7 – Halfback
Dean Hawkins held his own, in a game where we needed a big time Mitch Moses impression he took on the general play and distance kicking and for the most part, especially in the second half, the Eels dominated the territory game. He didn’t have much more than the kicking game, but the team improved from playing with the composure of an ant under a magnifying glass to that of a dog with a hair clip attached to its tail, so that’s progress.
Joe Ofahengaue
8 – Front Row
Meat and potatoes from Joe, which is fine when we’ve been slurry and slop for two weeks but we’ll need to start seeing more to keep the improvement going.
Joey Lussick
22 – Hooker
Joey tried a bit of kicking to some success, but some of his service was ordinary and highlighted why he’d fallen behind a rookie in the pecking order in the first place. He deserves to keep his spot, but gee it’d be nice to get Joash Papalii into that utility spot instead and offer a bit more challenge to opposing defences.
Junior Paulo
10 – Front Row
I was 100% ready for more of the same from Junior, so it was nice to see him really dig in here. He was running tough and earning the offload, and put on a few nice shots in defence too. More of this please mate.
Jack Williams
12 – Second Row
Doesn’t really matter what he did afterwards, if you get caught arm grabbing five metres out in the fifth minute and it leads to a mediocre bench prop crashing over, you get a bad grade.
Shaun Lane
11 – Second Row
While that dropped ball on the unexpected offload was a very “Lane” moment, it looks like the Tall Glass of Water is trying to adapt his style to the Ryles way of football. He defended solidly at the expense of his running game, but still put on one of only two tries on the day despite his low attacking involvement. Certainly not our biggest problem right now.
J’maine Hopgood
13 – Lock
Similarly to Williams, if you are too busy pointing at the ref then walk back onside in the fifth minute, you can make 50 more tackles afterwards but you are getting that D.
Ryley Smith
14 – Interchange
I continue to really like what I see from Ryley Smith, who brought a bit of energy into the game with his arrival. He’s a bit raw and makes some mistakes, but his service is good and he is looking for chances all the time.
Matt Doorey
15 – Interchange
I continue to be, well, maybe not impressed, but pleasantly surprised by Matt Doorey’s efforts this year. Jason Ryles must not be seeing it the same way as he continues to get limited minutes, but in the time he has out there I usually note at least a couple of tough runs that stand out compared to his fellow forwards.
Gideon Kautoga
17 – Interchange
First up, just dive on the damn ball when it’s loose. Save the heroic scoop and scores for JAC and Lomax. Second, that failed pickup was his only touch for the first 38 minutes of the game. Kautoga is defending tough and doing well with line speed and contact, and maybe that’s what he is there to do, but he’s got too much upside to only be running three times in a game. There’s Panther-ball, and there is piss-taking. Three runs combined between Lane and Kautoga in the first half is the second.
Sam Tuivaiti
21 – Interchange
More limited minutes for Tuivaiti, who is looking solid in what he is doing and is every bit the first grader. It’s a tough environment for a young prop to be making his debut, but he’s going well.
Parramatta’s run through their rivals continues next week with a Sunday afternoon visit to Brookvale to face the Sea Eagles. I wouldn’t be confident if we were playing well, but even with the self-inflicted turmoil around the Manly club right now, this one could be ugly. I haven’t thrown the paper bag out just yet.
Still, it was nice to see the team have a real go after a couple of wayward efforts. There’s no attack at all and some of the individual defensive efforts were embarrassing, but it was a treat to enjoy a full 80 minutes of football after two weeks where the smart ones were tuning out before halftime.
Let’s hope we back it up and can kick the Sea Eagles in the mouth on their home turf.
Until next time, stay slippery, Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media
All fair enough but I will politely disagree with Lomax’ grading. A+ deserved I reckon. I was completely blown away by his game
Lomax definitely deserves an A+ for that performance!
Everything is pretty much on the mark
What more could Lomax have done to get an A. Seriously maybe mark the ground out before the game. Brown F++
Paulo + Lomax: A’s.
Lomaz an A i think you have it in for db involved in both tries with most of our plays going to lomax side maybe to avoid critghton n company +no missed tackles from brown i thought he put in
Dylan was so disappointing again, Ryley and Sam show what is available coming through our pathways. Tuavati is still yet to be extended and the lacklustre R&R team need to pull their fingers out and get that done .
The very first small step in moving the club forward, not going to be a quick fix but looks like there are early signs of what Ryles demands.
I feel that Parra are about to turn that corner, but this week’s game could be a telling factor. Thrown in Simonson for Samrani, and that’s almost the best team we could field (baring Moses). We should be up for this game – round 3 produces some positives to work on, but the main problem is the lack of finesse with our attack. This is nothing new, and we struggled with that for most of last year while Moses was out.
Longin we can only hope Evans does a Brown on Sunday.
I totally disagree with the Kautogas grade. He was our biggest weak leak. How he wasn’t penalised at least a couple of times for ruck interference is beyond belief. No attack whatsoever. If he gets picked today I will be underwhelmed.
There is a very small light at the end of a very long tunnel.
Most grades I agree with, even though Paulo played better being captain and most experience I expected better so I would of given him a c at best. Tuivaiti deserves a b- as is still 1 of our best forwards and only played very little NRL games and should be a run on Prop to get more experience as is our future and performs better than the experienced players. Brown needs to be dropped as he is leaving and should be ashamed of the poor performances he has put in. Very unprofessional. Who to bring in well someone who is the future at the club, maybe Joash P, better to give the experience to those who will be here than the pain of someonewho isn’t and you know your going to keep getting unprofessional response from.
Yep dyl was a D good call, but if ever there was an A it was Lomax
Thanks again for the effort in putting these together. It’s a little depressing that we were somewhat enthused to be soundly beaten by an emerging middle-power side but there were signs of real improvement. In particular, some of the hits of Gideon and Sam left Bulldogs rattled
Very encouraging.
That tackle that Williams missed right under our posts was a shocker. Shortly after he knocked on when rucking the ball. Maybe he played OK after that but letting an opposition prop stroll through the heart of our defence brought a horrendous sense of deja vu. As you point out, Hopgood too was at fault, though less so.
For sheer guts, Lomax was an A.
But thanks, Gol. Always an entertaining read.
Williams came to us with the reputation of having major concentration lapses in his game. He impressed as being a truly hard man in the Ron Hilditch mode but his contribution will be limited if he retains those moments.
Zero excuses for Williams for the tackle attempt leading to the first try. The knock on you talk about though, that has about 75% Lussick blame for the poor pass out of dummy half – which he does routinely. I think you could see on the replay Lussick copping a spray from at least one Eel player (might have been Paulo)..
Yeah, BA, poor pass up near his shoulder but catchable imo. Following that hopeless attempt at a tackle I wasn’t feeling too well disposed towards Mr Williams. Low balls are more difficult to catch. I would like a first grader to catch those high balls. Lussick is a tough guy with an ordinary passing game for a dummy half and very lacking in creativity. I suspect he will have to do until Ryley gains experience and is capable of 90 minutes.
Personally Lomax is an A if ever there was one. Magnificent.
Dylan was an F, he’s impersonating a footballer right now.
Lane with his size and ability should be dominating.
Lomax an A+. He was best on field in a losing side.
Lane c+ is quite generous. 7 runs for 50m in 62 minutes played isn’t up to scratch, particularly when playing next to our marquee player.
On that Brown was again no where to be seen outside of a few early balls given to lane. Both were D- at best IMO
In Lane’s defence, he tackled better than Junior.
I don’t think Brown is using him in the line properly.
He would run more if given the opportunity.
Likewise, there were opportunities Penisini had to offload to the Fox that might have led to something.
I’d almost be tempted to drop him for Simmonsen to give him an incentive to think about his effort.
Dylan was an ‘F’ once again. The game was there to be won and he contributed bugger all. Complete passenger out there and overly relying on Hawkins to deliver the killer blow. Agree with the others that Lomax should be at least an ‘A’.
Gol, I guess you have struck a team/result standard and plotted individual relevance. where Lomax easily tops the class. Whatever the method, the boy excelled. The potential upside from Junior firing up is huge, not the least being able to set example for the young blokes. I can tell you 100% that Oloka’atu will hammer people this week, Junior needs to make sure the favour is returned with interest right in front of the Manly crowd.
Lomax an A or A+.
Hard to fathom how he is given less.
Its not just Eels fans talking about Dylan
This is from a Knights forum;
I hate watching Parra play because every time Brown touches the ball I find myself surprised by how poor his touches are.
He’s going through the motions and even then the outcomes are negative. He’s throwing hospital passes, not engaging the D line. Not looking to be direct or creative whatsoever.
And in reply
It’s actually really sad. You’ve still got to keep trying, they are paying you every week and good money. Man up. Put the team on your back and play some footy you …!
Knights fans will be relentless if he goes up there and thinks he can get away with what we have to witness.
I could get over the first game where he chucked it in. But hes not even chasing in defence he’s walking. That’s not out of form. That’s I’m a millionaire get me out here…
Spot on pete, put the shoe on the other foot, say Lomax starting tanking for the Dragons, we would’ve been worried. Instead he got better and better, how happy were we.
You just know his time at Newcastle is going to end in tears.
I don’t why I have a feeling Dylan won’t get to Newcastle, my gut tells me Dylan is regretting his decision and I imagine the knights are very, very worried with their decision.
In my opinion, Dylan will only be in the right head space if he’s knows he’s staying at Parra.
I’m sorry, but why on earth would we want him to stay? We’d end up doing this again.
He thought he’d get more money out of us. I reckon he’s reached his ceiling, and his game isn’t developing. I suspect the new coach said no to paying him more.
Anyone seen improvements in his kicking game in the past 2-3 years? He’s had time and incentive to develop a long and short kick. Nada. Good running 5/8th. Really good defender. Not worth more than he’s currently on. On current form, not worth that.
And I’ve been a big fan of his. It hurts to watch what’s happening now.
I sort of get why Lomax got a B+, that’s close to an A.
He would be an A if he had a match winning moment or kicked all his conversions.
There’s not a grade low enough for Brown, plodding for most of the game when the club really needed him to standup is unforgivable.
Williams and Hopgood, what can you say, that’s twice this season they’ve left a gap big enough to park the Titanic under the posts. Williams won’t be starting, nor will he be playing in the middle once Moretti is back.
I don’t know what anyone sees in Matt Doorey. It just evades me tbh.
I watched him carving up in several games in reggies last year, and wanted him picked in firsts. But then he was, and… urgh. I don’t know if he just expected to do the same at that level or if he’s just one of those blokes who is going to look too good for reserves but not good enough for NRL. I’ve seen enough to understand the opportunity given at least.
Paul’s game was an improvement but, it did not natch his grading. I don’t understand Paulo, he is as big NAS but plays like a reluctant bull. How so? You watch him, he catches and runs. Why wouldn’t he run and catch, that makes him harder to stop. I reckon Gol could stop him on his own when he catches and runs. There is no power in his running. (Reluctant bull). And why wouldn’t Ryles send out a message and tell Hawkins to try some low ball grubbers – fair dinkum talk about predictable. Brown is clearly played himself out of form. I would consider either Josh Lynn or Joash. It couldn’t be any worse and they would bring energy. But, we are not the coach.
I thought our defense in the second half was rated A+. It was great. I know what Gol said about their attack but they are a hungry team for points and couldn’t get them. It was a huge effort. And again the referee influenced the outcome of the game. That ridiculous penalty against Lane with Crichton that lead to that try. Parra, if not charging for points have to learn to shut the game down with just minutes on the clock before half time. The boys totally turn off. That’s a coaching problem. If Parra start to play with some confidence and better direction then we are a good chance with these games. The Tigers and the Doggies were not that good. That makes us look bad – why? Did we win?
Zero, against Wests at minute 39 Volkman put up a kick that I yelled at the TV screen before he kicked it. You could see the team was not interested in an attacking play, only Lomax chased with any energy but the kick was too long for him,Beulah easily stepped Lomax and ran into open pastures, linked with fast runners and they scored under the posts. Your opinion is not an opinion it’s a fact.
Thanks Bdon. Volkman should have grubbered it over the sideline. The same against the Storm. Kelma did a stupid pass – went a scrum and they score with 39 seconds on the clock. Good grief – he does some stupid stuff at times. Charging down a kick on the tryline that gave the Broncos six again and I think they scored. The number of times Parra let in trys in the last few minutes of the game or half time is a real worry.