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Join Sixties and Forty20 live in the wake of the Round 6 action in Darwin. The boys discuss the results of the Eels’ final trip to the Top End and how they fared against the Canberra Raiders.
The boys also breakdown results from the Jersey Flegg and NSW Cup earlier in the day as the Eels secured wins in both grades at Lidcombe Oval – even if the Cup decided to make it as hard on themselves as possible in the second half.
The Instant Reaction podcast will be live from 9:45PM (or 15min after full time if the game runs long).
Awesome to see Matto come in as a late inclusion. I think we can win this game fellas.
Why do we always look so unfit compared to every other team ??? It’s not even close.
We are just not fit enough.
Errors are due to fatigue and fatigue is due to being unfit.
There is absolutely no substitute for good old fashioned fitness.
How many times have football teams embraced these new scientific methods and teams have gone backwards?
Blair Mills is just the latest quack to rock onto the scene.
You dont consistently give up 20 point halves when you are fit.
Only listening on the radio mate .without seeing my take is silly mistakes 65 percent ball to Canberra in the heat leaves us buggered
How many times do we let a try in right on half time I can think off at least 3 games .it’s like we take one step forward and 4 back .so frustrating
If you make the errors we just made in the first half in Darwin then that’s footy suicide
There’s no excuse for this rubbish 60’s. Mitch Moses cannot come back quick enough. Dean Hawkins is simply not NRL standard.
Well those plenty of one on one missed tackles are giving them a good breather waiting for the conversion.
Currently young, inexperienced and paying for jamming the previous teams with journeymen previously. Said it before but signings and extensions done since 2021 has been well below the rest of the comp.
Look at the Raiders, basically all of their team is external signings, mostly signed from around the NRL, how did they spot and sign those players while we lurched from Makeheshi, Ogden Harper etc. we have a good line of players that was constructed by DeGois and Shepard in junior reps, néed to bring them through as Penrith did. Our senior signings have been questionable as a whole since 2021.
Error/penalty count must be around 10-4. I reckon 6 agains also in Raiders favour. In these conditions you just can’t have lopsided possession busters. Our start was poor.
The Raiders do look fitter but once again we’ve been self harming.
Agreed mate but it continually happens not just this year. I’m a super optimistic regarding parramatta but this mess is just not bad luck t
Bdon it’s the same every week. High error rates. The ref has obviously favoured raiders as well.
Muz, I got distracted but what happened in the first half when Savage passed the ball after arm and ball hit the ground. I was sure the ref blew the penalty our way but when I looked back at the screen the Raiders had possession. Was I hallucinating?
Decision was overturned by a 6 again call that preceded the pass off the ground
SH Ball, play an unbeatable brand of footy
Flegg, really strong, a game built on great defence
Cup, inconsistent due to constant changing of players and some disinterested senior players – but have young forwards that dig in and an improving halves pairing.
NRL…. From the beginning of the game they dropped balls, gave away penalties and six agains and did not close down space around the ruck (Lane and Gideon time and time again). They did everything in their power to lose the game in the first ten minutes.
The NRL team should be the guiding light of the club, not the SG Ball team.
So, why, why is this the case?
Exactly mate and not the 1st time this year
Either losing the ball or giving penalties in the 1st 6 even
Kenny the errors are absurdly high. The easy penalty’s we give, poor decisions.
We look less professional than the lower grade sides. I don’t know if our playing style is working for our players.
The high error rate and poor execution has been the only consistent thing about us.
Surely this is Lanes last season with us..
Him and offa struggle with fitness every game.
We just have to get rid of the deadwood ASAP.
I don’t want to attempt to make excuses for our errors every week including today destroying our games each week.
But the bounce of the ball, the luck, even the ref is literally all against us.
I don’t know if this is just bad luck or the low confidence of some of them just resulting in almost nothing ever working for them including the 40/20 attempt as one example.
The ref is also acting like he’s scared to upset Ricky Stuart or something at times.
Again mate only listening the ABC said a cruel last bounce on our 2 ..40 /20s
I’ve seen enough tonight. This season can’t end soon enough for me.
Guys what’s up with our attack? Constant errors every week to the point it’s probably worst than a NSW cup team.
Is our playing style and attack too high risk in the ball movement to be used as their strategy each week?
Maybe these game plans worked at the Storm or roosters or wherever its influence came from.
But we cannot go on at parramatta playing with this same game play style every single week where it is literally guaranteed to result in extremely high errors and ball turn over, even just balls hitting the ground as another example too regularly.
(Jason) or whoever in control of the attack must act fact on this fact and reassess the strategy. If the team isn’t good enough to consistently execute the playing style without making an error almost every single set.
Then don’t you think it’s time to rethink something? Because it’s been 6 games now not including the two trials where we’ve been littered with errors every single game.
It simply doesn’t work for these players, or they are not good enough to play like that, you can’t keep playing with the same game playing style if it leads to errors every set basically. If this isn’t addressed we will just keep on making errors and beating ourselves in every game.
High completion rate and low errors has not been seen in one single nrl game or trial this season. We make more errors than the NSW cup side I feel like.
I think it comes back to the players mate not good enough. The junior sides and reserve grade seem to be going ok
They are all doing great tanky. This is part of the issue Jason inherited.
We’ve never been a club (for many years at least), who’s been able to transition the jnr elite talent into first grade star level talent.
This is both a coaching and developmental issue that’s held us back from more youth transitioning into nrl stars, but also the club’s leadership being clueless.
Look at the we’ve let go of in recent years. Most of the good ones are still doing really well at other clubs. We replaced most of them with major downgrades.
The club is not ran by highly competent people unfortunately. Otherwise the results would not look like this.
I don’t the style is the issue, it’s the players. They are simply not good enough.
Agreed – they lack the basics because the game model of brad was one out runs and play off offloads or Moses/gutho attacking instincts. It’s why 60s said the team spent early part of preseason working on catch and pass and marker position, defensive positioning etc. these skills weren’t properly developed under brad as brad had different game model that worked okay under previous nrl rules
They have all been abysmal.
Missed tackles must be close to 100.
An absolute embarrassment to their club.
Duped again. Hopefully we don’t hang onto this dud coach for 2 years like we did the previous one
The recruitment and retention staff can go with him tbh
Hams I feel like it’s partly a cattle issue. The lower grades as you know are executing greatly. If he doesn’t change our game playing style it looks like high errors and poor competition rate will destroy us every week. Not one game this year have we played without consistent errors.
The error rate is horrendous. Officially at this point 15 errors and 44 missed tackles.
It’s pretty simple stuff. You must hang on to the ball and make good passes.
This is terrible. Jason and Junior won’t want to be smiling at this press interview.
Is this is the most error riddled eels side ever? I’m struggling to remember any parramatta sides with this many errors?
Mate how many times did we have 4 or 5 players in a tackle and they still pushed through and unloaded ?.
I’m a big Jason Ryles fan but maybe the good guy Ryles needs to crack a few heads.
Defence is attitude and we are far and away the worst defensive side for years.
Spark he will do a big clean out after this season. His whole first grade coaching career will be dependent on succeeding at parramatta. The good guy / loyalty & mateship thing with him won’t hold him back. If he keeps this roster the same and fails again next year he knows how job will be under pressure. Expect a possible mass clean out like the bulldogs coach did if he can’t turn the tide.
Of all my years watching this team I’ve never seen such a poor display in defensive ability. The lack of first up tackles and wrapping up the ball is just amateur hour.
Lane was walking half the game (mind you this has happened the last 3 weeks) our forward pack is the worst I’ve ever seen, they’re are slow and lack any sort of venom to compete.
Our recruitment and retention has left us in a place where we have no one else to turn to. This hole started a long time ago. The lack of vision from our current leaders will result in this happening again and again.
The issues that plague this team will not be solved over night and I have never struggled more to watch them play.
Our pack needs major work, I’m hopeful that the forwards coming through in Cup, Flegg and Ball are the answer.
Lane is a lazy footballer, even during his better seasons with us his fitness and defensive effort have been poor. We lack punch through the middle and the difference in athleticism between Canberra’s pack and ours was obvious.
Every year we go to Darwin we look like the visiting team that has encountered these conditions for the first time and are being found out for it. Thank goodness this is the last time we take a game there, what an awful move this has been from the club with absolutely nothing to show for it.
An absolute basket case. Seriously could be the worst eels team of all time. Pathetic roster Mark O’Neill should be sacked immediately. In a corporate setting, such failures to recruit decent staff would result in immediate termination, yet our club puts up with it.
Poor old Ryles getting greyer by the minute.
But don’t forget “let’s just be patient” – it’s only been 40’years hahaha what a joke.
There seems to be no ability to finish tackles.
Playing against bigger packs we are going to be humiliated, probably for years.
This isn’t about youth, it’s a fundamental strategic flaw.
We have a pack that will be dominated every week for the lack of a RCG style enforcer.
Today was the low point of expectations for me.
From here I fear it’s just going to be a dynasty of pain.
Shit team makes shit errors and gets pumped in heat. Shock.
How ryles starts with lane and katonga is beyond me. Comfortably the worst backrowers in the 17 of any side in nrl.
I’ve followed the team since 1965, I think tonight I turned off. No more memberships for my family. It is time to let this club know that a proud and determined team is more important to their community than poker machines. The team are a humiliation.
I am embarrassed by that performance, the players should be, and I now have real fears for the coach and the club. He has been left with a hopelessly ill equipped squad. How many years?
I will not be wasting my time anymore.
Well said
It doesn’t look like Lane or Cartwright want to play football anymore. They should go to Ron Massey Cup, let players that want to play play
Hamsammich is 100% correct. The club is being seriously devalued by MON and recruitment and retention.
The football team is in serious trouble
My live notes as I watched;
• First error – Surprise surprise, it’s a pass for Sean Russell and he lets it fly infront of him
… Probably the fourth such error this year
• This inexperienced referee is scared of Ricky Stuart.
• Finally Brown runs and scores. Interesting that only one player seemed interested in celebrating with him.
• Ricky Stuart tries to build his team based on toughness and Corey Horsborough is supposed to be an enforcer – but the guy is (by NRL player standards) a cream puff.
• If Dylan Brown had even tried just a little this year, he could have been playing 7 and we wouldn’t have to sit through Dean Hawkins.
• This is probably Simmonson 2nd best game for the Eels (best was the 2022 final v Cowboys) but still nothing to write home about.
• Last week Paulo was charging into the line thinking metres first, offload second. This week, he is turning his back… again.
• The Optimists who drink the Parramatta Cool aid keep telling us Katonga is an exciting prospect. Personally, I’ve seen enough of Him now to confirm he stinks. He’s not an NRL player and it isn’t his fault, more an inditement on the roster and our recruitment and retention.
• Half time 24-6. I feel like we have seen this story in Darwin time and time again. So maybe B.A wasn’t the problem.
2nd half:
• Iongi has the rookie blues tonight. Superstar last week, bludger tonight.
• Eels score! They’re on top….
• Brown gives away a stupid penalty and laughs about it…
• Brown hasn’t run the ball in the last 40 minutes… Seriously. Why?
• Respect Walker. He wants to win.
• Jnr is back on… fresh… still not trying as Young scores showing more desperation for the loose ball. Utterly. UTTERLY pathetic from Paulo as a leader. Game is over.
• Joke of a penalty try but who cares at this point.
• Matterson return has been solid. The odd bit of Ill discipline but you can’t tell me he isn’t a better option than Lane or Katonga.
• Must be real humid in Darwin. Brown is sweating profusely and he hasn’t done anything for an hour.
• Fogarty runs the ball for the first time in 3 years … and he gets cramps.
Full time: 50-12
I had the Raiders for highest score of the weekend, so I’m not too surprised by the result and along with a bunch of try scorer bets on raiders players, looking good to make some money from the weekend.
A quick stat check and our forward leaders; Paulo, Lane and Joe O combine for 14 runs. Seriously. That is embarrassing.
Russell, Katonga, Moretti, Lane, Hawkins are just not first graders. If we’re not looking to replace them for 2026 (Hawkins is obviously a back up), then people aren’t doing their jobs.
Let’s hope we never ever play a game in Darwin ever again!
BA, post your notes more often, I found the ‘as it happened’ angle absorbing and thought we must all see similar things. I did a double take at Junior’s half hearted attempt at contesting the ball with Hudson Young, I’m 100% sure he thought it was a forward pass but taking the opt-out option isn’t exactly the right instinct and example.
Brown forgot to get a sighter on the ball, what was he thinking? Where Savage (or was it Weekes) was standing looking to the sky must have told him something, or wasn’t he looking again? $1.3mil pa, the Knights must be concerned.
Agree on Matterson, late last year he looked competent in bad results, like he was just focussing on getting the fundamentals right.
Who out of the current team should ryles take forward with him? Off the top of my head: Moses, Iongi, simmonsson, penisni (for one more year), Russell (reserve grade), addo carr, lomax, hopgood, junior, Ryley smith, Walker, guymer, tuivati, Williams, Hawkins (reserve grade for one more year).
That’s 15 or so players out of a top 30 that are adequate. The rest of the top 30 is utter garbage that would barely get a look in at any other club.
The recruitment and retention team need to show people the door and clean out the squad. Way too much dead wood that’s been hanging around for 2-4 years now.
You do realise that the recruitment and retention committee has been responsible for the team out there. They have horribly mismanaged the recruitment for years, whether that’s dueto the previous coach’s philosophy , then why have a HOF that cannot make thise decisions.
Raiders recruit from everywhere successfully , Tapine , Young and Starling recruited from Newcastle, Starnge from the. roosters, savage from QLD union, 2 SuperLeague players etc etc.
First thing is to restructure recruitment guys, they have basically failed and there is no other description, would suggest looking at what the Raiders have done and start there, maybe pinching their guys. Can’t continue with what we have, they are not good enough for a club with our resources. Evidence is there , Ryles should”not rely on them in any way
I agree. I’ve been banging on about the failures of mark on Neil and the recruitment/retention committee for years. They are an incompetent bunch and we shouldn’t be allowing them to attempt to right their wrongs. Get more skilled people in the bloody building – Newcastle got Peter parr and O’Sullivan. We sat on our hands as usual.
Sad thing is Ron, of those 15 there are a few that one could argue shouldn’t be coming on the journey either.
Penisini. His highlight reel in the last 2 years would be over before you could microwave a donut.
Junior. Great player in his day. Take away the Dragons game last week and what has he done in the last 12 months?
Russell is barely above Massey Cup level, Simmonson is a back up and JAC is, at his age, one more hamstring injury away from being totally done.
In all likelihood this is a multi year rebuild – burning Moses best years and that rebuild won’t effectively be able to start until MON and the CEO stand down.
Jim sarintos, Sean mcedluff and mark oneil should have all been sacked over the last few years. Instead they covered each others asses.
Yep. It’s the massive flaw in the new club/Board reporting structures. They basically avoid accountability.
I’ve been told I am wrong about that, but if I am, then they would be out the door by now so we could be planning for 2026.
So unprofessional in every way. We have the professionalism of a nsw cup side and a miles off being a good 1st grade team week in week out.
Three players who if we are fair dinkum about turning this club around shouldn’t have a future at the club
Shaun lane
Joe O
Ryan Matterson
None of these players are gunna get you back anywhere near being a premiership contender and it’s time to cut the cord. There are plenty of good players running round in nsw cup at clubs that would absolutely lap these blokes
BA Sports – 100% !!
You pretty much nailed it.
Now overlay the highlights to Benny Hill music whilst we crash into each other bumping heads trying to tackle a Raiders Player.
I’ve never seen such inept defence.
I’ve seen some bad games over the years but that display was up there as one of the worst.
It was three stooges stuff.
I had great hopes for Jason Ryles but maybe it was due to Brad Arthur toxic Shock Syndrome.
There is nothing worse for a fan to watch complete and utter garbage dished out by their team and then have their coach sit there with a silly mug look on his face telling us he was happy with the effort!
Stop ! Just stop !
What is wrong with just telling it like it is ?
Ryles learnt from the best. I can’t imagine Robinson or Bellamy sitting there praising his players after that garbage.
I’m getting very bad Stephen Kearney vibes from Ryles at the moment.
He looks absolutely clueless.
I doubt we have too many fans in the NT after the swill we have dished up there in the last couple of years.
After the penalty try debacle , I turned over to the AFL for some decent footy.
“Credit to our guys” “Middles trying hard” “I don’t really think anything” “we’re just gonna keep on the same path we’re on at the moment”
I don’t know what was worse, the game or the presser.
We don’t know what’s said behind closed doors but as a fan, I don’t want to hear the coach rattle off match stats that I already know.
I can understand a coach not wanting to single out players in public but for Gods sake, show some disappointment, anger, any emotion that is fitting of yet another flogging.
Stop defending the indefensible because if that’s your approach behind closed doors then we truely have a Kearney MKII on our hands.
And thanks for your critique of the Canberra forward pack.
The silver lining is 22 of our top 30 are all off contract at the end of next year and absolutely none of them should be resigned , the other 8 left are decent players
End of next year ??
We will probably dead and buried as a football club by then.
AND don’t discount those boneheads handing some of those pretenders an extension.
All I need to read is that we have resigned Lane or Russell for another 2 years !!!!
I can’t remember ever having a sense of pity for a team of footballers before but that was my emotions for the last twenty minutes of last night’s game. No league game ever should have been played on those conditions. I’ve never seen athletes sweat like that. Cruel
I did think The Raiders looked very good
Nobody I don’t think has mentioned it yet but hats off to Raiders recruitment.
It’s hard to name one bad player in that Canberra side.
Number for number probably every single Canberra player is probably better than on our side.
Even Ethan strange looks a better player than brown at this stage.
So whilst errors like every week are self inflicting our own demise more or less – the actual Canberra roster is much better.
The only walk up starters to that Canberra side from parra would be probably Moses, Lomax, Jack Williams. The rest I’m not sure make it into that Canberra team.
They have flogged us in recent times and it’s been much of the same players they’ve got doing the same thing to us every time – just a big difference in class in all fairness.
Do you think that Jason is already maybe planning his first mass clean out like Ciraldo did at dogs after his first season?
It’s called youth.
The Raiders have invested heavily in youth realising that it’s a young man’s game.
They are not adverse to promoting a kid from Flegg if it is needed.
Whereas in the last few years we picked off all the aging cast offs from other clubs.
In the next few years we have to be bold and find the young rep players at other sides and offer them a clear pathway at the eels.
Ethan Sanders went to the Raiders because all his mates from the junior reps are there.
I’d love to see them resign Fogarty which would block Sanders completely.
He is one player I’d welcome back and as he only signed for 2 years it’s a distinct possibility.
Spark in the last few years while we signed older players and largely other clubs rejects.
You are right – they signed younger talent and now are reaping the rewards.
Admittedly they have a good side. They are not consistent but their roster is good.
A few observations:
1. The Raiders were very good: tough, fast, very high completion
2. The Eels tried hard, defended several sets in a row on their line
3. Mistakes are always a killer and in those conditions doubly so. It’s not a lack of fitness. It’s flesh and blood humans in oppressive conditions requiring effort on effort and something will give. Some of the mistakes on early sets were disastrous. There were a lot of them.
4. No excuses for a well beaten team but the bounce of the ball and refereeing decisions contributed to the rout.
5. I’m not giving up on them, throwing in the towel, taking my bat and going home etc etc. They are my team and I’m staying the distance.
6. The club as a whole is going well. There are still things to like and support.
That’s the way I saw McFersie. I don’t believe they gave up. Losing the ball on the first or second tackle is a game killer. Throwing the ball over the sideline is a try killer. Losing the ball in a tackle after it’s completed is a game killer. The 40/20 kicks were brilliant but the bounce of the ball didn’t play it out and the Raiders scored from them. I have to say (again) that the NRL allowed them play in those conditions is shameful, absolutely shameful. I don’t know why they didn’t have drink breaks after 20 minutes. Player welfare was lost and had a player had a heart attack the NRL would have had a massive litigation on their hands. Question defence coach Sam Moa is he still available? The inability to bring down the ball carrier is a serious concern. Sometimes in their effort to defend they get in each others way. The missed tackles was horrendous. Just the same you cannot win chasing the ball. That’s coachable and it should be seriously addressed. Another question how many times can a team get done with 50 on them in a season.
One more thing – they are still my team and I will never give up on them. That’s a true believer.
I get that we’ve had some injuries, but when it comes to the whole “next man up” mentality, we’re easily the worst. I know it’s still early days, but after six rounds, it’s clear we’re on track for the wooden spoon — and that’s a shock, because no one saw this coming.
We were promised a reset: faster tempo, more mobile forwards. How’s that working out? Honestly, this is giving me serious Kearney flashbacks. As for Ryles and the new defence coach — they’re making our old setup look like Jack Gibson and Ron Massey was running it.
I really like how Raiders built their team. Dynamic tough forwards and pace across the park.
We need to learn from that.
We are currently a reserve grade team and not many of our players would make 1st grade in another team. We have persisted with too many for too long and a cultural revolution needs to take place.
Unfortunately, most players are not off contract until end of 2026. I don’t see much change in results until 2027. Sure, well get a few wins like last week and we’ll believe the tide has turned only to be disappointed once more.
Lack of aggression in defence. I’d like to see the raiders, post contact meters. We cannot put players down, so no hope of slowing the ruck. Basics simply, just basics. Tackle defend and frustrate the opposition. Canberra are a tough relentless team, with speed. We just aren’t up to it. Back to the sand pit for tackling practice.
I sincerely hope ryles did not give the same speech in the sheds as he did in the presser saying he was happy with the effort. I’m not a fan of calling players out publicly in post match pressers but You don’t get 50 put on you and come off pleased with the effort and we are just a work in progress. We have gifted wests,Melbourne,manly and Canberra wins this year none of them have got out of second gear for more then 20 minutes and have lapped us with exception maybe to manly. It’s no coincidence we beat the dragons because it was the one game where our players had that extra motivation to get one against there old captain. It seems when they don’t have a reason to get up for a game they just don’t go with that extra effort to get the result. This is mainly directed around our incumbents not our rookies or new players
Ryles is too honest and somewhat naive in press conferences. He will learn how to handle them better no doubt
But the bigger issue is the configuration of the team. Too many players that are not nrl standard and some absurd decisions by ryles around players and interchange.
Actually, the Storm in the first half where in super pursuit mode and Canberra where not far behind. As for the other games inexperience snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. When Cleary returned to Penrith their first season the fans just about wanted to lynch him. With Cirado’s first season at the Bulldogs he surely began to have second thoughts. Why would Ryles be any different in his first year. Parra just missed out last year on the wooden spoon and while are always optimistic at the start of the season reality soon sets in. Ryles and the players are embracing a new style and are in the process of adaptation. We wanted a new direction and we are getting it. We are loaded down with players from a previous era. We for this year so far are loaded down with injuries with a lot of experience missing. Ryles can only work on with what he has and in time he will get what he wants. The question for the fans can we suffer through it? Well I can!!
Another thing..
Damn the NRL referring is absolutely broken.
Can one imagine for a second if the Eels were the ones who were awarded that penalty try and if the Raiders lost.
Can you imagine the press conference that Ricky Stuart would give ????
It would be an all time nuclear spray.
The NRL would quickly be in massive damage control to placate Ricky and assure the NRL world that they weren’t against the Raiders.
No fine would be forthcoming.
The Eels are in that lower bracket like the Tigers, Knights and Titans that get those decisions.
The NRL just wouldn’t do it against the likes of the Raiders and Roosters because they are dead set scared of the fallout.
When you have a game so dependent on the subjective calls of a referee as in 6 agains and the often perplexing and downright ridiculous interpretations of the bunker, the game is definately the poorer.
Couldn’t agree more…
I agree. There’s never a game where you think the refs are on our side.
If a bad call happens it’s probably against us.
The refs aren’t supposed to be on anybody’s side. Anyone blaming the ref for that performance is seriously delusional. Dylan Brown’s brain fade when we had some momentum early in the 2nd half tells you where his head is at. I am glad he saw the funny side of it (got up smiling) because I sure as hell didn’t. .
Joe the refs not to blame for eels poor performance, but you would also be delusional to think that the eels don’t face a disadvantage with ref calls almost every week. Even non eels were mind boggled by some of the calls yesterday.
Andrew Voss & Michael Ennis need to be reprimanded for their continual slagging of Parramatta.
Surly as commentators you take a neutral stance, and yes everyone will be biased towards their favourite teams or footy tips, but the level of hatred towards our team is unacceptable in my view.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it even has an effect on refereeing decisions, as everyone is wired up these days..
Doesn’t excuse Parramatta’s performance, but it goes on week after week, and I’m getting sick of it tbh..
Hey they give Gus Gould a pedestal as a commentator in all its forms but don’t see it as a conflict of interest !
I doubt it would happen in other sports but as long as the dollars keep rolling in I doubt they really care.
Most old time footy players I know rarely even watch the game now.
If I’m at the game in corporate areas, the ex elite players couldn’t give a toss and just shake their heads.
As a once passionate supporter, I watch the Eels game and that’s about it. It’s not just because we are going bust, I have mates that are Penrith supporters and ex players that have divorced the game totally !
It’s a circus.
Peter. the commentators job is to give an opinion based on what they are watching. Week in and week out, they are watching the Eels deliver sub-NRL standard play. They are not life long Eels fans who are looking for the glass half full version of what they are watching
If you want to be critical of anyone with the officiating (as above), Wyatt Raymond, a pretty inexperienced NRL level ref, was in charge of the Raiders v Broncos game a few weeks ago. He officiated it the exact same way – like a man scared of being in the Ricky Stuart tirades. The Eels coaching staff should have prepared accordingly, but to be fair, they have enough things to worry about without trying to game plan around an officials style.
Personally, I’m a bit disappointed with Ryles and Junior’s press conference performance. I Hope Ryles is just not giving anything to the media and letting the team know his true thoughts back in the sheds.
Ryles said the effort was there – I must have watched a different game (Bailey on honourable exception). He was also asked about the penalty try, and while his response that we have bigger issues to worry about that refereeing is true, it was a lost opportunity in the subtle art of influencing officialdom. Even just mentioning that the Raiders player looked surprised at the decision would have been good to hear. The bloke looked like he’d just one first division in Lotto.
Junior mentioned giving the Raiders too much ball affected our boys at the end. True, but how about noting the failure to hit and stick most of the game, the flaccid nature of the defensive hit when it did happen or even the slow motion attack.
I’ve been to Darwin once. Seemed like a nice place, however, if the Eels ever set foot in there again it will be way to soon. Just, not, worth, it.
Agree Namrebo.
The presser seems like a mandatory attendance. Never good to watch after a loss. In the box Nathan Brown and Ryles were seething at times and shaking their heads etc. I guess they have to keep that to themselves. I don’t know what happens in the sheds or in video sessions.
We are just a reserve grade team that got lucky against Dragons.
We have too many soft players that lack fight. We were called flat track bullies with a soft
underbelly. With the squad we have it will take time to turn them over.
Ryles has no choice but deal with what he has and hopefully gets some moved on early.
At this rate its 2027 before these guys are gone.
Pete,
You are right about how Ryles and Brown were in the coaches box. A lot of shaking heads, expletives (if I lip read right) and unhappy faces. So we can see they were not happy with the performance.
I don’t know much about the psychology of coaching, but surely admitting how it is in the presser (without mentioning specific individuals), strongly pointing out the failings and demonstrating the disappointment and frustration in a public forum wouldn’t go astray every now and then. Bellamy does it well and Ryles was there to see.
Agree with that.
Bellamy was livid when Storm let us score that try just before half time. Bellamy wanted a clean sheet and was angry. He’s a perfectionist that demands it from his players.
As you say Bellamy also let’s fire when his team.needs it in the presser.
Coach Benji Marshall confirmed the Cowboys’ interest in Koroisau but told this masthead on Saturday: “Why would we let a world-class hooker go 12 months early?
“We have zero interest [in letting him go], none at all. And that will not be happening while I am the coach.
“Api is our biggest leader in our team, and hence, that’s why he’s our captain.
Api Koroisau has attracted interest from the North Queensland Cowboys.
Api Koroisau has attracted interest from the North Queensland Cowboys.CREDIT: STECVE SIEWERT/SMH
“Tallyn is in a fortunate position where he gets to learn off one of the best in the game, develop and take his time.
“Hookers don’t generally develop until they are about 24 or 25, so there’s no rush for him. What Tallyn will get is the opportunity to build his game, slowly get more minutes, and eventually maybe take over from Api. But that’s down the track.
“I want what’s best for the club, and what’s best for the club is we keep Api.”
When asked if the Tigers were open to extending Koroisau, who will be 34 at the end of next year, Marshall said: “That’s a question for Api.”
Please insert coach Ryles and Gutherson and iiongi in this scenario.
We are a very gutless club.
Did Rules understand Vutho’s significance to the performance of the team ? I don’t think so.
Yes, and I think Ryles underestimated that the remaining players would shrink into their shells. Instead of rising to the challenge. Only Eels fans could know this. And the collective sulking that went on and refusal to buy in. We saw what happened when all these players decided to have dig last week then give themselves the week off this week.
Jim and Sean lied to us saying we had the team! That was BS! We had a team in 2022.
Yeah Gutho was amazing 12 months ago against the dolphins in Darwin for us. He would of been great last night probably would of been the difference 🙄
Let’s not forget he was our captain that took us to 17th in 2024
66% completions
16 errors
1393m running meters
45 missed and 20 ineffective tackles
Failed to attempt a tackle need a stat for this!
At least we’ll be fresh for next week’s game because so few had a dig.
Pete,just watching the Knights self destruct. Interesting when it’s not your team, you don’t have any false hope, you don’t analyse it too much, you just think ‘these guys are playing crap…’
Agree BDon, that was good. Somehow Knights think adding Brown as halfback will fix their attack. Haha the gift that will keep on giving for 10yrs.
Also seeing Storm rip Warriors to shreds until Hughes went off. Storm are so fit, fast and relentless. Storm will be hard to beat along with Canterith Pantherdogs
Pete that’s the issue – 66% completion rate
Regardless of what ppl say about Brad, most of the time he was with us during the good times he kept the game plan simple and to focus on completing sets
Even if we lacked the flare and finesse of some teams we usually held on to the ball and got to the good kick of Moses and kept in the game
Whatever is happening the way the coaches are making them play is leading to ultra huh errors and the players simply are unable to play like this without dropping the ball constantly
The game plan and playing style he is after doesn’t look suitable for the players we have, it’s either not simple enough for them, or the players are not good enough to execute it
We obviously don’t fully understand it as outsiders but the major issue we have is errors, if the coach cannot fix that by changing our playing style we will be getting a wooden spoon
It’s a absolutely huge ask for a rookie coach to try and save this team with the roster we have – Canberra are not close to being a “top team” and you could Clearly see how elite their roster is compared to ours to give an indication of the state of our club at present
Yeah Muz,
I didn’t see a complex game plan. I think the game between the ears has always been a problem with these guys. Hawkins had a shocker. Brown only had 4 runs scored a try because nobody expected him to run.
Our forwards were ineffective. Our centres are not 1st grade. Our back 3 were better Simmo played well and showed some aggression. When your winger is the aggressive one the team is in big trouble.
What happened to Junior? Too many gave themselves the week off after the win.
Pinpoint kick to the tallest player on the field Lane and he couldn’t take the ball for an easy try. That sums up our team. A bunch of reserve graders.
The coach would be wondering how did they make 16 errors?
I could never be a coach because some players would be catching the bus back from Darwin.
Volk and Joash are going great in Cup.
Pete joash and volk are playing good in cup actually the whole cup teams looked good in nearly every game.
Cup teams best I’ve seen it in many years so far
They’ve massively benefited from the new signings and clean out of some old players down there
The nrl teams in desperate need of a clean out unfortunately
The hardest runner of the ball was a winger who’s just retuned from injury.. like you said Bailey
If your winger coming back from a injury is your teams hardest runner it tells you a story about the forward pack
On a positive note if the cup players keep doing well this year some of them will be better for our nrl team in 2026 and beyond
NSW cup team plays a great brand of football to watch too, fast and exciting
A big Lane fan here when he is firing but he is a shadow now. I don’t want to single him out but look at his physique and skill. His contribution was just so poor, it was angering at first, and heartbreaking ultimately. Hats off to Walker and Simonsson, they at least had a go. Very very hard game to watch