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The Tip Sheet comes to you live after the closing exchanges of Parramatta’s Round 9 match against the Cronulla Sharks. Sixties and Forty20 review the result and look at where the game was won and lost as the Eels look to conjure up a second consecutive win in Magic Round.
The podcast will go live from approximately 8:05PM and viewers can join the post-match conversation in the YouTube live chat.
Legit question …
Is Hopgood really in our best 17 ?
I’m less and less convinced every week.
I thought it was his best game this season Brett but prior to that he hasn’t been the same player since 2023.
He hasnt been the same since his origin injury. Ryles pulled him pretty quickly after his 3rd error, I suspect he’ll be back to Cup next week.
We need to have a serious look at both our centres, neither Russel nor Penisini are doing anything at the moment.
We’re just better when he’s off the field; and his minutes are getting lower each week
Zac Lomax is close to returning.
After watching that, Jordan Samrani is an edge back rower waiting for his chance, which seems to have been tonight.
It’s one game, but it was encouraging
I think you’ll see him selected in that role moving forward
That was more disappointing than the loss to Canberra. It was there to he won.
There’s only so much you can put in before the officiating is going to impact the team effort. The only try I’d give the sharks would be the nikorima cutting back in
Dave, I wonder what the calls would have been if it was Parra grounding the ball like that. I don’t need to wonder. I know.
Gutsy performance from an improving team. They never gave up.
Agreed.
Not that disappointed sharks right now are just a better side then us and they played well so there always going to be tough to beat. Thought our guys really had a crack but just got outclassed in some areas. A strike backrower has got to be the priority on the shopping list. Tualagi is definately a big threat in attack but he has a long way to go with his defence before being sold on him.
I gave the Sharks credit, esp their defence. But some of those calls had big impacts on the match. Eg the Simonsson call became another set of defence instead of a 7 tackle set from the 20. The whole momentum was changed there.
First of all I love the fired up, honest, and accurate voices here fellas.
1). The calls were absolutely atrocious
2). Multiple non trys called as trys
3). It was so bad the commentators had to hold back a few times on what to say it was so obviously poor quality decisions
Now on to the positives:
This eels side has fight until the 80th minute, there’s improvements, we are young and that’s why there’s growth we continue seeing, obviously Moses helps, but young individual players are improving which will see us vastly better next year.
As i predicted sharks would open up in the middle in second half as they gas, but we just could not ice a few of those moments – we absolutely could of won that game… I 100% agree with sixties on that.
This was the worst refereeing performance I have seen since the Penrith game last year.
Sharks try after two penalties that were clearly wrong.
Sharks try from a dropped ball – I replayed that enough times to be certain.
A knock on instead of a dropout.
So many bad calls on 6 agains and high tackles.
The positive.
They are playing like a team, albeit with problems.
Dylan Walker has fit in beautifully.
JAC is a drop in replacement for “good for two tries” Sivo without the suspensions.
Ryley Smith is the real deal.
Junior is giving almost everything he has for the whole game.
The negative
2 to 5 only JAC is a first grader. The others are only in there by default.
Simmonsen impressed last year as a centre, I don’t think he cuts it as a winger.
Lomax coming back might solve that problem.
Penisini makes a lot of tackles but misses the most important ones. He might be better in the forwards.
If we are going to run towards the sideline, the winger needs to come in and take the ball back to the centre instead of getting bundled into touch.
I’m forgiving Iongi for the dropped ball. He was under way too much pressure.
On the second Stonestreet try every Parra player went for the wrong attacker.
One savvy defender giving structure to the backs and we stop two of those tries.
Where to from here?
Samrani was good. I’d like to see if he fits better than Penisini.
We have to stop running Hopgood near the line; its a waste of a tackle.
We are looking more like a team every week.
I’m not shattered by this loss.
57 it was not only one of the worse ref and bunker work ever …
It almost felt Criminal like the sharks had an extra player as the ref, carrying them out of their own end, blowing the whistle to get them out of trouble.
Hard to even enjoy this game when you see this crap happen.
It Makes you not even want to watch the game again out of spite.
The Stonestreet try was the reaction to the Nikora try. Most teams would’ve conceded that try after the Nikora cut us up there. He’s the backrower I’ve always wanted, or one like him.
Junior was great, but when we needed him most, in that last ten minutes, he went missing.
That one was there to be won.
57, I think you’re being harsh on Bailey. And Will has looked much better since Moses has returned. Shaun is probably more of a defensive centre and he’s done ok in that regard. So who makes way when Lomax returns?
Outside of that, it’s hard to argue with your other observations.
Cheers Muz. Yes the team is on the improve. With Lomax back I dare say we would have been even better. Hopefully he is back this week or next.
Overall a good performance. Our centres are diabolical and not first grade standard. Hopgood is extremely overrated as well.
Our young forwards should be very very proud of their effort! JAC – well done and moses was solid too.
I expect hopgood to be benched.
Hopefully done big off season signings!
I thought Russell & Penisini were fine, Ramien & Iro hardly made an impact. Iro scored the first try, but that wasn’t Penisini’s fault, Mitch Moses went in on Burns and the rule is, if you’re inside man goes in, you have to follow. Mitch turned in, so Will followed. They’re not world beaters I’ll admit, but they are very capable NRL centres.
Josh, there are some emerging forwards which might make the recruitment calls very interesting. Keep your eyes on Will Latu. He’s just returned from injury in Cup and had a very good game in the win over Newtown. You can see the try he set up in the NSWRL match highlights.
Muz, the Sharks were handed a great start by 3 nit picking calls where really they suffered no disadvantage from the so called offences. The type of ‘offence’ you see happen throughout the game and every game. How does the bunker penalise Simmonsen on Mulitalo, but allow a try where 2 forwrds run shoulder to shoulder through a gap and impede a defender, Ryley Smith was initially put off balance before he tried to stop McInnes but it was completely ignored. Having said all that, the Sharks overall discipline was just enough to edge us out.
Bdon try to remember any game where it was so one sided against us, it’s hard to think of any other game or time.
Absolutely embarrassing and felt borderline corrupt
Did you check Hopgood on the replay for the kick chase offside penalty..he actually stopped running to observe the 10 metres..I checked against the marked lines, he did not attempt to involve himself until Kennedy had taken ground and been covered, you would have needed laser equipment to detect any breach. I reckon Gough just saw him involved and thought ‘I warned he was in front of the kicker,cop this’. Kennedy was well and truly covered and stopped by the efforts of onside players, but the weakness in my version is that Hopgood may have been 9.85 or 9.95 mtrs.
The Sharks didn’t seem to be on the wrong end of nitpicking, in fact the Mulitalo and McInnes bunker calls were nitpicking Xmas gifts, completely devoid of common sense.
Spot on BDn
Spot on Sixties re Gough,he is a poor ref wito for some reason officiates the Eels hard, was worried when his name came up and then goodness me, the woeful Chris Butler in the bunker whose sole objective seems to be to make Kasey B look half decent.
Sure we look at things with a critical eye as rustled on eels fans, but when my wife looked at several incidents – 2 tries when the ball wasn’t grounded properly and the Simmonson fiasco and says , don’t think they have got much right tonight , why are they so biased agst the Eels. Said it all.
How the bunker didn’t review the first try and Stonestreet’s when the players lost control putting it down, and then the genuine obstruction which prevented Kautonga tackling the player was awful. The change in momentum in so many of those decisions had an influence on the result, and the bunker failed to review them, but spent plenty of time looking for something which wasn’t there in the Simmonson contested high ball, give me a break .
Anyway, enough complaining but at least the team is playing a style which looks better and keeps them in the game. We are playing a few players that are just handy and if we can get some market presence with the cash available for 2026, the future isn’t too bad.
Edge backrower, prop , another utility and possibly and strike backline player) not to mention 5/8), looks like a big list but would propel the team into finals if sourced Keeping the right Flegg and Ball players is a priority too.
B&G, I’m so over the Eels being the brunt of poor officiating. It says everything that is messed up about the game when that Bunker call is backed up by the NRL the day after. It’s year after year old match determining calls. It’s making me sick to the core.
Not sure what’s up with Hopgood, hasn’t been able to
Hit his stride this season, maybe a game or 2 off the bench and something like 11. Samrani, 12. Kautoga, 13. Guymer. Just have Hopgood come through the middle of the game and play more as a straight running prop until he gets his groove back.
This is my concern, there has become a distinct pattern in his game. Have a look at his minutes this year, they have been getting progressively shorter every week. Clearly Ryles is not sold on him either.
R1 72 mins
R2 54
R3. 56
R4. 57
R5. 54
R6. 47
R7. 38
R9. 36
We thought we were getting Isaiah Yeo 2.0, we were sold a lemon I think. His defence is poor, averaging nearly 5 missed tackles a game, and nearly that many ineffective tackles as well, virtually no dominant tackles, gets left on the ground an awful lot. His offloads were always shaky at best, but even that’s dried up, his ballplaying is slow and clunky, Dylan Walker has shown that in the space of a month. If the club decided to let him walk I would not be concerned.
An iffy start to the season shouldn’t mean we let him leave the club, he just needs to get his groove back after a massive injury last year. Not fair to compare his ball playing to Dylan walkers either, Walker arguably the best ball playing forward in the comp rn other than Yeo, Walker has years of experience as well as playing as a centre and 6 before his role as a lock/utility. Hopgood will get better, just need to give him time to get back to his best origin level form.
I agree with that interchange call for Hoppy. Reinvigorate his attacking game. Start with Luca
The officiating has already been covered – disgraceful.
On to the eels, game was winnable but we never really gained ascendancy.
I liked what I saw from Samrani playing 2nd row and gee we need someone to step up in that position. I still do not see a lot from Kautoga, I’m not convinced he’s a long term first grader. Certainly in terms of nrl standard our back row stocks are amongst the lowest in the league.
I actually thought we were the better side for about 3/4 of the game and deserved the win.
I am absolutely astonished that the McInnes try was allowed. You couldn’t get a more clear cut obstruction, and if you compare it to other “technical” obstructions which have no impact on the actual try, it’s just mental.
I thought a lot of blokes played well. Sean Russell and Penisini were very quiet, but otherwise hard to fault too much in that performance, in the context of our season. Dylan Brown wasn’t electric, but he looked comfortable out there – and I mean that in a good way. Through all the contract saga I think his mind was just not in it.
Ryley Smith was great, Moretti great, Paulo was very effective. Aside from the insanely bad calls by the ref, it was actually a good game.
The issue with the McInnes try, and playing Devil’s advocate here, is that Kitonga clearly went for Kaufusi. Had he tried to tackle McInnes and Kaufusi then impeded him we would’ve got the call. Kitonga had eyes only for Kaufusi. I’m actually OK with that call.
Obviously I saw it entirely differently. Kafusi ran almost shoulder to shoulder to McInnes (just slightly ahead) and blocked any line Kitonga had to make an effective tackle on the ball carrier. Regardless of what Kitonga’s read was, he was never going to be able to tackle McInnes. It was as close to a rolling maul as you will see in the NRL.
If that’s allowable, then JR should be coaching them to run that exact play all the time because I can’t see how you could defend it.
Well that’s where Kitonga would need to get in front of Kaufusi.
Junior was also obstructed in this play
Mick, for mine it was all of the game management from the ref that was worse than some of the calls. Eg constantly calling out players for not being square when they clearly were.
My match notes as I watched;
First penalty – Russell inside 10 on kick chase – we have the biggest, longest kicker in the game… how do you not give yourself room to make sure you’re onside?!
Roll ball penalty?! They’re will 30 stoppages in the panthers game then!
Six again penalty … try… Ordinary put down. defence not in sync for that one. This has a lot of bad vibes about it early.
Jnr!!! Nice hit.
Don’t think Hopgood will be missing during the Origin period.
Eels realising that scoring points against teams not called the Tigers is a little tougher..
Another error from Sharks – phew. Sharks lack the polish of a top 4 team
Try! Great offload Moretti, nice touch Brown.
Sharks try. That’s awful from Brown. What was he thinking there? Undoes the good work from moments earlier
HT: Can’t fault the effort in the 1st half. Forwards getting a few offloads away but minimal post contact metres. Sharks attack is looking poor. They’ve just benefited from a couple of terrible defensive reads. I can’t see us winning. Hopefully they have a red hot crack though.
First few sets are good
Moretti showing real development
Sharks try. Stonestreet didn’t ground it. What are we doing?!
13 mins into the second half. Is ryley smith spent for the first time?
Moses line break. Has to be a sin bin. Tough pass at speed but bombed a try
Try goes begging. We need backrowers!! Katonga, straighten up!!!
40-20… Williams gives away a six again on the 4th – he’s a colossal liability in defence. Brailey then knocks on and play on. Sharks try. Katonga had no chance of making a tackle. Two tries for Sharks that are at best controversial.
Try! Much better. Iongi straightens the attack nicely.
That’s more like it! Jnr, Moses, Brown.
Why are we playing an American country song from 50 years ago multiple times in an NRL game between two Sydney metro teams?!
I’m liking Samrani. Could be a short term solution for the backrow if we get Lomax back to play centres and are going to persist with Simmonson.
Bunker = joke.
Actual try for Sharks. That’s the ball game.
Full time We’re a bottom 3 or 4 side so a 10 point loss is probably about right. Effort was good, we just lack quality players and some poor execution particularly with our kick chase. Let’s face it, alot of ball movement but outside the sin bin period we didn’t look like scoring.
Can we take the bye for magic rd every year?
I’m happy to go with your final suggestion.
I like the fight this team has!
The referee was pathetic. Anyone off the street could do a better job
A few dumb errors/penalties.
A little sideways at times in attack.
Sharks are a good defensive team.
We need a bye in magic round we rarely get a win.
The magic round bye feels like it should become a hashtag campaign.
– Moses gets shoulder charged off the ball and no sin bin, this was a very dangerous tackle.
– So you can just run players into the exact same gap and it not be obstruction? What other decision was Kautoga to make? He couldn’t make a tackle on McInnes because the other sharks player was standing directly in front of him. They can’t say Kautoga only had eyes for the player especially because of this next point
– Bailey Simonsson tackling mulitalo mid-air. Simonsson only ever had eyes for the ball and yet they can actually justify saying he tackled a player mid-air.
It should not only be Butler sacked, not dropped, sacked. It should also Annesley, Abdo and V’landys. These 3 constantly change rules and interpretations every week. It’s already hard enough being a ref but then you throw these 3 numbskulls in and it’s almost an impossible job. They took away the 2nd on field ref as part of COVID to cut down on costs, surely now they have to bring it back? The game is just too fast for only 3 referees to see everything. The cliche used to be you get a different ruling each week, this is no longer the case, you get a different ruling every set.
One of the Eels’ first penalties was Hopgood spinning around on top of the player rather than clearing the ruck. Bit harsh but as long as they keep it up then that’s fine. 2 sets later Burns does the exact same thing and not even a warning. And in fairness we were on the receiving end of poor officiating too, there was a tackle where Kautoga held onto the leg of a sharks player where it deserved a 6 again and nothing. Just simple calls that they can’t keep up with their own standards.
Onto the team. We played okay but I don’t feel like we were ever great in this game. There’s too much before the line playing amongst our forwards, I think we need another Moretti in the pack. Someone who just goes flat stick with every run, we don’t have that to start the game. When Moretti, Walker, and Tuivaiti come on you can just feel the attacking intent pick up. That’s not to say I don’t like Williams, Hopgood, and Junior just that we’re sort of in a holding pattern until those 3 come on the field.
We need to get in some second rowers, although early signs from Samrani were promising. Guymer last year led the line and was playing a smash mouth style but last night he looked slow and gassed from the start of the game. Unlike some others I think there’s a player in Kautoga somewhere. It’s just little parts of his game that let him down. He likely won’t be a superstar but he could be a first grade player, I wonder how much of his game is being affected by Brown? Give him a proper half and his attacking output may improve.
Mostly I think games like this and others we’ll be close but lose this year, and possibly next, is down to a lack of experience in the spine. Iongi and Smith are going to be great players for the next 10 years but right now they’ve both played less than 10 games. I think we’ll just have to ride out this period and stick solid with them because the only way you can get first grade experience is by playing first grade.
Here’s one I missed. The sharks first try is very clearly a dropped ball from this footage. They say the bunker looks at everything. But when you are looking with uneducated eyes are you really?
https://www.reddit.com/r/nrl/comments/1kddgxn/kayal_iro_grounding/
Ham, Hopgood was off within 3 seconds, you’ll see all weekend tacklers adjusting to be able to mark up properly, or second efforts in tackles, an annoying one is when players are carried or pushed backwards when clearly it is a second effort, the offloading opportunity and the ref calling held has a lot to do with it but quite often it happens far too late and totally stacked against the ball carrier.
Geez, Iro definitely dropped the ball. I tried to justify that his finger tips were still exerting downward pressure, but no, his fingers at best scrape down the side of the ball with no pressure. Shocker, in the context of how they viewed the Simmonsen and McInnes incidents. Have a look at the McInnes one, not only Kautoga is deprived of access to McInnes, Smith is momentarily impeded as he moves into tackle, loses half a step, enough to render his tackle ineffective.
Since when can you be escorted through the ruck like that? It’s not NFL.
BDon, if they play is legal then every team should be running that play next week. It’s a certain try everyday of the week.
I’d love our boys run that play the next time we get Gough officiating. I wonder if he’d be as quick to award the try.
BDon, Jospeh – just said exactly the same thing to Brett above re: Kautoga (Kitonga …. not sure how you spell it). The idea that you can do that is just mind boggling.
Yeah, I noticed they only showed that after try confirmed. TV and Bunker were collectively silent on this and other errors.
Have they been told by Abdo etc not to criticise the officials? Or the game? Because to me it smacks of a cover-up when the system put their to prevent
howlers are not only covering them up but creating new ones.
The Simmonson penalty is probably the worst penalty in the history of the game. I cannot remember a worse penalty.
Saw that Ham. Thanks for posting it here.
Fair calls on all of that Ham. Much like I was pushing for Ryley to start the game, I think we need to consider Luca in the starting pack too.
By the way, I was impressed with Will Latu’s performance against Newtown on Saturday. Another inexperienced player but I reckon he’s a first grader of the future.
I hate waking up angry in the morning, at least my in-laws know to steer clear today.
The Sharks are the better team and so they should be, they’ve had a settled squad for several seasons now.
They were the better team on night in some facets of the game, their goal line defence was excellent, they executed with far more polish.
But, the better team doesn’t always win, this is a game we would have won if not for one of the worst officiating performances I’ve witnessed in long time. With the game level a few minutes before halftime, my son and I just knew the knob in the middle will find a way to give the Sharks a chance to take back the lead. Right on cue knob finds an infringement, Sharks gain back to back sets and the rest is history. The precise timing of the repeat sets giving to the Sharks just can’t be random, the missed knock on from Stonestreet, I mean come on, the only time a ref awards a try is when he’s absolutely certain the ball is grounded. And what’s the bunker looking at? It’s just not possible for both officials, with all the camera angles available can’t see what we all saw without a replay. Butler is a disgrace and as the boys said, the penalty given against Bailey should be used as the bench mark for all things wrong with the bunker and the reason Butler should be permanently removed from his post.
I thought we might struggle in the middle, on paper the Sharks could potentially dominate. I didn’t consider their best forward and MON would be Gough. Boy what a game he had, I’ve never seen anyone clear a path in the ruck like Gough did. Our boys had no chance. Any ascendancy was penalised, we weren’t square unless our markers were glued together. Gough, you are 💩
I heard Gough was seen in the Sharks dressing room beating the ice drum singing the team song with Butler clapping in the background.
Take a bow Gough and Butler, in combination and individually you are the worst of the worst in list where the best officiator is also 💩
Tick of approval from the NRL to the match officials. That sends a clear message.
Tks guys, finally got a few minutes to listen. Love your passion, that officiating was so poor and inconsistent, plus the Sharks did enough to win. Just a sidebar, Fonua Blake has tidied up all his undisciplined play as has Haumole O at Manly…it wasn’t blatant intentional stuff that Cronulla got away with, they generally have good discipline but Rugby League has that habit of forcing accidental, spur of the moment infringement and the Sharks got the best end of this by far.
Just on that JAC knock on ( he actually would have scored)…when KAYO ran a side shot it indicated that the ball never looked like travelling forward but they cut it off quickly and didn’t re-run it…JAC wanted to challenge but Moses probably thought the bunker will just support the on field call.The Cronulla one was far more obvious.
BDon, Ryles won’t make anything out of all of the rubbish officiating. But we can all get angry as supporters. All of us can cop the swings and roundabouts of footy and the 50/50 calls. But it feels like the Eels are getting none of those, and even the easy calls are being “missed”.
Thanks fellas,
Passionate but realistic take on events. The night had started so well for me – attending the official Eels supporter function at The Lord Alfred Hotel, top end of Caxton Street. A few hundred devoted fans all swapping stories and expectations. Jim Sarantinos was there and took several questions from the floor, answered them honestly I thought. I didn’t have tickets to the night so toddled home to watch the replay “live” .
Unfortunately that is where the enjoyment ended for the reasons you have discussed so well.
A few takeouts from the podcast:
* I’m not sure you are right about the markers being square sixties. It’s hard to be square when the Shark playing the ball does The Pride of Erin first, side, side and two steps forward. Our boys were square often, if the play the ball occurred where it should have. I saw a few of our blokes protest to the ref who remained oblivious or dismissive. In addition I’ve always struggled to understand how a ref standing some distance away on an oblique angle can truly judge how square someone is. However, I did Humanities at Uni so maths is not my strong suit.
* Simmo going from contesting to tackling. Yeah well. I noted t some commentators mentioned the time from contest to landing was something like 0.2 seconds, not sure Bailey had time to think about a tackle as a ton of shark was falling on him. Interestingly, a commercial radio station this morning noted the NRL has apparently backed the decision although it was not official. Same commentators also mentioned, as you have, if is is a penalty in a try scoring situation then it’s a professional foul so how come Bailey was not binned. Seems to me like a six, one, half a dozen and the other type of decision in the end.
* Iro try – Shaun Johnson wanted to say something on Kayo but the others stopped him and on we went. You could tell he was not convinced.
* Foxx rolling the ball. I heard the ref say he had warned Foxx earlier and this time the Touch Judge had made the call. Fair enough, if you pull up the other thirty or forty odd similar instances as you said. Anyway I thought the Touch Judge is meant to be looking at background, behind the scenes play while the ref watches the main event.
* The sharks defended well inside their 20m. Credit due. We also seemed to lack some creativity/ideas after we had been there without success. Reminiscent of a dew years back.
* Similarly, the Sharks try just before halftime rekindled bad memories from not long ago when opposition tries either side of the break seemed de rigueur.
* Dylan Brown continues to defend well overall. However, last night he seemed to make two critical mistakes that contributed to Sharks tries.
* Samrani, as mentioned, impressed. If he can play a similar role to Niukore it will be an advantage for the Eels. I wonder if this was intended when we recruited him or something that has evolved as Ryles watched him over the season.
* Your point about Ryley Smith and tackling is spot on. Several people at yesterday afternoon’s event all mentioned the same thing – even if he misses he goes straight back at the same player, harassing and annoying, just like the little dog in cartoons going after the big ones. The people I spoke to were as one in praising his effort on effort and also harassing the kicker, which some teams seem to have abandoned.
Enough from me, sorry for the lengthy diatribe.
Namrebo, appreciate the lengthy diatribe. Completely agree about the bloke playing the ball stepping to the side. I should have clarified that this contributed to some of the occasions that the markers were called out. There are a few teams that do this which indicates that maybe they are coached to do so.
WTF was that Tip Sheet!?
Probably should have edited it first, or just posted an article.
Bloody Tip Sheets🙄
Oh and the game has been a rort for years and previously when I’ve mentioned it I’ve been accused of conspiracy theories, or paranoid etc.
Why is it only now that people are starting to realise? Look at the betting agencies sponsoring the game and the conflict of interests in it. The real start of the rot was during the pandemic when the 6 again was introduced and basically the keys were given to the referees to decide games. NRL supporters seem so stupid when they whinge about the bunker and poor refereeing. It’s been going on for years and whilst betting has anything to do with the game, don’t whinge.
Sorry for creating content Grunta. As for the six again, when it was first mooted, I went off big time about the concept. The coaches saw how flawed it was and that led to the deliberate infringements inside the red zone after a kick. Now we are subjected to confusing calls that determine the momentum and literally manage outcomes. It’s infuriating.
I’m with Forty20, Someone with some push needs to start asking for answers regarding the officiating, look how they stay away from sticky for fear of getting a spray- instead we get a stand up routine “ oh il have to get a loan from Mitch to say what I think” hey read the room, the fans want accountability