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Another week, another game where the scoreboard perhaps doesn’t tell the full story. The Canberra Raiders ultimately prevailed 40-16 but the Parramatta Eels fought fiercely throughout the torrid battle…and copped more than a generous share of bad luck. Forty20 flies solo this week to in the Instant Reaction as he reviews the results from the NRL, NRLW and Jersey Flegg.
Don’t get me wrong the Raiders should win this game every day of the week and the eels still have too many errors in their game.
But holy s*** can we get anything from the refs. Addo-car is tackled in the air in a try scoring opportunity and the NRL Instagram post it as a defensive masterpiece, Simonson has the ball stripped and we fail the challenge!? That’s not getting into the multiple tries off of forward passes or iffy groundings at best! You can’t seriously tell me in absolute faith that the Raiders played a defensive masterclass where they only gave away 1 penalty and no 6 agains? But half the eels markers are magically never square it baffles me.
100% on JAC, Weekes wraps his right arm, wasn’t even close and a perfect shot on the replay. Bunker?? Then Alexander makes a song and dance about JAC keeping a ball in play near the sideline but not a single word about the Weekes tackle which gave Weekes a huge advantage in the tackle to stop a try. Minimum a penalty but in the frame for a professional foul and 10 minutes in bin.
Both centres are decent reserve graders at best. Russel has hands like feet and will never learn the draw and pass or silky tip ons that a centre needs to use fox to full capacity. Bailey can’t read defence at all at centre. Perhaps lomax back to right centre and Bailey to right wing.
Some good songs but same old pitfalls – errors and dumb plays at times. Refs dogshit as usual so I hope ryles gives a spray. This high road rubbish is never going to get us anywhere. Ricky whinged for years and now has refs scared of him.
Plucky efforts on most fronts.
A couple of Ashley Klein specials – the double six again x 2 led to back breaking tries.
Forwards were excellent
Iongi very good
Centres were woeful
Joash…. It wasn’t good. Lot of work to do and makes you wonder what the problem with Blaze was if this was plan b). I’ll give him time but he doesn’t read the defence, just has a preconceived idea of what he is going to do.
1 run combined from the hookers. TDS did nothing to really impress either. Couple of shocking choices
So you are saying we moved on Blaize as our 2nd choice? He chose to leave.
Plus TDS just got here he is learning the team.
He chose to leave because he wasn’t convinced to stay. And when your starting five eight has a get out clause coming the following year, and you have e already let the other school boy half walk out the door… You know, that might be someone you try a little harder to retain.
Ok and with the path blocked with the intent of keeping Brown for the future it is a bit harder to convince Talagi to stay now is it? That is why we tried to keep him as a Fullback. He wanted to play 6 and play for the reigning premiers. You are acting like we said “You are free to go” Which was not the case at all. We tried hard and couldn’t give what Blaize wanted.
But your comment “Makes you wonder what the problem with Blaize was” There was no problem, we wanted him as a Fullback as we had Brown and planned to keep him long term, granted had options he still had a chance to stay long term. Blaize could have stayed but take the risk that Brown takes his options for another 3 years and Moses is signed for another 3-4 years too. So if he wanted to play 6 he had to wait.
Plus letting Sanders walk out the door, you saying we should have let Moses and/or Brown go to accommodate Sanders? You would have complained about that too.
Every time we have a bad game this crap comes up all the time as ammo for people to just dig into the club. Gutho point was that for a while until people realised Iongi is good and Gutho only has a few years left.
Was going to say the same as you LB. It amazes me the logic of some people.
If joash is having these issues next year I’ll be worried, that’s the reason why ryles is playing him now because our spine has barely any NRL experience.
I like TDS with the opportunities he was given but at the end of the day we spent 99% of the second half stuck in our 40, not much opportunity for a run there .
I’m so fkn fed up with these referees. We can’t catch a break. No one needs to read this long rant, but this has been building up all year for me.
Just going to go through a few things that pissed me off like no other:
Tackling in the air – Addo Carr gets taken out in the air for a try scoring opportunity. If I remember correctly, To’o got sin binned in origin for less. Then, later on in the game, Iongi gets taken out in the air in defence. It’s just so blatant, and they don’t get called. I just don’t get it.
The strip on Bailey – How can you have a full team of so called ‘professional referees’, yet you all come to the same bullshit conclusion that the Raiders player was ‘just making a tackle’. Just making a tackle?! His whole hand is lodged around the ball and he pulls it out. How much more blatant does it need to be?
Then the usual stuff that always happens – the lottery of the 6 again (where the team that’s higher on the ladder usually holds all the tickets), as well as the blatant forward passes that they never pull up, game after game.
The level of officiating is beyond embarrassing; it’s appalling. I feel like we constantly get done over, and I have had a gut full. I watch every game hyped as anything, no matter where we are on the ladder, but the officiating is so against us that it’s making it incredibly difficult to watch anymore.
Even though I’m saying all this about the officiating being appalling, it gets to the point where I should be claiming blatant corruption instead.
I’m not claiming we would have won had the referee decisions gone our way (not out of the picture though), but I just want a fair game. Like is it that hard to ask for?
I love this club and I will forever support them, but at what point is someone going to stand up for this bullshit? Seriously, what can be done to address this?
Call me a whiner all you want, but I have more to add:
Lomax getting called back every great run he did that got us momentum in the second half. Yet the same was never applied to the Raiders who were taking multiple steps after the tackle was made.
The refs have picked who they want to win the game before it starts.
Later in the game Horsborough leaves his arm in a standing tackle and doesn’t release, play on…we did it in first half and got penalised, almost a carbon copy. 37 minutes for our first (and only?) penalty for a flop which the Raiders thought was open slather as Klein allowed them to perfect it til then. It’s about time the 6 Agains were replayed (even after the game as a review point), those first two were not obvious and basically handed the Raiders dominance for 10-15 minutes. The very first time we got within 10 mtrs of their line you could see on screen Raiders socks and boots never retreating behind the line, where was our nitpicking 6 Again? Was Klein sending a message to us…stop bagging the refs or this is your punishment(perfect method to do it, unscrutinised calls)
You will never get me defending Klein – he had a horridly one sided game. But the Simonson dropped ball was not a strip. If they was us defending we would have been filthy if pinged for a strip there. Hand is wrapped around the ball, but there is no raking motion. Simonson has to do better.
Hey BA, respect your opinion, but I completely disagree. Have a rewatch of it. He starts in between his arm and then his hand opens up, he finds the ball, and then he rakes it out. I thought that was pretty blatant in constituting a strip. Each to their own
The ball bobbles upward, not sure how it was forced that way, Kris withdraws his hand as soon as he feels the ball dislodging, Simmonsen seems to then abandon his involvement and allows the ball to fall to the turf. The bunker didn’t zero in on how the ball popped upwards. Inconclusive to me but as the incident seemed to happen in 3 phases I was doubtful about the ‘in the course of a tackle’ ruling. Sure, it happened in the course of a tackle but usually the rule applies when there is a dislodging action and it is clear that it occurred randomly in relation to a strip. Not blaming anyone, not whining, just my observation of something that happened in a game of football.
Could not even watch the last ten minutes of that game. Absolutely hate whinging about refs but that is bordering comical in the second half. Ricky has whinged so hard over the years but I’ve never seen a team so well looked after as what I saw today. Never expected us to win that game but that score line should have never been that bad.
We were far from perfect the errors are out of control we just can’t keep handing teams possession. We are starting to look tired because we are doing double the defence of the opposition most games.
Origin is simply treating the eels like pure dirt Lomax has come back from origin in average form he ran for 200m but thats not a reflection of his game he was poor defensively
I forgot about the 40/20 aswell that was one for the ages if that didn’t get overturned. It deadset went out a metre and a half before the 20 you just couldn’t make that shit up
Did anyone watch the poor old dragons game? I am glad Flanno blew up about the ruling of a penalty to the dogs when their player failed to get to their feet and placed the ball on the dragons players foot went against everything I have seen this year. Just ridiculous.
Nearly as bad as jac getting done for an incorrect play the ball and then allowing the panthers to continuously roll it under their feet in the lead up to the try before half time.
Hey fellas we need to own what we can control
Errors, completing sets, making the correct play options
We weren’t terrible against the top team, and it was always going to come down to who made the most errors in the second half
We had a few calls go our was which I note no one has mentioned
I don’t want to hear any garbage about Joash, the boy has X factor and it will take a few games to harness that
We’ve got a tough draw so give them a chance without the noise
Chin up you bunch of whining cnts
And on Sticky earning a buffer from the refs, yes Ryles needs to start making some noise on the officiating
Squeaky wheel and all that
People we discussed this previously.
They panned to Sticky on the sidelines at halftime and he was as cool as the Canberra breeze.
There was absolutely no way that the refs boss was going to cop another Sticky tongue lashing either in the presser or on Monday morning.
Why is anybody here surprised ???????
Notwithstanding the official, we have some pretty ordinary players in the side.
Players that just wouldn’t make other sides.
We couldn’t get field position in the 2nd because we just don’t have the cattle.
I saw a lot of blokes giving up in that final 10 mins, that’s the most concerning part for mine.
Haha, people in here blaming the ref? What about our complete incompetence in the second half? Why can’t some just accept we are substandard overall and building towards a bright future. The foster overhaul takes time. There’s no way players like Russell, Penisini Joash or Hopgood are in our side when we start competing for the 8 again
As for Mark O’Neill, how does that guy have a job after repeat failures in terms of recruitment and retention?
Keep your chin up! Just be patient
Nobody is saying it’s the ref’s fault we lost. The one-sided refereeing led to a lack of opportunity, which led to fatigue and increased the errors, and certainly led to the blowout.
Could you maybe stop mentioning MoN in every post, regardless of what the topic is? We know your thoughts, you’ve told us repeatedly for weeks. We don’t even necessarily disagree. But man it’s got boring, and it’s utterly pointless.
Seriously, why should anyone conform to staying quiet and not having a say? its unAustralian!! Have a say! Whatever you want! That’s why we are here right? Change doesn’t happen unless you speak out! Granted, the club is unlikely to read my boring rants – but I’ve got to vent somewhere!! Have a nice night.
You want to ask the commenter to stop blaming MoN as it is getting boring and utterly pointless….So is the ref blaming..
Great post mate but in the end we are parramatta
When a club has players like Cartwright, Matterson, Ofehengaue and Lane taking up.1.8 million of your salary cap, it’s always going to be hard to compete and all 4 being forwards, it was always going to be difficult to match other clubs missing so much cap
Well said! There’s no science behind it Chiefy / the roster was no good! Glad to see it’s evolving! All the best.at least we have a tonne of cap space right?
I don’t see how you can win games even if your team is better if your opponents not getting called for any 6 against more or less and have free rein to slow the ruck, tackle players in the air, etc
The raiders are first in the comp and let’s be honest we should not have beaten them anyway
But I’m having trouble watching the game this year
If you watch any non top teams play they seemingly always get the short end of the stick by the referees, it’s not only Parra alone who it’s happening to
In one example of the eels raiders game:
Ado car gets grabbed / tackled in the AIR clearly feet off the ground and doesn’t score …
Does the game possibly look different if he scored there and we keep on playing with positivity and momentum?
You can’t have penalty count against you VS any nrl team and expect to win, especially the #1 ranked side who are playing the lights out this season..
But Props to the raiders for being such an exciting attacking team, every player on that team seems to have great footwork and a great offload, very impressive side in 2025
I’m struggling to watch the NRL at all this year. I see lower teams not including the eels do the same things as other teams but minority of the time they are the only ones who cop a penalty or a 6 again
If we were able to play games and give away no 6 against whilst slowing down the ruck, tackling or grabbing players mid air to stop tries
Maybe many of our games would have a different outcome
They say you can’t blame the refs
But you saw how our team held up until they copped non stop penalties and 6 agains
Once you defend for repeated sets you gas out
We can point fingers at our own players for some mistakes and errors, or poor discipline
But we can’t fault them for effort – and that’s why I’m still proud of our young parramatta eels
Our limited forward pack and extremely limited experience in the spine makes us probably the least experienced spine in the NRL
And with that we must understand the likes of Fogarty At Canberra with their gun forward pack and electric backs makes it a near impossible task to topple them this year for us
I was proud of our first half
It has been a bad weekend for officials.
Roosters fans have rightful gripes, so do Dragons fans, Eels fans and I would argue even Storm fans – and we still have 2 games to go..
Sometimes the issues are the refs, sometimes it’s the rules. The six again rule kills games and i agree with you, it makes it hard to watch. In the case of Klein, his inconsistent use of it and repeat use of it spurts, then not using it for 65 minutes, has determined NRL games and Origin games in recent years.
It obviously feels to Eels fans like we are the worst hit, The reality is plenty of teams cop it. I distinctly remember a Raiders Broncos game earlier this year where the Broncos were all over the Raiders, attacking the line relentlessly for the first 15 minutes of the game and the Raiders were just laying all over them in an effort to stop the attack. Broncos ultimately came up with nothing, Raiders finally cross halfway with the ball and immediately get a set restart and score..
We cop bad calls. I used to get obsessed with Grant Atkins stats against us for no other reason than I had heard him bash the Eels for the way we treat his dad. It meant I looked at every decision he made with raised eye brow.
But the fact is most teams cop it. Whether it is the Storm in second place or Eels in second last. We should bleat about the six again garbage – that is real. But when Simonson drops the ball or when people carry on that JAC didn’t step out and the touchie wasn’t looking (when the touchie was looking and he did go out), that comes across like some QAnon/ MAGA conspiracy theorist garbage.
At the end of the day, be good enough to be ahead by two tries otherwise you run the risk of an official determining the result. We’re flat out getting to break even scores, much less being the two try better team
Mate there are two distinct points to make regarding referees.
1. It is an undeniable fact that you only become a top referee by the grace and favours of those in power.
Yes, you have to be good at your job but you also have to have an ability to please those in power whilst trying to at least look like you are walking the independent tightrope.
Gould, sticky , Bellamy are the faces of certain teams and the very last thing those in power want is for those coaches to be bringing the game into disrepute by the way of their tantrums.
It’s bad for business.
It is absolutely undeniable as well that those coaches influence decision makers at the coal face.
It’s a good day at NRL headquarters when Sticky is happy.
Yes , bellyache is upset this weekend and you can bet there is a mad scramble at NRL headquarters to placate him.
Tigers , Eels, Titans 😂😂😂
This is not to even mention the faceless board members that call in favours over brandy but let’s not get into that.
2. If anyone honestly, yes honestly believe that there are no corrupted officials then I have an Opera House to sell you !!
Mate, give me 20k and I’d have a current official in my pocket by the end of the month.
It’s no MAGA hysterics it’s just a fact that the chances of a clean bunch of officials considering the amount of money being thrown around in betting and the like is so small that it’s laughable.
I’m not saying that they have influenced this eels game but I’m talking generally here.
To dismiss any claims of shady behaviour in today’s environment is just not sustainable.
Honestly. As strongly as i believe you don’t have the ownership rights to sell an Opera House, there are no corrupt officials. Just good one’s and not so good ones.
Mate I’ll join you in this Nirvana anytime 😊
There is basis for a good team but lack of experience and lack in a few key positions is telling. But it was a great comeback from 12 down but the lack of possession in the second half was always going to tell. That Parra held out for a long as they did was admirable but the errors had a toll and if a couple of passes had stuck, who knows? But we know so it doesn’t matter. At times the team seems to be trying to to hard at times especially in the latter states of games. The first half Parra was composed and despite being down, kept to the plan and found plenty of gaps up the middle.
Surprisingly I’m the first commenter to point out how bad the officiating was. I can’t believe no-one else has pointed out the dodgy calls against Parra.
And I hate to say it but the Raiders are a force this year. They are a very good team.
I want to start off by saying that I never thought we would win this game. The way we fought back from 12 – 0 down after 7 mins to lead at halftime was really good. Even in the second half, we were actually defending really well. Ultimately the officiating and the bunker cost us dearly with no repeat sets or penalties. We couldn’t get out of our own end. I’m not sure what can be done about the officiating – it’s bad, really bad at the moment. Did it cost us the game? No. But it would’ve been nice to have a fighting chance. The last 15 mins were really disappointing, but again with no ball and field position, the players were gassed. On Papali…. He’ll be ok. I saw good signs in the first half. He wasn’t alone with a poor performance in the second. Hopefully he’ll have around 8 games experience in the 6 by round 1 next year. While it’s disappointing to be where we are on the ladder, I don’t believe we are the worst team in the comp this year. Spoon or not, there’ll be much improvement for next year.
Our spine is extremely inexperienced and have barely trained together or played together. I’m seeing glimpses of exciting play with green inexperienced mistakes.
I’ve said before Ryles has been loyal to Brown all year. He’s not been delivering.
We almost got Galvin to play 6 but that fell through. Joash is now being given a chance before next year and I’m good with that.
The last 10 minutes spoiled that game. 56% completions is terrible and nobody could win that. Klein is a joke!
Next year we’ll be better.
For Joash to be our 6 next year, he has a lot, and i mean a lot, to learn. I picked up on a habit of his against Penrith last week, he has a habit of leaning to his right when passing right to left. That telegraphs his intentions which makes it easier to defend. He did it quite often against the Raiders, our players outside of him were easily marked when he passed the ball to them. He needs to hold the ball in front, something Andrew Johns always talks about with halves, it gives you more time and space, and allows your outside backs more space. Personally, I don’t think he is the answer to our 6 problem, we need to sign an Adam Douehi type player for a couple of seasons until one of our juniors are ready.
When you make errors and always defending of course you will get penalised more and more as fatigue sets in
The game chose to go away from 2 refs and this is what you get.
Control our own backyard first