Thurston is the best player in the world and this game clearly demonstrates it. Norman is NOTHING compared to Thurston. Thurston out for 2 months, Norman out for a few weeks and just look at the head space difference between the two players. Norman is seriously overrated.
Our boys heads were not in the game to the same focused intent the Cowboys had.
Maybe, Darwin is too much of a carnival atmosphere for a home game taken up there?
We blew 6 attacking opportunities - the Cowboys blew none.
We lost our cool while Cowboys kept it together.
In spite of few 50/50 decisions going against us the Cowboys were by far the better team all across the park and Thurston is the reason why the Cowboys blew us off the park. There is no point whinging and whining about refs tonight. If we had the smarts playing off our first 20 minutes we would have been in this game right to the death. It seemed we spent too much head space concerned about what Thurston was going to do or trying to take him out of the game.
We are up against the Cowboys 2015 GF winning back-line and their forward pack are keeping things very simple and tight and leaving the backs to finish us off.
Semi's head is not in the game. Did he go home to Fiji because if he did then his head is still there.
Brad Arthur needs to blow a few gaskets in the change room. We were seriously disjointed all over the park tonight. Norman should have been replaced at half time as he was absolutely useless, he was gone between the ears = SPACE CADET. We should have brought Gutho back to 6 and if required move Norman to center. We needed to get Gutho closer in to the action.
Seriously, we need Cooper Cronk for the next 2 seasons. Norman is NOT our future, he is a space cadet and not tough enough to be smart enough between the ears. We need Cooper Cronk to instill mental toughness and smarts in our halves. Norman will not lead us to a GF victory. He is good enough to play in the backs but we need Guth @ 6 and Cronk @ 7 and Moses needs a few more years developing under the tutelage of Cronk and if he doesn't like it then f*** off.
We put up a good defensive game in the first 20 minutes but we have no smarts to take advantage so we ended up just going through the motions heading nowhere. Cowboys also put up an excellent defensive effort in the first 20 minutes except they had the smarts to capitalise on their good work.
This is why the scoreline ended up.......... Cowboy Smarts 32 - Eels Lack Of Smarts 6
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Put JT in with our pak and he will go just as good as Norman
You do realise that there is about a 7 year gap of experience between the two. 7 years ago the cowboys were going terrible with JT and he was pretty much the same as norman now, patchy and pretty hesitant to make the big decisions
In saying that it looked like norman wasnt ready tonight it hasnt seemed like he trained.
99 age and experience are no longer applicable with Corey, hes had a tonne of 1st grade experience now, he just doesnt apply himself properly and ive got zero doubt theres something going on in coreys life thats hurting his game, probably multiple things
Don't agree, If Thurston played for us and Norman for them, the same scoreline would have reversed. Until Thurston's sublime magic kicked in we were playing just as well as the Cowboys. Thurston was the massive difference. We lacked a mentally tough and smart Thurston. Norman goes walk about, maybe he still takes recreational drugs??? He often comes across as a space cadet. He has no steely mental discipline to support his awesome array of skills. When his head fades away, so does his game.
I think Eels are in for a lot of hurt if BA is relying on Norman and Moses to steer us around the paddock.
You can see it in his eyes. If he is still taking social drugs he needs the biggest dressing down and shaking up ever to wake him up, if that is possible. Otherwise he needs to go. Thurston brings confidence and DIRECTION for his team. Norman does the opposite. We really need Cooper Cronk until he retires.
Agreed. We need a Cronk to help Norman and Moses develop mental toughness, discipline, focus, direction and preparation and Moses needs time to physically develop and be helped to make sure it happens. It is not too late - they both could be anything in a few years, particularly Moses. With Cronk for 1 or 2 years, Norman could finally pull everything together and be a consistent world-class 5/8. He has to sort out what goes on between his ears that leads him to spacing out for a whole game. The e-motions/trauma he has underneath the facade he puts up are obviously getting to him quite a few times each season. It's a monster he must finally knock on the head if he really wants to become the next Thurston.
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