Magic Round is upon us with the largest crowds and biggest stage outside Origin and the Grand Finals.
This will be the fifth Magic Round since its 2019 inception. The Eels have only won once. The Storm twice.
The Eels won' fondly remember the first Magic Round (R9, 2019) against the Storm. A biblical 64-10 hiding.
The Storm should be up for this Magic Round game. This weekend in round ten, the Storm lost a tight contest to the Sharks 25-18 in Melbourne and will be looking for a bounce-back.
The last time they lost two straight was over a year ago (R2-3, 2023).
Meanwhile, the Eels are staring at four straight losses for the first time in almost three years, since 2021 (R19-22). They have been in a diabolical slump recently.
They have only won one game outside of Commbank since round seventeen last year. One lonely game.
Will Pensini’s (above) body language says it all.
But, that’s not a picture of him this year. That’s a Friday night, late July last year in R22. The Storm had just beaten up the Eels 46-16 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. The last time these two met.
Moses and Gutherson played that night. But there were a few key outs then. Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Papy for the Storm. Dylan Brown and RCG for the Eels. So, I wonder whether the Eels will have another excuse?
The Eels were in a slump then, and have been since midish-2023 (after R17) conceding almost 30 pg.
Somehow, Arthur and Paolo were upbeat after the most recent round ten 30-14 loss to the Broncos (above).
“I was proud of the effort and physicality and that we’re still fighting and we’re trying to win and that was still right to the death,” Arthur said.
“I’d like to know how many tries we bombed tonight (see above for an example). We created a lot of opportunities we just didn’t ice them”
Paolo said the Eels needed some luck to go their way noting, “The DNA of the team is still here”.
Meanwhile, Storm coach Bellamy was in the opposite mood, bitterly disappointed in the 7-point loss.
"I don't like saying this but at different stages it looked like the game was more important to them than it was to us.
“I was really disappointed in how we started both halves.”
The Storm will be out for redemption. The Eels’ worst nightmare. The Eels need all the magic and divine help they can muster.
Stat Attack:
- The Eels are in a sharp decline from last year, after R17 - winning only 6 of their last 17 (35%) and conceding almost 30 points per game (29.9pg) on average since then.
- That’s the second-worst defensive rate in the Eels’ NRL history (2013 spoon year is the worse at 30.9 pg).
- Outside of Commbank, after R17, 2023 last year the Eels have won one game outside of Commbank (end of 2023, Penrith, Bluebet) 1/7 (14.3%) conceding on average 37 points a game (16.57-37.00 -20.43)
- The Eels have won only 1 of 3 games the Eels and Storm have met at Suncorp.
- Parramatta have lost the last two-straight against the Storm, but the winning spoils are split five a piece over the last 10 (50%).
- The Eels’ line-speed against the Broncos was one of their fastest this year. They have the third-slowest line-speed in the competition (only Souths and the Titans are worse).
- Meanwhile the Storm’s linespeed isn’t as fast as it has been and they sit around 11th. There has been some decline over the last few weeks. We can expect a bounce-back.
The current odds prior to teams list is Storm at $1.31 to Eels at $3.50 with the possibility of Moses returning to part the Eels’ losing Red-Sea ways.
Comments
Will the Storm offer a reach around?
We should just lube up and hope for the best.
I cant see a win, Magic round even when we were in reasonable form we have never come away well ...its worse then our Darwin form ....and if Im not wrong we have been belted by the storm before in magic round .......storm by 40 me thinks
Yep, Parra Greg, I'd be surprised if we stay within 20 of Storm on a dry track.
We lost 46-16 against them at Marvel Stadium last year with Moses & Gutherson.
And after R17, 2023 we've won have one game outside CommBank.
Nice write up HOE.
Just goes to show the difference between a quality coach and BA.
Bellamy was pissed of with a 7 point loss whereas BA was happy with us getting 30 put on us.
World's apart these two.
They are going to be fired up after last week's loss and will take it out on us.
This will be the game that well and truly buries our season.
I would love to go but due to health issues, I will unfortunately have to pass.
BEM, You got what's between the lines.
We're in such a rut. And I suspect there are players outside Arthur's special circle that are losing faith in our systems and the club.
You can't keep losing for almost a year and getting bashed up, regularly, and conceding around 30 per game (after R17, last year) without thinking "feeeeck". Are the systems working?
We have one win outside of CommBank since then mid last year. What the heck?
If you keep failing and failing badly, you have be somewhat dimwitted to think everything in the structures and systems are hunky dorey.
If your systems are breaking down because one player or two is missing, the systems and depth is the problem: and it's a shot at culture too (considering the defensive issues).
Have you noticed BA's subtle narrative shifts in the media?
In recent times, he's been going into great detail about his home dealings with Lomax and Brown and the home cooked meals with a family theme. "You couldn't wipe the smile off Dylan's face".
He added these are the stories the media "should be telling."
There is more than a hint of leveraging his relationships with players.
And he also added last week, because of the board's "support" that he was one hundred percent sure of, it meant he isn't "coaching scared".
Those narratives are also indirect "public" warning shots at the club if you look at the implications of them. One, look at my relationships and clout with key star players. Two, if you "change" and don't support me, I will be "coaching scared". That is, the whole house of cards falls over.
Quite street smart.
100% HOE. He is so full of shit. He said previously 'it's a results driven business, I get it'. Now that the results aren't improving, he's leveraging his relationships to the players. Reinforcing the rumoured fears by the board that if they sack him, we lose half the roster. This guy is a complete leech.
We always seem to come up against the Storm after a loss. We don't play very well away from CommBank, and now Moses (and Gutho) are not playing, it might get very ugly.
That is one thing i noticed in his pressers that he reiterates how comfortable he is now with support from board and again sounds like he is promoting himself all the time with "See, they love me" "See i did this well".