Eels Blogs

Parramatta slipped in the wet against the Broncos going down 18 to six, in a match which highlighted a strong defensive commitment but just as starkly some glaring attacking deficiencies.

Any analysis of this game has to recognise that the Eels did battle without Jarryd Hayne and Willie Tonga, and with an under-done Reni Maitua. Combined with the long-term injuries of Ben Smith and Jacob Loko, the Eels went into this clash under-manned and at least on-paper out-classed in the backline.

In the early stages of the game, the obvious mis-match between Hodges and Yoh Yeh against Esi Tonga and Cheyse Blair actually did the Eels a favour. The Broncos pushed the ball out that way at every opportunity and it really wasn’t the kind of weather that let you spread the ball without making some inroad by going direct first. It resulted in a string of handling errors from Brisbane and the ordinary completion rate, flattered the Eels.

On the flip-side Parramatta gave Brisbane far too many free-rides down the field with ill-disciplined penalties. It’s a know pet-hate of Kearney’s and it prevented us from applying any real pressure, which should have been the main objective of the first half, given the ball that Brisbane coughed up. There was also a worrying level of desperation to keep Brisbane pinned. Chris Sandow came up with a number of driving kicks that pushed Brisbane deep into their own territory, but the Broncos worked out of their territory far too easily.

Stephen Kearney has made it clear that he wants his team to be able to be able to grind out a win, but he’s not yet figured out a way to club this mentality into his side. Grafting sides jump on any earned territory and keep you pinged until the pressure forces errors. Brisbane made errors not out of the pressure we applied, but stemming from their over-excitement to take advantage of their superior attacking abilities.

Kearney will need to find more aggression and better line speed from his defensive troops, if he is going to succeed with the style of play he is aiming to put in place. Justin Horo was the only real aggressive defender in the Eels pack (four one-on-one tackles demonstrated his superior line-speed but it came with six missed tackles as well). Most of the damage was done by the Brisbane backs in the early tackles and if there was a single area of the game that we got hammered on, it was in those early tackles rucking it out.

Yes, our line defence was first class. I don’t agree with Hindmarsh’s assertion in the post-match conference that it was superior to last year, we’ve always done well in that area of the game since Kearney came on board. However, even in that regard we had a fair amount of luck go our way and Brisbane blew a number of precious opportunities.

Where even Kearney admitted concern was in our attack, which let’s face it, was inept. We didn’t even look like cracking the Brisbane defence. Parramatta fans are well-used to this fact of life in a sans-Hayne outfit, but this year that was supposed to be difference. With two capable-halves, one would hope we’d be able to structure some attacking raids that at least makes the opposition defence work. We didn’t.

As it has been for so long with Parramatta, we just don’t have men moving off the ball, or at least doing so in a threatening way. Ryan Morgan didn’t see the ball until late in the second half, and when he received the ball there was zero space. Where were the forwards rampaging at the line to put the defence in two minds. Until we have someone threatening on the fringes, this Parramatta side is going to continue to struggle in attack even with the likes of Hayne and Tonga back in action.

Our forwards did well rolling it up the park. All our props were strong and Keating and Hindmarsh did some nice things together to make strong metres. But while this will keep us relatively competitive through out the year, it’s not enough to win games on. We need more.

Kearney played it relatively cool in the post-match press conference. I would hope he doesn’t let his players off that easily. The negatives from this match, well out-numbered the positives and while it’s easy to point to the injuries, we’re not going to put on the park any team that is a lot different to the one we fielded on Friday night. Nor can we wait until deep into the season waiting for combinations to click. An improved performance is required in Round Two, or it’s going to look like a long season ahead.

STRENGTHS: Line-defence, Sandow’s kicking game in the first half, the strong form of our props, Hindmarsh’s running game

WEAKNESSES: Lack of attacking co-hesion and too few bodies in motion, line-speed and a failure to apply pressure, an abysmal second-half kicking game, too many penalties, general immaturity, failture of any one to step up and take control in the second half

1EYED PLAYER RATINGS

Burt: 5
No mistakes but didn’t chime into the attack with any real purpose or threat.

Sio: 7
His first half was about as good as you could possibly have hoped for, but unfortunately made the one key handling mistake that led to the first Broncos try.

Tonga: 5
A mixed defensive game. Came up with one brilliant try-saving tackle, but got schooled on a couple of occasions by Hodges. Showed little to worry the Broncos in attack.

Morgan: 6
Didn’t get much of a chance to show anything in attack, but he came up with a couple of excellent plays in defence and cut-off anything that looked dangerous down his side of the park.

Blair: 5
Fair debut. I have to crucify him a little for the second Broncos try - we certainly didn’t need too men flying off their edges to hit the same man. Some nice runs bringing the ball back and coped pretty well with Yeh Yow.

Roberts: 5
Defensively excellent. He really helped Tonga mark up on Hodges. A reserved game in attack but he took pressure off Sandow - and he was missed when he left the field.

Sandow: 5
A game of two halves. First half was excellent, particularly in regard to his kicking. However, went right off the boil on the second half, failed to provide any direction in attack and too many kicks did nothing but turn the bal over.

Mannah: 7
Some very tough runs up the guts and his metres earned reflected the effort put in, on that regard. I’d like to see him bring the same strength to his defensive game, though.

Keating: 6
A very strong first half and contributed some enterprising dummy half work, particularly in tandem with Hindmarsh. His impact faded as the game went on.

Allgood: 7
An early error and conceded penalty had in the bad books up front, but he soon earned a tick with some very impressive running and he

Hindmarsh: 8
Probably the strongest running game I’ve seen from Hindmarsh for a couple of years. Played very much a lock forward role, dropping a couple of deft short passes and passed the half-centry for tackles. Uncharacteristic dropped ball, but age is not yet appearing to weary the grand warrior.

Taniela Lasalo: 3
Need to work much, much harder off the ball and give the Eels some attacking thrust on the fringes. The attempted tackle on Hannant for the third try was comical. Not good enough, and it’s pretty clear why he was struggling to break into the side before Smith’s injury.

Justin Horo: 5
He was trying. He worked really hard in defence, not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of trying to add a bit of sting. Needs to work just as hard in attack and particularly in the second half seemed to go missing.

Casey McGuire: 5
Was forced into the pivot role following Roberts injury and wasn’t able to contribute much. Kicks didn’t apply any real pressure and he doesn’t have the creativity with his passing to worry the defence.

Fuifui Moimoi: 6
Just doesn’t seem to have the same impact off the bench. His involvement is lower and while he still makes good metres, he wasn’t a dominant figure on the park like he should be.

Justin Poore: 5
Started awfully with a dropped ball and then conceded a penalty. He worked his way into the match and produced some good runs.

Reni Maitua: 6
Probably looked the only threat out wide and considering the lack of preparation he had for the match it was a fair performance. To me, he’s the player we need to be heavily involved and creating space for our backs.