A 48 to nil drubbing. Three consecutive losses. And suddenly Parramatta’s promising season is threatening to go belly up. Clearly, there is cause for concern, but the reality is we travelled to New Zealand on a mission one might compare to a the voyage to Gallipoli.
The real problem right now is Parramatta’s injury situation. With eight players out injured, and included amongst those were arguably our four best players, we realistically had no hope against a Warriors outfit that was close to full-strength. No team in the competition is going to stand a chance in that kind of situation, particularly against a Warriors outfit that played flawless football and particularly when most every bounce of the ball (or should I say blow of the whistle) went against us in the opening exchanges.
The score itself is not what Eels fans should be alarmed out. (Although I grant you our propensity for blow-outs is hardly ideal).
More pressing is that Parramatta’s injury concerns won’t all be resolved by next week. Hayne will be back next week and hopefully Hopoate will also be back on deck shortly.
That will solve some of Parramatta’s problems. Hayne’s return will help the backline to click back into a higher gear. Rugby League spines require balance and without Hayne, undue pressure falls on the likes of Corey Norman and Luke Kelly. Neither are halves who can carry a football team, which is what both are required to do with Hayne out and Sandow at the back.
With Hayne back in the side, and Sandow back to seven, Norman can go back to playing his role in this side, which is essentially the third play-maker. He’s getting better at that role, and it’s pretty much all you would hope to expect of a guy playing his first NRL season as a half. But he’s not a primary, creative outlet. Nor is Luke Kelly.
What isn’t going to be addressed anytime soon is the injury to Manu Ma’u. Parramatta has struggled since Ma’u’ suffered his injury and that is no coincidence. In Ma’u we finally had a threatening weapon on the fringes, and his rocket-launcher runs not only troubled defences in their own right but they also created the space that saw Willie Tonga and Semi Radradra combine so well earlier in the year.
When Pauli Pauli came into the team, it meant we had two powerful fringe players, and suddenly we were looking like we could achieve anything. Unfortunately due to Ma’u’s injury, Pauli Pauli has been forced to grow up very quickly to become a starting forward, when ideally right now he’s most impactful coming into the game off the bench as opposition teams are tiring. More unfortunate is that outside of Pauli our second row ranks aren’t where we need them to be.
Parramatta does a lot of work before the ball gets out to our outside backs - a common backline movement will see two decoys run off the shoulder off players, who instead pass behind to a looping player. We execute it very well and by the time you’re threatening to hit your fringe forward, opposition defences are forced into one-on-one defensive situations. When our fringe forward is able to draw in two men, we create overlaps and that has been the secret of our success so far this year. Amongst our current forward rotation, Pauli Pauli is really the only second rower with the presence and ability to create that scenario.
It should also be noted that Tim Mannah’s value the team is most apparent when he’s not there. He’s the guy this side looks to when they need someone to work it up out of trouble and when he’s not there, our forward pack definitely lacks leadership. And of course defensively we’re missing Nathan Peats. Peats is one of the few hookers in the NRL who don’t represent a weak spot in the middle. Isaac De Gois is a decent back-up but Peats gave this side starch.
What has been apparent through the Origin period, is that today’s NRL is close enough that if you’re missing your best players, chances are you will be beaten by just about any other team in the competition. We’re missing too many of our best players, at the moment, and we don’t have the strength of roster to begin with, to suffer that depletion and not have it have a massive impact on our competitive abilities.
Until we get a few of those players back on deck, we’re going to be relying more so on heart than talent to win games. We’re going to have to be defensively impeccable and hope that the likes of Hayne, Pauli and Radradra can produce enough brilliance to get us over the line in a few of our upcoming matches. If a few of the teams we have to play in the run home cop a few injuries to even up the score a little, that will help too.
We’re not going to see the likes of Mossop or Peats again, but hopefully we’ll see the rest of our injured brigade trickling back into the team over the next few weeks. My fear is that Manu Ma’u simply is not replaceable in our side and we’ll get him back too late in the season to make a difference. Maybe Tepai Moeroa can have one of those golden debut periods, but it’s probably too much to be pinning our hopes on an 18 year old, however promising he is.
I”m not giving up hope yet, but the reality is we’re going to have to pull some massive performances out of the bag to keep ourselves in the running for finals and hope that a few of our key injuries heal up ahead of projections, rather than dragging on, as has been the case with Will Hopoate.
Replies
Injuries have destroyed the season, the reality is i think the seasons over for us unless we can pull some amazing games out of our butts.
Im still giving BA a big pass mark, the improvement of everything across the board has been pretty good, BA's made a few mistakes but what coach doesnt in their first year, he will learn plenty from this year.
All the young blokes that have showed such promise will have learnt a huge amount too, at last theres something to look forward to next year.
I said id be fairly happy with anything above bottom 4, thats where i predicted us to finish, so im pretty happy with where we have come as a club this year, on the park and off it.
I think we can seriously challenge for 6th - 8th spot next year barring another injury crisis.
The injuries are the obvious scapegoat.....and with 8 out against the Warriors, the Eels do get to use the"injury" excuse, this week.....but the real problems have been there since the start of the season
Parra's inability to have a dangerous kicking game, consistent POOR last tackle options, inability to get repeat sets, go extended periods in games with out possession through "turnovers" and penalties have placed too much pressure on our defense. For all the razzle dazzle in our "attack" - that has been erased with Parramatta's POOR fundamentals in attack - which in turn puts the defense under too much pressure. Parramatta's fundamentals in attack are as BAD as any side in the comp - and were so EVEN when healthy
And that is why BA's assessment is much closer to the Truth "Parra are their OWN worst enemy" - even when healthy and with Hayne in the side Parra could and did IMPLODE for extended periods and manage to give the opposition way more SETS than they earned for themselves- NOTHING has changed from week 1
With a healthy squad, Parra usually found a way to work back into a match......or still get flogged - BUT the always managed to put themselves in a hole, all by themselves
All the "injury" crisis has done is to reduce the "comeback" ability - either in games or the following week - but cannot be BLAMED for Parra's appalling lack of fundamentals.........and sorry, BA MUST accept the blame here because that is just POOR COACHING
However, now that Parra is exposed (finally) - the actual PROBLEM can now be addresses - via coaching (hopefully)
I would get on board the injury band wagon if Parra was playing "consistently" and playing "smart" with good fundamentals + getting AWAY wins when healthy
But we were and are NOT - the gulf between Good Parra and Bad Parra has been evident since WEEK 2 - and it is inexplicable to explain away.........but easier now to blame om injuries
The Honeymoon Period is OVER for BA - with the the second worst points against record in the competition - the urgency to maintain equal share of possession by improving the "basics" when "under pressure" MUST now (finally) be addressed
And all this is exacerbated wby Parra's "poor" on field leadership
In addition, there is a Leadership disconnect "on the field" - this is the only logical explanation for Parra's ability to "implode" - that has also been evident since week 2 also....well before the "injuries"
Tele we have 8 regular first graders out, no team can sustain that, i agree with many of your points but if we had peats, hoppa, hayne, Mau, Edwards, Mannah, sio its a totally different team, just the first 4 are an epic loss to any team, atm we just cant afford those players out in a period of BA trying to rebuild the team.
Like I said
The injuries are the obvious scapegoat.....and with 8 out against the Warriors, the Eels do get to use the"injury" excuse, this week....
BUT remember also - Even with peats, hoppa, hayne, Mau, Edwards, Mannah, sio - Parra has PROVEN that they have the inability to have a dangerous kicking game, consistent POOR last tackle options, inability to get repeat sets, go extended periods in games with out possession through "turnovers" and penalties have placed too much pressure on our defense. For all the razzle dazzle in our "attack" - that has been erased with Parramatta's POOR fundamentals in attack - which in turn puts the defense under too much pressure. Parramatta's fundamentals in attack are as BAD as any side in the comp
....and THAT is my point - it goes way deeper than injuries.....and BA has to fix it - there is ZERO excuse for not having a consistent "deadly kicking game" on the last tackle - it does not get any simpler than that. There is NO EXCUSE for not being able to complete back to back sets when under pressure or NO EXCUSE to give away "successive" - more than 2 or 3 at a time before your opponent gets penalised...and that is WHY Parra is poorly coached in the fundamentals and DO NOT have a Leader on the field that can make these things WORK properly - all the injuries in the world cannot HIDE that
The best analogy I can make about Parra is that it is a Ferrari with no brakes - all good at 100mph in a straight line - but is all over when confronted with a corner
When we have a 5/8 who has no kicking game and zero options, thats half our problem that department.
Our attack was sensational for the majority of the first half of the season, numerous commentators were saying our attack was the best in the comp.
But i agree we have lapses, some games our handling and disipline is bad, but ive seen prety big improvements this year compared to the last 3 years. theres a long way to go yet, i agree we have heaps to work on but with half out team out, a useless 5/8 and BA playing our half at FB we are bound to struggle.
But yes Tele, i basically agree with everything your saying, but i dont think we are in the position to have all our best players out, it leaves the scraps that are not up to carrying a team.
I have to agree with Tele. I know you are in a way Snake but we are the dumbest football side in the NRL at the moment. Stupid penalties at the wrong time, simple drop ball, poor options in attack, wrong lines being run, pushing impossible passes and dumb options in defence. We did this when all the stars were in but we were winning. It's now being highlighted because we aren't winning. it's a wonder that we haven't dropped more ball with some of the passes being pushed.
How about them raiders huh?
Even they look better on the park than us atm. Injuries are one thing but performances like Saturday, there are NO excuses for.
I believe you are being to harsh on Brad Arthur. He can only work with what he has at his disposal. And the quality of the players left after the injuries to the team, are second rate. He just does not have the quality players to step up. If he goes on a spending spree, he needs an organiser. We just dont have one. We need someone to set up the plays for guys like Hoppa and Hayne. The other person needed is an intimidating front rower. Someone in the Webcke mould. Should have bought Tim Grant.
WTF was BA doing with Sandow at 1?
We have Norman in the team and unfortunately Luke Kelly.
Fair dinkum if this imposter is our best back up half we are farked deluxe.
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