Are the Eels currently travelling as bad as everyone likes to think?
Plenty on this site like to call BA “a dope” or a “bush coach” or single out and point fingers at individual players 24/7 especially after each loss but maybe he has a point when he says it’s an attitude problem not necessarily a team or preparation problem.
Our biggest killer has been consistency. Statistically we are actually not fairing to bad.
Points: Mitchell Moses currently 5th on 87pts, only Croker, Reynolds, Ponga & Latrell ahead.
Tries: Maika Sivo currently equaled 3rd with Addo-Carr on 9 trys, only Oates & Walker ahead.
Try Assists: Moses currently 2nd with 12 try assists, only Cook ahead.
Runs: Clint Gutherson currently 2nd with 216 runs & an average of 18 a game, only Nicoll-Kolkstad ahead.
Run Metres: Gutherson currently 1st with 2,134.5 metres and an average of 177.9 metres a game.
Line Breaks: Sivo equaled 3rd with Ponga & Okunbor with 10 line breaks, only Oates & Tedesco ahead.
Offloads: Junior Paulo 4th with 26, Brad Takairangi 5th with 24 offloads. With Holland, Harawira-Naera & Andrew Fifita ahead.
Tackles: Reed Mahoney currently 1st with 574 and an average of 47.8 a game.
Line Break Assists: Gutherson currently 3rd with 10, only Cook & Pearce ahead.
Kick Metres: Moses 4th with 3,862.3 metres a game and an average of 321.9 a game, only Pearce, Milford & Reynolds ahead.
After reading those stats can we agree that the Eels issues when it comes to slow starts or just losses in general can mainly be narrowed down to a consistency & attitude thing & not an issue with the coach or certain players? We know our preparation for games are usually quite good. I certainly think so. Those stats certainly show if they can be implemented on a consistent basis we can be as good as anyone.
What do we all think?
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I basically think that with anything resembling our best 17 we are a pretty decent unit. Our worst performance this year was against the storm but outside of that performance we have been in every game at halftime. Up to the Storm game we were travelling pretty well. We lost to the Raiders and the Knights away and the Roosters at ANZ hardly capital crimes. The Storm game and a couple of crucial outs took the wind out of our sails for a few weeks but we can get it back particularly if we get a couple of big players back in the Browns. We can go either way from here but I’ll back to finish 6th. One place lower than my pre season prediction.
Well of course it's an attitude problem and the coach is responsible for correcting that attitude, he finally dropped players and got an instant attitude adjustment, it took him too long to drop players, there is or at least was a comfort zone problem for a few of the experienced players that have been performing at an un-acceptable level since last season. Hopefully the penny has finally dropped for the coach and he has worked out that holding players accountable for poor attitude problems gets results.
That’s what I’m saying HKF.
We’ve seen on many accounts on how well our preparation for games usually are judging by comments on coaching staff and members of the playing group & for whatever reason the team at times doesn’t bring it to the games on a consistent basis. That can’t fall on BA imo. He can only prepare them to the best he can for the game. It’s still the players job to go out there and implement it. When it doesn’t happen BA or individuals shouldn’t be singled out. It’s a whole team issue.
I do agree with your point however that BA finally made the tough calls. The likes of Taka & Alvaro should’ve been dropped weeks ago. Hopefully now that BA showed he has that integrity in him and he’s not afraid to flex his authority it provided the kick up the ass the playing group needed and we see consistent performances & hopefully results. I can live with losing a game but only if we play for the full 80 and make a contest out of it, the only time we’ve done that this year when we’ve lost was against the Roosters.
As I said hopefully now BA has showed he’s not afraid to make the necessary changes the players show a bit more fight for there spots in the team and we see consistent performances.
It does fall on BA because he took way too long to act to rectify the problem, players should have been dropped last season but weren't, M Jennings played a game in reserve grade when we had the bye, that's hardly a punishment when you are straight back in first grade the next game.
most teams atm are going up and down in form performances. The thing that worries me is how bad we are between our best and worst. We can play with Alot of passion or rock up like they have been on the piss the night before and morning of the game. It's the players and not Arthur's fault to a extent. Players should be getting a heap more of the blame than the coach. When we play to the game plan and come ready to play than we are hard to beat.
Some of the players are just crap too, now it's finally at the end of our salary cap being effected we should be able to buy in better.
I agree with what you say Lurker, I don't think we are traveling that bad, there are some surprising stats there.
It would be interesting to see the stats for missed tackles, penalties conceded, dropped balls, completions etc, it might paint a different picture on where we are at.
Parralurker, The answer, depends on high much of the forest we're talking about.
The NRL team have played good in patches, and a few like Sivo and Lane to an extent have been a revelation. But too often we've played like the rest of this decade many times: soft bellied. With a strong losing culture. And our Wenty team is even worse.
From the big picture we're as far from a winning culture as we were 60 years ago. Top-to-bottom.
Yes we are! Don’t have the team to compete and be in every game week in week out, That’s evident With the ammount of blow-outs we’ve copped in the last 5 years. Our changes (to the team)have been terrible over the 5 years as well. So quiet simply the answer is YES
Brad Arthur - is this the same guy "we had to have" with a wiining stat of 46% but now DOWN to 45%?
Dope? - NAH, doesn't come that highly rated.
Stats are NOT being converted to WINS - need I say more?
I think we are bog average in a very average comp. a full strength Souths would of wiped the floor with us. All our other wins have been against injury ravaged sides or teams going worse than us. Our best effort all year was our loss to the Roosters. Sharks are a big test this week, they have a few back and If we go back to our old tricks we will cop a belting.
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