Blake Ferguson, on his day, is the best winger in the NRL.
The 30-year old possesses size, power, athleticism and skill that not many others have - it's why he is the incumbent NSW Blues winger.
But in 2020, his form has ranged from decent to poor.
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It's somewhat surprising, with the Eels many experts' tip to take out the title this year, that their only State of Origin player would drop off the way he has.
In 17 games this season, Ferguson has scored just one try. That's obviously not a stat that any winger wants, and it has attracted plenty of attention.
Speaking on WWOS' Sterlo's Wrap, Eels legend Peter Sterling questioned the form of Ferguson and admitted the veteran was on 'shaky ground' to retain his spot in the finals.
“It’s a tough question. The last thing you want to be doing is dropping a State of Origin winger a couple of weeks out from finals," he said.
"But he is on shaky ground – his form hasn’t been good for a while now. We made a bit of a joke about him not scoring a try and finally that drought was broken last week.
"But it’s the other areas of the game where he hasn’t been as effective as what we have seen in the past and what we expect."
Ferguson has always been fantastic out of his own end, but does have the tendency to come up with an error. Those are forgiveable when he is coming up with four-pointers, but he isn't right now.
Sterling highlighted some moments in the loss to Penrith on Friday night that were somewhat concerning - especially for an experienced campaigner.
"Looking back at this game, Mitchell Moses gave him a serve because he wasn’t in the right position to chase a kick," he said.
"If you look at the 40/20 kick from Nathan Cleary, the effort to get back wasn’t great. He has looked suspect under the high ball at times.
"He is part of that right edge problem defence, and I still think his combination with Waqa Blake is way off the mark."
But is Ferguson's spot really in danger?
According to Sterling, he doesn't believe head coach Brad Arthur will make such a big call this close to finals - but the form of George Jennings on loan for the Warriors has been impressive.
"The guy who would be looked at to come in if there was to be a chance would be George Jennings, who has done a pretty good job for the Warriors," he said.
"I don’t think Brad will make that change, but I think Blake Ferguson has got to show the kind of form that has got him a Blues jersey on a number of occasions.
"He needs to convert that to the blue and gold jersey this week and in the coming weeks, and to be a dominant player."
Parramatta play the Broncos and Tigers in the final two weeks of the regular season, and if they are to go into the finals with some renewed momentum, Ferguson will need to be a big part of that.
Replies
Macy, there was a comment after Fergo broke his duck a few weeks back that he was playing injured and his running had been affected, could be an eels winger desease though they way they are both hacking around. Have little or no doubt that Fergs rates well with his peers but for someone who showed his real self and value to the side last year, we should have gone to another level this year.
In saying that, we are in a better position on the ladder even allowing for the general poor plays and subsequent losses which have put us in a crook position. Both wingers really have to lift in performances from this weeks game, likewise Blake, although I thought Blake was a better against the riff than he has been, he's no doubt on shaky grounds though & with Gennings back Blake now has pressure on, also I notice that Dunster has been picked at the top of the reserves list again, just want to see him given a chance.
Yeah not so sure it's as simple as just a winger disease Colin- it's many positions and we currently have zero attack combos working for us - the point is our backline and halves ranked highly amongst their peers -we've got a very talented side working hard but directionless atm - sadly think there's only one area deserves the same scrutiny being dished up at fergo atm - I've been banging on about it for months - if a nuffy like myself can see it surely everyone can - fergo not getting ball or the chance to attack is definitely 100% not his fault.
still have hope in our talented and gutsy side tho 🤞 the same things we all see must be corrected urgently.
Ferguson can't score tries if he doesn't receive the ball,waqa comes back in feild same as Jennings ,the wingers have been starved of the ball for the last two months.parramatta have only been playing one out in the middle third of the feild for eighty minutes,so predictable,opposition teams can read them like a book ,no wonder they not scoring tries
Not all Blakes fault as Fergo does go into the middle a lot to take the ball up, that is more to allow players to get back onside and usually Gutho to DH and run the ball out, occassionally you will see Sivo do the same on the other side when he is back there for the kicks.
In generally play though would like to see Blake and Fergo work together more with each other.
Even though Fergo isn't scoring tries he is still doing the hard yards, defensively not good but alot of that starts because of bad reads by Wanga. IF anyone needs to be benched it's Wanga or Sivo who should be before Fergo. The 1 who needs a rocket up his arse is Mosses as he is not performing and earning the money he is being paid, actually most games you wouldn't even notice heplayed for the lack of influence he has. You can not blame the forwards as they are doing their job and are 1 of the better forward pack in the comp, Mosses has lot of time for his kicks as does not get a lot of pressure yet his kicks are substandard and most often the wrong kick, running is missing and when he does he crabs sideways running out side players out of room and giving them no options. As for organising there seems to be none and has not since Brown was injured.
Fergo is as good as any. Shame he is not given decent ball and space. Not the problem.
Other than Gutherson the entire team is down on form. They all look very tired to me. Not sure if it's just a mental thing or what but they look sluggish.
Let's hope they crank it up a notch heading into the finals.
To be fair to Fergo he's basically carried a knee injury for the entire season
https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2020/09/11/match-highlights-panth...
Ignore the no try but have a look at the clip to see what eels player stood still next to the riff scorer (2nd try) and his and two other eels defending against the riff who scored the last try and who he pushed away.
Sorry colin but I am in a bit of a morphine fog today and cannot see what you are talking about with the 2nd try.
As for the last try Luai stepped Matto, Junior and Brown who imo were so exhausted they could not get their feet moving.
Luai is elusive at the best of times and personally I am not going to bag any of those players for not being able to stop him. - You know I am harsh so give these toilers a break.
2nd try was scored next to posts, Gutho was standing to the right of the riff scorer, virtually never moved from his in goal position esxcept raising his head a bit looking at the sky, (was he thinking it was falling in?) the last try was as bad with a kid pushing him onto his back on the ground, with NB around the Riffs legs & another eel down behind him.
I doubt I have ever seen Gutho so out of the game as he showed in those two tries, NB's effort also was not good either.
So reflecting on that game, I don't believe we were ever going to win it, first time this year in my tipping comp I gave the eels a win by 1 point, only because I will not tip against the eels no matter what, I did not believe they would win while hoping the opposite.
The game was a wake up call for the team if they want to go further this year, not sure how far that will be unless there are some changed attitudes by a couple of players. not necessarily Gutho though.
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