I'll admit I was skeptical when we signed Brad Arthur on as coach. I was worried that a rookie coach was the last thing we needed.
Watching us play over these past six weeks has shown me that Arthur definitely knows what he's doing. We've often questioned some of his selections, but apart from Luke Kelly, Arthur has been vindicated with every selection.
Our concern has been that we dropped our heads when things weren't going right. Well it seems that has been rectified. Against Penrith, Brisbane and the Roosters, last season's Eels would've dropped their bundle and been trampled.
It's like Arthur has turned around that attitude. He's placed an amazing amount of importance on defence, encouraging his side to be better each week and take pride in their line. They held the Roosters, last season's best attacking team, scoreless for 40 minutes and absorbed set after set.
A big indication of Arthur's coaching ability was in those last ten minutes. I believe he had on the field Allgood, Mannah and Gower. Three no-nonsense players. They play with very little risk and do the hard yards and that was what we needed at that time of the game.
Gower has been unbelievable since joining the club. He goes unnoticed but his work-rate is amazing. A couple of times he closed down the gaps just as the Roosters looked like slicing through.
It's not just Gower though. It's like every player is prepared to support his teammate. That if his mate misses a tackle, he'll be there to cover.
Daniel Tupou's runaway try was an example of that never give up attitude. Nathan Peats had no right to chase him. Peats is the hooker, he makes tackle after tackle, he didn't have to get up and chase, but he gave it his best shot and very nearly made the tackle. It was a Nathan Hindmarsh like effort.
The Eels have gotten better every week and the fact that Arthur is never 100% happy at the end of every match re-enforces this. He wants his side to be the best it can be and the best never rest.
I'm enjoying watching us play each match because I know we'll be in the match for 80 minutes and never give up.
Replies
kenny had a poor game last night.
needs to improve again next week.
Big positive to come out of yesterdays win was the completion rate, only 1 incomplete set each half which is a huge improvement. If we can continue in this vein for the rest of the year will be hard to beat.
Apart from a couple of bad selections like Edwards at 9 and a non recognised kicker against manly and even those you could argue weren't that bad I.e we were neck and neck with roosters till half time and manly we had in the bag at the 79 minute mark.
Yes we have bought some good players and begrudgingly but honestly we have to thank rs and sk for that but what I have been impressed with is the improvement in individuals. Example sandow, allgood, Paulo, sio tonga and mannah. Each of these guys have shown a lot more than in previous years because ba unlike rs before him believes in these guys and is working with them rather than just saying they are useless and they have to go.
It is early days and I'm not prepared to say we will make the finals or anything like that but I think ba and his coaching staff have our side playing with real passion and pride and they are playing the best style of footy of any side and that's the opinion of a lot of non eels fans too.
We'll done now we just have to keep it up because teams won't be taking us lightly anymore after last nights performance.
This is the difference between Brad Arthur assistant coach and Stephen Kearney assistant coach. Arthur has had experience running the show in lower grades then learnt the NRL nuisances as an assistant. What guys like Kearney have done is not played lower level football and debuted in the NRL.
I think it's become clear now why Luke Kelly was there in the first place. He wanted to make Chrissy work on the things he needed to and earn his spot back, which he has done. I belive that Brad was always going to bring Chrissy back, it was just a matter of when.
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