Excuse the pessimism, but I can't remember entering a season with so little hope for what the Eels might achieve. Even when we collected those consecutive wooden spoons in 12 & 13, we still had Jarryd Hayne who, love him or hate him, was capable of producing anything.
2019 does not excite me. I don't believe its possible to make the 8; our forwards are never going to genuinely compete against the top sides on a week to week basis, Gutherson is not a great fullback or captain and Mahoney is developing. Most significantly though, Moses is not a half back and shouldn't be the dominate half in any NRL team. He is rushed and panicky in his play. This filters through the whole back line and disjoints our attacking structures. He is constantly pushing passes and taking the wrong options. Whilst Moses has the coordination and talent to be an elite player, he does not have the mind for it. I would have much preferred to keep Norman.
It would be nice if Bevan French delivered on his talent and pushed Gutherson out of fullback, but based on 2018 we cannot bank on that.
To me, that leaves only Brown as our upcoming halfback to change the fortunes of the team. If he can play a similar game as Nathan Cleary and be the organising half, I hold some hope that Moses will finally justify his price tag. If that happens, we could conceivably push for a spot in the 8. However, all this seems fanciful at this moment.
What dob you guys think?
Replies
Have to agree with you, I reckon your assessments will turn out to be pretty spot on johnny.
Before I get labeled as one I need to point out I’m not a unicorn!!! I have the ability to look at our squad objectively and analyse on its merits. I do believe a few of our deficiencies from last year have been addressed.
Fergo and possibly Silvio to help get our sets of to good starts on kick returns.
Paulo is a genuine prop he can dint the line and allow players like N Brown to play of the back of that. I like the addition of Lane and I’m hoping Evans gives us something.
I thought Mahoney showed he could handle first grade . The Norman Moses combination didn’t work now it’s gone.
Youngsters in Stone, Kafausie, Brown, Salmon I think we are going to go ok.
Couldn’t agree more mate, some of these juniors look the goods & add fergo, junior & lane to the team & we should go a bit better, the big question for me is Moses & how he handles being the big dog
Excuse the pessimism!!! Ha. We are well trained Johnny!
In a nutshell, you can choose to take Johnny’s point of view or Brad’s. Brad’s point of view is similar to mine. Not expecting much this year but I can see the value in our signings. The unknown is pretty exciting regarding our halves. It’s football. Who knows?
I am trying to remain positive, I think it could go either way, however on Norman I was watching a highlights reel the other day and it was mostly Norman providing the final cut out pass or kick or putting someone through a gap for the try.Not sure on the stats of His v. Moses re . Try assists etc.but was wondering if we may miss this aspect of his game this year ?
I agree Dr Wong. It was a weekly occurence seeing Norman stop, look at the defensive line, and submit to a tackle. There were a lot of good aspects to his game, but also a lot of bad. I hope one of the younger guys can step up and fill his place.
In other words he was shite. Short kicking game second to none. Really! Kicking the coke habit is his gig, and he appears shite at that too.
Take a Bex son and lie down.
Poppa im hope im one of those people
Who eels surprised lot of people this year
Bloody hel old fart - would have loved to have you as my navigator back in War.
I don't think Brown is our only hope - it comes down to Moses really. He needs to take control of the game and do so with a level head. If Brown thinks he can come in and try to organise the team himself, then we are going to get the same situation that we had with Norman and Moses. No doubt Brown will become the dominant half eventually, but I don't think we will see much of that this season (he hasn't played an NRL game yet). Moses can be a quality player and we have seen this come out at times. For some reason he has been ham-stringed last season.
If players play to their instructions and strengths Parra should do OK. The key to 2019 is their mental state and whether they have the fortitude to keep things positive and believing they can achieve.
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