The Parramatta Eels suffered their second loss of the season, going down to the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale oval 22-18 on Saturday night.
From early on the Eels didn't look like they were entirely there. Basic mistakes were common, hooker Reed Mahoney had probably the worst game of his career while the side looked soft on the edges.
Two of the early tries the side conceded simply haven't occurred in the previous nine rounds.
Danny Levi strolled over from dummy-half, meanwhile Daly Cherry-Evans cruised through a gaping hole in the defence. Somewhat ironically both these tries occurred on Parramatta's usually impregnable left edge.
There are plenty of reasons that could be looked at as to why the Eels were off kilter. They have had one of the toughest starts to the season of any side. They've faced the defending premiers, 2019 grand finalists, the now-first Penrith Panthers and the previously top four Newcastle Knights. They won all but one of those games.
I'll just take this time to tell Gus Gould to shut up and get back into his box. The Eels were favourites in all but one of those games and won them all. They can get themselves up when facing a lower ranked side.
But I digress.
The lack of seven (becoming 8 when Nathan Brown left the action) regular first graders could have had an impact.
Even the championship winning Roosters team has struggled when their players have been out. In fact they've lost two of their last three. Their win coming against the hapless Cowboys, with losses to the Storm and Raiders.
However, as Brad Arthur pointed out, it doesn't matter who is missing, that shouldn't impact your defensive attitude. And that is what was missing in the opening 20 minutes. Ultimately, it cost us the game.
Following Levi's 16th minute try, Manly would score just one try in the following 64 minutes. Had that defensive attitude existed from the opening whistle, the result could've been different.
That being said, if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. So that doesn't matter.
What I do take issue with is the panic I've seen from Eels fans about that one loss. Some of it could be put down to a fear of falling short yet again. I get it. I wrote 2,000 words the other week on being constantly let down by this side.
But this side has come so far already this season that one loss should not be signalling the death knell of our season. Hell, one poster has said we should be sacking the head coach after that game. Now that would be knee jerk if ever I saw it.
Even after that loss, this side remains the best defensive team in the competition.
They have won eight games and lost two. If I told you at the start of the season that was our win record after 10 rounds you'd have called bullshit.
Now I'm not saying we deserved to win on Saturday or anything like that. We were so far from winning that game it wasn't funny, and yet we could very well have won it had Gutherson worn the same kicking boots he did against the Cowboys.
The game finished four tries a piece. There's some resiliency to take out of that. When we could have very easily folded and put up a limp wristed attempt at playing out the match, our side clawed its way back into the game and took it to the final minute.
The Eels will this week welcome back Ryan Matterson, Blake Ferguson, Mitchell Moses and N. Brown and Maika Sivo are reportedly cleared to play. Those three players returning to the team have a collective 451 games.
That experience is invaluable and will be needed against a tough Tigers side.
Ultimately we can't judge this side until the end of the season.
This team has set a standard, and that standard is top two, top four at worst. It's up to them to shut the naysayers up (Phil Gould) who seem to be hoping they crash and burn. A top two finish should be the highest priority. It allows for two home finals.
Was Saturday's match a terrible performance? Yes, absolutely, no question.
Am I worried this will become the norm? No. Brad Arthur's reaction in the press conference indicates to me that at no level was that performance acceptable to him and the players will be well aware of it.
I'm backing them to come out all guns blazing on Thursday night to remind the competition why they are a contender.
Replies
Good blog Supe :)
"ultimately we can't judge this side until the end of the season". I disagree. Footy's like life - it's all about the journey - getting too focused on what the team might or might not ultimately achieve means missing out on so much along the way.
This teams already given me a shitload of good times over the first 10 rounds. Even against Manly I had this confidence that, even though we were playing like absolute shit, maybe we could get out of it.
At the moment I'm loving being a Parra supporter and lovin' the ride. I give them an A+ so far :)
No panic about losing a few, all teams will in the NRL. But if we do continue to play like that there will be a few more losses coming. Lot said about our D but Our attack was non existent for 60 minutes too. Hopefully it's just a blip on the radar. As BA has said it's more about being consistent every week rather than the results.
I think our attack was very much a victim of the missing Moses and to a lesser extent Matterson and Fergo, not mention the absence of Brown for about 60 minutes. Without Moses our spine only has around 200 first grade games and 100 of them are in Gutho.
It's been decades since a team went through undefeated so let's not get carried away after one loss.
It's a good thing they have a quick turn around to respond to the criticism that's no doubt come from the players themselves and the coaching staff.....let's see how they respond.
I agree with what you have written but with one caveat - what the last few weeks have shown me (and yes that includes the cowboys game) is that we are absolutely no chance if Moses should cop a season ending injury. We have looked a rabble organisationally since he's been out and we simply do not have a back up controller. Anyone thinking Brown can take on the role is dreaming, he simply isn't that type of player.
Yet.
Well said. Agree 100%
I think Super the players showed that they knew the first half performance was not up to scratch in the way they clawed their way back in the second half. I would expect this to continue on Thursday, with some additional watch outs from the game review.
It's certainly hard as a Parra supporter waiting for the crash and burn, but I do believe this team has gone beyond that. They know their performance was not up to scratch and I have faith that the additional players coming back into the team will lift them to a much better performance. Mind you, Thursday is still a danger game for us.
Great blog Super and I totaly agree with you.
No team goes through undefeated and if they treat this loss the right way, they can get so much out of it. I doubt we will see them play like that again this year. I feel they will gain a steely resolve from this lesson.
We still have a good chance of regaining the top and taking out the minor premiership late in the year. I for one am not worried about sitting in second. As BA said, when you are sitting on top, everyone wants to come after you. Maybe we can go under the raidar a little bit now while the presure is on Penrith
It all starts from the number 9, Mahoneys game was sub par in relation to his passes. He will be close to MOM on Thursday night.
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