Gould says eels no chance for title

'Mentally weak' Eels no chance for NRL title until they toughen up, Phil Gould saysBy Tim Elbra - 19 hours agoThe Parramatta Eels need more mental toughness to have any chance of winning this year's NRL, Phil Gould says.High-flying Parramatta are no chance of becoming NRL premiers until they solve chronic problems with their mental toughness, Phil Gould says.The legendary coach gave a searing appraisal of the Eels after their poor 22-18 loss to Manly, in which they gave an error-riddled performance despite entering the match atop the NRL ladder.Gould said that Des Hasler's Manly side had exposed "weaknesses" in the Eels, including a long-term problem with managing hype.Parramatta haven't won a premiership in 34 years and any success is always met with fervent excitement from the long-suffering army of blue and gold supporters.Round 11EelsEelsVSWests TigersWests TigersNRL 2020: Round 11Bankwest StadiumThursday July 23rd, 9:50 amRound 11CowboysCowboysVSSea EaglesSea EaglesNRL 2020: Round 11Queensland Country Bank StadiumFriday July 24th, 8:00 amManly's Marty Taupau scores a try against Parramatta after just two minutes on Saturday night. (Getty)"I always have concern for the Eels because they're a team that can get blown away by the hype a little bit," Gould said on The Sunday Footy Show."They've sort of been cruising along, played a lot of their games here in Sydney at Bankwest [Stadium], now they're on the road a little bit. I thought they were pretty average against the Knights last week up in Newcastle and they certainly got to Manly with their heads off last night."From the opening whistle, you could see that Manly were there with a belief that they could beat this side. They'd spotted weaknesses in the Parramatta team and they just felt if they could make it hard enough, tough enough, fast enough, that Parramatta wouldn't come together."And they didn't come together. That's Parramatta's Achilles heel."Parramatta cannot win a premiership until they can learn to be talked about and praised in the media in the manner in which they've been doing [without folding]. They're no chance of winning this competition."There is a fragility about their mental toughness, I believe, and I've said that all along."Eels centre Waqa Blake in action during his side's loss to Manly. (Getty)Gould said that Parramatta needed to focus on controlling their attitude, above all else. They conceded four soft tries to Manly in the first half, with Sea Eagles prop Marty Taupau scoring the opener after just two minutes."Most of this game, you're not ever going to get everything your way," Gould said."They're going to be times when the opposition is playing really well. You've got to be able to deal with that, you've got to [handle] oppositions coming after you."As [Eels coach] Brad Arthur said after the game, 'We want to be a top side, teams are going to come after us'. Well, you've got to be able to fend that away. You've got to be able to fend that off and still come over the top of them and get the victory."And Parramatta just can't do that. Their last 20 minutes in a couple of big games this year, they've been found wanting, and if you can take them to the hour mark and you're still in the contest, you're a really good chance of beating them because they just don't finish the game off strongly enough."That's a mental weakness, it's a fragility and it's something that's got to be fixed. Getting away and blowing away the bad sides and just beating them by big scores does not make you a great football team."Manly inflicted only the second loss for Parramatta this season, following a respectable 24-10 defeat against reigning back-to-back premiers the Roosters in round six.The first half fade-out against the Sea Eagles was uncharacteristic of an Eels defence that leads the NRL, with just 118 points conceded through 10 games; 11.8 per match.Parramatta (+110) trail only the Roosters (+152) on points differential. They next face Wests Tigers on Thursday night at Bankwest Stadium, after Michael Maguire's side thrashed Brisbane 48-0 last Friday.NrlParramatta EelsPhil GouldManly Sea EaglesCareersAdvertise with usHelpTerms of usePrivacy© 2020 Nine Digital Pty Ltd

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Muttman July 20, 2020 at 9:18am

Well, you've got to be able to fend that away. You've got to be able to fend that off and still come over the top of them and get the victory."And Parramatta just can't do that.
Except the Eels did do exactly that against Canberra and Penrith and Manly and Newcastle.
Gould isn't wrong about a fragility and need for more mental toughness. But to say we can't do it is plain wrong.
- Clintorian > Muttman July 20, 2020 at 10:55am
  
  Agree Muttman, we definitely have the mental fragility in our team when we're being hyped up that we need to overcome, this is nothing new to Parra fans....
  
  But, this is definitely some mind games being played by Gus when he's sensing some vulnerability in our team. He knows we have a team that can smash his Panthers so he's taking the opportunity now to plant the seeds of defeat, and come finals time he will use them when he needs them.
  
  Being a Western Sydney boy, I would love to see a Panthers/Parra grand final because I know we'll smash them. The only player I fear in their team is Cleary.
MeelK July 20, 2020 at 9:28am

Gould is a great source of knowledge in the game, but I don't take anything he says in the media seriously. He's already come out earlier in the season when we were going well and said how he spoke to Brad Arthur about coaching and where the team could head, now he's come out with this dribble. He's hedged his bets, so come seasons end no matter what result we finish with he can come out and say "I said earlier in the season......"
Embers July 20, 2020 at 9:38am

Gus being Gus, he's mostly right but he mostly writes stuff that is inflamatory so people will read it and react, nobody wants to read sensible balamced journalism anymore....click through rates and digital media metrics have killed off real jornos.
- Parrakeet > Embers July 20, 2020 at 9:47am
  
  Muttman the Panthers lost a forward opening minutes and played a man short of bench all game against Eels huge pack. Still plenty of improvement to come from them yet. Don't fret them yet.
Axel July 20, 2020 at 9:56am

Thanks for the stirring words Gus. BA and the boys will be using them as motivation.
- TolEllts > Axel July 20, 2020 at 12:24pm
  
  I agree. BA or the Eels football coaches should show this article to all the players and let them read it. They should use to challenge all the players to use it as motivation and prove Gould is so wrong in his appreciation of them or bow to it and accept that they cannot win the Premiership because they are all mentally weak. The cry should be "Rememebr Gus Words" :)
This reply was deleted.
- Mightyeel July 20, 2020 at 10:10am
  
  I'm still trying to work out all these games where teams have finished over the top of us in the final 20 mins other than the Roosters game?! The only other game we've lost was on the weekend and we started like crap. Still good motivation article for the team.
  - Clintorian > Mightyeel July 20, 2020 at 10:47am
    
    Manly (1st game), Penrith and Canberra all mounted comebacks towards the final 10mins of their matches... but we managed to hold them off for the wins. I'm assuming that's what he means.
    
    We should never have let them come back in each of those matches and if we want to be considered as premiership threats, we should have managed those games better.
    - Kramerica > Clintorian July 20, 2020 at 12:31pm
      
      Penrith? Were they coming back while we were distracted scoring tries?

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