Ok, well if anyone can figure out who I was at the ground I had a nice chat with fellow Eels fans so please if you are one of the them let me know.
This will be long but I do not care as I cannot sum up in short and those who are willing to read will read so don't bother saying it's too long as I'll simply say don't read. I will start with the sensible call BA shouldn't be sacked nor will he be that's just asinine to say at this stage. However, concerns arise, yes, would Penrith or Melbourne have allowed that performance to happen? As a club do we strive to be better than just being a top 8 team. Wests, Canterbury, Dragons would all happily take a single finals appearance and take it as a positive and success, 2019 we would and 2020 too as we think well better than other years. Now we need to set an example of being that high standard team Penrith and Melbourne are.
Losses happen and it's not the season over, but to not even have Commbank as our fortress is poor. I do not blame BA for the loss, well not completely, we did not play to the BA likes with short passes through the middle. We had the attitude of "we're a top 4 team so let's play like one" instead of whethering the storm and playing the first 30 out generally normal, in that case majority of the time quality prevails. Refs weren't an issue we lost that ourselves.
The bench though, that was a disaster. What was he thinking? Niukore was the pick of the player but imagine him actually in the middle one RCG and Brown had rests? If you do not trust Perham to start, do not name him at all, you mention how your depth is excellent yet you are reluctant to get them on the field in crucial times, don't name them if you don't trust them. Why bring your 3rd sub on usually with 15-20 mins left in the most crucial part of most games? Bringing them on in last 10 of 1st half leading to an extra 15 mins break at half time and allow RCG, Paulo and Brown to see the final 30 out but he fiddles around too much and relies on fitness, what is better a 60% RCG or 70% with the earlier break?
The only positive thing I could pull out is could this be BA pulling back the reigns as we are usually fast starters then drop off late in the year, cop a couple of bad performances now and save our best for later. But the old cracks of us mentally not being strong when behind, as soon as I saw us go from 2nd tackle on one wing to another wing on 4th I thought well that's them they're panicking and going sideways, if you stray from the plan when behind why support your coach so much? Would Melbourne stray from Bellamy's plan? Would Penrith stray from Cleary's? Old habits aren't as bad as they used to be but they are still there and it raises questions on BA still, it's one loss but not good at all.
We consider ourselves top 4 quality but do not trust ourselves enough when falling behind, we level up first and think ok we're back let's go through the motions then Wests hit back and panic again.
We shouldn't call for BA's head no way, but it's fine to raise questions of a please explain as this was simply misunderstanding your opponent which BA's teams should know better by now and that's the issue, old issues reappear when they should be fixed, Robinson, Cleary, Bennett, Bellamy do you see any constant lingering issues in their teams long term? They fix them and grow better, we fix it to a point where it's better than before, when do we as a club start to feel we hold a standard higher than just top 8 as success those days are gone, we should be top 4 or bust, prelim or bust.
Waiting to see how we come out v Newcastle, if that was Penrith tonight the next team they face will be copping, us we will be happy to scrape by and it's the expectations that need reassessing, of course we don't want to lose but we let go players relying on depth for future that BA doesn't seem to trust.
Yes we had injuries but we nearly one it despite, we lost the trenches they were gain quick play the balls on us to gather momentum.
Over to you BA show us what you got.
Replies
Layne Beachley
Well that makes sense, thanks Browny hahah
The spirit of Lenny Bruce?
It's too long
I knew it would be for you Slugg, I would've actually fainted if you mentioned you made it past the first paragraph ahaha.
Mate did you start writing this at halftime?
I agree . He's been getting away with playing pathetic benches but it was going to bite eventually.
For some reason he's gone into this season with a thin bench with an emphasis on squad versatility . It's great to have a couple of guys in your squad who can cover other positions at a pinch but it shouldn't be the priority. We 've been having injury problems on the wing .. the answer isn't to remove strike from our centres and play a 5'6 power centre on the wing . Having said that the biggest issue with the bench is the fact we're not using dudes 16 and 17 unless there's issues in game . No other team is playing a 15 man rotation the first 6 weeks as you build into the season . We shouldn't be in a position where we lose a prop and we have to rotate the back row though there either . Bizarre coaching .
Bizarre indeed, particularly when we're known to fade out after round 10 with fatigue.
Its frustrating as we need to trust our players, how do you expect Wiremu Greig to be a first grader letting him sit on the bench? or naming Rein and giving him 15 minutes when down by 4 out of nowhere? was a break for Reed needed? why not give him that break before the half ended, us the break to your advantage and push forward for a good 30 with a couple of changes under your bench.
I think you hit the nail on the head . No trust . He trusts the starters to get the job done .. doesn't trust the lower tier guys unless it's his Son who completely out of character .. he's prepared to give the keys to the whole car to.
20 mins for a couple of younger props at this stage of year against teams like the Tigers , Titans etc shouldn't make or break the game for you. It's part of growing into the season . RCG was going to have to go the 80 today without being injured , Lane was completely spent .. literally couldn't walk back onside the last 10. We should've iced todays game regardless and it's not the sole reason for the loss but it's not helping just like it didn't help against Cronulla or last week against the GC. If one of our centres had to be moved to the wing today (they didn't ) it should've been the completely pedestrian Opacic . Perham should've been it .
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