Ides Of March

I warned about the Ides Of March. The Eels, like Caesar, ignored the warning and paid the price of death. You can take a horse to water but you can`t make it drink comes to mind. After three rounds of the competition I give an analysis of the coming year. It is by no means definitive, but infinitely better than judging proceedings by training blogs rain down since last November. To win the competition we need to finish in the top four--you get a second bite of the cherry from there. After the Storm, Brisbane match on Thursday most "experts" claimed those two sides will play in the grand final. If so, the Eels have two places to make up the top four. Do you think we can finish ahead of the Cowboys, the Sharks, the Raiders, Penrith and Easts and perhaps others to make the top four? Based on last nights very poor performance the answer would be no. Thus, another winter of dis content awaits us it seems. We might sneak into the top eight but who cares about that? We are in the NRL for one reason, and one reason alone--to win the grand final. We played the first two games in daylight. Against the Titians we played under lights at night. Perhaps this had some bearing on our lack of performance? It has been a feature of BA`s coaching that we run up a fair score against teams in the first half only to be overrun in the second half. I was hoping that 2017 would see that defect eliminated. It may well still come about. It may well not too. I submitted a similar blog to this last night. For some reason it never appeared. By the way, all those who bagged my original Ides Of March warning are enjoying our defeat and licking the egg off their respective faces!

Robert you make a good point about only 2 spots left for grabs in top 4 and most will agree. Its a tough competition and you can even loose by giving it your all. I don't blame the halves they did ok and at least put points on board. I often wonder do night games make a difference till you get used to them. I don't believe in easy wins. our dropped balls, right edge, a couple of terrible ref calls and French kicking instead of turning and running or passing to left towards end of game when it was our last chance to put points on board. I am not a fan of those kicks as there was no space and would have relied too much on luck. Hopefully we will learn from last night. Hats off to Titans although ref was kind to them. Personally I would have loved to have seen Gower out there last night. Plus we always struggle at first when Mannah comes off giving Titans an edge at cruciall time.

Replies

Muttman March 18, 2017 at 8:19am

You're so insightful. Everyone else thought we'd go through the season undefeated. But only you Robert could see that a loss was coming.
Parrakeet March 18, 2017 at 8:41am

Robert you make a good point about only 2 spots left for grabs in top 4 and most will agree. Its a tough competition and you can even loose by giving it your all. I don't blame the halves they did ok and at least put points on board. I often wonder do night games make a difference till you get used to them. I don't believe in easy wins. our dropped balls, right edge, a couple of terrible ref calls and French kicking instead of turning and running or passing to left towards end of game when it was our last chance to put points on board. I am not a fan of those kicks as there was no space and would have relied too much on luck. Hopefully we will learn from last night. Hats off to Titans although ref was kind to them. Personally I would have loved to have seen Gower out there last night. Plus we always struggle at first when Mannah comes off giving Titans an edge at cruciall time.
Longfin Eel March 18, 2017 at 8:52am

Brisbane and Melbourne are not unbeatable based on Thursday's game. Any team on top of their game would have beaten either of them. That's the thing about this competition - you need to stay in contact with the top and then win the games that really matter. Last night was a wake-up call for players who thought they had done the hard work. There is much to improve on and it's good that this is evident as it means the platers know what they need to do from here on. If they played to the best of their ability and still got rolled I would be much more disappointed.
Parrakeet March 18, 2017 at 8:57am

Robert you are entitled to your opinion like everyone else here.
Davo 'RIP feet for hands Toutai' March 18, 2017 at 9:18am

When I watched the storm v broncos game the other night I actually thought at the time that if they played like that against us that we would woop there asses.There were a lot of mistakes and even though Melbourne won I actually thought they lost direction for a good period of the game.Anyone else think this?Robert you negative prack 2009.
Pauly Pauly March 18, 2017 at 10:15am

Speak English please
Daz Sul March 19, 2017 at 4:43am

Yep, it's mr happy all over again. Robert, you're so 2015.
07mku9ufr1adk March 19, 2017 at 7:36am

You idiot parra played shit and will continue to play shit with the attitude turn up and win cowboys lost because so many injuries Brisbane lost because Melb showed more passion more desire to win not like parra big head sydrome look at the rooster just bought 1 half 1 fullback and undefeated why because you pass you score you winsimple as that
07mku9ufr1adk March 19, 2017 at 9:34am

If I was in charge my team is undefeated idiot it's called passion not turn up with the attitude she will be right I would sack players instantly for shit behaviour not stick up for them Brian smith did it nobody is bigger than the team it's a team sport putting pinga boy on a pedalstool is stupid you see bellyache smash windows tell the players get off your arses and work for your money they only have 2.5 players the rest sub standard and they they lead the comp wow it's called hard work not reading the papers about there own hype
07mku9ufr1adk March 19, 2017 at 10:54am

Are you afraid of hard work let me tell you something thats how parra should play structure does not work with parra have fun playing is the only way to win not 1 man out structures