Poor peformances at the end of seasons have been a trend at the eels for a while now, but so have injuries and suspension to key players during the business end. Does this come down to pure luck, poor conditioning (players burning out) or bubble fatigue (mental struggles from the lockdown etc)? If you look at Storm, Panthers, Manly and Bunnies they are approaching full strength teams now, with minimal injuries and suspension. They have all had their injuries throughout the year, but importantly they are fit and prime come the end of the season. Eels are starting to develop a habit of having a fit roster from the start to midway of the year. However, when business time is approaching, key players have started to get injured or suspended. Personally, I think it is a combination of all three factors.
Last year, Jenko, Fergo & Sivo were suspended / injured during the finals. Niukore was suspended. D Brown only returned from injury in week 1 of finals.
This year, Mahoney is out for the season. Matto is suspended till week 1 finals. Fergo is injured. Moses is returning from a back injury that is clearly still hampering him. RCG is injured till earliest week 1 finals.
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I would beat the cowboys with a full strength line up. This will help the confidence in the team. Then I would rest the team for Panthers and Storm. Let any tired body recover and get ready for the physicality of finals.
Rest the main player. Let the fringe top 17 players like W Smith, Carty get minuted as well.
Yeh not too far from reality, we still are very poorly coached the problems have been there all year and for years now.
I actually prefer finishing outside the 4 this year, there is no home ground advantage and we usually end up playing storm which is always a tough bashing game which leaves you battered the following week. This way the pressure is off its do or die so you can't be complacent thinking oh well we have next week it's just shame we are playing so crap.
i like electrics idea,best the cows and play a reserves team or the next two but we know that won't happen
It's because of this Front Loading Philosophy. We put all our energies into the start of the season and not enough thought to the back end of the season.
Our boys are flogged with chase the collision, be big and powerful game plans. This type of effort only gets you so far as year in year out shows around, round 18 to 20 it becomes too much, injuries, fatigue, mental and physical, hit us. Not enough thought goes into the back end, when the premiership is there for the taking.
BA is always saying, i only look at next week, i don't look too far down the track, if we front load our effort then our attack will take care of itself blah blah blah.
BA is limited in his approach, the master coaches build up to the end of the comp, they add polish and manage their players with time out of playing games and from training, they are also taught to chase the gaps in attack, and they build to the finals and then unleash. We do it backwards , and it's not working out for us at the end of year.
Well James Graham asked if they were tired. He said the looked and seemed tired. Mick said it was a cop out, but I honestly think they are burned out and it has to do with BA's use of the interchange bench and overusing certain players.
Our power game failed as soon as RCG was out. We can't continue the power game without him. It's just not effective. The fact that we can only play 1 was is completely BA's fault. Paulo has been ineffective since returning from Origin too. How do you play the power game without your 2 most powerful players? You can't. Yes, Junior is playing. But he is not himself.
lazy , tired sort of the same thing i'm alluding to Brissy, another word fed up, jaded, injured, had enough, exhausted, etc etc etc, its nature if you go high intensity for too long a time you burn out, it's shown time and time again and the best coaches have recognised this and put plans in place to ease workloads at crucial times for certain players, they build their players up to a crescendo at the correct time, they dont peak until the finals and add polish along the way. Brian Smith used to do it backwards for ages as well, now BA does it for us. The best coaches know when to let up on players and refresh them. Refresh their minds and their bodies along the way. If not the players revolt they look jaded become disinterested the high intensity gets to them, the tanks are empty and some give up or take short cuts, it's human nature. As a result we go out backwards at the end of each year. The comp is won at the back end of the season , not the front .
"the master coaches build up to the end of the comp". This comes from experience through regular exposure to finals and consistantly being one of the front running teams.
How many times in there early years did we see Broncos fade at the end of the year and they had the allmighty and great Bennett as well as a near SOO/Asutralian team.
I would even add that Penrith until last year where up and down like a yoyo from year to year and fadded a lot at the end of each season.
Also. It doesnt suprise me at all that we have fallen away. Back in June someone made a comment that we should be chasing a top 2 position, I told them to be relastic and that we just need to ensure we hold off Souths and Roosters to finish in the top 4.
I got laughed at and was told it was realastic that we finish in top 2. How did that turn out?
Truth is we dont have the experience through regular exposure to finals and consistantly being one of the front running teams.
Front Loading Bs...
It's like a race and we go out of the blocks quickly and lose gas, then others overtake us because they manage themselves well..
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