So it is now confirmed that the Eels will meet the Panthers in the Grand Final and I think that is the game that everyone deserves and wants. The battle of the West is on!!!
I believe the keys to success will be the following;
#1 Mental. The Eels know they can get over the Panthers as we have done it twice this season and were in the last game until Moses went off. Most teams are going to struggle against another good team when they lose their key playmaker and that was proved when the Eels got over the Panthers when they lost Cleary. The Eels need to go into Sundays game knowing they are going to win. Visualise it and believe it!!!
#2 Defence. I think physically, this is going to be the biggest key to getting the win. When the Eels have played their best football, and particularly against the Panthers, is when they have gotten up fast, aggresively and in their face, giving the Panthers no room to move. That is how the Bunnies had it all over the Panthers in the first half last night but it will take 80 minutes of that, where the Bunnies could only keep it up for 30 minutes. Smash and suffocate the life out of the Panthers attack and break them mentally.
#3 Attack. This will come off the back of our defence. When the Eels punish teams defensively, their attack flows.
#3.1 Offloads. This is going to be important as simple one out from the ruck isn't going to work unless the Eels are constantly on the front foot and winning the ruck. If they are great, keep taking advantage of that but if they aren't, then they have to be able to change it up and to change it up quickly. You can only act as a battering ram for so long and unstructured play is nearly impossible to defend against. The Eels are at their attacking best off the back of offloads.
#4 Kicking. This is mainly going to be a Moses thing but not just him. The Panthers will be targetting Moses as everyone knows he is the Eels main kicker and the Eels will need to take advantage of this. Mahoney needs to have his 40/20 kicks from dummy half ready to go and D. Brown needs to be ready to step up and take on some kicking.
#4.1 Varied kicking. This is for Moses mainly but also for anyone else who kicks. Moses is a great kicker and an intelligent one but is very predictable (end over end bomb). The Panthers will be expecting it and the Eels need to bring something that the Panthers aren't expecting and have planned for. Moses will need to use the floater bomb but also kicking early and just over the top of the defence, finding space and having it roll. I am not saying that Moses shouldn't do any end over end bombs, but he needs to have the Panthers guessing what is comming? Keeping an eye on the fullback and knowing if he is in the line defending, the team needs to be aware of this and be ready to chase kicks.
#4.2 Kick pressure and chase. Plenty of pressure on the Panthers kicker (likely Cleary but expect the unexpected) and chase, chase and chase our kicks.
#5 Team performance. The team who performs as one will get the win. I say this everytime the Eels are in the finals, they need to get together and watch the 09 highlights. Nothing shows better what a team that is all pushing up together in both defence and attack can do. You can't offload to a team mate who isn't there, you can't stop from being pushed back in goal or over the sideline if another team mate isn't there and you can't push the opposition back in goal or over the sideline if another team mate isn't there. It will be the team that wins the game and individual brilliance will come off the back of a great team performance.
Imortallity awaits!!!
Replies
Lot of luck and a couple Panthers send off
Kikau has just been cleared by the reveiw committee to play for the Pennies in the big one. No suspension for his shoulder charge.
We have beaten a full strength Panthers before so him playing isn't going to be the difference. If the Eels come together as a team and apply more constant pressure than the Panthers doing the above, they win. It's as simple and has hard as that.
I think the Eels have been building well and now have the belief.
Sunday is the day to leave it all out on the field and achieve immortality.
That Kikau shot was nothing. The Leota shot on Mitchell is worth reviewing though.
I think that was fine. It definitely hurt him and his head rocked forward but the contact point was chest only. Great hit.
Funny how they never showed any close ups of that hit Grinder, whilst I'm ok with it from the distance , I'd love to see where the contact was considering how Latrells head shot back. To be honest , I reckon Mitchell was concussed after that hit as that was his game pretty much over.
Just like fucking Billy Slater going in feet first on that try scoer a few years back and was cleared because he's fucking Billy fucking Slater and it was his last match. NRL doesn't want us to win, doesn't look good if they upset the Clearys ...that's just me saying that...it'll be a bastard of a game but we'll win it!
One thing to add, NO short damn line drop outs or kick offs unless we are behind on the score board and there are not many minutes to go.., that short line drop out the other night in the first 15m was fucking dumb.. NQ got the ball and scored soon after
Agreed. I am not a fan of the short dropout unless you are way infront or way behind. It is a low percentage play.
It's actually not a low percentage play that's why so many teams are doing it now. Most teams also feel comfortable defending close to their try line as there is no room for the offence to work you over.
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