Eels Blogs

This is the first game this year where i was furious when it finished, other losses made me annoyed, but this is the first one where i was steaming afterwards. It was an odd one as i was out with my wife at a Korean BBQ during the first half as she had a rough week at work and made the exception to take her out Sunday night despite Parramatta playing. Upon full-time, i regret my decision to slightly rush home as cooking meat on a gas grill and waiting for it to be ready would have made me more satisfied afterwards. They played well in attack, but again shooting ourselves in the foot and do not get me started with them scoring with one set on our line and we take roughly 3-4 before scoring in most. It pisses me off to no end. It takes a lot for me to swear, even the slightest of swear words, on this site compared to real life where i swear quite a lot, especially watching Parramatta, but this has annoyed me. If this team was like the Wests Tigers i would be ok as it is what you expect, we expect Parramatta to lose at times but not with the way we play and players we have. Next two are make or break for the 8, i mentioned how Newcastle loss would've blown top 4 away, well losing the next two could have clingling onto the 8. Only thing in our favour are 6 points worth from byes and other teams being quite even on ladder with upsets happening.

53% possession shows as we did win the second half. We ended up with 85% completions, which is odd since we were on 90% midway into the second half, errors late were costly. making 377 more metres with 39 more runs, 7/5 linebreaks, though 41/22 tackle breaks in Titans favour, offloads were back 18/9 though as the tackle breaks showed we made 41 missed tackles, simply not good enough considering Gold Coast made 19 less and their defence the last few weeks is equivalent to a piece of wet paper. Though GC had more ineffecient tackles, go figure. But enough with the stats, i want to vent. But start with the good.

Most Impressive: 

Dylan Brown: At half-time i had come to terms of Dyl being in my disappointing list once again. Then out of nowhere, confidence sparked and he was amazing. He took control and got us on the front foot. He didn't rely on the left side as much, more so popping up around the field. He looked dangerous the entire second half, with Moses out v Canberra it will be crucial for Brown to take control again and let JA organise if we are to win. Hell, it is crucial for Brown to continue that form if we are a chance in this premiership at all. You want X-Factor? He can have it, just needs to show it consistently. 

Ryan Matterson: Back in his role that got him an Origin jumper last year in game I. Coming off the bench as a middle, he was making PCM's easily, bring his selective offloads into the game at the right time and he created momentum through the middle. Matto off the bench is great for us, he adds so much impact when we are lacking it, bringing him in against a tired middle works. However, on an edge he works well too over say Davey, Doorey and Cartwright, but we need a bench middle also so I lean towards him being on the bench than on an edge to be honest. 251 metres, 4 tackle breaks and 2 offloads capped off a great display by Matterson.

Bryce Cartwright: Came on and played a little bit in the middle then shuffled to right edge for Davey, he was really good last night. 3 offloads, 128 metres capped off a good game from Carty.

Josh Hodgson: Ok i know i will cop it, but it felt he was alright. He got our attack moving, good movement around the ruck, added a good kick in the first half also. He was not amazing but i felt he added a bit to our attack. Hands i felt was fine but not great himself and our attack was a little less potent. Hodgson was only alright due to dumb penalties he gives away but i have to give credit where i see it.

Honorable mentions: Gutherson, Hopgood, Simonsson.

Most Disappointing:

Junior Paulo: Are we at the point where it is ok to mention Paulo has been average this year? He is offering no punch, his passing game is practically obselite and he looks disinterested at times. We should be seeing a State of Origin quality Prop and a leader every game. Matterson, Cartwright and Hopgood were a better middle, once Paulo came back on i felt the attack dropped. He has one or two decent runs but that is. As the co-captain, it is concerning the amount of leading by example is missing from Paulo's game. He hasn't had a great performance this year other than Round 1. Only 119 metres.

Andrew Davey: Not a great return for the old stallward. He wasn't awful but didn't justify being picked over Doorey, Cartwright or Matterson. Nice backing up for his try but in defence left a lot to be desired, in an area that i believe he was selected for.

BA using bench: Starting Greig and only playing him for 28 minutes is ridiculous. Ofahiki Ogden would be better suited starting and leaving Greig on the bench. Though getting to crucial part of being down by 4 he brings Matterson off late in the half when getting a roll and our momentum drops with him off, he could have stayed on. If you have a player only worth 28 minutes then they should not be starting, simple as that.

Haze Dunster: He was not awful, he actually had some alright runs. But in defence and in attack he does not offer too much to warrant a spot. He should see the year out in NSW Cup gaining some confidence and experience. 

Mitchell Moses: Got caught on 4th to many times, non-existent running game, average kicks. It was not a good night for our $1.2 million man. Going off with a HIA is not ideal for us but he was not playing great either. Tried to get going with his running game, but got caught on 4th causing Brown to take over last tackle options. 

Defence: Whether it is BA or Antonelli, they are at fault for our defence. On second thought, BA overall is at fault as he is the head coach. Their attack can match with the best, South Sydney style attack. Yet our defence simply is what causes games, it is simple. We have no issue scoring, but conceading is an issue a really bad one at that. The amount of times i have seen this team on the opposition line and not being able to score in 3-4 straight sets. Opposition goes down and scores on the first set. It annoys me to no end. Every time a team throws it around we always hang on by a thread, not sure if it is we are too tight in our structures or just losing the battle in the middle. Either way for BA who is running the defence in year 10 should know his team better to what suits them, unless he is not playing his cards too early.

Sin bin: It was desperation and honestly have seen it let go before, but it was a killer for us, having 10 points scored off that stint. We have 12 men and we panic and struggle, if Gold Coast had 12 we panic and struggle.

Now onto Canberra, cold hole of a joint. I have said it a few times but this is a season defining game for us, we lose this and go into Souths on a lull we could be 4 from 12. That is nearly season over, considering 12 losses is enough to make semi's. If we are 4 from 12 we have to win theoretically 8 from our last 12 to make the semi's. We seem to be a bit of a prima donna team, when things are not going our way we panic as it is not we want. But it also adds in to me what i feel, in that i believe this team is playing for themselves at time, they seem to come out with no game plan or have a plan then change it halfway through. Thing is we have mentioned this last year and we know how the season ended. Could last year had been a last harrah for the group and they did it themselves? I am not going into a sack BA call, but i mean if we miss the 8, the expectations should be brought up in how we take his coaching performance. We sign fringe players like Doorey, Momoisea, Murchie and sign Mataele as a future squad player. None of these players would play in any of the other 16 teams right away. We bought these players as moneyball high reward players, hoping BA can do what he did with Papali'i. It has not worked. He brings in Davey when we need a middle forward, Davey at this stage has no high reward, he is a decent squad player but will not see a future back-rower for us. So he is a quick fix but is he actually? It is these decisions that are baffling for me, you have players signing elsewhere when we need a Centre, yet seems no interest in anyone really, there are options they could explore. Overall, the club is arrogant, believing they are better than what they actually are, leading to them getting surprises like this, it is quite incredible how they can continue the inconsistencies of the last 3-4 years and still go about it like normal. Something just doesn't feel right at the club, is it BA? Is it the players? Is it things just not clicking? Is it both? Either season is not over, though it will be with two straight losses in a fortnight. BA will not be sacked whether we like it or not, though the media will be on him like white on rice if we lose to both Canberra and Souths, so it should be. But a win v Canberra gives us some breathing space.

As for changes next week, JA in for Moses. But others i would entertain, Russell for Dunster and even starting Cartwright for Davey.

Enjoy your week despite mine being ruined by this lot. God bless Parramatta.