Eels Blogs

Lol this will be short and sweet in the first part. Embarrassing, no way around it, Wests was bad enough at home, but we gave up i rarely say that but we did. 1-17 were abysmal and derserve the criticism, BA deserves some also, a lot of issues that keep presenting themselves constantly. Heading into a tough part of the draw with; Roosters (H), Souths (A), Wests (A), Warriors (A), Brisbane (H), Penrith (H), Manly (A), Souths (H), Canterbury (H), Brisbane (A) and Melbourne (H). Confidently i can only see us winning 2 of them; Warriors and Bulldogs even then it wouldn't surprise me. 52% possession and only score 4 points, had 11 more runs and made 2 less metres. Had more tackle breaks, offloads and tackle breaks and they missed more tackles than us. What in the actual F***.

Most Impressive:

Nothing

Actually: It was impressive how this team can make me feel so embarrassed, i didn't even feel this embarrassed as a fan when we got back to back spoons in 2012 and 2013.

Most Disappointing:

1-17: Nathan Brown, 8 runs 58 metres, Papali'i had 12 runs 96 metres, Kaufusi 7 runs 66 metres, Makatoa 7 runs 63 metres. Only two forwards that actual averaged 10 metres per run, RCG and Lane. Pathetic, Greig, Ogden and Rodwell are not world beaters but looked good to start in NSW cup, see how they go, why not.

Leadership: Half-time, cut to the sheds and see the players hunched over, looking at the floor, no energy, no motivation, they looked pathetic and had another half to play. Where is Gutho and Paulo telling them to get up and get going? Was Gutho to concerned on how they made him look? Was Paulo not talking as he is not a talker but a lead by example captain? Whatever it is no leadership it was disgraceful. If they cant get up then how can they for a prelim or GF? 

Brad Arthur: Ok, the big one, the one where others either clap and give me an ovation or abuse me, but need to say it. BA is a good coach, he is an NRL quality coach, but when mistakes that have haunted us in the past keep reappearing dispite himself admitting they are an issue, the fact they haven't been fixed is on him, sorry it is. Was this loss 100% on BA? Of course not, but if we went off the game plan then why are we doing that? He is the coach he says how we play. Is it attitude? why let them have that attitude leading into the game? Yes they are professional footballers but the coach is also there to guide emotion, set the tone as to how to prepare for certain games, we believe in our hype to later get burnt too many times. I think in myself it is better for both Parramatta as a club and BA to move on from each other, both parties get new avenues. BA would benefit with a new challenge as would we with new exciting coach. Would both work out? maybe not but i think if BA is to win a comp it is not at Parramatta and if Parramatta are to win a comp it is not with BA. He is a good coach, he can coach, but it is a crucial second half of the year as if he doesn't get to week 3 then the media will be on him like last year as the drums are beating with the media catching onto us underachieving, talk will continue if we fail to get to week 3. Massive game on saturday to see how we respond.

That's it, abysmal and embarrassing, massive game on Saturday as this can really set up their season. Lost to Wests then backed up to beat Newcastle 39-2. Lost to North Queensland and backed-up to beat Penrith in Penrith. So we back-up after a bad loss to be fair, but it is concerning at the moment as to win a comp you need at least 3-4 straight wins to win a title, we can pick-up a win in the finals but that is it. A win against East's and all is forgiven.

In terms of team changes i cannot wait to see what he does. He gave the 17 a serve and i wonder if that leads to him making some changes, you cannot make much due to who is available and team morale. But I expect the bench to be re worked, even seeing Greig, Rodwell and Cartwright added though the latter was not that great, Ogden could be upgraded also to feature. If he names the same 17 then what is the point of giving them a serve? Set a precedent and drop some players. Keeping the same 17 says it was a bad day at the office, it was not, it was far from it.