Eels Blogs

Four in a row, against the team that makes others have a second team purposefully so that they can see Manly lose. Dan Ginnane said on 'Get em' Onside', and i am paraphrasing, how on earth are Manly $2.60? That is fat odds. Simply saying without Moses we do not win, yet Manly only have a 33% win percentage without Turbo, plus no DCE. We were sort of even in the players missing, this was based around who had the better forwards, that was us that was why i believed we deserved to be favourites. Though doesn't mean i was riding Manly off completely, Schuster is a rocks and diamonds player, though on his day he can break a game open and create momentum. Though i also knew Schuster had the ability to not turn up in games either. Thankfully, it was the latter for Schuster on Saturday night.

Stats: 62% possession demonstrates dominance. While our completions were only 79% (improvement but still not good enough), Manly had 66% completions which added to our possession stat. We had 911 more running metres on 89 more runs, that is damaging. 6 line-breaks to 4 and another huge stat only 12 missed tackles, Manly had 42. That is how you win competitions, defence. Seems Antonelli's system is starting to click into gear with BA's defence. Discipline wise it was even, 6 penalties each. While we had 12 errors to their 14.

Most Impressive:

Bailey Simonsson: A brace for the young man, even more so i loved the speed he showed in his second try, no fancy footwork just pure speed through the line. He looks so comfortable and confident since moving back to the left in the Centre. 206 metres, 5 tackle breaks, 2 tries and 3 offloads. Well rounded performance from Simonsson. Going from thinking Simonsson could get us through 2023 as a Centre til we get one, to now wanting him re-signed, hoping he takes his option for 2024.

J'Maine Hopgood: I love the kid and you should too. He is the future captain at this club, tell me otherwise. Getting better each week. He started round 1 and 2 and we thought he was the second coming of Ray Price. Then we realised he is still a newborn in his NRL career and we saw week in week out 80 min NRL football can take a toll on a body of player that is not used to it. Hopgood suffered due to the demands of NRL football. Now? He is used to it and we are again reaping the benefits of what Penrith missed out on. 172 metres, 2 offloads, 1 line-break, 1 line-break assist, 4 tackle breaks and 33 tackles. Hoppy is here to stay, he is the Nathan Brown replacement, yet i believe he will be even better.

Ofahiki Ogden: He made my disappointing list a few weeks back due to not taking a chance in his opportunity. He did against Manly, damaging runs, 142 metres and 2 tackle breaks. Causing headaches and hairloss to BA to pick his 4th Prop in the 17.

Daejarn Asi and Ryan Matterson combo: They both understood their assignments, Matterson took the approach of old fashioned 6, run. He ran well also. Distributing the ball fine to his right side also with Doorey and Carty. Asi, though kicking a ball out on the full, was steady and acted as a 7 for the game at least. Though he did not disappear, he was able to time when to come in for a run or an offload then go back to being a 7. A few times we looked a little lost in what we needed to do but to lead us to 34 points is a top effort.

Sean Russell: I wanted to go over to the lad on the far side of the field in the second half with a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate, poor kid was getting frostbite waiting for the ball. But i want to give him credit for his 5 tackle breaks and putting his body on the line. He has fitted in well and pushed Waqa Blake into Parramatta purgetory with other forgotten former players.

Brad Arthur: Want to give credit to BA. He has copped a lot from us fans, myself included. I led the bash BA fanclub i believe. This year losing those players and replacing them with some questionable transfers, seeing them not come good first 2 months i felt BA was past his use by date. Well colour me pink he has turned us around to a point where i feel this 17 would beat last years 17 comfortable. BA has made us mentally stronger, one of the biggest needs we had as a squad. The window is shut? Nah i think BA could extend it further the way he brought players like Cartwright, Ogden and Greig out of the wilderness. Barrett and Antonelli also deserve praise for the work they have done too. Particularly Barrett, coaching the best attacking unit in the competition.

Honorable mentions: Hands, Gutherson, Makatoa.

Most Disappointing:

Maika Sivo: He wasn't dreadful but he doesn't make it easy for himself. Just mistakes and not putting his body on the line, one of the worst chip kicks you will ever see in the game yet it pulled off for Makatoa. When you have a kid like Russell who is 10 years younger and 20kgs lighter putting his body on the line more it says something about yourself. We need Maika to start becoming that 150-200 metres a game winger out the backfield.

My wife: First time bringing my wife to CommBank with my season tickets, we had a bday to attend beforehand and managed to leave at a good time. Though she mentioned where is parking, i said the street. How long is the walk? about 15mins. Anywhere closer? I said the leagues club but it will full by the time we get there, she was adament it wouldn't be despite never being to the stadium in her life and didn't want to walk all that way in the cold so the Leagues club will be great. Go through 15 mins of traffic in front of the stadium about 15 mins from kick-off to see it is shut off due to being full. So i missed the first 10 mins as we had to walk like i said we should do in the first place??? Then after the game had the audacity to ask after which way to go back to the car and i said this way and she said you sure that is the best way? UMMMMMM i have walked these streets since i was 4 with my dad and brother, have every year since. So yes i know where i am going hahahahahahaha. Only other game i went to with her was the GF so was hoping she wasn't an omen.

That is it, not too much disappointing with a 34-4 win.

However there is one thing i want to bring up. Can we all just settle for now, it is great we are doing well off 4 straight wins. But we have a killer last 6 weeks. Involving going up to NQ then short turnaround down to Melbourne, only 2 home games in final 6 weeks, 3 of those away games we go to NQ, Melbourne and Brisbane at the GABBA. We finish with Roosters who will be fighting for top 8 spot and Penrith.

Also, last 4 weeks we beat Souths, but then we beat NQ, Canterbury and Manly, all we should have beaten. I want to see us against the big names, yeah did it v Souths but can we do it week in week out? The tightness of this season around the ladder means we are in sudden death mode for nearly the rest of the year. I see it as 10 losses or more pushes you out of the top 4, we are on 7 with 9 games left. You need top 4 for a title pretty much. 

Am i feeling good about us at the moment, i have since Souths win. But i want to see us against the Dolphins who we can definately lose to. Simply we need to win the games we should win; those are Dolphins, GC, NQ, St. George and Easts. While the other 4; Warriors, Melbourne, Brisbane and Penrith are either 50/50 or hard games. 7 out of the last 9 gets us 2-4 range on the ladder guarenteed. Thankfully, we have a bye in the last round, leading to us not needing to rest anyone of note.

Though winning these last few matches in the back end of the year comes from mentality, an area we are definately better in. So let's hope Flipper is not faster than lightning instead being struck by lightning.

As for team changes, Lane comes in with Moses and Paulo (subject to Origin). So a bit of jumbling; Asi back to 6, Moses to 7, Paulo to start, Lane to start. Matterson and Davey back to the bench, Moretti and Doorey out as with Ogden. Bench of Matterson, Davey, Ofahengaue and Makatoa.

Enjoy your week, god bless Parramatta.