Eels Blogs

I said, and i quote, if we win we will make the top 4 but if we lose there goes top 4. Due to results and how they went i say there is about 10% chance of us making the 4. As Lloyd Christmas would say "So you're telling me there is a chance?". This is the final nail for top 4 on Friday. With Canberra playing in form Newcastle and Cronulla playing Penrith, this is a great chance to make a divot in the 8 and get on equal terms. Simply put, the conditions alone would have made it harder for us to perform, NQ finishing the game with 15 men helped us, it really did. Though the question that will never get answered is if we had Brown, Sivo and RCG, would we have won that game? I would say perhaps yes, simply that Brown and Sivo are on the left side and that first try for NQ was a bad miss from Asi and Brown would have gotten that tackle. Valemei's try Sivo would have defended better than Waqa "feet for hands" Blake. RCG too would have played more minutes than Ogden, adding a better rotation of fowards. It seems again we just lack composure and at times energy, it looked like we felt sorry for ourselves, players missing we think "What's the point". Now they snapped out of it and got close at the end but only when momentum was changed and NQ got tired, we didn't do that all ourselves. 

Stats: 50/50 possession with NQ having only 5 seconds more possession. That is an insane statline. Though the scoreboard does not reflect how dominant NQ were, though is it a good thing for us that we kept it to only 24 points? 71% completions hurt us, when NQ had 83%. We had 11 more runs for 115 more metres though NQ had more post-contact metres showing they won the middle, 8 line breaks to 5 for NQ and 41 tackle breaks to our 37 meaning you flip it to missed tackles and we had 41 to their 37. We slightly won the offload battle with NQ having 6 and us having 32, only slightly more LOL. Though a big stat, NQ had 51 ineffective tackles and Parra only 9. We conceded more penalties 8 to 4 though we had more set restarts 5 to 3.

I also want to mention the refereeing, Atkins is a flog, not the reason we lost but still a flog. A few decisions were on us, but he is a nitpicking prick and BA should have mentioned something.

Most Impressive:

Luca Moretti: Thrown in when down 20-4 and really had some good runs and held his own. Just seems to be a no fuss forward and deserves his place in the 17 atm.

Will Penisini: He was good on Saturday night, though not really too hard to do. He had 158 metres, 11 tackle breaks, 1 line-break, 1 line-break assist and 2 offloads. For a 21 yaer old, he is above what is expected of a Centre of his age. He is still making mistakes at times but he is very much up to the level of NRL.

Sean Russell: Did nothing wrong all game, scored a good try, good under the high ball and had some decent runs out the back. If he can put on say 4-5kg for 2024 then he will be an effective winger in this comp. Russell gets by with his effort, he is not the fastest, not the most talented but he gives his all and puts his body on the line. He deserves his spot and though i think the club will bring in another winger/centre to compete he will have a good chance starting in 2024. Had 5 tackle breaks and 103 metres.

Honorable mentions: Moses 2nd half.

Most Disappointing:

Waqa Blake: A few weeks ago, i claimed Blake had played his last game for Parramatta, that being round 5 against the Roosters. Oh how i wish i was spot on in my assumption. He was as useless as tits on a bull, and we all know how useless tits on a bull are. The bloke jammed in and not only misread the jam but got put on report and let in a try in the process. Added he ran towards the line before handbreaking at each chance. Late in the second half he had a chance to crash over but handbreaked it and just got tackled, i would rather him try to go over, if he went out then he went out but he at least tried. Then just dropping a pass that could have led to a try, Sivo would have caught it. The bloke seemed to not give a shit and honestly seemed that he was just going full blown rock not caring of the result. Hope Dunster or Lumelume are available, hell i would take Wise Kativerata back from 2004 at this stage.

Junior Paulo: Is he playing hurt? Cause he is a shell of his former self. Just not making an impact, he looks a tad slowler overall. Not much to say that has not been said already, he is a co-captain yet doesn't lead at all.

Daejarn Asi: Sort of rode the wave of high form before losing confidence from the Warriors game and has not seemed to have recovered. Some poor reads and attempts in tackles, pedestrian and void of ideas in attack. In his first 3 games he took the line on well, now seems hesitant. Only one more game before Brown is back, let's hope he ends his stint with a bang.

Shaun Lane's 2023: It has been a bastard of a year for Lane. Broken jaw, then a hamstring, now an elbow. Thankfully he could be back by semi's, but he just could not seem to get going due to the stop start nature of his season. Though i will add, he as a player is on this list for that miss in the first try alone, he just jogged and watched Dearden break through. He would have looked more appropriate watching Oppenheimer or Barbie than Dearden. Just poor.

Mitchell Moses: Second half was better, but the constant complaining is ridiculous. Why hasn't BA pulled him aside and said Gutherson and Paulo are the captains let them deal with it, it will be used against you. But 10 missed tackles is poor also.

So now onto Melbourne, who are too coming off a loss. Melbourne have in the past lost back to back games, especially this year. We also seem to stand up against Melbourne so i expect a much better performance, particularly with Lussick as our attack will be better in the back end not having a fatigued Brendan Hands. If Grant is out, as he should be, that is a massive in as they do not have a good hooker to replace him, being either Wishart, Garlick or Nikorima. No excuses here, a loss and that is top 4 and even top 6 done, not home semi. A win can kick start our timing with Brown returning to add stability to the left side.

Team changes, Lussick in for Lane in the sense that Davey starts and Lussick takes his spot. Hopefully Blake for Dunster but do not like our chances. For me, i will be watching Friday night's game on replay, as i will be going to watch Oppenheimer in Gold Class with the wife, would rather watch it now then wait another week just so i can risk ruining my friday night watching this lot. Hopefully i have a wonderful Friday with experiencing a masterpiece of cinema followed by a masterpiece of football.

Enjoy your week, god bless Parramatta.