Eels Blogs

Not too much to be disappointed at with this game, Parramatta showed they were able to pull up back to back tremendous performances, big clash v Melbourne and were able to use that momentum to crush St. George Illawarra. There was not a bad performance in the lot, more so some poor moments but no team or game is perfect. 55% possession and 88% completion rate is top of the range in terms of NRL quality performance. 20 missed tackles is also an overall improvement. Play the ball speed however, though better than last week, was still a tad slow with 3.87 seconds to the Dragons 3.59 seconds. 17 offloads were also a very pleasant stat to witness, with BA's attacking preference being short passes through the middle drawing the edges in to compact the attack then spread when there is an opening, the offloads for us were selective and confident. We looked like a very confident team tonight, taking risks and constantly pushing the boundaries of what we could do as a team each week. Our style can beat any team in this competition, for us it is the same old can we mentally keep up to the standard like Penrith and Melbourne do.

Most Impressive: 

Mitchell Moses: My man of the match, confidence supreme, 2 try assists, 2 tries, 2 line-breaks, 1 line-break assist, kicking game keeping Dragons within their own 20 for majority of their sets. It was a very well rounded game from Mitchell, having the poise to lead the team around the park but also having the patience to know when to attack and when to pull back and settle a set. His solo try is what Moses is capable of as an eyes up player, he is a top 5 Halfback in the game, and is constantly disrespected amongst the NRL community, though ask roughly 8-9 NRL teams atm if they would take Moses, every single one would.

Dylan Brown: A coming of age performance for young Dyl. I was very criticial of Dylan for the last two years, as where alot of us. As i mentioned last week though every game in the lead up he looked primed to burst out but could not make that break or get the read in attack that would work out, the last two weeks the confidence has risen back to the top and is showing every ounce of it. What a tone setter with that first try, simple moving of the hips and dummy to burst through the line and run away untouched. That is a five-eighth and what they are meant to do. The pass for Blake in the second half showed his risk taking, the more confidence he gets the more ownership he is having which assists Moses as it frees him up to roam around also, not relying on him to be first receiver on 5th tackle every single set, he can let Dylan take it and he will take over for that play. They complimented each other nicely and i hope Dylan continues this and remains with Moses for the future, JA and Dyl will be fighting for the future 6 spot but unless JA gets big amound of games by 2024 i do not see any justification to sign him over Dylan as simple as that as by that time Dylan at 23 would have close to 100 NRL games and even rep honours for NZ at the upcoming world cup, JA is on 8 NRL games and find hard to see where he will get more than 15-20 NRL games by 2024. The lights might have been a tad too bright for Dylan earlier on, but he has now got used to the light and seems to be having fun.

Waqa Blake: Redemption for Waqa who is becoming a quality winger, i will not get into the discussion of should he stay there as he wont, as soon as Sivo is back or Russell Blake goes back to the bench where he can use that form and become an assest in the no.4 jersey. Blake ran for over 200 metres and collected a brace of tries. Blake is starting our sets off wonderfully, putting his body on the line with his lean stature bending the defensive line back. Blake in the past seemed to be running sidewards too much, looking for a gap and using his speed to get through, now he is using his size and strength and is working a lot better, in the role of a modern day winger though that is exactly what they should be doing.

Ryan Matterson: Here me out on this one, this was a nice redemption type game for Matto, back on the edge where i feel he belongs. Matto ran for over 128 metres and 30 tackles. Did he wow us? no but i feel his performance was exactly what was needed for us tongiht. Jackson Ford and Jack Gosiewski were both on him and only ran for 50 metres each.

Bryce Cartwright pass: To catch it left handed and proceed to use his right hand to flick it back to Moses, while in the air, all in the space of 3 seconds shows the talent that Cartwright is. It was a very odd 2021 for Bryce, was trying to find his feet after BA pulled him out of NRL abyss, the role that back-rowers play in BA's squads are players that go between the middle to the edge and vice-versa seemlessly. Cartwright on the other hand is not your typical BA player, not really a work horse and can play in the middle but may struggle in defence from time to time. Cartwright brought on to fill on the edge was good but that pass shows what Cartwright can be capable of, surely he gets a 14 role now as a mr fix it being able play on an edge, middle, halves and backline.

Most Disappointing:

Wiremu Greig play the ball: That was under 8's type stuff. It sort of soured what was a decent off the bench performance from Greig who ran for 48 metres off 5 runs, 1 tackle break and 10 tackles none missed. He looked fitter and the way he runs around the field he looks similar to Peni Terepo for some reason though i feel he is a better player. Greig looked like a nice impact player that would get better each game he plays, but that play the ball will not appreciate that at all, considering with Niukore and Lane coming back in the next week or 2, Greig will move down the pecking order when he needed to impress as much as he could, he nearly got there but that play the ball though a never to happen again play so lack of regard, awareness and frankly a little lazieness from big Emu. Still would use him over Kaufusi, though Kaufusi adds lock value to BA, not saying i like him at Lock, more so that is what BA likes.

Refs allowing Lawrie to stay on the field: Witnessing 3 sin bins in North Queensland v Sydney City, how did Lawrie not go after that cheap shot on Simonsson? After that, in defence he looked like a mercanary ready to take heads off, was thinking Lawrie needed that break to cool down he should not have been out there, but showed the softness and inconsistency of the refs. You could have the most stupid rule ever invented, but if every single ref, every week and in every game call that rule out for a penalty than that is a rule. What fans despise is one ref saying that is a penalty and another saying it is fine, rules are rules and you cannot have that much up for interpretation in your calls. The Lawrie call was a fair call.

Letting St. George score at the end: BA wouldn't be happy about the Sims try, nor should he be. It was a lapse in judgement and quite soft to be fair not the type of standard we should let creep into our game. There was no momentum or reason for St. George to score off one set where they got the ball off a short kick-off.

That is it, not much to hate this week, bench was used nicely and RCG and Paulo got a nice break compared to what they are used to playing, onto Gold Coast next week. Team changes only ones i could see is Lane and Niukore coming in meaning Greig and perhaps Cartwright miss out as Matto moves to the bench. If Lane and Niukore are not available it'll be 1-17 as last night. Lane i think could be ready Niukore might play NSW cup to get fitness.