Eels Blogs

Darkness snuck into my home again, he said "Told you i will be back" but didn't think it would be that quick. That is all thanks to these bunch of wankers that are the equivalent of a Group 6 team. Actually no, i take that back as most Group 6 teams actually try. We had better completion rate, less errors and only 6 more missed tackles and we concede 9 tries. That alone shows the dressing room has been lost. First 25 we looked ok, seemed to be on top and just would be those frustrating wins where we get by at the end but hard thought. When Bostock scored i still had hope. But when they got roll on in last 10 Dolphins used that momentum later on. All started from that Cartwright dropped ball on our line.

I want to use this as my take on the whole BA, like everyone here has not heard much about it yet. I waited intently for that presser, to see how he was. I have seen numerous big losses under BA, too many for a coach of his length at a club, usually with those losses he is down and says things like "they were just too good" or "Attitude needs to be better" or "We need to play how we want to play". Not tonight, it was a little too late for BA berading his team, though he had a slight mention of himself, all was on the players who are at fault. Now him going hammer and tong with that response shows a few things that are concerning. Firstly, when losing to Wests he beraded them slightly looing for a response. The following week, we go even worse and he goes the opposite direction saying they tried hard. We come out v NQ back at home and that seemed to be a "prove us wrong" game with our backs to the wall, but added was NQ's poor performance. Now we have added another bad performance, probably the worst in BA history as effort is concerned, he berates them the worst i have seen. Now how many coaches with 11 years or more experience say that to their team? Well none really as a coach of 11 years doesn't have their teams performing like that. Secondly is the team responses, they just are not responding anymore and on two occasions now, Canberra and Dolphins they finished the first half close and then in the 2nd half fall apart. Does BA's messages get them in a mood? Now i wish i could say it but i do not see BA getting sacked anytime soon, unless we have a big loss v Manly, Brisbane and Melbourne. Even if Manly is a hammering he will survive. He finds ways to coax the board into believing in him time and time again, if he has saved his job twice before he can do it again. Something will come up that will save him. Moses being out, no depth, no say in recruitment, players all off-contract same as him. There will be something that will keep him around. Then again, the only hope i have is Bennett has interest, do not read into his comments before that he doesn't want it. He is saying that so it is not a distraction. His agent sounded Parra out. Only issue is, it is likely Parra said thanks but no thanks we already have a coach. Bit like if someone drives an 2000 Toyota Carolla and someone says "hey, want this 2024 Lexus?" owner says nah all good i already have a car but thanks. That is Parramatta at the moment. Mindset will be we have a coach now let's move onto our jobs. We don't need a new one or improvement or anything as we already have one. Like a company trying to offer you a better electricity rate "All good, already have a provider" that is it, doesn't matter if it works or not, just one essential thing to fill and then leave it be. BA will not walk himself, he is too proud for  

BA will not walk himself, he is too proud for that and has every right to be after 11 years. Though if we get done badly to Manly, could that be enough for the board to tap him on the shoulder? Only thing saving them and BA is Souths being in the same boat but earlier so the momentum is with them. Once Demetriou is gone, attention will be on BA. I have never seen as much media on it but and it always seems to good to be true and perhaps it is but just to have some belief something will be different for a change instead of getting to a new year, seeing the same roster and coach and think "What is going to be different?" Having a new coach at least gives you excitement to see what will happen.

Stats: 47% possession, 80% completions to their 77%, 7 errors to their 12, 5 line-breaks to their 9, 3 penalties conceded to their 5, 9 offloads to their 14 and 31 missed tackles to their 26. Stats aren't overly lopsided, which makes our performance even worse.

Most Impressive: 

Movies today: Today i saw 'Challengers'. Tennis movie revolved around a love triangle storyline. It was fantastic, acting top notch, directing was class and the story was riveting. Maybe about 10mins too long but fantastic. Dune Part II is another i saw recently too. Just incredible. Oh sorry, just thinking about things that actually feel like worth my time and money.

Most Disappointing: 

Entire squad except for 2: Simonsson and Hopgood were Ok, they actually tried. The rest are an embarrassment and should hang their heads in shame. Escpecially their fearless leader who told Bostock to stop being soft and get up. If a mirror was needed more than ever it was at that moment. PATHETIC!!!!!

Joey Lussick: Now time to single out a select few of my liking. One player who would be hoping to not see Bennett at the club as he knows he would be gone quicker than he can pass a ball......which on second thought is quite slow so bad analogy. He is just useless ain't he. I remember back in 2021, he played a string of games and people were losing their minds over him, even cursing the day we did not keep him when Mahoney signed elsewhere. When i watched him in 2021, i thought he was fine but nothing great. So when he came back, many were pleased and cheering, i still thought it was a fine signing but do not expect much. Well got worse. Last year, we criticised Hodgson for just not being up to it, but one thing we could never accuse him of was being lazy. I have never seen a Hooker as lazy as him. Now i know there are tactics where a Hooker can shift onto the edge to defend for assist a struggling side or for a breather. Though should that be happening 5mins in? 79% tackle effeciency. Hands is not great but more steady than Lussick who is into game 22 in his career and should consider himself lucky he may see 23.

Sean Russell: He gave up late. It is a shame as i thought Russell would break out in 2024 as a quality Winger. Gaining a few kilos, more experience and looked to be improving each week in 2023. Come to 2024 and has gone backwards. Not sure what happened along the way but he has shown he is a player of very low ceiling. He got outmatched in reading defence today, it showed that he is a player of high effort and that is it. The thing with high effort players are they do not have freakish skills or god given talent, though make up for that with heart and also smarts. Gutherson has smarts and heart, Luke Burt is another who did not have the build or skills of an NRL Winger yet managed to play 264 NRL games due to his smarts. Russell is not a smart footballer. Just a goer and that is it. He will make his career as a back-up, once in a while call up to fill in a spot then back to reserves.

Ryan Matterson: Yeah got his money and is now thinking "I better be careful, if hit anyone hard it may lead to me getting a fine" as he rolls on his bed of money. Looks like Tarzan plays like Jane. One you move on when new coaching comes in. Just a lack of urgency, does the work but just at 70 or so percent. 56 metres on 7 runs, considering all other forwards made more metres on less or same runs when you are on more money is embarrassing. For the money he is on, he must be the impact difference maker. Yes he got fatigued, but he was useless in the middle for the Plath tries.

Dylan Brown: This was one of his worst defensive performances in a long time, there i said it now come hate me. He is a protected species and yeah he was good last week but he was poor last night. 73% tackle effeciency, absolutely absent in attack and at times just looked lost again. Even when running he hesitated and just became indecisive. The game plan last week was free to open him up for running, it would have been the same again last night but favouring a left side that became predictable, Brown need to directed the play more to the right to spread the defence out. The sooner you get a new coach with him the better. Imagine Bennett with him? Look what he did with Cody Walker, Jamie Soward, Darren Lockyer, Anthony Milford even Isiaya Katoa is turning good now.

Shaun Lane: 1st half he was fine, but 2nd half good lord. He did try with that bad forward pass but he was one who gave up at the end there.

Luca Moretti: I like the kid but he showed question marks on him being a full-time NRL player. Errors (not the first either), bad defensive reads and poor tackling efforts.

Play to the whistle: God this irks me to the core. Numerous times when there appears to be a mistake we put our hands up to the air and just give up on the play. The Ray Stone no try granted was right call by Gutho, but still gave up on the play. They know the bunker looks at every try. I understand the difference can be the referee calling try or no try as to those 50/50 calls but seriously play to the damn whistle. Same with the Nikorima run on their own line. Ball gets lost backwards and Nikorima picks up on his line and we just stand there thinking whistle will blow, it doesn't and Nikorima has made 10 metres by the time we realise and he makes another 10-15 off that. It is arrogance and also laziness to not go that extra effort to make sure the play is sealed. That falls on BA as it is the same shit every week and he lets them do it. 

Commentary: Mick Ennis would have went home, got up a picture of Trai Fuller, box of tissues and told his wife he is watching porn as it would make more sense.

Crowd: Even they turned on Parramatta, they were having a grand ol' time. We have put time into Darwin, billboards up and they turn on us. Thanks for the money but stick it up your arse. I have said the Darwin deal is dumb yes but we do make money on it and at least have some supporters. After having most of them turn on us, that should be it with Parramatta in Darwin.

Brad Arthur is a dead man walking with a hammering from Manly maybe doing it. But as TCT say he should just walk as he is not appreciated for what he has done which is a repreive from his dumb choices. I said Talagi's addition on the bench i understood and it was in someway justified when Asi went off for HIA. But our forwards desperately needed another body out there. But the fact we led at HT, the attitude was "We are not going to score much so just hang on" to go on and leak 42 points in 28 minutes just shows he has lost the room. But even worse was his presser. The way he just threw them under the bus honestly was embarrassing and showed that he can be selfish. Now, not saying i do not think coaches shouldn't talk about their players like that, but after 11 years and you have set the tone for your way of going about the media to come out of nowhere, under pressure and just front all the blame on them and say they need to get themselves out of it is not a good look. He can berade them but add accountability and even leadership to himself by saying he can get them out of it aswell but need to work together. Instead it was like "I am doing my job, you guys are letting me down and making me look like an idiot, you are on your own now". Doing that when you normally do not or never do will of course do one of two things. 1) sprook them to get out of it and prove him wrong or 2) make those who are getting tired of him lose confidence in him all together and make those who support him doubt him. Arthur looked like a man who knew he was losing them, he's gone with the approach of just putting it out there and blaming them. Now he is not wrong, but he deserves accountability too as a lot of their flaws have been issues for years and have not addressed them. Ricky Stuart is a prime example of a coach throwing players under the bus. Difference is it is not out of character for him to do that, players know that from the start that there is accountability. With BA, it is out of character and that can rub players the wrong way. Again, not saying it should not happen but too little too late now, it could be the thing that sends him packing.

The media is swinging more than ever, fans are turning at a rapid rate where many would come out in support and now it is 95% all sack him, he is starting to snap under pressure and the team is showing their faith in attitude. The question is always "Who do you replace him with" well there is a coach available, who granted has not won a comp in 14 years, but made 2 GF's and countless prelims in his time since BA's appointment. He is better than BA regardless if you think he can win a comp or not or how he leaves clubs, he is better than Arthur plain and simple. Could this be a Jack Gibson hire for the ages where an older, respected coach comes in and gets best out of his disposal with a sprinkle of his own players brought in? Perhaps, but it is on the club to how they want to approach their next appointment which looks extremely likely will be soon. If they want to blow it up and start again, go with a rookie coach or someone with patience to stick it out like Madge. Or do you want to use what you have now and go for it in next 2-3 years, with the young kids being developed along the way and hope they carry the baton later on? You go with Bennett. Either way it will be exciting and different and as long as we have Moses i am confident we can be in reach, just need the right voice now to work some magic. It is what we've been lacking. Brian Smith was a coach with a lot of flaws, but one thing with Smith coached teams is he could get them up, he had the magic to get them fired up and going. BA has shown he can be a great man manager, he can rally the troops to go on a roll but mental toughness has been his teams weaknesses. Too many times he has shown signs of knowing the team is a bit off and eventrying to justify his team prep. 2020 semi v Souths, he says they were bouncing off the walls to get into the sheds ready to go. A family friend, who is a Souths fan, said straight away "He sounds like someone trying to justify his job" You shouldn't have to do that. Does BA love the club? Yeah i believe so but he showed last night he is self centred in protecting his job, instead of going down with the ship he is just rubbing his hands clean and saying "Not me". It is time to move on and quick so Bennett is signed or if not Bennett go through the process of getting a new coach.

Now we all know how it plays out, BA and Parramatta will mutually part ways. But he will never resign as he would be too proud of himself. Gone through his whole life proving people wrong he feels entitled and good on him. Though was thinking if he wanted to see out the year do you let him? I do not see why not but he wont do that he will go about his merry way kicking stones and saying everyone else was at fault bar him. Barrett will more likely be the interim, it would be the best roster he has ever had so he might pick up some wins. The end seemed nigh, but it is coming quicker and quicker. With Bennett being available, might be the thing that makes it come faster.

As for changes, well he will swing the axe but where? Sivo more likely back in, Hands for Lussick perhaps? He said Asi is fine as the doctor said cat 2 but bunker went with cat 1 so he may be fine to play next week. Could we see Guymer get a debut perhaps on bench? Greig could be back on the bench too. If i had to pick i would bring Sivo in for Russell. Hands for Lussick. Greig for Moretti. Makatoa for Matterson just to set an expectation that he needs to pick up his game. And might annoy some but i would put Matt Arthur on the bench. He adds some youth but spark as well.

As for next week, well if Manly lose to GC we are in big trouble. Yes we have a team that lost too but have a DCE, Turbo and Manly pack off a loss like that to GC, back at home. We might start well then all of a sudden give up. If they give up that has to be it in coaches box. 

Try and enjoy your week, god help and save Parramatta and us fans please.