Eels Blogs

Mother of god what did i watch on Saturday night, went from a boring game to frustrating to acceptance we may get beat, to yes we will get beaten but if we make it respectful we move on, to conceading three tries in six minutes. It was poor, pathetic and donwright sad at times. North Queensland were very good and were ready, we on the other hand looked content that all we needed to do was like Wests turn up and we will win as simple as that, it is arrogance of us at times and BA's teams allow it to happen every year to the point where you think, does this team learn from mistakes? This is a good football team and im hoping that all this is due to us starting our run later compared to prior years where we start guns blazing then fizzle out towards the back end of the year, but if we continue to underperform and even get man handled in a massive match v Penrith, BA could find himself on the hot seat from the media. 51% possession and 84% completion does not speak of a team that scored 4 points and conceaded 35, 7 more runs yet had 135 metres less in running, 6 linebreaks to 1 in favour of NQ, 35 tackle breaks to 17 in favour of NQ, there play the ball speed was only slightly faster by .12 seconds. When Paulo and RCG were subbed was when we fell part allowing them to gather a nice lead, they won through the middle where we prefer to win field position they were making metres with ease at times and that i where we lost it, through the middle. 9 offloads is different from us, having more offloads.

Most Impressive: 

Ryan Matterson: My man of the match, he was good. 210 metres, 30 tackles, 3 offloads. Matterson needs to move back to the edge for us, Papali'i back to the middle. Matterson is better for the short passing out the back that we like to do and Papali'i tries it but straightens us up to much with early ball, Matterson has a pass on him which would suit Moses and Penisini more. Matterson is definately playing for a contract and should give it to him.

Will Penisini: Has not burst onto the scene as much as i thought but he is slowly making some divots in the league. 207 metres, 2 offloads and 3 tackles breaks capped a good night for Will.

Most Disappointing: 

Oregon Kaufusi: I've seen enough of Kaufusi and would be more than happy to see him in reggies in case of injuries for the remainder of 2022. 6 missed tackles, always caught flat footed from NQ forwards and 12 runs for 98 metres (8 metres per run), if he is the best depth we have then our depth is not as good as we thought, from what i have seen from Greig and Rodwell in lower grades is similar to Kaufusi with potential to be better, if they are not better than so be it but you will lose nothing trying them out. Kaufusi has been ok in 2022 but Saturday was a new low, he may be kept due to experience v Penrith, see if he can redeem himself but i would be sending him back to reggies. NQ forwards making metres with ease in the middle due to Kaufusi.

Jakob Arthur: Alright before you either agree or go off at me, it is not agenda driven. Simply i call like it is in these grades, he did not single handedly cost us, but he was bad. First half he did not have a single touch (other than dummy half) in the first 3 sets, Brown would have had 4-5 touches by then. Then he has a pass batted down in a rap around to Perham and then nearly decapitates Papali'i with a short ball. I will give some credit that towards the end of the 1st half he tried some things that were good, two repeat sets from good kicks and great vision to catch Drinkwater in the line for a kick on the third to get a repeat set, that was risky as it was the third tackle but give him credit for changing it up, though when your dad is your coach you may feel you have balls of steel to do whatever you like. But he should be nicknamed the magician, not due to his playing style but purely because he has the ability to make himself disappear, he was hardly ever seen in the second half with Moses occupying the middle of field with Gutho pushing left, our attack got to be predictable going to the right all the time, when JA did get the ball, one play on the last calling for it on the blind to proceed to copy his inner Mitchell Moses to an over the top ball to Perham where neither player was running and Perham had no room to go after catching it, making me think what was he trying to acheive there, if Perham caught it he would've been tackled or taken out or both. No Sivo there JA. Defensively he was ok i guess he only missed two and made 20, but simply hit up runs most players can defend those and with JA's height he is able to set himself and defend it, if you have heart and passion defence can usually be ok and that is JA. With the backlash, if BA names JA then i feel someone should call DOCS to charge BA with endangering his own child, JA is not ready and needs NSW cup to develop further not saying he will not be a good player too early to tell but he is not ready at this stage, 19 year old in NSW cup is a massive leap on it's own with tons less pressure, let him see out the year there and only have him in FG if injuries to Moses or Brown occur. I do not wanna hear "we have 19 players" etc. if you cannot get an exemption at least put Matterson there, you do not weaken your 6 spot to strengthen your centre. Should be the other way around.

Parramatta Leadership: 

Down 19-0 after 57mins and finally pick up a try but that is where leadership comes in to get the job done and stay on task. Again we went side to side and got frustrated, about the third set when we couldn't crack them we started going side to side and i said to myself "Oh god here we go, things are going there way" and that is how they see it, we need to play the way we want to play BA said. Well BA, unfortunately you cannot always play the way you want to and when you cannot you need to adapt and be flexible to get the result, we seem to have a game plan and when it is not working, we have no plan B so keep pushing and pushing what does not work. I said weeks ago that we seem to go off BA's game plan, well i am wondering if this is why? but we resort to playing around them then through them, especially with the forward pack we pride ourselves with. Paulo and Gutherson needed to stand up along with Moses and have us move forward but too many times we looked lost and had no idea what we were doing with no plans of what we will be doing 3 plays ahead. Look at Finucane at Cronulla and how they played against Brisbane, they were lost without him, as we looked lost with our leaders. We are a team that need a grasp and a play to keep us going, Melbourne game we went try for try and kept us on and creative, this game made us frustrated and our leaders got frustrated and rubbed off on the team. 

Brad Arthur: 

I am putting him here due to how we simply were not prepared. He says we need to be willing to play the long game but why is that something we are still trying to fix, either the personel is not there or they are just taking in what BA is saying. His bench, though being worked better, is not impactful enough. Kaufusi and Makatoa are not giving us the desired result, that is why i have preached to the hills asking for Papali'i to move to the bench to add some impact, Matterson is giving us some impact but Papali'i is more suited to that role, when Paulo and RCG go off we notice a massive dip, which is normal when pulling your starters off as they are your best players. But with Grieg and Papali'i coming on our attack i believe would benefit a lot more, with Rodwell being that work horse for Brown. Again, not sure if BA is holding back until mid year or simply just bad patch of form, but even though we are 5 from 8, old cracks still appear making us different to the rest where we want to be. Friday night if we pull up a win, it should be on BA first and foremost, if we lose it will be on him, we get up for big games and if we are not up for Penrith it speaks about our team at the moment considering this is considered the last year or our so called window.

Clint Gutherson: 

That drop ball changed the momentum and changed the game for the worst, only 111 metres running and Gutherson did not stand up as the captain we need. If you look at Gutho's 2022 so far, it has been meh to ok, nothing overly special, he has not been making those runs out the back he used to when he made origin based off 2019-2020 form. I like Gutho, defend him alot to people who hate him and he seems to be hated by NRL fans based off some sort of arrogance, but he is by some our marquee player, if not second behind Moses. Marquee players stand up when needed and make that big play, Gutho was not close and it is disappointing. Holding out hope.

Reed Mahoney's running game:

Was as apparent than JA's second half. I was saying to myself, around the 30min mark, this where Reed needs to run through NQ's tired forwards off the back of a quick play the ball. But nothing. Robson did it really well and gave NQ momentum at times when they needed it through the middle. Reed's running game and kicking game were absent on Saturday when needed, though his kicks under pressure to get a big play can go AWOL at times so maybe better not he kicks.

I could put majority of our players here but those were the main points, massive match for our season on Friday. It can either motivate us by getting a massive scalp and shpwing clubs we can be a force when on and late in the season, or could derail us if we get outmatched very early and lose by a fair bit. A loss does not mean season over, but we pride ourselves on doing well verse big teams, if we get slaughtered to the best team in the competition that would hurt more than any other loss. Come away by losing by 1-6 points or even 10 with a good performance will help, not a great result but promising.

Over to you BA, in terms of team changes if i had to put money on it there will be only one change being Opacic in and JA to bench for Cartwright or JA out. Maybe Russell but doubt it, BA may prefer stability against a top team but he needs new blood and fresh faces on the bench, Greig and Rodwell would get a run for me and one of them should be in at least for Kaufusi or Makatoa.