PROS:
1. 1st half obviously looked outstanding. Structure was incredible for round 1
2. Jarryd Hayne was a great buy
3. Takarangi at second row played well above what i expected and i really liked his involvement. Hit ups were much stronger than i expected. Worked well when he slotted into the halves
CONS:
1. Kane Evan is a bad buy and will remain a bad buy. Hes not a good fit for parramattas play style, hes gimpy, uncoordinated and cant bend the line back. Is not a good offloader either due to his narrow shoulders so his height is useless.
2. Moses second half was terrible, not just because of his sin bin, but because of his decision making with ball in hand. He started playing too side ways.
3. Tepai Moeroa has ok hit up power, nothing amazing, puts his body on the line in tackles, but doesnt offer much and is too one dimensional and unathletic. If thats all he offers, Kenny Edwards or Peni Terepo would be better options. Maybe even Gower just due to his football smarts. Hes a smart player, doesnt let first half success go to his head. An honest toiler.
4. Beau Scott looks a step out of place. Could be due to lack of first half minutes. Only came on in the 34th minute. Still havent written him off yet.
5. No strike on the left edge without French on the wing. Even tho French had a solid game in the number 1, fact is, we lack points when hes not on the wing. On the wing hes good for 2+ trys per game
FIXES FOR NEXT WEEK:
1. Hayne to fullback to start the game, French to the wing Auvaa to center
2. Drop Kane Evans, Bring in Vave
3. Tepai Out Edwards in
The eels lacked emotional positivity and spark in the second half. Edwards personality to re energise the boys is crucial in games like that. Plus hes not so one dimensional, and has a decent offload in him
4. Will Smith off the bench to give King a breather and add another dimension to the attack and help our halves in the second half
FUTURE:
Still lacking a true battering ram in the front row.
We need a Junior Paulo type player out there who hurts ppl and is a nightmare to tackle and who really drains the energy out of the opposition defence.
Not being racist so dont take this the wrong way
But we need more honest hard working Aussie tallent out there, ppl who dont let first half success go to their heads.
Someone who holds himself and his team mates to a higher standard like the melbourne boys do
Not saying all aussie players are built this way, but the handfull of players that have had these mental qualities have been aussie boys. Its more of an anglo European blooded mentality.
Ppl like Beau scott from 5years or 6years ago.
Maybe a Josh Jackson type player or someone like that.
Kieran Foran was great in.that aspect too
Brad Authur a prime example.
So yeh, we really lack that one player with a big motor, who has a high work rate, a good temperment, doesnt panic under pressure and continues making the right in game decisions weather infront or behind on the scoreboard. Doesnt have to be a superstar, just a good honest hard nosed veteran toiler that keeps the course true north for 80minutes not only for 40mins
The reason we lost todays game is the same reason we lost to the Cowboys in last years semies.
Poor Mentality
We dont turn up if we dont believe every team is a threat, Like last year against NQL in the semies
Today we turned up with respect for the opposition and lost that respect just before half time and as a result we shut up shop after the first 40 and thought we could coast home.
This has been a problem parra have suffered from ever since the cultural demographic changed at the club.
We need a bit more of a culrural balance
At the moment we are a bit too international heavy
Replies
My brief assessment would be: “It’s going to be a long year ahead and the Eels miss Semi Radradra, the Eels have no attacking qualities, Kane Evans definitely seems out of place and the Eels looked unfit. Lastly IF the Eels continue to play like this then they’ll be lucky to make the 8.
No i said Tepai out
Not taka
Taka was great for us
Good blog mate.
Waste of a jumper.
He did get exposed once or twice by kikau i noticed that
but that was his only downfall which is easily corrected. He will get better as the season progresses.
The pros for Taka far outweighed that defensive error he made
Powerful hit ups
No ball in hand errors
Slotted into the halves did a great pass
Played Solid with out being super excellent
Has some more upside left in him still which is good.
Could turn out to be a revelatiom for parra if he keeps a high work rate up
I don't know which of the blogs to put this in as there are so many after today's game. But I think this is pretty important - and everyone seems to have missed it.
The last try of the Panthers. They didn't go upstairs. They should have. His foot went out before he scored. I saw it live, then played it back in slow motion. Definitely out.
Now, before you all sook up at me and say "we were poor". "Our forwards got bashed". Yes I know all that but this game is about possession. We got nothing in the second half from the refs - look at the last penalty for example against Evans. We got nothing. Even Moses in the bin. Harsh.
Now just those two incidents. Moses in the bin and the try that should have been disallowed. Momentum changes that teams need, and we didn't get any.
And, btw, our bench forwards got smashed.
I think it will be a long season for us fellas, my prediction we struggle to make the 8. I know it's round 1 but parra and the Broncos are the teams that looked less than average.
I think BA will be under pressure most of the season, expectations are Eels top 4 from the media.
Our kicking game today was hopeless, not one forward ran angles or charaged on for second phase.
Our bench gave us zero were outplayed in all aspects of the game. They had no forward punch, made dumb errors no defence. Evans was way outclassed, Scott to old and slow, Matagi had nothing.
King was ordinary his two scots on thier line left our attack lost, two blindside darts on the last tackle dumb, and his service was slow and weak.
Will Smith in jennings out he made a lot of bad defensive reads. Give hima spell. Drop Evans,Scott and Matagi, start bleeding our young guns.
The game i watched today with even possession we got badly dominated in every aspect of the game.
We were realy realy bad and lucky panthers started bad, could have put a lot more on us.
BA has a lot to fix and needs to make haed decisions now, to late in round 6.
This is just my opinion and while i bleed blue and gold for 50yrs, i think were in for a horrible sad season.
As others have stated BA seems not willing to make the hard calls and give our younger players ago, other coaches do and they go well. I will not say BA is a bush coach, but not convinced he is a senior NRL coach, time will tell
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next