Im being optimistic and yet cautious when I say the following: Im extremely pleased with the Eels progression this year BUT we really need to take it all in the correct and cautious perspective: namely their first win was against a Penrith side which was decimated by a lot of off field dramas and now evident club dramas. Their 2nd game was against the favourites for the wooden spoon the Bulldogs. Their real challenge game was against the Roosters where yes! They displayed courage and kept up with the Premiers for 80% of the game but for me Ferguson in that game was disappointing as was the online defence. Now come to last nights game against the Sharks. The Eels were fortunate again to play a decimated injury riddled side. If all the Sharks players were on board the result could have been different. The main ingredients the Eels lack to be serious Premiership contenders in my opinion is the ability to put their opposition to the sword and the allowing the opposition back into games because of silly errors. So in my opinion the Eels have improved immensely BUT Im ever cautious in saying theyre not serious Premiership contenders just yet.
You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!
Replies
To be fair you can only
beat who you play. Panthers tipped to be top 4 before we played them, roosters we were better team for 70 minutes and there form line is strong, we dominated sharks even though they had a few out
we have also had mau, n brown, k pritchard out who we would have considered in our top squad prior to season for these games as well - and now Dylan Brown
will we make the 8 - who knows but just keep turning up each week against whoever is put up against us
We’ve beaten a talented Panthers team twice, the Dogs got the jump on us but the boys didn’t panic and got into the arm wrestle and earned that win. We were the better team for 65 minutes against the defending premiers, if we played them next week and we were in the same position I have no doubt we wouldn’t allow them back into the game the way we did last week. Last night, yes the Sharks were missing key players, but so were we. It was a high class game and the Sharks threw everything at us and we gave it back with interest. Be assured, we won last nights game, the Sharks didn’t lose it. They were terrific, we were better.
Spot on from all accounts and reports Brett.
Great summary Brett.
But like Monto I am not jumping for joy just yet - the scars fo 2018 are way too raw.
The only thing I don't completely agree with Monto on is "putting the opposition away" - One does not simply put a good team to the sword easily.
Look at the Dogs today - the better team for at least 70 minutes of the game but could not "put them away."
Different team. Different attitude.
We have the best winger in the comp in Ferguson, the Fijian destroyer in Siva, a big, athletic and punishing forward in Jnr, an excellent back rower in Lane. They are mighty additions to a team that is being injected with some incredible youthful, dynamic players. They will only get better and mightier. So glad for them, BA and of course - us. I am watching them with confidence and loving it. Great for the soul.
Have to agree with that John. Great to be an eel atm.
Agree monto I'm optimistic but my real concern is we don't see to be leathal at opposition trylines, the three we won we had heaps of possession in the 20 and I was disappointed with majority of the sets . The top teams put tries most times they have a full set on the line
it was our Achilles heal in 2017 and doesn't seem to have changed . We are awesome rest of the park but not dangerous on the try line
The fact that we are having a lot of possession in the oppostion 20 shows that we are doing something right, which is a) our forwards getting us into that position and, b) our short kicking game to earn a repeat set and stay down there if we can't come up with points.
With the reduction in penalties and stoppages in play this year I would be prefer to keep the opposition defending for repeat sets on their line and then score on 3rd or 4th set. I'm not suggesting that's our tactic but if it works out that way it's a pretty handy result.
The Eels beat the Panthers, Dogs and Sharks. The fact they had their issues means nothing as all the Eels can do is play whoever turns up. Last season we topped the comp for injuries so lets blame last season on that fact if we are going to look at our opersition that way. Yes we lost to the roosters but I bet it would of been closer if we played like we did against the sharks so I put this weeks performance down to learning a few lessons from playing the roosters. It's the start of the season and we are looking good and I expect we will only get better as we did against the sharks. We don't have to win every game by 30 to be contenders, we just have to find a way to win and that's certainly what they have been doing. I'm not saying we will win the premiership but I'm not counting it out because it ain't over yet and we are still firing.
Go The Mighty Eels.
A big test this week against the Raiders - away in Canberra. 3rd vs 5th.
They have some serious talent in that team which has gone under the radar thus far. Let's how the boys man-up against them.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next