Will Paulo haters back off if he increases his work rate?
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has challenged lock Joseph Paulo to crack down on his fitness and become an 80-minute player, as the Eels look to overcome another major injury setback.
Having barely adjusted to losing influential hooker Nathan Peats for the season, the Eels' forward pack was further rocked by a long-term injury to impressive back rower Manu Ma'u two weeks ago against Canterbury.
Replacing Ma'u's hard-running on the edge will fall primarily to boom rookie Pauli Pauli, but Arthur wants Paulo to take it upon himself to lift the tempo and work-rate in the middle of the field.
Paulo has only played out a full match twice this year, the last time was back in round seven when he made a monster 47 tackles against Wests Tigers at Parramatta Stadium.
The American international has averaged 50-60 minutes in recent weeks but says he's determined to lift his input to help the Eels cement a place in the top eight, starting on Sunday against Newcastle.
"Brad's already told me he wants me to get fitter. He wants me to play more time and if that means doing extras it means I need to spend more time," Paulo told AAP.
"Hopefully I can work hard and fulfil that 80 minute role he really wants me to do.
"It's about my fitness and defence.
"I feel like I'm getting there ... I've embraced that role, I just need to get more effective."
Giant back rower Pauli has been a revelation and is already being talked about as a future NSW State of Origin star.
The Eels are hoping he rises to another level in Ma'u's absence, but they won't be putting pressure on the teenager.
"Pauli Pauli is a young boy ... we just want him to run hard and go out and enjoy it," Paulo said.
"Last weekend (in the loss to Melbourne) I think he felt because he was in the starting side he had to change a few things. But for him it's just about being that young guy that loves getting out there.
"I know starting is going to make him even better."
Parramatta co-captain Tim Mannah says he rates the Newcastle pack featuring Kade Snowden, David Fa'alogo and Jeremy Smith as amongst the toughest in the competition.
After leaking 46 points against the Storm last week, Mannah says the Eels forwards need to turn up with a strong attitude and not make excuses for who is missing.
"The Parramatta of old would have let those hiccups affect how we're travelling. But we've got a mentality as a team that no matter what obstacles come in our way we're determined to swing for success," he said.
"They're going to be very physical. They're a big, no nonsense forward pack.
"We've had a couple of (big) losses this year and the most pleasing thing has been how we bounce back."
See More: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/paulo-told-to-lift-game-for-eels-20140627-3ayqq.html
Replies
Paulo has to get in his head that he is not the 5/8. We have Hayne, Sandow & Norman all in good form & Paulo has to stop running sideways getting in their way. He needs to start playing like a backrower...attacking the line & looking for offloads.
That's not Paulo's style. His game is more taking it to the line and then passing to a harder running forward and on occasion drifting across field looking to link back up with an angled runner. His hit-up too weak for the style of play that you want him to play. I'm sure that BA has noticed this about Paulo too and I believe that if he wanted someone to play the style you're suggesting then he would go with a different player at lock rather than Paulo who does play the middle half role. It's a good role to have in the team, we've just got to give Sef space to do it and we can't let him take too many hit-ups otherwise we lose impact on too many tackles.
No I disagree, he needs to take the ball to the line looking for the short-pass. He's a middle player, not a backrower as he hasn't the power to break through the line. When he does it well, as he did against the Bulldogs it adds so much to our attack, but he chucks in a shocker every four or five weeks and that has to be what he gets out of his game. He was terrible last week. I don't know if that comes from fatigue or what but I think its more about him just being mentally and physically strong. He's always a had a tendency to switch off during games and now it just pops up less regularly, but it feels like when he makes an early mistake, he then starts to try too hard to make up for it.
Seffa has to show, if he wants a future at the club, that he can bring something to the team that a competitor for 13 jumper like Ken Edwards or David Gower can't. And again, he has more skill than either of those players but he's just got to bring it consistently because when he has a bad game, it tends to have a very negative affect on the entire team performance. With Corey Norman and Chris Sandow getting better and more comfortable with their roles, the team's dependency on the role that Seffa has played is going to be diminished as well and we may be better off with a tougher nut in the 13 jersey.
Geez the last thing I wanted was for Sefa to get more time on the field!
I was really hoping the title meant Arthur had said something along the lines of "Lift your game or you're playing for Wenty next week!"
agree x 1000!
His work rate for mine has nothing to do with the bagging people (me included) give him
Its everything else in his game.
Making 50 tackles does not justify the dumb stuff he does.
So why doesn't arthur put Gower in instead?
Or does he have his eyes on someone else to replace Paulo, if so who is he?
Some of you guys just need to except the fact that Paulo has a major role in the way BA wants the team to play, i'm pretty sure BA can see Paulo's faults just as much as we can but see's him as a key to our attack. We have had quite a bit of success with him in that role so far this season and in fact the games we have lost have been the one's where our forward pack got dominated, so our success just with every other team relies on our forwards getting on top or at least matching our oppositions forward pack.
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