Player Review
- Gutho - He was alright. Still slow but was fine. I do not know what he was thinking on eel last attacking play.
- Sivo – He looked like he was running harder today. Was unlucky the bunker robbed him of a great try. Should have had a TA as well which he passed back but bunker was the only person on the world that thought otherwise.
- Russel – He was alright. Did knock the ball back for one try. He misses a decent number of tackles and struggled a bit against Gagai. Did not get much ball in the second half because eels went right as Sivo was hobbled.
- Penisni – one of the worst on ground. I still have hope for him but he is come so inconsistent and his bad games are becoming worse. Too many errors. Best gave him an absolute Bath
- Talagi – TB admitted in the press conference that he is not a winger but is playing there due to the worse options around him. He needs his time in reggies and a pre-season in the gym. Was robbed of one try and made a couple of poor errors. Defensively, he does not know what to do on the wing.
- Brown – He linked with Moses well but was still a quiet game. But If people are blaming him it is hilarious because we got plenty of points. His defence was solid as usual.
- Moses – Our MoM. Was great in attack and defence. You could see his passion for the game in comparison to some of our players. Tried and wanted to be involved all the time. Unfortunately has a bunch of deadwood around him.
- Makatoa – He is used to absorb the impact early. However, his not like Joe O. He fails in doing this so much. He is so small and not physical. So his carry’s to start the game are useless and he cannot defensively handle big men running at him. BA loved a few horrible players and it looks like TB does the same thing. Fuckk Makatoa out of the club.
- Hands – He was struggling defensively because he had to cover the inability of our big man to defend. He was often caught in a position where the middles around them could not make an effective tackle so he was stranded by himself.
- RCG – He tries the big hits and runs hard. But with the lack of intent from the forwards around him, it looks like RCG is just running into a brick wall. The age is catching up to him. Keep him to lead the forward pack next year for his consistency.
- Carty – While he does good things, he is not a line running backrow which limits the skill of Moses setting up his backrow. Just like how Moses did for Martin and did for Papalii for 2 years. He needs to hit and stick in defence more.
- Lane – What a fucking lazy player. Much better in the middle but I would still fuck him off. Lets the ball roll and lets a knights player pick it up. So fucking bad. He does not run good lines for his halves at all. Fuck him off.
- Joe O – One of two eels players not to miss a tackle. He was good. Only forward to run over 100m as well. Was lucky with his ball plant.
- MA - Our forwards were getting smashed so he was not able to do much. His service was fine. He did struggle a bit in defence but that's largely due to the fact the forwards in the middle gave him no help. Ofc he is not elite but he got a valuable taste of FG
- Paulo – Next one to fuck out of the club. You see him score that try against the sharks just for him to produce this effort. Was so fucking soft in attack and defence. How is he classified as a leader of this club when he offers no voice and his actions are horrible. He is a P.O.D in attack with his offloading and ball playing, but his number 1 job is running and defending hard. If you cannot do that, then the new coach should bugger him off like I would be doing.
- Doorey – was solid on the time of the field. We did not use his strength of line running at all.
- Matto – He was alright but had a offload mentality too much so his offloads were not really effective. Another I would move on.
Referring
I think enough has been said about it. Did not a single forward pass from knights. Bunker robbed us 3 tries. Then the ref sending awarding all the knights tries immediately and the bunker looking for multiple angles to see if it can be a try. Then when eels score the ref awards it as a no try and the bunker looks at it for 1 second.
The captain challenging was 21 seconds after the play too.
Attack:
I think people need to realise our attack was actually good. We scored 5 tries and the bunker robbed us of 3 tries. So as much as you may want to criticise DB and Gutho, we were lethal in attack with them.
I did notice a change. I am not sure if others did, but many times on spread from our own end, Moses was doing Gutho’s normal role of being out the back. So they have realises Moses speed is important to replace Guthos crippled body. I love that change.
To add on to this, our outside backs still do limit us. The number of times Moses or Gutho got a 3 on 2 but Penisni and Talagi have no pace to take advantage of it as Marzhew and Best covered it so well. Lomax will not solve it. Penisni could not ever use his power. But someone like Martyn would. So we really need to develop Martyn or find some quick outside back.
Defence:
Our 2-5 are horrible at defending. But today our forwards were even worse. The missed tackles. Lazy forwards on big money. They know we have no depth in our forward rn due to injury so they are not playing for spots. Only Guymer and Parker are good enough really to push for a forward spot but they would be on debut so would be a massive ask.
Line up Next week:
*I assume Sivo will be injured*
Even though NSW Cup won, I would not say there are many there that would improve our nrl side. They would definitely improve our effort as that is what one them the game today.
- Gutho
- Talagi (do not have another winger)
- Penisni (been awful but rather him than Harper)
- Russel
- Tago
- Brown
- Moses
- Joe O
- Hands
- RCG
- Carty
- Lane (bring Doorey in after 20min though. Keep Lane in the middle. Fkn Potatoe)
- Matto (do not like him starting but we do not have many options)
- MA
- Paulo (fkn potatoe)
- Guymer
- Doorey
I hope when we get our coach and he decided who he wants to fk off that we start giving youngsters a go.
Replies
The referee gave the Knights the game. Moses was sublime, but my main gripe moments:
- Lane is no longer trying, doesn't make any effort to get an easy ball that costs us a try
- Hands pass from dummy half was so bad - that should never happen
- Sivo coming off the line to completely miss Gagai leading to a fumbled Knights try.
- Russell struggles to play centre at this level.
I dont think Russell struggles so much more that he is playing out of position. To me it was more that (and the same with Blaize) they are constantly being switched between Wing and Centre. If imagine each position has its own intricacies and while they are right next to each other each would have different nuances and mindsets required for such. Brown while quiet is always solid in defence but I did notice Moses playing on both sides which is something it looks like he picked up from origin camp.
At the moment, I would liken us to 2022/2023 dragons. One or two rep level players and mediocre squad. Hopefully once they finally announce a coach and the clean out begins there will be some light at the end of the tunnel
I say this with no league player experience, just based purely on observation. But how on earth the ref wasnt calling 6 agains for the blatant holding down is beyond me. Old mate Jimmy should grow a set and demand answers from Ainnsley, fine be damned. The club has enough of our money to pay it
Attack: this team and coaching staff have no idea about ruck speed. Clearly there is little coaching emphasis on this area. Forwards are running upright, looking to offload, standing in tackles and easily held up or being put on their backsides. One out stuff with no decoys or support runners. They need to learn how Fischer-Harris takes the ball up with his size, power and quick play-the-balls, and how that helps their attack. He does not care about post contact metres or offloads, just getting them quick moment. Imagine being the next man taking the ball up after a Fischer-Harris run. The Eels forwards technique and mindsets need to change, otherwise they need mass clean out and find more suitable forwards body type players. This is clearly poor coaching.
Defence: zero line speed and lack of fitness/conditioning in this team. Conceding over 20 points a game is a red flag for any half decent coach... but we see fck all improvement in this area. If BA was sacked then whoever's the defensive coach is, needs to be sacked as well.
Did anyone watch the post game conference? I wonder if Barrett mentioned the howlers we got from The Bunker? Ricky Stuart ripped in last night about the farcial 6 agains
Talagi cant stay on the wing. I think he will move to lock this week. Need a new winger asap maybe Martyn or cini. Is Sivo definitely injured? Dropped players Russell lane. Talagi needs to be moved from wing. Last chance for Paulo and Penisini. Depending on what troops we have available.
I can't see Talagi being dropped as it looks like the club are just playing him in FG to keep him at the club. I would put Sivo on the wing over Talagi if he is fit. When Martyn returns from injury, move Tago to centre and remove Russel. Personally, by the end of the year I hope we use this team in preparation for next year:
* Simmo and Hopgood injured
Shipping off overpriced lazy bums - Lane, Paulo, Matto, Sivo (injury prone now?)
Ship of useless duds - Lussick, Asi, Harper, Cini, Asi, Dunster (poor guy), Grieg, Makatoa, Ogden, Mataele (injury prone)
So why are the Eels offering Talagi 500k ea, can you or anyone explain this? He isn't a fb with that pace. He is pretty slow mate
That's a lot of shipping also EA lol - Brad must have built a pretty shit house squad would you say ?
Look I am a massive fan of Talagi and I believe he has a bright future. Some will disagree on that but I am confident he will be a star. But I do agree with everyone saying he is not ready for FG and I literally said that before his debut game. His manager is being an absolute pain by commanding that level of money.
I believe he will turn into a Joey Manu like player when he fully develops his body into a couple years time. He is the player I have compared him too for the past couple years. And before you go blowing off your head saying Manu is soo much better than him just please relax. I said I believe that is the style of player he will develop into eventually IMO. A season or two and he will get that better built and extra yard of pace. Talagi has a strong running game, phsyical for his lean built, a good step, decent passing game and like Manu speed or acceleration is never their strength. Also like Manu, he will be able to play fullback and 5/8 but I recon centre will be his long term spot.
I'd offer someone like the storms Faalogo or manlys Koula 450 to 500k. But not slow boy blaze. You're drawing a long bow as Manu is a giant and one of a kind. If I was Parramatta I'd dump blaze or offer him low dollars. Maybe
Faalogo is signed long term. He won't leave espically with papi on the verge of retirement every season with his injuries.
Koula is interesting. I do not rate him at centre but at fullback he is good. But he may get it with Turbo returning in the centres.
Manu and Blaize player compairson is very accurate in my eyes. Just give it time.
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