Eels Blogs

NRL Referees:

Firstly, I think it best to address the refereeing in the NRL in general. Adam Gee missing the forward pass, accusing Hopgood of a strip on a clear knock on, missing Gutho’s knock on for the first disallowed Sivo try, saying that Hopgood stripped the ball with more than 1 person in the tackle x 2. How many decisions are they going to get wrong.

The bunker is worse given they actually get time to replay and watch the videos. The fact Adam Gee said the bunker checked for a 20m restart when the replays pause with the ball bouncing on the line. How tf do you get that wrong. The Lussick tackled without the ball. The knock on by Manly in the try was God awful. If a ball is lost because of a defender making contact with the ball, it is a knock on regardless of the direction the ball travels. So when Timoko scored at the end when the raiders player lost the ball, it should be knock on. I swear refs are cooked.

Anyway, we lost not because of the refs. But because we are shit.

1. Gutho: He should be doing better when defending line breaks. However it is clear that he is on the decline, and this could honestly be his last year where he can play fullback. He does not have the pace to defend quick players or to pose a threat in attack. However, he is far off the problem now.
2. Sivo: The faster he is out of the side the better. People are saying he may be injured. His carries are sooooo pathetic. Right now his only pro’s is that he is pretty good under contested kicks and that he can finish a try. However defensively he is useless and gets a solid 1meter per carry with a slow play the ball
3. Simonson: Was probably one of our best of a bunch of shit performances. Not a problem for us right now.
4. Penisini: I feel like for the past year, we are waiting for Penisini to go to that next level we know he is capable off. Every game he makes poor defensive read. Today is was for Savage try where he unnecessarily went for the tackle instead of sliding, leaving a gap for Savage to explode into. I wish Penisini had a touch more speed and acceleration.
5. Russel: Does nothing great in attack and makes decent defensive reads. The problem is that he is the best winger at the club when realistically, he should be the minimum standard of an NRL winger. Thus a backup outside back.
6. Talagi: I am his biggest fan however I warned on his debut that it is probably too early. I just do not see the value of him being in the side. He is not asked to do anything other than make his tackles which means there are better people than him for that spot. I think he coped unfair slack for the first 2 tries. Matto and Lussick should have done better and Penisini for the other. He does lack a yard of pace right now to slide and cover other peoples mistakes. He has a bright future, but its just too early for him. I do not think he has the speed or defence to move to the centres either. He needs another solid off-season in the gym before playing first grade again.
7. Brown: I thought his long range kicking game was pretty good. However, his short kicking game was poor. He could not do anything in the first half with his teammates constantly dropping the ball every chance we had. I do think he can play halfback, but just not in this team or system. So it is best for him to move back to 5/8 and let someone else do the kicking.
8. RCG: Not much to say. Probably will get suspended since he plays for eels. I think he was pissed off with getting dropped off the ball and no penalty. With his history, it could be 2 weeks. However, I do think everything was over dramatized and there were mitigating factors.
9. Lussick: He went from having 2 great games to start the season, to being a horrible defender and attacker. He probably needs to go reserve grade this week. The missed tackle for the first try was poor. Than he lets the Raiders get so many PCM when he is in the tackle. His service was poor, had a horrible early kick and always makes errors when he does the crash ball technique.
10. Grieg: Was a contributor to us loosing the ruck at the start of the game. He was often left on the floor.
11. Lane: He is not the same player. I know he is a player that builds into the season but he is simply running shit lines and not poking his head through at all.
12. Matto: horrible defence for that first try. He is a great player of the bench in the middle. His edge and starting days are over. Could be a player we offload to improve our outside backs. On too much money for someone who chooses when he wants to play good.
13. Hopgood: Worked tirelessly. Best on ground for us. 44 tackles with no miss. Does not deserve to be a part of this club. I do not see why he would resign with us under BA when any club would sign him. Should be the captain of this club from next year.
14. Paulo: 35 minutes and 81 meters. He will always struggle to defend with his size when we have no control of the ruck.
15. Tuilagi: Had massive talks in the pre-season but now does not play many minutes. Nothing really to say.
16. Joe O: Was alright but got caught flat footed a couple of times.
17. Moretti: Stone cold drop on his first touch of the ball. Needs to fix a bit of his disciplines.

Attack

We never gave ourselves a chance in attack in the first half as we dropped the ball 4 times in the 4 chances we got. Like fml hold the ball and sustain pressure.

We completely went away from our offload game which make us who we are. I do not know why.

Lussick needs to fix his service and stop the crash ball because its probably the leading cause of errors whenever we get good ball.

Gutho and DB control the attack in the good ball sets we had in the second half. If that is the case, Talagi has no place in the side. As I said, DB could be a halfback if needed but not in the system we have or at the eels. Actually, it is more the lack of system we have. This is because DB and Gutho have been asked to play 1,6 and 7 between them. 3 positions between 2 people lol. It honestly looks like BA has just chucked Talagi into first grade and told him to just be some random person on the field. Like if you do not trust a young player to do the role of a 6, then simply do not play him. Good clubs have a system in attack or defence so when there is injuries a player just has to come in and do that role. However, at Eels whenever a member of the spine is injured, everything goes to shit.

Defence:

BA has said the effort was there. SHUT THE FUCK UP. If the effort was there, we do not drop of that many tackles. Most of the tries were literally down to a lack of urgency and effort in making tackles and jamming. Our defensive system and line speed was atrocious. Sivo has not speed and takes one hour to react to threats.

I cannot believe in my wildest fucking dreams, that Bryce Cartwright. Yes Bryce Cartwright. The one that would not defend at Titans. The one who was shit in defence in his first year or two at eels. Yes him. He would be the one that sets our defensive tone in games. He is the player we miss in defence. WTF!!!! He was the one smashing players off the kicking off, setting our line speed and putting big shots. WTFFFF!!! Bryce Cartwright.

Roster revamp:

I think we need a roster revamp. I think this is the absolute last year Gutho can handle fullback. Personally, I do not want him at centre. He will be way to slow to handle fast opposition.

We have too much money invested into our forwards. We need to fix that shit and put some money in the outside backs. Our forwards coming through the junior system are great so we will always be able to replenish ones we sell. Plus BA (even though I want him out) has a good history of buying forwards and improving them. Matto is on too much money and possibly Joe O too.

Next week line up:

Lot of people want Sivo dropped including me, however with reserve grade going so shit, we have no options. Harper and Simmo option is the best we can do even though Harper is slow.

I agree we should move DB back to 6 and get a proper halfback to kick and defend. I have watched all of our nsw cup games this year and I can tell you that do not expect Sanders to do much better. While he may take some pressure of DB kicking game, his attack has been ordinary.

I agree Talagi is not ready. Needs some gym work and speed to defend in the NRL. Centre would only expose him more than defending at 5/8. So I think he needs to drop out the team all together than moving him to centre.

I doubt Carty will be fit. No outside back depth. Moses, Doorey and Dunster injured,

1. Gutho
2. Simmo
3. Harper
4. Penisini
5. Russel
6. Dylan Brown
7. Sanders (I do not think he will change the result of the game. Plus seems BA wants Talagi/Brown combo). But we just need DB back at 6 and a more consistent kicking game. BA also needs to expect him to do his job even though on debut. Not expect DB and Gutho to do his role. Otherwise simply to do not play him and just use Asi).
8. RCG (Joe O if RCG is suspended)
9. Hands
10. Grieg
11. Lane
12. Tualagi
13. Hopgood
14. Moretti
15. Matto (play a bit of backrow to give Tualagi a break)
16. Paulo
17. Joe O (Ogden/Maktoa if RCG is injured).