Optimistic Eel made some comments about how we perform against the top sides viz a viz the bottom. i.e we have more issues against the bottom than the top' he also alludes to the newfound speed we now have will be a big influence on how we have played in the past.
I also like and appreciate his views re the bottom sides versus the big name sides like Melb and Penrith. Strangely other top sides (in recent times) we have not been that good. I.e. Roosters/Souths
We always had to grind rather than putting a side to the "sword". Those games we lost last year after establishing a good lead, we are now much better manned to finish the job, we may have even had a glimpse of that on Friday night when the Knights started to fight back. Early days I know LOL
I am starting now to rationalise somewhat that maybe there are no bottom sides to start with. It seems to me that every side will be tough to beat especially the early rounds. After a while through what ever circumstances, the bottom sides start to place themselves accordingly.
It maybe injuries, key player losses or some internal issues or it can be just plain bad luck. Getting beat by a point or just a couple can also erode your confidence if it happens in a few games i.e. play well but don't win. I have always had the belief that good teams create their own luck.... we just need to be sure we are a "good" team.
Start with a few loses, confidence disinegrates, Coaches' talked about being sacked and away you go.
Just about every year someone surprises by being near the top and vice versa one or two of the perceived top sides are off to a "shocka". I feel in the past 2 seasons Parra has had this problem with injuries and lack of planning that have put us in a negative position.
I /We have to hope we get off to a start that can create some intimidation. Those last two season's though have been dealt with now, depth and a new level of coaching has taken us into this realm.
I have felt for a while that the bottom middle sides take a view that Parra is a team "we can beat" whereas the top sides, Penrith / Storm give us a different type of respect when playing us.
Let's hope our new found depth will change this perception, but we need to establish credability in the eyes of all the teams. I can see with a few exceptions that many commentators are not taking us seriously and that includes our own fans on here.
Interestingly one of the sides to watch will be Wests, they have a roster now that is very good, if they get off to a good start and gain some confidence they could cause a lot of upsets, the alternative is if they start badly, then they may remain a bottom side, this applies to the Dogs as well and most probably the Cowboys, Titans,Canberra and Dolphins and even Cronulla.
Souths and Easts from a cultural point of view cannot be singled out that way?? They will always be seen as a danger side, no matter who is playing them.
We can all have a competition as to who will battle for the spoon etc, but it will only be guessing, unless someone is clever enough to outline the circumstances.
This is shaping up as a great competition year!
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To me, I find our side has not been mentally prepared for week in, week out footy against all comers, for quite some time. That mental training to treat each team with respect is something that in my view had been overlooked throughout BA's tenure. I can point to numerous examples where BA has formally stated in press conferences "its up to the individual to get them selves up", Its up to the player whether he decides to show up and put in. "Its not my job to get their minds in the right place its up to them". And or words similar to those.
Mental toughness and or mental prepardness is crucial within a sporting team. Players benefit when they are taught to approach a game with the same mental fortitude desired each week to win. It is a taught or learned behaviour that must be recognised, reinforced and worked on continuously. It must also be judged and held accountable each week. When players minds are on the job and in sync with each other, Only then can consistency be found., for their whole game.
Playing top sides spured our players into action a lot of times, playing bottom sides the players were prepared to let things slide as the mentality was that i can perform at a lower rate and a lower ability this week because the opposition are perceived not as good.
I remember Gus Gould writing an article about our team. He stated "There is a fragility about the Eels mental toughness". "They are no chance of winning a competition until they solve the chronic problems of mental toughness".
Well I am very grateful to have a reply Bluey, but let me say that is a great post....I would love Ryles and the players to read what you said....
Could not agree any more and you are so right, the steel of the greats, namely Price and Stirling and also Edge as a winner personify the fact that we have never had the toughness since theose Halcyon days.
I am not sure we have any one in the current team that could get near that "toughness" maybe Hopgood in the medium and long term.
Here's an interesting question, if you had to buy a player that has that, who would you pick? firstly in our current side and then outside of the current team. I cannot think outside of Cleary? and I won't be popular saying that I guess!
Good question, You know what I reflected hard on that, and I'm coming up short a little. Im now wondering if the current generation of players have been brought up a bit different. Sort of Mollycoddled and the era of everyone gets a trophy and we dont keep score in junior games etc. Some of the guys that had it in spades are people like Billy Slater,Cameron Smith, Pricey, Sterlo, Cronin, Lewis, Mortimer, Clyde,Johns, Meninga, Fulton etc etc.
Out of the current crop I could pinpoint like you say Cleary then perhaps someone like Cameron McInnes, Tom Trbojevic, I think Zac Lomax perhaps, Harry Grant, Issah Yeo.
Out of them I think Id buy Issah Yeo.
I'm going to give Moses a tick for toughness for the following reasons
1.Parramatta tried to offload him and he chose to stay and fight
2. he developed one of the best kicking games in the comp
3. probably one of the better defensive halves in the game
4. Played origin with a broken back
5. had some issues with icing games in years gone by. This is getting better each year
Moses is determined to win and keeps improving year in year out. I think the captaincy with sit well with Moses. I really hope Moses can lead us to a GF win because I think he deserves it.
Hope your right AE, he will certainly have come along way if you are right.
I have always been a Moses fan but I do believe he has some way to go. I don't doubt his intelligence or willingness.....just maybe his toughness (Outside of his control, the heart is willing, not sure about the body?). He had a wonderful year last year and some would call it a breakout, but the reality is he played 7 games for Parra.
Again I feel disloyal in saying this but a young guy that will develop in the "mongrel" stakes and I think he is on the way is Tom Deardon from the cowboys. Too young yet, but on the way.
Boom, Bluey. Nice post.
Pops, very interesting questions & a great blog, & like Bluey, feel that rollercoaster of 'turning up with the right attitude' depending on opponent speaks to that mental fortitude that hasn't been the Eels strong point.
Why though? Maybe its an ensemble of reasons Pops? From coaching, culture, past success, experienced players, leadership?!
Interesting you bring up certain players who bleed toughness, and one player I feel we really missed when he left was Beau Scott.
He's obviously not flashy, but our defence looked a different beast with Scott & it's probably no coincidence that our best defensive year under BA was in 2016 when he was there.
Do feel Hopgood will develop this also. He had a tougher upbringing than many & that shows, imo.
"I am starting now to rationalise somewhat that maybe there are no bottom sides to start with"
Great comment Poppa, and mostly true. The salary cap ensures that every club should have a baseline of competitiveness. Then there's the couple of highly resourced clubs that stand above the pack almost every year. I'm talking about the Storm and Roosters. Even Penrith have only been dominant for five years, so despite their massive recent success, this might just be a flash in the pan funded by the big loan from Packer 12 years ago. It remains to be seen if it's sustainable. Their juniors seem to have stopped dominating as well. Maintaining such a huge junior recruitment system costs a lot of money. We have only just started investing heavily in this area, with the recent move to a large full time pathways staff. Will we be able to maintain it, like Melbourne and Easts?
Although there is obviously still one genuine bottom side, held back by structural weaknesses. The Tigers are that club. Someone needs to win the spoon each year, and it should be determined by bad luck (injuries, etc) but three consecutive spoons isn't just bad luck. It should be completely unacceptable under a salary cap.
Great points Pou and thanks for the positive response.
NOS, you have a habit of just about everything you post making sense.
You never let us down!
I had inconvenietly forgotten about Beau Scott and could not agree more. His injuries at the end of his career were telling for us, but watching a game and seeing the difference when he went on and then off was amazing. Something happened when he was on, the defence became so much better/tighter. When he took the ball up his post contact metres were amazing.....thanks again for reminding me/us of that....I wonder where he is now? I know he moved to Parra to be closer to the childrens hospital, lets hope everything went well for him.
Interested if anyone has any feedback on Beau.
Beau was a tremendous player at the Saints and the Blues and retained his tough workrate for us. His retirement came as a shock and was a huge loss.
Other clubs, mostly considered us soft on many occasions and you could not argue. But yes we were able to toughen up for the better teams and we were delirious when we beat them.
Even during our golden days of 81 to 86 we were never thought of as hard. Talented yes, winners also but not rugged.
We lost our last 3 Grand Finals because we never took the game to the opposition, allowed them to bring it to us.
So its a culture thing, but new blood in our ranks give us a great chance to start afresh and be seen to be a much harder side to do battle with.
If we could sign any 1 player give me the Panthers Lock.
Yes Richard, Leo is high up on that list of "if you could buy one" I am hoping for Hopgood to be his clone.
Another name I thought of today, busted his achillies i.e. Cameron Murray. He is a junior "pricey".
Good to see you posting Richard, I guess you are still bemused by the dill that thinks you are my "alias" LOL..... He says he pride shimself on his judgement
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