Preview (Part II): Eels style suited against Dogs defence

In the second part of our three-part preview of the Dogs vs Eels clash, we cast the spotlight on how the Eels might attempt to score points against the Bulldogs defence.For a team that came within a whisker of winning the minor premiership, the Bulldogs don't have the competition's stiffest defence.The Dogs gave up 428 points during the season, the third least of any side, but its worth noting that was significantly behind the competition's best two defensive units the Dragons (329) and Storm (348).So where you can say the Dragons built the impressive season on defence, the Dogs have done it based on their ability to score 4 or more tries consistently throughout the year. Defensively they do enough to generally concede about no more than three tries in most games and there's the winning formula.However, there are definitely points for the taking against the Dogs. They have produced few games this year where they've held sides out altogether. They've never held a team to no tries this season, and only against the hapless Roosters did they keep any side to just one try.Let's look at where they've leaked points this year.Firstly, if you get them on their heels, they can be caught out around the ruck. Kris Keating cut the Dogs ruck defence to bits the first time we played them this year and Kevin Kingston scored a soft try from dummy half when we beats them in Round 20. They have big forwards, who aren't the most mobile. And so if you're forwards can get a bit of momentum, they tend to open up, up the middle. The problem for opposition teams is very few sides have been able to get on top of the Dog forwards.When its been done, like in our match and the Tigers recently, a lot of it has come down to second phase play. The Bulldogs are particularly susceptible to offloads, not just directly but because it can tend to break down the very good defensive structures they typically maintained. Of course, no team in the competition is as effective at second-phase play as the Eels and one can expect to see us to continue to do that against the Bulldogs. When we do that, I feel confident its going to create opportunities not just for our dummy halves but for the likes of Jarryd Hayne and Luke Burt to look for support plays and inside balls up the centre.The most obvious issue with their defence centres around Jamal Idris. Idris is big and a terrific attacking player but unless he gets up in your face, his defence can be exploited especially if he is asked to make decisions. Benji Marshall made him look second rate and I think you'll see Parramatta run a lot of attacking plays aimed at giving both Jarryd Hayne and also Kris Inu plenty of shots at Idris. Like Marshall, Hayne has any number of options and Idris will struggle to defend against the best player in the game. The Bulldogs will be further weakened there because Brett Kimmorley defends inside of him, and as tough as he is, he must be a little gun shy this week going into the match with such a serious facial injury.The other play I'd like to see the Eels target would be aimed at getting Feleti Mateo on Ben Roberts. Roberts isn't the competition's best defender and I think Mateo, and also Ben Smith running off short balls around the area that Roberts defends is another play that can yield points.Finally, I think the key to our attack is just to be aggressive and confident. The Bulldogs have big forwards, but they're not particularly aggressive. Outside of Ben Hannant they don't really have the big hitting, hard-charging forwards that set you back on your arses. If our forward pack, led by Fuifui Moimoi really takes it to the Dogs forward pack, they will further work to break down their structures. Follow that up with some confident second phase play and I think the Dogs are going to have a very hard time keeping the Eels down to three tries or less.

I think Parra has turned away from the second phase play over the last 3-4 games somewhat. Sure we are still popping the offload when it is on the cards however our game plan isn't particularly based around it as much as it was during the start of our great run.

We have been tending to play a more conservitive/defensive style the last few weeks, and although it hasn't looked as pretty, it has certainly been effective against good opposition, basically frustrating the opposition into mistakes on the back of our defense, then using our forwards to get us onto the front foot, then sit back and wait for one of our gun outside backs to do something special for points.

I hope that against the dogs we do throw a few more balls than what we have been doing, as 1Eyed has stated there are some defensive weaknesses in the Dogs backline (both wingers and centres are all below average defenders) and if we can get quick ball out to our much larger backs then im sure it won't be to long before we see the doggies tire and us being able to exploit this.

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Replies

Makybe Steva September 24, 2009 at 2:33pm

One point that must be raised with our attack is that this is a night-time game. Our second phase play works best in the dry conditions - and I wonder whether Anderson would perfer them to be a little more conservative in the greasy night-time dew.

We saw the Titans struggle deluxe last week trying to play the kind of Ad-lib football we like to play. I just wonder whether the conditions could see us play away from our strengths, and slightly into the Dogs hands???
- 1Eyed Eel > Makybe Steva September 24, 2009 at 2:47pm
  
  I think the difference tomorrow night is that yes its a night game, but its not the same kind of slippery conditions you tend to get in the middle of the year. Forecasts are for a nice warm night, so handling really shouldn't be an issue.
  
  I don't know if the Titans problem was there the due, I think they just didn't cope with the occassion or our defence
- CMD & RSD > Makybe Steva September 24, 2009 at 7:05pm
  
  Tomorrows forecast - 17 to 28 degrees
  25% humidity
  Shouldn't be a big issue tomorrow night
blueNgold September 24, 2009 at 2:48pm

I think Parra has turned away from the second phase play over the last 3-4 games somewhat. Sure we are still popping the offload when it is on the cards however our game plan isn't particularly based around it as much as it was during the start of our great run.

We have been tending to play a more conservitive/defensive style the last few weeks, and although it hasn't looked as pretty, it has certainly been effective against good opposition, basically frustrating the opposition into mistakes on the back of our defense, then using our forwards to get us onto the front foot, then sit back and wait for one of our gun outside backs to do something special for points.

I hope that against the dogs we do throw a few more balls than what we have been doing, as 1Eyed has stated there are some defensive weaknesses in the Dogs backline (both wingers and centres are all below average defenders) and if we can get quick ball out to our much larger backs then im sure it won't be to long before we see the doggies tire and us being able to exploit this.
David September 24, 2009 at 4:41pm

Don't forget they can also target our defensive weaknesses. Mateo and Grothe in particular. However I think our defence is far more solid than theirs and we should be able to win this by 12+ if our creative players like Hayne, Inu and Mateo target Idris. Hoping to see Inu reproduce his 2007 magic when he kicked for himself, got back into the field of play and scored against the Bulldogs. That was totally awesome!

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