With the regular season almost finished what are your observations so far. Mine are:
- What erks me more than anything else is that Parra is mostly a 40 min team. Play well for 40, shit for the other 40. Look at the amount of games played like that this year. What is the problem and how do we solve it?
- Unfortunately when get beaten usually get beaten big time. Why is this? Need to stop these blowouts next year.
- Looked at Penrith v Manly game, Penrith had almost full team injured yet almost won (why can't Parra do this?) But what stands out is how well Penrith has recruited over last few years. How do they recruit so well and get the players they want and need?
- Our attack resolves around two players, Sandow and Hayne. Shut down one or both and we are dead in the water. What is the solution?
- Imo need to strengthen our forwards. Think we have enough edge forwards but need couple big experienced hardheads as middle forwards. Any comments and who is available?
- In defence noticed that regularly we don't stop a player passing the ball, even if there are three players tackling. Is there a problem with our tackling technique?
- Don't have any forwards that regularly pass to create second phase play. Do you think this a major problem with the team?
- Is the team fit enough to challenge for the top 8? Is our line speed in defence poor because of this?
These are just some of my observations, questions, etc. What are yours?
Replies
As far as the recruiting department is concerned our recruiting has been abysmal for a long long time the amount of players we have released and that are playing for opposition sides is a testament to that, I cannot think of one player the eels have signed that has stood out and you could say he was worth every penny, look at some of our masterful recruiting decisions Mossop came to the club under an injury cloud and has played less than six games this year hardly what I would call a great decision, Willie Tonga another,the bloke is virtually a cripple, Ben Smith another cripple but was resigned by the club a few years back, Jacob Loko another all of these players had well documented injury issues,but the club signed them, IMO the club has carried these players, enough is enough, the balance of our salary cap is invested in Hayne, Sandow,Norman, Hoppa, Mannah and a host of juniors, so what money we have left over is spent on garage sale like investments and picking up dregs from other clubs and ESL clubs hardly what I call smart investing!
Totally agree we need some experienced forwards or at least one, some are excited at the prospect of Wicks and Mossop being in the side next year, so we are going to have a player who has not played in three years and another that has played three games in one year hardly a cause for celebrations, barring that we still have the same platform of Mannah and co ,mind you we do have some good junior prospects coming through but we desperately need a Choc Watmough or someone maybe even a Willie Mason at a fair price to help these young kids!
Aside from the Usual suspects in attack in Hayne and Sandow we have a very inconsistent 6 and two of the most useless centres in the comp that offer frig all, anyway hopefully Beau Champion can add some much needed stability and attack in our attack out wide as we need to aleviate some of the pressure Sandow and Hayne are faced with every match
I don't think fitness is an issue the club needs some experience out wide and in the engine room, and cut out the bullshit crap recruiting decisions that has hamstrung our salary cap for years on end!
I agree with most of what you have said. As for a solution, I have but one. Trust King Arthur our lord and saviour who has delivered us from consecutive spoons to a very good chance of playing September footy!.
1) I think the drop in intensity not only during a match but in being able to get up for games like the one against Manly and then fail to get up against Newcastle comes down to our lack of NRL experience and the age of our forwards. Next year Pauli Pauli, Tepai Moeroa, Kenny Edwards, Manu Ma'u, and Junior Paulo will have an off-season to work on their fitness which will mean they can lift their intensity once again. I also think bringing in guys like Beau Champion, Shannan McPherson, and possibly Danny Wicks, even though they are depth signings, are for if we get injuries with our young team we can replace them with someone older who will be able to maintain a higher intensity for a longer period.
2) My answer would be the same as my first one, it comes down to intensity and lack of NRL experience.
3) They're buying average players to fill their entire Top 25. It's good when injuries/suspensions/rep duty comes around but come finals time and when those average players have to stand up I don't think they'll be able to do it.
4) Hope we don't get any injuries. Getting a better, smoother, attack comes down to the combinations and chemistry you have in the team. It was pretty risky of us at the beginning of the year to bring in so many new players to the team and 2 in spine positions. The best attacking team is the Roosters and whilst they have superstars that they bought last year they still have guys like: Mitchell Pearce, JWH, Jake Friend, SKD, RTS, FPN, Aubusson. Minichiello, and Cordner. That have been at the club for a while and so when they brought in the stars: Maloney, SBW, and Jennings they were already in a stable structure already with set combinations so they didn't have to do much in that respect.
5) Anthony Watmough. He brings, NRL experience (280 NRL games), finals experience (8 finals campaigns with 3 Grand finals played), State of Origin Experience (14 games), International experience (18 games). Not just all of this experience but he also constantly makes good metres, he has a high tackle efficiency with a high-rate of tackles, and for an "injury prone" player he's played 18 games this year and 20+ games for the past 5 years. And most importantly he's a leader, he'll instantly step into our leadership group and became one of the main figures in our team. He would be the ultimate signing for next year.
6) We've just got to learn how to put our hands on the ball at the right time. When wrestling we need to put our hands on the ball to prevent the offload then when the third man comes around the hips get our hands off the ball so we don't get penalised. It's a fine line to walk but if you do it properly then it can work well.
7) Joseph Paulo regularly passes the ball. And do you mean pass or offload? I'd rather our forwards offload the ball than pass. With offloading you are actively engaging a defender or two and then promoting the ball for better opportunity out wide whereas with passing you are engaging a defender but only for a while then they can slide across. Forwards passing isn't a good idea imo, the Dogs for about a month lost because their pack wasn't going forward and when the it got hard for them they ended up just passing the ball but they do this because their halves lack creativity and they have no fullback essentially so their halves are able to play a little bit wider where they can find space. The Storm are the exact opposite, they simplify their forward's role and that lets Smith, Cronk, and Slater work their magic and it has worked so well for them. In our structure and style of halves and fullback, it's much more efficient if our forwards offload rather than pass.
8) For next year I think we're a massive chance of playing finals footy. Our line speed will be much better next year with Peats, and Ma'u back, and then Tep will be a year older so he can only get fitter and will start smashing players in first grade.
I have no questions from 2014 and for 2015.
Guys like Morgan, Paulo, Ben smith, Vai I don't would make any of the teams in the top 8. For me the centres and wingers are crucial to a team. Not that they have to be world class but if they are below standard standard then it's very costly. Hopefully champion slots in nicely next year and we have a good replacement for Sio on the wing and semi improves on his defensive positioning.
If we hadn't taken our two HOME GAMES against the Bulldogs and Tigers to ANZ instead of Parramatta Stadium we would have had 4 additional points and not talking about this. Most teams including Parra seem to have that definite advantage at their HOME ground. When we beat Manly two weeks ago we would not have done this at ANZ, Allianz or anywhere else but Parramatta Stadium. The tremendous lift our side gets in front of the Parra supporters makes the difference between winning and losing. Those two matches I mentioned we lost at ANZ we would NOT have lost at Parramatta. Someone else is responsible for this. Keep ALL OUR HOME GAMES AT PARRA.
Our young players know the game, you can go through all the video you want but the only way they'll learn is by experiencing it on the field. Getting Watmough would be the best thing for the club next year, he'll sure up the middle defence and constantly make metres.
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