Eels Blogs

In the Captain’s Run media fronting, Shaun Lane was disarmingly blunt. “We got phased” by the Rabbits’ in last week’ 12-30 loss.

To many, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Rabbits made us their bunnies; stunned-in-the headlights. The Eels are one of the most consistently inconsistent teams you could hope for, and get phased quite regularly by intense teams in our faces and bring their A-game, even ones far lower down the ladder. Any team on their day can beat the Eels with that basic game plan.

We also missed an opportunity to get closer to our top four aspirations. One that could come to bite us down the track.

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In their last clash, back in round 6 at Commbank, then last-placed Tigers broke the Eels' 20-21 in the dying minute through a miraculous Hastings' field goal, shattering our hearts. Will the Tigers do it again?

The Eels have the wood over the Tigers in recent years, but will the Eels bounce back to continue their golden run of win-loss-win-lose over the last few months, since round 5? Or will they finally drop their bundle completely succumbing to bad habits and lose two straight for the first time since late last year? 

Teams

Parramatta Eels

1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Maika Sivo 3. Waqa whack-em Blake 4. Will Penisini 5. Bailey  Simonsson 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Marata Niukore 11. Shaun Lane 12. Isaiah Papali’i 14. Makahesi Makatoa 13. Ryan Matterson (might just play) ribs

Bench: 15. Tom Opacic 16. Oregon Kaufusi 17. Ky Rodwell
18. Nathan In-the-Doghouse Brown

Reserves: 19. Jakob Matt Arthur 20. Sean Russell 21. Wiremu Greig 22. Hayze Perham

Changes: Ins - Ryan Matterson; Outs - Junior Paulo

Head Coach: Brad Arthur

Wests Tigers

1. Daine Laurie 2. David Nofoaluma 3. Starford To’a 4. Adam Doueihi 20. Junior Tupou 5.Ken Maumalo 6. Luke Brooks Doueihi 7. Jackson Hastings 8.James Tamou 17. Fonua Pole 9. Fa’amanu Brown 10. Zane Musgrove 11. Luke Garner 12. Kelma Tuilagi 13. Joe Ofahengaue

Bench: 14. Stefano Utoikamanu 15. Justin Matamua 16. Jacob Liddle 18. Austin Dias

Reserves: 19. Alex Seyfarth 21. Asu Kepaoa 22. Jock Madden

Changes: Ins - James Tamou, Jacob Liddle, Justin Matamua ; Outs - James Roberts, Alex Seyfarth, Austin Dias

Interim Coach: Brett Kimmorley

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The Eels' general was on auto-pilot last week; more than disappointing.

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Ken Maumalo is the Tigers’ leading try scorer this season with 10, which also makes him the leading point scorer for the club with 40 points. He scored in the last encounter and is up against our more vulnerable right edge. Mind you the Tigers have the worst left-edge and middle defence in the competition, conceding the most tries down those corridors.

Update: Maumalo has been ruled out.

Return to Leichardt: 9 years coming

It's been nine years since we played here. 
The Tigers are back for their second game here this year, and there should be a decent crowd even at the risk of rain. Their one and only game here this year, a round-twelve 36-22 win against the Dogs drew over 15,000. We could see more. Let's hope it doesn't help precipitate another phase-out. Tigers have just one win in their past seven home games against the Eels, at Commbank and Campbeltown, so perhaps Leichardt will be the change they need.

10 years ago

Ten years ago, back in 2012, was the last time the Tigers beat the Eels twice in the same season. The year the Eels won the spoon. Kearney was sacked, and Arthur was the then interim coach for the last six games.

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But, the Tigers are fighting furiously to stay away from rock-bottom and have been an internal basket case of sorts, and have not really indicated they are any better yet after Maguire's sacking and Kimmorley’s so·journ. This would be a perfect opportunity to make a statement to themselves, their front office and Tim Sheens.

Sybil's exorcism

We've seen the multiple personalities of the Eels' Sybil all year. What evades us, short of sackings, are the solutions.

Speaking to the media at the Captain’s run yesterday, a rugged-looking Arthur said we needed to stop “beating ourselves”. To play our “best footy regularly” to become “more reliable”.

Arthur noted we practically gave the game to Souths on a platter, giving them field position and territory - noting we had "seven red zone errors in the first half" as symptomatic of this. Arthur also pointed out that the Eels needed to start better.

Foxstats back him up. The Eels were dominated in practically every facet last week. Souths had more possession (53%-7%), far more territory (70%-30%), more opportunities (35-19 tackles in 20), made far more metres (1675-1274m), far more tackle busts (26-12), far more linebreaks (6-2), far more forced dropouts (5-1), more attacking kicks (11-8), more set restarts (2-1), more post contact metres (593m - 431m), and even made more offloads (6-4). More of everything. More intensity. Better line speed. Better in practically every way imaginable. The only areas the Eels managed to win were in the error count (Eels made less at 12-16) and the penalties (5-3). If Souths held onto the ball more and completed better, it may have been far worse for the Eels.

We've been off and on all year. So, what's the solution?

Yesterday, as he has on many occasions, Arthur was adamant he has no issues with the “processes” or "effort" of the group or how they train leading up to game day. So, if it is nothing to do with training and preparation, and any of the processes leading up to game day, what is it then?

In a similar vein to Lane's "phased" quip, Arthur believes it is a game-day problem. He pointed out when “a couple of things go against us” things “snowballed out of control” and individuals tried too hard to make things happen “on their own” and “we don’t need to”. So, we're back to a lack of teamwork, individual responsibility and the mental side.

Here, he returned to the key concept he talked about in last week's post-Souths game pressor of players “owning” their individual roles and being accountable for them - without doing things outside their “job description”. Something Cooper Cronk wholeheartedly concurred with immediately after the Souths’ loss.

Arthur would probably deny it, but where this essentially heads is it is the players' fault they drop their bundle if he's done everything right in the processes leading up to game day.

Lane and Matto also spoke to the media at the Captain's run.  

Lane essentially concurs with Arthur. He noted everyone was putting in the “effort” and trying hard”, but “just not in the correct areas, sometimes" and in "doing their own things, sometimes, rather than working as a team, collectively”.

“We put the footy in our back pocket’ against the Rabbits (when asked to compare it with the Eels' electric first half against the Roosters’ the week before)..We didn’t try to throw anything at them. We got phased by them being on our tryline the whole time, and then got into the mindset, we just need to get off our try line...(they) didn’t really give us any opportunities (either)."

When pressed on why there was such a gap between their best and worst, Lane puts it down to “attitude”. 

Attitude is something we have Moses talk about that too a few weeks ago, following the Dogs' Black-Monday debacle, although Mahoney denied it back then.

“Lucky, there’s always next week, I suppose", Lane added innocently.

“We have the potential, we just need to play the footy that we know works best for us.”

“Sometimes it is boring. It’s tough footy. Your body gets banged up. It might not be fancy stuff. But on the back-end of doing that kind of stuff, it’s when we score our tries. That’s when we’re able to play our good footy like we did against the Roosters and put the icing on the cake.”

“When we’re putting in the hard yards, that’s going to be the rewards for us.”

“If you get under our skin a little bit, if you rattle us, and put us off our game, at the moment we’re kind of allowing that to happen and getting sucked it by it. So, I’m sure the Tigers will come out and try to do the same thing again.”

“We’re just trying to focus on ourselves, and getting into our game”.

Matto was hopeful of playing this week (update, has been ruled out), and proudly added "This club is home to me".

“The frustrating thing is when we’re playing our best footy, we can beat the majority of sides", Matto pointed out.

 “We speak about being consistent, but the effort areas were there. It’s just little attention to detail which we’re struggling with at the moment.”

“Be diligent at training, work on what you need to work on” but also “away from footy being relaxed” and “don’t drain too much of your energy” cause it’s “what you’ll need at the back end of the week”.

Matto also believed some of the things he learned from all his Origin experiences were important for the Eels. “You can’t be on an (emotional) high all the time. You have got to have your breaks. And that’s something we’re trying to drive here (at Parra).”

The problem with all of this is: it is ongoing. 

Dylan Brown was also saying we needed to "stop beating ourselves" back in March; three months ago.

It seems the solution to all of this evades everyone at the club, hitherto.

Hence, it might be fair to assume bad habits formed from far earlier in the year, or whatever the mental reasons are, still linger and have not been addressed. 

Whilst it is true the players are tasked with performing on game day as a team, the question is why aren't they? Why are they beating themselves?

Do we need a priest for Sybil? The Rites' or Hannibals' Anthony Hopkins? It's a pity we can't have The Exorcists' late Max Von Sydow.

The problem with habits is they usually don't take 21 days to make or break (like the plastic surgeon Dr Maxwell Maltz found in the 1950-60s for his amputees to adjust) - like google tells us as well as some self-help gurus. They usually take months. Some psychologists such Lally et al. (2009) believe it takes around 66 days.

Dr Jauncey is Australia's most successful performance psychologist. If anyone has the answer, it's him.

For him, the answer is contrary to conventional wisdom. For him, the right attitude and being hyper-motivated is essentially hogwash.

Jauncey espouses that in the cases where there is sufficient talent, where players know their roles are, and what to do in those roles, it is more a case of not understanding the mental side of how to perform to the best of their abilities.

Often, he finds it something they are doing or not doing in the processes both before, leading up to, and during the game. Something which subconsciously causes the brain's computer to switch off from winner "A" to loser "Z" mode. Effectively, self-sabotaging unknowingly on a conscious level. It is also quite contrary to what Arthur and the Eels believe to be the case.

Unfortunately, Dr Jauncey doesn't put his hand up for employment roles like our performance scientists. He only works with clubs and coaches that seek him out and want him. That's exactly what he told me. More on him in a future blog.

Bottom Line

This is yet another should-win game. In other words, don't bet on it.

At least we know an ambush is probably heading our way, assuming the Tigers' don't play possum and make themselves easy roadkill.

Who's to blame for this years’ rollercoaster - the players, the front office, or the mentors - is up for debate. Hence, more importantly, so is the solution.

Notably, at the beginning of the season, after nine years at the wheel, Arthur insisted he had the right players. That the team he built this year was genuinely title-ready, and he talked about different off-season processes to address past mistakes where the Eels dropped off in recent finals-bound seasons from 2019. 

There is much we could deduce or infer from that. And neuroscience shows the brain doesn’t start maturing typically until around 25-30 when we're on training-wheels - effectively toddlers from that age - learning proper decision making and using reason. So, the right mentorship is critical. Why hasn't he been able to get the team he built and was happy with to perform? 

Whichever way you slice and dice it, the reality is: top to bottom, collectively, the Eels have not been able to perform week-in-week-out regularly to the best of their abilities and potential especially when faced with intense pressure. It’s not been an isolated happening, or the first year.

And unless something changes from here on, and the Eels find the missing ingredient(s) and act upon it, it’s difficult to expect different results from the Eels in the big dances at finals’ time than what we have seen in recent years. 

All that aside, Go The Eels! Destroy those Tigers!