Eels Blogs

"Crushed like a souffle under a sledgehammer," seems more appropriate in describing the Eels' of late than it did Elon Musk's concerns over Tesla's stock a few years ago. 

And yet again our beloved Eels are flopping, torn apart by the Roosters 28-0 and losing two in a row, just when we need to be gaining momentum. The Eels' season has again turned pear-shaped, and the knives are out for Arthur and the team. A seemingly never-ending vicious cycle of promise followed by dissappointment.

Tonight it doesn't any easier this week against a red-hot Souths team who have scored 110 points in the last two weeks - the most in their 110 year plus history over two games. Since round 3 they've won 15 of 17 matches only dropping two to heavyweights Panthers and Storm which revealed a soft underbelly against the best.

It's the first time in almost forty years, since 1982 and 1986, that both games played in a season have occured whilst both teams are in the top-four. That's the theory, anyway.

The form guide suggests the Eels' will be road kill. Can they win and prove something to themselves?

Teams 

Friday 8.05pm, 6th August, 2021, CBUS Stadium

Arthur has had a poor run against Bennett, despite all his hard work and effort.

Also, not helping the cause is the loss of Reagan Campbell-Gillard until finals. A body blow, though Moses' return should help.

Moses spoke to the Daily Telegraph journalists and remarked he's ready and "pumped to get back". He claims he doesn't get effected by the constant criticism leveled at him, nor recent past history against the Rabbits. new week. He won't dwell on the past, remarking if he did it "will effect your footy". More on the mental side, later.

Moses admits the Eels' goal from the beginning of the year was to be in the top four. But in truth that goal is looking on shaky ground and less likely than not. Perhaps it may be a blessing in disguise not to face the Storm in week 1, anyway?

Souths have a plethora of dangermen in their spine and backline: Walker, Cook, Mitchell, Reynolds, Gagai, Murray. If their forwards win enough of the battle up front it's likely to be lights out for the Eels.

Adam Reynolds needs 8 points to surpass the great Eric Simms's record of most points for Souths (1834 to 1841) held since 1975. That would also move Reynolds to tenth in the list of all time top-point scorers.

Souths on a roll: only twice in over 50 years

Souths are on a roll, winning 8 straight after last week's win over the Saints. It's only the second time Souths have only done that in over 50 years other time since 1968.

Things couldn't be any different for us.

Eels' on their worse stretch against the Souths in 8 yearsWe're in our worst run against Souths since 2010-2014 when we lost 7 in a row against the Rabbits.

Surely, Souths won't score exactly 38 points for the fourth consecutive time? At least Sutton isn't refereeing this one. 

Eels facing worst run in over 2 years

It's been more over two years ago since we last had more than two consecutive losses.

If we lose this would be our worst run since 2019 round 9-11 when we lost to Melbourne (10-64), Cowboys (10-17), and Penrith (10-16). And if we lost the following week we would land in the in 2018 - the last time we lost more than 3 consecutive games.

It's often mentioned we have had improvement, but as was the case last year, we're limping off into the sunset of also-rans.

Eels 2-6: on track to repeat the same absymal results?

Against the top-six this year, the Eels are currently 2 from 6 (wins in Storm R2 16-12, Roosters R9 31-18; and losses to Manly R11 6-28, Souths R12 20-38, Panthers R16 12-13, Roosters R20 0-28). They've lost the last four games against contenders, and haven't beaten one since round 9. 

Eels average score against the top-6 is 14.2 - 20.7 (-6.5)
Eels average score against the rest is 30.7 - 13.2 (+17.5)

That record against the best is not much better than our abominal finals record of 1 from 6 under Arthur. Are we on the same course? 

Marginally better against the top-six, Souths are 3 from 6 (wins against a weakened Manly R2 26-12, Roosters R3 26-16, Eels R12 38-20; and losses to the big guns Storm R1 18-26, Storm R9 0-50, Panthers R11 12-56). 

Souths average score against the top-6 is 20-30 (-10) worse than the Eels
Souths average score against the rest is 38-15.5 (22.5) better than the Eels

The losses to Storm and Panthers and stats suggest Souths may not be the real deal either. They have a lot to prove, yet. And what better way than this week against a mentally-demoralised Eels' outfit.

Mental As Anything

Earlier this week, Gus Gould noted he's "looking forward to this game more than any other game this year". 

Gus added, "It's a massive challenge for the Eels to restore their confidence and put aside the "doubt". He tipped the Rabbits, albeit not confidently, noting:

I'm expecting something pretty emotional from Parramatta this week".

Great coaches and mentors like Lombardi, Pep, Sir Alex Ferguson, Gibson and Massay, Bellamy and Ponissi, Robinson and Politis, and even Gus Gould - focus on the mental side of the game and the "power of the team", where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, as much as anything else if not more. It's something that the Eels are not addressing properly. 

Apparantly, we have invested in better psychological sports programs during the last off-season. Perhaps, an improvement on the meditation and mental apps they were using the year before? But something is still amiss.

Gus pointed out last week, before the Roosters clash, the Eels have a "ceiling" or mental block they can't seem to break. And until they do they won't be in the hunt.

Trent Robinson also pointed in the pressor after last week's convincing win by the Roosters over the hapless Eels. They won on the back of their "intensity".

Year after year, it's become almost an axiom. The Eels struggle against the hustle and bustle, and teams standing up to them. Flat-track bullies. Despite all the "front loaded effort" and not "playing dumb" Arthur calls for the Eels still are mentally soft and don't play as an integrated team. 

After consuming some Carlos-Casteneda-like hallucinatory medicine on Professor Daz's recommendations, I stumbled on an appropriate scholarly paper; entitled "When Suddenly Nothing Works Anymore Within a Team – Causes of Collective Sport Team Collapse."

Below is a key diagram summarising its key premises, as well as images from last week that covers many of the necessary ingredients for a team meltdown - for choking - as pointed out in the paper.

The paper had nothing to do with the Eels, and yet it describes them to a tee. We cover all bases.

Blaming Others. Poor Communication. Errors that snowball. Anger. Tick.Tick. Tick.

Lack of focus. Tick. Mahoney turns his back allowing Manu to score. Sleeping at the wheel. Tick. 

Exhaustion mentally and physical. Tick.

Despair. Tick. Anxiety. Tick.

Cautious and predictable, yet hectic. Tick. Tick. Tick. The points just stop. 28-0. Tick.

My Life as a Potato. "Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?" Eels' fans: "You better run, you better take cover." Cause the Eels are "Traveling in a fried-out combie, On a hippie trail, head full of zombie". I blame Daz and his zombie fetish, really. 

Shaun Lane talks about a commitment to action, not just a verbal say so on the little things - the "Short cuts" that "snowball". For mine, he looks anxious. What do you think?

Nathan Brown looks a bit anxious too but ready for business as he talks about his issues taking a hair-cut.

An interesting point coming out of Daz's paper is that an over-emphasis on front-loaded or back-loaded "effort" may actually be counter productive. The paper notes athlete's realisation that the effort of “trying to get out of the collapse” seemed “to make the collapse even worse.”

All this emphasises the challenge ahead of us against a Rabbits' team with all the momentum.

Bottom Line

The Eels truly are at the crossroads and in free-fall with my worst fears realised. Unfortunately, this seems to happen every year.

Despite a hugely promising first half of 2021, and still clinging to fourth place by our finger nails, the Eels' season is on life support. We have been very poor in recent weeks. Our old cultural habits - and our soft underbelly - has reared its ugly head again. Exposed by the better "teams" playing with intensity.

The task for the Eels this week is massive and even greater in the weeks ahead. Greater than the challenge David faced with Goliath, because he was probably in better mental form. 

Souths have attacking strike all over the park and have the most lethal left-edge in the competition, up against our right edge that is liable to crumbling when under pressure. But, in reality as the Roosters' showed last week we can be busted anywhere, and Souths play a superior "eyes-up" footy than the Eels.

Souths would be super confident, and need to make a statement - as did the Roosters last week and the Raiders before. Playing like men possessed. An opportunity to take another top-six scalp, and answer some question marks over their genuine credentials. Honoring Reyolds as well.

The game won't be won on the forward clash alone. The Eels' mentality and attitude in defence, and somehow unleashing their attack is the only hope the Eels have. Front-loaded effort, barge and bash, one out power plays, run-behinds, flat-footed predictable sideways ball movement, kicks and percentage plays alone won't cut it against better teams. They can see it coming from a mile. The Eels need to break through their mental "ceiling" as Gus noted two weeks ago. Will they?

This game just may end up being the nail in the coffin of doubts for us or them.