Eels Blogs

Player in focus will be Waqa Blake (Missed 6 tackles)

As you can see, it was just a normal hit up for the warriors. Blake tries to be aggressive, however as the bottom left photo shows, he is coming from a bad angle and doesn’t have his body in front of the player. As a result, he just slides of the tackle. Nothing very concerning in my opinion because he was just being aggressive but should still do better.

Just a lazy miss tackle. Went in at great speed on the kick chase, but Walsh who has great footwork stepped passed him. However, Blake did take Walsh’s legs out before falling of the tackle. So again, nothing concerning.

Of the scrum warriors line out with 4 players on the left vs 3 eels players. Arthur marks Nikorima which means Blake has to hold on the decoy (Pompey). This is not Blake’s fault for “jamming in” because he has to hold on the deocy. Blake actually does a great job because he doesn’t commit to the decoy but only holds there so he quickly continues sliding. However, Fergo already reads the play and jams in on RTS, giving him no time to pass. So good work overall by the players. Even if Fergo, held his position, Blake would have been able to slide to take RTS, and Fergo could mark his wing (Mamalolu)

This was poor defence. The inside players needed to slide fast as well as Matterson. Matto ends up tackling Harris Tevita, however, because there was a big hole, Blake didn’t trust Matto so he joins in as well. This is most likely because Matto is defending 3 in instead of 4 in so he could have been beaten for pace. You could argue that without Blake, Harris Tevita may off broke the tackle. Fergo goes to tackle the backrower of the warrior’s player, but the pass goes past him. If Harris Tevita could have executed his offload better, his centre and winger would have been away down the touch line. Overall, this what happens when eels defend of a line break and quick play the ball. Our middle slide very slowly which means that there is too much pressure on our edge defense. Those who don’t understand rugby league, always put the “obvious” blame on the edge (in this scenario Blake) but there is way more to it. In a more perfect scenario, even if there was an overlap if Matto slid quicker and looked more convincing Blake would of slided and it would have been a 3 v 2. With Blake’s pace, if he puts pressure inside out eels could have defended it with the sideline close by.

 As you can see, when Walsh passes the ball, it is a 3 v 2. Arthur instead of sliding, decides to pressure Walsh. Regardless, eels could have defended it. Blake does a great job on holding on the decoy (Pompey) before sliding out. However, it Fergo who is not watching his wing and it way to compressed. As a result, Mamalolu runs down the touch line. So, yea. Not Blake’s fault. Arthur and Fergo should have done better.

Same play as earlier. Warriors shift to eels right of the scrum. All eels defenders do the same thing, however, Walsh has more depth than RTS meaning Fergo can’t get to him quick enough to cut down the play. So Walsh passes to Mamaolu, where Blake comes in cover defence to tackle him. The number one rule when coming out of the line is stop the ball which Fergo didn’t do. So in this scenario Fergo should just mark his wing and let Blake and the inside defenders slide across to tackle Walsh.

As you can see, Walsh digs deep into the line and attracts Arthur’s attention. Arthur commits to much instead of allowing Matto to slide and tackle him. However, Blake reads this perflectly and tackles number 18 who was the recipient of a beautiful short pass by Walsh. Because Blake has to mark his outside as well, he is only able to tackle number 18 around the legs. Not his fault. So as you can see Blake, was defending the mistakes of the players around him throughout the game. Having D Brown back will help him a lot.

 Gutho got lazy with a clear air swing on Walsh who steps inside of him. Arthur relaxed for a brief second which left a gap between him and Gutho. Walsh scored in that gap.

 Blake was sliding from a long spiral pass. Pompey easily step inside of Blake who just throws his arms and misses the tackle. In this scenario Blake needs to position himself better. He needs to run at an angle which only allows Pompey to beat him down the touch line and not on the inside. These tackles are also easier to make and allow for teams to use the sideline as a defender.

 This was very lazy and shift defense from Blake and then Fergo to a lesser extent. There was no need for Blake to rush in on Walsh. Then Fergo also rushes in but with no effort. Fergo committed but then stopped for Pompey to catch it properly (Pompey was juggling the ball). If Blake commits, Fergo needs to commit and jam in quickly. At least Fergo decided to follow his center decision. Next time Blake should just be sliding as eels had the numbers sliding across to defend it easily. Fergo would have then sided as well, and the situation would have been defused.

This was abit weird Blake was sliding and Fergo jammed in. Pompey stepped inside of Fergo but also ran away from Mamaulo who was in open space on the wing. Fergo should of just waiting for Blake to slide. Better players would off taken advantage of Fergo jamming in. off.

 Walsh just had a line break and Blake was coming from across the field in cover defence. Gutho ended up making the tackle so Blake wasn’t required. However, this meant it took Blake a few seconds to get back into position. Eels slide well to cover the overlap. But like before, Blake comes at a crap angle which makes it very hard for him to make the tackle. His angle requires him to only using his arms. He should be coming an a better angle so he can use his shoulder and fall on the opponents. A bit of hot potato happens, but eels scramble well to defuse it.  

 This was great defense. All the eels players reacted together as a group. They all held their position on decoys and slid well despite warriors having the number advantage on that side. Blake was pushed away when in cover defense as well.

 Warriors played expansive footy on the last tackle. Going from left to right and back to the left. Blake held a line where he could cover Arthur’s right edge and also the wing. After the long spiral ball, Blake sprints back in cover defence. Fergo does the right thing and comes up from behind. Fergo marks his wing and ensures he gives Blake enough time to take out the center. As a result, it was a 2 v2 with N Brown coming in cover defense and Gutho at the back. The commentators were stupid saying it was a 2 v 1 and etc. Eels defended it well. It was not a catch and pass.

 I think this is up there for their best defense. It is 4 eels players vs 6 warriors’ players. The pass from dummy half already makes it a 2 v 4. Fergo and Blake show great line speed which forces Harris Tevita to throw a cut out ball to the wing. How Fergo and Blake react immediately and sprint over (sliding). Fergo misses his tackle, but Blakes make a tackle, however, Mamaulo offloads it. By then, eels inside mean have scrambled well in order to defuse the situation. Hopefully, Blake and Fergo make a ball and all tackle in a scenario like that next time so there is no offload. However, generally speaking they did very well not to concede a try.

 Off an offload, Warrior shift it wide. Again, Arthur commits a bit too much on the ball carrier (not as bad as other times) before he passes short. However, Blake reads it well and a good ball and all tackle.

Great defense again. Warriors spread it wide on the last tackle. Eels mark man to man. Fergo comes up from behind and pressures the winger. The pass from center to wing was forward, but regardless, Fego’s pressure made Mamalou kick the ball out on a full.

 As you can see, Paulo is defending in the halves position, and Stone in the centers position. Warriors never executed the player well, but Paulo, Arthur and Stone slide well. Fergo comes in but the player inside (Nikorima) gives a shit pass to the winger. The winger was also way to infield. Otherwise, eels cover defense would of have needed to make the tackle. Fergo did well though to hit and move off from Nikorima, in order to tackle Mamalolu.

This is an example, of when I saw it is not always the edge defences fault. When our middle gets tired or when there is quick play the ball, they really struggle to slide. Harris Tevita ends up running the ball, but there was an overlap. Blake reads it well by charging out of the line at Nikorima in case Harris Tevita played out the back.  

 Overall Summary:

• I do agree that our right edge defense was worse than our last few rounds, but solely blaming this on Waqa Blake is incorrect.
• Firstly, Blake Fergo and Arthur have never defended together. Nothing against Jakob Arthur but right now, he is very young and still needs to grow into his body. As a result, he gets dominated when he tackles. He goes low, meaning Blake always has to come over the top to prevent an offload or players from breaking the tackle. Thus, when D Brown returns from suspension, Blake can have more confidence that D Brown can make ball and all tackles on his opposition.
• Yes, Blake did have some defensive errors, but they are an easy fix. If I was BA, show Blake how he defended in the first half. Perhaps because of fatigue (first game in 9 weeks) but in the second half Blake started going back to old habits of jamming in. Blake seems to panic when there is an overlap, so if he looks at the first half and how he defended very well, he should gain confidence. He slid very well and cleaned up any missed tackles by Fergo or Arthur. So hopefully, with more match fitness, and D Brown alongside him, Blake defends very well. f
• There were still some moments in the match where Fergo and Blake’s communication was a bit off as they were doing the opposite things from each other. Hopefully, they fix that up soon.
• Also, as I have mentioned before, not ever thing is the edges’ fault. Sometimes, the inside players need to scramble well because they struggle to defend quick play the balls as no one slides which leads to an overlap.
• So overall, the edge defense is still a work in progress and will get a good test again next week against, IMO the best fullback, Tommy Turbo.