Eels Blogs

Team Review: (6.5/10)

1. Clinton Gutherson (8)
   1. Nice try and plenty of running meters. Got crunched many times in attack by Lomax or Lavalava as we use the same predictable shape over and over and over and over … and over.
   2. Dropped a ball leading to the Dragons first try. Could argue he was put over the horizontal which we have seen previously called in other games. Either way, he should of held onto the ball.
2. Maika Sivo (6)
   1. Not much done in attack. Lomax absolutely monstered him a few times. My God Lomax has become a good NSW worthy center. One of his more involved games running the hard yards, but no real damaging runs.
   2. Against caught out on his wing. Moses, Opacic and Sivo all jammed in leaving Ravalawa open on the wing. There was no need to jam in. Sliding would of easily done the job as Dragons had not much room to work with on the sideline.
3. Tom Opacic (7)
   1. He runs some good lines, but I really doubt his ability to link up with Sivo in attack. He is not Jennings in attack. Two times this year he has not been able to quickly tap it over to Sivo.
   2. Should of slided with Sivo for Ravalawa try. Otherwise good defense
4. Marata Niukore (6)
   1. Not involved like his previous games. Only hit 71 meters. Not given any early ball today.
   2. Bad read for Jack Bird’s try.
5. Blake Ferguson (6.5)
   1. Ohhh Fergo. Rocks and diamonds. Ran for plenty of meters tonight but is way to overconfident. He must have been reading TCH pre-season reviews and thought he was unstoppable. Numerous times he unnecessarily took the risk down the sidelines instead of come infield. Much to the modern game, he was taken out of field a few times. I think he definitely won’t be resigned next year.
   2. One good read in defense. Couldn’t do much about Bird’s try as he had to mark Ramsey on his outside.
6. Dylan Brown (8)
   1. Best game this year. Everyone who was bagging him need to shut up. He could see the Dragons players jamming in so never passed it out the ball for the players to get smashed. He would run the ball himself and look dangerous most times he did. Should have got a try assist but Bunker was very dumb this game. He needs better shape around him to be more effective. He squares players the best out of everyone in our team, but our predictable crap shape lets him down.
   2. Very good defensively. However, facing a 1 match man (early guilty plea) for a crusher tackle.
7. Mitchell Moses (7)
   1. Ohh Moses back your instinct. Last week he kicked early for Niukore but this week he was running sideline to sideline doing nothing. He needed to control the team more. Not pressure them to score. I never saw eels once go for a repeat set but only glory plays. Learning curve for him. Should of called the team to play through the middle which is our strength.
   2. Defended well. Could of maybe helped Cartwright tackle Clune for the last Dragons try.
8. Regan Campbell – Gillard (7.5)
   1. Did alright. Not many meters from him. Defended fine.
9. Reed Mahoney (7)
   1. Very quiet game. No kicking from him today. Didn’t use the crash play today and wasn’t very good today at attracting the markers.
   2. Defended well. For the penalty try, he rushed Clune without marking his inside.
10. Junior Paulo (5)
    1. Worst game I have seen from him in a while. Only 1 offload and well less than 100 running meters. He is a big part of our unique attack through the middle and needed to get involved.
    2. All right defensively.
11. Shaun Lane (7.5)
    1. Had a good game but he lacked a couple of final touches. I personally want to move him into the middle. His is 1.96m but he really lacks the abilities to break tackles and leave player on the floor behind him. He had a couple of chances to draw and pass but couldn’t nail the chance. Much rather see Matterson and Papali’I as our edge players.
    2. Made a lot of tackles and defended pretty well
12. Isaiah Papali’i (8.5)
    1. New cult hero of eels. Great leg drive. Nice run for the try.
    2. Great defensively as well
13. Nathan Brown (8)
    1. He is really good at disguising his short players to his fellow middle or edge forwards and also good at playing direct and then passing outside. Really hope he stays.
    2. Gave away the penalty try. If he used his shoulder he probably could of ensured Dufty ran into the post.
14. Oregon Kaufusi (6.5)
    1. Less minutes than normal. Did his job in his limited time.
15. Bryce Cartwright (7)
    1. Looked dangerous a few times. Gave away a penalty to passing of the floor. Got taken into touch once (last tackle though and not much he could do) and kicked on the third tackle. I liked the option of kicking on the third tackle, because dragons were jamming in. He just needed to execute it better. Really saw some good signs. Really hope he continues to improve.
    2. Defended much better than he did in the titans. Should of tackles Clune for the last try. Could of maybe had Moses help to tackle.
16. Ray Stone (2)
    1. Not much time to do anything
17. Will Smith (2)
    1. Not much time to do anything

 Coach: Brad Arthur

His use of the interchange has been getting better but is still flawed. We play with 15 men for 70 minutes. I know our forwards are fit and have big motors, but I think Will Smith playing more minutes would really help out struggling attack. He has pretty good instinct. Even if he only sets up 1 try, he has done his job.

Attack:

Use our fowards

Last week I mentioned how our forwards were our point of difference in attack. However, we continuously tried going around dragons instead of threw the middle. Especially Moses who doesn’t straighten up the attack, we will never create an overlap, so Gutho kept getting smashed. Mahoney was very quite and barely used our forwards for offloads or crash plays near the line to question the dragons middle defense. Nathan Brown, Paulo and Papali’i really have silky passes so we need to use them more.

One Out

Coming out of our own end we should try be doing what dragons do. If BA wants to play one out we need to be playing very direct. With the dummy half attracting the markers before giving it off to our players who run straight behind the markers.

Shape - Decoys

As I have harped on many times, our attacking shape is so predictable that poor Gutho was getting smashed.  And for crying out loud can we start using DECOYS out wide so the defenders have to make defensive decisions. Even when they do make the right call, decoys require defenders to hold their position for a second before drifting wider. This will allow for our players out wide to be on the outside shoulder of their opponent and give them a better chance of winning their 1 on 1 duel. There is more to it, but just FUCKING USE DECOYS BA.

Moses

Moses was very poor in attack today. Our attack had no patience. We tried going for the glory play most time. I never saw us once properly try to cause a line drop out to continuously build pressure. Fergo was over confident and cause us to lose the ball a lot in attacking position and other players made a couple of make decisions as well. We could of still won the game for 18 down. We just had no patience and no went away from our good attacking plays which is using our forwards. All we did was go sideline to slide with no decoys, not much direct play and no real threat.

Defense:

1^st try

Poor defensive decision from Niukore. Was stuck in no man’s land. Was standing still rather than keeping himself moving.

2^nd try

Mahoney rushed up on the kicker without any protection on his inside allowing Dufty to use his pace. Brown could of done better in using his shoulder rather than grabbing Dufty.

3^rd try

Moses, Opacic and Sivo jammed in. Sivo went in on a player 2 cm from Opacic (nice use of decoy running) and Ravalawa was left unmarked. We could of easily sided as dragons players never had much room.

4^th try

Cartwright missed a tackle as he was beaten on his outside. Moses could have probably helped him defend that. Forward pass to Dufty for the try.

Referee Decisions

Before I rant about the dumb fuck referee system, I first admit that Dragons played a better game than us, but the decision by the refs did not help us at all.

Penalty Try

I understand why people see this as a penalty try and why others see this as just a sin bin. So I won’t say the bunker made a wrong decision, but rather how this was one of the many 50/50 calls that went to the dragons, courtesy of the bunker.

Gutho’s Try

D Brown did a great job. Paulo obstructed a Fuimaino nowhere near the ball. He had no change of stopping Brown and Gutho so a try could of easily been awarded. Another call going against eels courtesy of the bunker.

Captain Challenge - Cartwright

The referee called that Cartwright knocked the ball on. When challenged it was seen that he knocked it back, however Cartwright passed after being tackle. I don’t mind that the bunker corrected that decision, but why couldn’t they then easily rule on how Clune’s pass to Dufty was easily forward given that Dufty was already in front of Clune when the ball was passed. Again another call by the Bunker to fuck us up.

Captain Challenge - Mahoney

Mahoney had the ball stripped out by Dufty. Everyone could see the hand wrapped around the ball and causing the ball to be lost. However, the bunker only mentioned McCollough hand rather than the obvious Dufty hand raking the ball out. As you can see you get the trend. Bunker fucking us up.

Clune knock on into Moses

Again the bunker could of easily over ruled this decision. I know it is not their job and can’t over turn it, but if they over rule Cartwright tackle when that wasn’t questioned, than why not question this when they had plenty of time to over rule it. Dragons scored from this play. I know eels could of challenged but a shit call from the on field ref.

 6-again galore

Even though we had a favored 6 again call, dragons were doing it on purpose and could of arguably had 2 players in the bin. They should have been down to 11 as they were purposely slowing down the play the ball. So annoying

 Again, I reiterate that I believe Dragons played better but the referee was shocking.

My Team list next week

1. Gutho
2. Sivo
3. Opacic
4. Niukore
5. Fergo
6. Smith (replace suspended D Brown)
7. Moses
8. RCG
9. Mahoney
10. Paulo
11. Papali’i
12. Matterson (if fit)
13. N Brown
14. Kafusi
15. Lane (better in the middle)
16. Smith
17. Rankin (Come in for Smith)
18. Stone
19. Hipgrave
20. Roache (if NRL fit) or Lussick
21. Dunster