Positive Comments:
No injuries.
All other comments:
- After the first minute of the game I immediately knew that no matter how good we try to play that we would not win the game. The corruption was pretty clear. But wow we played awful.
- The sin bin was obviously a horrible decison by the ref
- The captain challenge was another horrible decison by the ref
- The number of 6 agains on 4th and 5th tackle just because Grant asked the ref for it was BS.
- Iongi getting a high tackle and than a crusher but not getting a penalty for it. Than being sent for the HIA was BS too.
- We lost control of the ruck because we would get pinged for a 6 again the moment we held on for a second. What were the eels meant to do. Two different games were beign reffed. Storm are the one team you CANNOT give loads of possession and a quick ruck too. We have zero match fitness since round 1, so that spine, our errors and refs but it impossible to defend under fatigue. We played 60min with 12 men too.
- Now enough complaining about the ref.
- Kelly and Penisni still cant defend 1 on 1 tackles consistently.
- Pezet is overrated. He is not a 6 and looked good at Storm in theri system. He is slow and a poor defender.
- Da Silva is a reserve grader. 1 year into a 4 year contract and I may have already given up on him. His service is putrid. He cannot control a ruck even though he didnt miss a tackle. His decison making is poor.
- Smith had the worst game of his career. Errors, missed tackle, etc. Really hope this was a one off
- Our bench rotation was completely fucked up because of the Iongi HIA. Our bench was a fullback (Papalii), hooker (TDS) and 2 small forward in Doorey and Walker. They had no chance in competing with Storms elite spine and big forward pack once they got a roll on (plus refs help).
No one is saying we played a great game or were not poor with our handing. We hurt oursleves for sure. But apply all the context. Refs fucking over from the start. The bench we had to use cause of the HIA BS. The countless 6 agains. Try to control the ruck and get pinged. Versing the best spine in the comp with all of that is impossible even if we completed well the refs wouldnt let us win I am certain of it.
Replies
We were always going to lose that game after the Lomax BS. No one prepares a team for Round 1 like Bellamy, physically and mentally. We did seem a bit underdone and the repeated 6 agains just drained the tanks.
It's a bad result and some players hopefully just had their one bad game of the season. I didn't expect this result, but also didn't really expect to win. We have a spine that still has training wheels on, new combinations, up against the Storm at home in Round 1. Onwards to next week, we can only improve from here.
I'll also add that Ryles is still a rookie coach. We all learn by making mistakes. He is human. It's repeating them that usually gets my back up (like BA used to do all the time).
It's only based on one game but if Pezet continues to play like that, surely "the future is now" Jason Ryles will punt him? Defensively Pezet was dreadful and in attack he passed too early before he line, barely any straightening of the attack, permitting defenders to slide right. His combo with Kautoga & Kelly was shocking.
Both hookers were poor. Smith got bumped off and permitted line breaks multiple times and was consistently not square at marker. Both Smith and TDS gave poor service from dummy half.
Penisini simply misses one-on-one tackles he needs to make. Consistently. And he has feet for hands. Simmonson lost his temper a few times.
The forwards collectively pushed passes and lost the initial contact battle. Every single one of them, though Walker was the pick of the bunch. Williams continued to have too many moments where he lets a forward run by him.
I was at the ground and even Storm fans laughed at some absurd ref decisions, but the Eels have successfully AGAIN torched any possible confidence by being the worse team of round one.
Daz that's classic: "I was at the ground and even Storm fans laughed at some absurd ref decisions."
We kicked for 66m in the first half. When Manly upset the Storm 18-16 last year they kicked for over 850m.
17 - 3 sets completed between the 46th to 72nd minute. The score went from 18-4 to 46-4 by the 66th. Then, Simmo was sin-binned.
6 points were conceded with 12 men in the last 14 minutes.
You poor bastard travelling down to Melbourne to watch that horse shit.
I'd have thought some part of the eels leadership group should have at least apologised for dishing up that.Straight up embarrassing.The officiating wasn't great and I'm not sure that the real reason we lost is being deflected.Errors and completions footy 101 we were poor and ultimately that's what all these 6 against came off.
The nrl operates in this manner if there not looking for a fair contest when one teams getting flogged if it were close yes maybe but man 52-4 nah we did this to ourselves Melbourne didn't need the refs help.
I stopped watching after 18-4. I saw the defence was horrendous. We haven't learnt much from the last season. Yes, it is just the first game. In the blink of an eye, we will be in August. A slow start is an inherent issue, and it looks like we haven't fixed it.
Based on last year's performance (at the end of last year), we should have taken care of it.
Yes, it is the first week, but we have been saying this for ages. We do not have a Hayne-like player who can take the club single-handedly.
Sorry to jump the gun. It does not look like a top 8 team, forget the top 4. I am not taking out my knife, yet it doesn't make any difference.
Is our club not good enough to be in the top 8?
NRL will always side with the Storm - this is proven, so let's not cry about it.
I do not even know whether this club wants to be in the top 4. It is, to say the least, disappointing.
I thought we deserve better.
I turned it off after the 'Captains Challenge' debacle. It was pretty clear what was happening. We can only imagine what was going through the players minds at that time. 6 again Storm. And another 6 again to the Storm. Fuck off.
Yes, you will note that Moses rarely gets a captain's challenge wrong, he just asumed that he would win it as a fait acompli, he could not believe it when the Bunker came through with what seemed an almost pre rehearsed denial!
Definitely without doubt the refereeing was woeful and I absolutely agree with what you've said in regards to the refereeing decisions. That's one of the worst Eels games I've seen in awhile. Considering how well they played the end of last year and in the trial games this year the team last night looked like a different team. Agree about Pezet and TDS. Riley Smith was way off. They just seemed out of sync. Very very disappointing and next week the Broncos in Brisbane. Might be a very long year but I'm hoping they can turn this all around
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