Starting from the very end of the 2014 season we have been inundated by a tsunami of gratuitous optimism that 2015 will see the Eels make the final eight, make the final four. even one said we will win the competition! Most of this optimism focused on the transformation that coach Brad Arthur will bring to fruition by his coaching and by the number of new players brought into the club.
We have had several people visit training sessions and reporting back positive, if exaggerated, accounts of what they saw. The players are happy this year. They enjoy training with each other!. Player X is going to stand out this year. etc,etc. The simple truth is that you can`t tell how well any team will perform by watching their training performances. You must see them in a real match against real opposition.
It is sobering to see that these optimist, after the Souths demolition, are calling for many players heads! This, after a nines tournament! It was not the optimist who were wrong in their assessments it was the players who let the optimists down.!!
The conclusion from this fallacy is to abandon cheap optimism and adopt a rational realism. The fact is that our front row forwards are too small in height, and in bulk, and in playing ability. We are facing monster packs this season and thus, in for some floggings, as per 2014.
Our coaching staff has brought in back line players at the end of their of their football lifetimes. i don`t think any front row forwards were brought In. If we have money go for those forwards before Foran or DCE.
I understand that our first trial match is against Western Suburbs. judging by West`s performance in the Nines Wests will demolish us
big time if they treat the trial seriously. A trial result does not matter. But it does matter if we are physically mauled. We will suffer injuries in that trial. Better to call it off than have Antony Watmough, etc lost for the season. Wests are too big and too fast for us.
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This isn't realism, this is pessimism. You've said "The simple truth is that you can`t tell how well any team will perform by watching their training performances. You must see them in a real match against real opposition." Yet you've then gone and written us off. Saying we're too small, or not skillful enough. Bullsh!t. That's just a cop out.
A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure you are.
Did you read what I wrote? If you are talking about bullshit what about your last sentence? There is not a scrap of evidence for that except, perhaps, for astrologers.
What is offensive is to have my reports classified as exaggerated.
Very true 60s, Robbie Lloyd, youve got this one wrong mate, i thought 60s gave a very balanced report, that was not only balanced, but respectful to the team.
All this negativity is sad as we did better than many others, and we left a heap of quality behind.
What induced my blog was the negativity on this site after the Souths demolition. Most of those being negative were optimists 24 hours ago.
You are quiet right to wait and see how we go in the trials and in the first two or three competition games I shall be doing that--far, far better than watching a training session. I take issue with you a little about big teams. I think we will be facing bigger teams in the competition than we did in the nines.
Now I know the 9s is probably not a guide as to how we go in the competition proper. In saying that some aspects of the game, defence and attack, carry over to the NRL. What the 9s showed me and probably everyone else was that Parra are going to struggle in the defensive department much the same as last year. Our defence close to our line was in the most cases deplorable. I can't see how an extra 4 players will make a huge difference but maybe it will. All the work that BA put into defence appears to have come to naught and now only has 1 month to work hard on this aspect of the game.
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