Eels Blogs

The tag of mentality doing us in. A constant comment that was stowed upon us since 2018. "Can this team develop the mentality to win big games". 2018 came out of a campaign finishing top 4 and strong semis performance against Melbourne leading to a disappointing wooden spoon season, after believing in our own hype. Wash away the bad eggs from the roster build the team with a moneyball feel of getting players who have promise but need a scenary change, what do you get? a team that finished 5th and not out of place of top 4, dominate the Broncos at home to falter at the hurdle of Melbourne at AAMI Park. Come 2020, start strong 8-1 our only loss against a good Roosters team in a performance from us that was pretty good. What happens? believe our hype, have a lithargic middle and end to the year, finish 3rd, hold Melbourne for 60 before getting it taken away than falter at home to Souths.

Storyline heading into 2021, can Parramatta develop the hard nosed mentality to trouble teams? RD 2 v Melbourne, we dug in and showed the maturity and patience to be able to get a win and a convincing one at that, go 9-1 and look to be on the right track with some glimpses of losing focus mid game but not enough to derail us from a game. Though Rd 5 we saw that patience wear thin and pre-2021 Parramatta started to creep in, Arhtur was furious over that reason, Moses began going back to sideways movement in attack, the middle lacked urgency which allowed the opposition to dominate the middle and made us believe we needed to abandon the middle and create fancy plays in order to get back into the contest. Sound familiar? perhaps it is because what was witness here against Manly. Frustration, patience and composure was abandoned in order to get back into the game. Moses has twice had games where he started shifting side to side, which two games? RD 5 & 11. Only once have we gone into half time down and in a bad way, rd 1 against Brisbane who are a shell of the 90's & 2000's clubs they once displayed. This team seem to only perform when one of two things are happening; 1. The calls are going their way and winning the ruck around the middle. Or 2. we are controlling the game or have a lead where we can afford to doze off and not feel a full effect of points being scored from the opposition. The only times where we have picked up the win when we have not been in control of our surroundings were against Brisbane and Sydney City, where we had to grind through or grind our way back to the lead.

When i was leaving i bumped into somebody who i knew from the past, anyway they are a Manly supporter and they said simply "Parramatta seem cocky and could be the loss they needed" i thought yeah that is true, however we said that when we lost to St. George and last year too. We seem to go into a pattern, have a few good wins in a row, get ahead of ourselves and believe we are on an elite level, have a loss that damages our belief mid way through, get brought down to reality and repeat, until semi where we have a good first week, we are in the game for first 50-60 mins then loss it and it has taken so much out of us that we are flat in week two.

This team, though showing improvements in the area, are still mentally immature. Just think would Melbourne or Penrith allow old traits to reappear week in week out? hell, would those clubs lose more games at home than away and not only that but lose 28-6 at home. i very highly doubt it. It drains me and annoys me to the point where it is a realisation that we are possibly heading towards what we are known to be. A top 4 team that are no concern to title contenders. Now i am not blaming Arthur, nor claiming for him to be sacked unlike last year, though it's been 8 years and still having reoccurances of what has been an issue that has been noted by media and BA himself pushes me to a point of annoyance. That feeling of seeing teams like Penrith and Melbourne, despite having injuries or suspensions of players out of either team, are picked to beat anybody they come up againts. Parramatta it does not matter who they are playing have that confidence now of a win with slight feeling of a loss. Elite teams do not allow their fanbase and the media a chance to think otherwise as they are believed to be superior, Parramatta still have doubt and it is the feeling that annoys me as they are better, they have done it again.

28-6 i cannot swallow very well. 22-12 yeah can do that, 22-16 even better, even 28-12 is better than that score. It just scares me that a performance like this will be overshadowed by winning another 3-4 games in a row than crash back down with another opposition dominated team. Get to semis and bow out again the same as the last three appearances which will do my head in and make me consider what i did in the afterlife to deserve this sense of disappointment.

We do not seem to have a capable plan B for us to incorporate incase of the middle of ruck getting out of our grasps, though there is nothing. i do not blame the players, it is Arthur for this unfortunately where he was below our best. He can coach and do believe he deserves his 2022 deal. However, if we move towards straight set exit again than a push for a new club could happen.

Nathan Brown getting aggrivated by Keppie, Mahoney taking it out on Sipley. Instances brought on by Manly but we gave into it and it shows immaturity and a team that cannot handle things not going there way. in a game like yesterday it should have been just pick up a try and go from there, if we lose than fair but lets make it reasonable and get some form going into next week. Though the immaturity snuck in and to be honest i felt embarrased watching that from a team that arent really young anymore and have played together for a while, Arthur in his presser seemed hard about their performance and you can see they're slowly starting to add focus, but it is in patches and not week in week out. Warriors, Bulldogs, Sharks, Tigers all wins where we dozed off throughout and finally put them away at the end, that is mentality.

Is Arthur happy we are not peaking too early? Allowing this mentality to slide some weeks to get full focus heading into september? Well let's hope so. Is Arthur going to make a decision which will show his savaginess as a coach in dropping Waqa (if not suspended)? If he is real and wants to set an example he will pick best centre available and that is Niukore. People defending Waqa realise each of Manly's tries came from the right edge, except Lawton's which field position was gained from a break on the right edge. It is quite a possibility we are holding back on our potential until we hit that awful fortnight before the finals and start to take off, or even peak mid year, ease into semis and then go again. Though do we have the staff and the players to control when and how we peak or are we a team that relies on other teams allowing us to play how we want.

Yesterday we had glimpses of dominance, those breaks we made, the runs through the middle, Mahoney opening up with his running, there were aspects that showed we are quality. That last Manly try was simply the effect of having 12 men. To which adds further frustration to us having 3 sets on their line when they had 12 men.

Still 13 games to go, we are in the 8 and will more likely accumilate top 4. If we do not get top 4, Arthur will have questions to answer but i do not believe it will happen, we do deserve top 4, derseve a spot in title contention is another story. Let's hope Arthur is timing us right for the picking, with a 17 that is terrific on paper and players developing nicely we can come good, and shown it winning 9 of our first 11, though mentality is a strong burden on this team, let's see if it defines our season once again.

Winning majority of our games in the first 2 and half months of footy is great, but as Billy Beane, Oakland A's GM said in Moneyball "Unless you win the last game of the year, nobody gives a s***"