Brad Arthur says the Eels can still win the title. Every shred of evidence says the opposite
Simon Brunsdon from Fox Sports@simonbrunsdon
Parramatta’s premiership dream is hanging by a thread after an injury to hooker Reed Mahoney exacerbated what was a dismal loss to South Sydney at Cbus Super Stadium on Friday night.
The Eels will drop out of the NRL’s top four if the Roosters can roll the Panthers on Saturday.
They have now suffered two embarrassing defeats at the hands of fellow top-eight teams in as many games. Last week it was 28-0 against the Chooks, and then 40-12 on Friday night to the Bunnies.
Parramatta’s title credentials had been questioned during the week and Friday's performance may have been the final nail in their coffin.
“It was textbook going through the motions,” Greg Alexander told Fox League.
“There was no individual who said ‘I’m going to do something to lift this team and get this team out of the rut we’re in’.
“They went through the motions. They looked like it was a training run. These blokes train every day so they can make it look like they’re trying, but they’re not busting their guts. I don’t think the Eels bust their guts.
“I don’t think there was an individual during that opening 50 minutes who did anything more than he had to. You don’t win games if you’re not doing something special to lift your team.
“All the chat going into this one was all the pressure is on the Eels.”
Parramatta did not score a point against South Sydney until returning halfback Mitchell Moses laid on a couple of tries late in the game.
Braith Anasta was scathing in his assessment of the Eels.
“Parramatta for the first 60 minutes looked lifeless,” Anasta said.
“There was no energy. They’re a different team to what they were a couple of months ago, it’s as simple as that.
“It’s really concerning for Parramatta. We’ve been talking about it for weeks, the way they fall away at the back end of the season the last couple of seasons… this is worse than the last couple of years. This is nosediving still a month out (from finals).
“Their season is just crashing and burning before their own eyes, and you can see it in their eyes, you can see it in their body language. They know they are gone, they know it.
“It would be miraculous if they could recover to put themselves in a position to win this premiership because it looks like it’s gone.”
The Eels have a tough run home, facing Melbourne, Penrith, and Manly - three teams fighting to finish in the top four on the ladder.
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur says his team can’t afford to panic but he knows their form needs to turn around soon to get back on track.
“There’s still four weeks to go,” Arthur said.
“We can’t be worrying about the top-four finish at the moment, we’ve got to worry about getting some football back on that we know we need to be playing, find our rhythm again.
“We have to (get control back) don’t we? Our start was better tonight, in terms of our effort and energy.
“We can’t panic. We did a lot of work early to get ourselves in a reasonable position (in the competition) but we need to work our what we need to do and get right for next week.”
The Eels take on the Sea Eagles next Saturday.
Replies
This is why he should be sacked
Two out of the three were spot on with their assessment, one of them wasn't BA.
Yeah BA we can still win it, not with you. He must be on heavy duty medication.
Early onset dimentia? Perhaps each week is a new week for him with no recollection of prior weeks.
LOL
That press conference ba should of chucked a Bennett instead of answering so many questions. Simply say the team knows where they went wrong, either fix it or changes come next year.
Maybe because their coach has burnt them out again, didn't learn from his mistakes last season, too much reliance on effort. How about utilising the players strengths more so they don't have to " front load their effort" into exhaustion.
That’s right!!!
Of course you don't buy it. Always deflecting away from BA, being burnt out can be more of a mental thing than a physical one, it takes a lot of effort to play the power game for a full season.
So you think the players put so much effort into the pre-season and more than half of the season to put themselves into a position to challenge for the title and then decide they are going to stop putting in,really?. Keep kidding yourself brissy.
Yes of course.
It's just pure coincidence that the players start slacking off towards the end of season, year after year.
It couldn't possibly be the coach's fault.
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