So I ask you guys again, where do we go from here with BA?
Many of us have been saying for years BA is a limited coach. Without being around the team set up we can only go off what our eyes have seen. I don't think it's fair to say he's a shit coach , as there are things he does very well. You'll hear many people say rugby league is a simple game..that all you need to do is run hard and tackle hard.. and that is what he has build his coaching on. He loves big bodies that run hard and embrace collision . It's simple, it's effective enough to beat 10 of the teams in this comp, and it's an easy formula for players to follow. Guys that have struggled at other clubs come here amd join the simple mantra and play their best footy. There's tonnes of examples of it over the years. BA can coach, he can motivate players to get up for games, and he has changed the professionalism and ability of our guys to back up week on week.
But... I think there's now enough evidence to suggest that's as far as BA can go. He would make a great signing for an inconsistent club. He would be perfect for the Tigers , even teams like the Sharks ...but his shelf life here is closing. His done an admirable job but i'm pretty convinced that's all he can do. He doesn't have what it takes to join the top 5 teams in the comp. He's genuinely convinced that if we do the simple things harder and better next week, it will fix the problems from the week before. We have representive players on our edges that are being let down by our flawed defensive systems. We have our inside defenders sliding and our outside defenders jamming in.. it's hasn't been pulled up, fixed or corrected . Fergo is out there running around rogue for 18 months and he hasn't been pulled into line or dropped once . It's terrible coaching .
The Jakob Arthur situation has been discussed but BA let his emotion and closeness to the situation cloud his judgement . Fair dinkum a 5 game NSW Cup career and he's plugged into the NRL squad as a like for like replacement for Dylan Brown? We changed nothing obvious about our systems to accomodate playing the young man.
Teams need to well and truely expose us , or show up where we're limited for BA to see , he's not proactive in his solutions he waits until they need to be made and then throws darts at the board. This also applies to our recruitment. BA genuinely believes we have a top 4 roster that's not far off the pace . The fact we,re playing a forward in the centre's with 1 injury in the outside backs and a 5 game NSW Cup veteran is starting in the halves with a relatively healthy squad is disgusting . Other teams have had far more injuries and disruption than us , we shouldn't be so hampered. Also where the hell is the speed in this roster ?
Im very much of the opinion that this is our last season of being this competitive under BA. Other clubs are building , we're off the pace and in denial. When this goes south it is going to go south quickly and we're going to be left with a squad with little to no talented youth coming through because BA has built around simple footy journey men . We need to be very careful here...I think it's a real chance of ugoing backwards quickly if we remain the same. We need to be proactive and start making enquires about coaches who know what it takes to get to the next level.
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That's a fair summary of where things are. I had no illusions of us winning the comp this year but was hoping there would be further improvement. Aside from the Melbourne game earlier this year, when the games get serious, we can't hack it. We're in for more beltings for certain. Penrith will destroy us and Melbourne will put plenty on us.
I think this team suffers mentally. I think it struggles to lift for the lesser teams but generally has no issues in lifting for the top teams. That's an area that BA needs to own, he is the coach and he needs to get inside the players heads so that they maintain their intensity regardless of the opposition.
I still believe that at full strength we have a bloody good side but unfortunately we are a bit too inconsistent. I honestly wish we were playing the panthers next week because I'm certain this side would lift against them.
As for BAs coaching yes he's limited but he does have his good points. I think the fact that he's been here 8 years is making it harder for him to evolve and grow. I think for him to win a comp he needs to leave this club because he's taken this group as far as he can and I think the group needs another voice, another coach with differ ideas and methods.
man, can't agree with you about the penrith next week thing . Our right edge doesn't handle teams with strong left side attack . Penrith would put 50 on us no matter how much we chased the collision and owned our effort areas. BA can't fix it. Tonight is the first time i've heard him publicly say it needs fixing.
That is exactly my thoughts Frank. I was only saying to my cabbie tonight how we can lift for the Storm's and the roosters of the world, and lose to the sides we are expected to beat. Not that I expected us to beat Souths. Is is mentality, or complacency I wonder? I have sat on the fence with BA, and not commented before, but I think it is time we moved on from him, nice guy that he is. We are probably stuck with him for next year though. I can't see him being shown the door.
A good assessment of the situation.
That's a very fair assessment, Girth Wind & Fire.
An especially good point was about our middle defenders defending inside out and our outside defenders defending inside in. We constantly see two Eels defenders converging but taking no-one. It's easy for us all to forget, but go back and watch our two finals games last year. There were periods in both games where the Eels employed sliding defence. They just didn't stick to it. And now we discover BA admitting he knew the right side defence wasn't working in mid-2020 but left it there only for it to be back in mid-2021. He sat on a defensive problem rather than truly fix it.
I also, personally, think BA puts too much focus on effort areas and not enough on high level skill performance. This comes out in attack in a few ways. Go back over the past 3-4 weeks and the Eels have had several tries disallowed or bombed them and they're all running fractionally wrong lines, or dropping tough balls to catch with the line open, or not grounding the ball in traffic. And then note we have repeatedly conceded tries after disallowed or bombed tries. They need to practice catches in traffic. Practice marginal passes. And certainly practice getting the mind off the error and lining up again. And this over focus on effort is also behind BA's insistence on the team playing ultra conservative out of their own end. It's letting teams gang tackle our forwards as we ruck the ball out, and it's highly probable that using Sivo and Fergo as battering rams is linked to both players decreasing ability to get on to their front and quick play the balls as the season progresses (they're stuffed from being battering rams each week).
I don't want to say "the Eels play best if they play ad lib", as that just seems more wishful remiscence than anything. But, it just seems the Eels are unable to have decent execution when the game situation demands they move the ball, and I think that's the consequence of BA drilling effort rather than skilled performance at pace.
So our attack has become predictable (again) and fallen back to points only by kicks. Like late 2020. And our defence is agains being picked apart on the right and lacks the skill of defensive adjustment. Again like 2020. And all of these things are BA's responsibility.
I am gonna anaylse our defence this week. Show how shit JA and Fergo were in defence, and our middle poor first contact which allowed Bunnies to gain easy momentum through quick play the balls.
The fact that BA said we had issues since the backend of last year and is only changing it half way into this season, should be some red flags! He needs to go. I'm done with his stubborn decisions and poor team selection choices.
We have conceded 38 points against Souths 3x in a row and in much the same fashion.
The teams with the ability to run shape on the edges consistently light us up. We all knew what was coming. I was stunned so many in the game were picking us this week. Yes Souths had hit rock bottom and were going to bring the intensity , we knew that .. but we also knew exactly where they were going to attack us and gave them a saloon passage . Like dead set offered no resistance to it . They were going over untouched. If that isn't a red flag for the BA crew there are a tonne of other things that should be .
Even though there's Origin coming up and depth will be tested for mine it's an opportunity for BA to make a statement this week. Fergo has to go . It's either BA admits his defensive systems need changing and he's fucked up , or Fergo isn't sticking to the defensive principles . It's one or the other . Either way you can't trod out more of the same against Newcastle (who prob won't have the cattle to consistently expose it , Tigers and Dogs ( see newcastle ) ) and then act like it's fixed . Coz Penrith will be waiting to put 60 on us .
Very good summary and I agree with most of what you've said. I would however like to point out 1 thing and No its not a conspiracy theory but I believe it to be clearly obvious to most. The NRL has made a rod for its own back by the continual introduction almost every year for the past umpteen years of 'new rules' and added to these new rules are referees who flaunt and sometimes clearly obvious misuse of these rules to certain teams, players and coaches who in the calculations of the NRL need to be favoured for the betterment and extension of the NRL in particular locations. We know who those teams, players and coaches are and very subtlety the NRL introduces a new team on the block and until the Parramatta Eels become one of those teams highly favoured by the NRL they'll never get past the 2nd week of finals football no matter what coach they have unless of course its one of their favoured elite coaches like Bennett, Bellamy, Robinson and now Cleary.
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