With the bye this week, the Eels have a chance to regroup and refresh themselves for the remainder of this season. Up to this point, it’s been very disappointing. I don’t think anyone expected the team to be sitting in 15th. At the start of the year, I predicted that we’d finish somewhere between 9th and 11th, but even this seems out of reach. Nevertheless, are we likely to see any improvement? At this stage, I’d say yes but not much.
Our forward pack, particularly the middle forwards, have done us proud this year. They’ve consistently controlled the ruck and have laid the foundation for our attack. Our go-forward has been tremendous (4th highest in the comp. Mannah is our biggest metre-eater among the forwards with 1630m, followed by Ma'u (1583m) and then Wicks (1445m). Overall, Hopoate has run the most metres with 1905m). Our forwards have also stood up in defence. We’ve committed more tackles (4797) than any other team, with the Roosters in second with 4570. Peats has been incredible and tops the team tackle count with 650, and is way ahead of next in line Watmough (480), Mannah (417), and Wicks (395) (interestingly, it drops off a bit after this. Next is Ma’u with 381, and then it goes way down to Gower with 273 tackles). I can’t recall many times when the opposition has carved us up through the middle.
Encouragingly, our attack has also been impressive this year. I don’t know how but we’ve scored the second highest number of tries (52, second behind Canberra with 54). Despite this, our ability to control games is woeful. As our general this is where Sandow needed to improve for us to have any chance of enjoying a successful season. Without Hayne, Sandow has crumbled under the pressure and has shown zero ability to close out tight games. This deficiency has also affected our ability to remain focused for the full 80 minutes, as his enigmatic and inconsistent nature permeates the entire team.
Furthermore, our edge defence has been diabolical. It’s the worst in the league. Sandow is chiefly responsible for this, but our other outside backs, as well as Norman, have let the team down too many times as well. We just look so fragile and seem to fall apart whenever we are placed under pressure. I don’t think this will improve. The signs were there at the start of the season and it has gradually gotten worse.
Yet even though I don’t think we can overcome this issue, I do think we can mask it. Our completions and error count are amongst the worst in the comp, but this is where we can improve. If we can get rid of our errors (3rd worst in the comp), then our defence won’t as heavily be under pressure. This will enable us to hang in games a bit longer and hopefully close them out. In fact if we are to get better, no doubt this is the area where we will first see improvement. If we can accomplish this, then just maybe we will grow in confidence and learn to grind out wins. I do fear, however, that this is simply beyond us. At this stage, I can’t see us winning any further games based on defence; we’re simply going to have to outscore our opponents. Winning games in this fashion is never welcome, but that’s the reality of the situation. Based on this, I’d be very surprised if we win more than 5 of our remaining 10 games. I hope I’m wrong, but I’d say we’re likely to only win 4-5 more games this year.
Replies
With Reece injured will we see him return there?
Well more of the same really - there is a vast body of work put forth by the eels in the past 5 years that Parra will stumble and bumble their way towards owning the spoon.
They may win it, they may not.........but Parra will be scaring no teams
Most fans and i,m sure most opposition teams see Parra on the schedule and circle that as an easy win
EXPECT more of the same
Maybe circled in as a win but not an easy win. Not many sides have blown the eels off the park this year and I can guarantee you no team will take us lightly from here on in.
Man I friggin hate you and your posts about the Eels tele.
And I reckon you know why I hate you.
And I reckon that in your heart of hearts you hate yourself when you blog these things.
:(
that's too funny
even as an adult - i have a deep fear and misguided trust issues with "feather dusters"
- of the cane handled variety
the only saving grace here, is there is no "duster" for last
you have my sympathies........lol
too funny.......LOL
Yes, the CHAMPIONSHIP belt
....yep, plenty scared of that one too LOL
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