Eels Blogs

I attended today's game between Wyong and Wenty at Morry Breen Oval, Kanwal.  Wyong entered this game with 4 wins from 5 and Wenty with 1 win from 5.  Wyong was coming off a big win from last week having scored 10 tries against Illawarra and Wenty had a close loss to Mounties.  This game was very important for Wenty to keep in sight of the top 8. 

Current ISP leading try scorer Bureta Faraimo had 8 tries coming into this game and Jamal Fogarty was running 4th on overall points with 32.  The oval was in decent condition even with the rain the Coast had been getting.  Unusually the sun was out and it had some bite. 

A familiar face was sighted assisting our Wenty team warm up and that was former Manly player Brent Kite (Assistant Coach to Cayless).   

Due to French getting injured at training during the week there was going to be a change with Wenty as an outside back was needed to be promoted and that person was 'shoulders' - Kirisome Auva'a.  In addition to Auva'a dropping out Scott Schulte also did not play today (sighted on the hill with King).  

A shuffle of the team was needed with Ron Massey Cup players Atini Gafa and Sam Gorman coming into the 17, in addition to a shuffle with the bench.  The player numbers were all over the place and somewhat hard to follow with the glaring sun.  I was told the Wenty numbers were all over the place because the new 2017 jumpers (made in China) don't fit the guys, and they are currently wearing last year's jumpers (what's left).  New Wenty jumpers 1-17 have been ordered with each jumper needing to be about two inches wider.   

The run on team for Wenty was:

Fullback - N.Davis (3)

L/Wing - B.Faraimo (20)

L/Centre - A.Gafa (4)

R/Centre - G.Jennings (5)

R/Wing - J.Folau (17) 

5/8 - D.Gower (13)

Half - J.Fogarty (6)

Prop - R.O'Brien (10)

Hooker - C.Nelson (15)

Prop - J.Ualesi (21)

L/SR - J.Morris (12)

R/SR - M.Niukore (11)

Lock - J.Hasson (22)

Bench:

W.Smith (7)

A.Twal (8)

S.Gorman (14)

K.Tanginoa (16)

Having watched Wyong play the previous week I knew this game was going to be a very hard game to win.  I was interested to see Davis at fullback, Will Smith at half and young backrowers Niukore and Morris on the edge.  I was also hoping to see Faraimo score more tries. 

Wenty kicked off running north to south with a big kick from Davis.  With Gower a 5/8, Hasson at lock and Ualesi and O'Brien up front it was obvious what Wenty were going to do.  A physical encounter in the middle erupted with an even contest occurring for the first 15 or so minutes.  During this time Gower played with soft hands on the left edge at 5/8 giving good ball to his inside and outside runners, whilst Fogarty steered the ship from the right side. 

Similarly to our first grade team our completions started to look average with drop balls regularly occurring.  Soon after a dropped ball Wyong scored in corner (6-0) down our right edge breaking through G.Jennings and Davis on the try line (it looked somewhat soft).  

Wyong quickly scored again with a suspect try from a short kick to our left edge from a mistake of Davis at the back.  It appeared Davis had grounded the ball but the ref thought otherwise (12-0 to Wyong).  Davis was then hooked from fullback and he moved to left centre for the remainder of the game (the next 60 minutes).  Gafa moved from left centre and replaced Davis at fullback.  Unfortunately, Davis was involved in the first two tries to Wyong.     

Wenty then went on the attack and were down in Wyong's red zone with the gun Faraimo attacking the left corner post.  But unfortunately Wyong's scrambling defence pushed Faraimo out into touch as he dived for the corner (close call, no 9th try). 

About the 20 minute mark Sam Gorman entered the fray and went to hooker.  This resulted in a shuffle with Nelson moving to 5/8 (left edge) and Gower to lock.  Fogarty continued as first receiver.   

After more dropped ball from both sides Wenty finally got back down into an attacking position pushing hard at the posts.  Gorman attacked the line and burrowed over to the right side of the posts (Try time Wenty, 12-6). 

Soon after Wenty were back down attacking Wyong's try line looking strong with a second try begging.  Wenty looked menacing and Niukore attempted to do a similar try to Gorman, but loss the ball on the line. 

Half time:  Wyong 12, Wenty 6.  It was a frustrating game with heaps of drop ball from both sides.  Our best players on the field for the first half was Gower and Gafa.  O'Brien, Niukore, Gorman and Morris looked solid.  Folau had a couple of good runs as well.  Our completion rate was very poor around 30%.  I don't recall us completing a set and kicking to the corner for the whole of the first half.  But for a strong defence Wyong should have scored a lot more tries as we didn't have much ball.  The effort was high for Wenty.   

The second half started promising with our forwards line speed and energy being very good.  A physical bash up occurred and the hits were physical across the park.  Our completions were good at the start of the second half and I thought we may get some momentum going with the score still being 12-6 to Wyong.  But soon after we started dropping the ball again and finding it hard just to complete a set.  Will Smith entered the fray after 10 minutes into the second half and played for the remainder of the game at left half.   

Our poor ball handling continued and lead to three quick tries to Wyong and the score blew out to 30 to 6.  The first Wyong try in the second half was a missed tackle in the middle from Gower that lead to a big break up the middle third.  The last pass for this try appeared to be forward, but the ref ignored the Wenty supporters groans.  The next two tries to Wyong was as a result of two overlaps down our right side of G.Jennings and Folau (poor defensive read.  Similarly to first grade our right edge jammed in and did not slide).   

Towards the end of the second half Fogarty busted up the middle and ran about 40 metres prior to passing to Smith with a try under the posts (Wyong 30, Wenty 12).

Game Over:  Wyong 30, Wenty 12.

Our best players in the second half were Niukore, Fogarty and Faraimo.  Niukore had some very strong runs and he got on the outside of his opposition number on several occasions.  Morris was very busy and played big minutes. 

Positives:

- Niukore and Morris are developing nicely and should push for a promotion later in the year. 

- Smith defended strongly for his first game back from injury.  In hindsight Smith should have played the full game and to enter the game after 50 minutes was a wrong move.

- Part time Ron Massey Cup players Gorman and Gafa showed up many of the full time guys.

- Even though our completion rate was very poor in the first half we were only behind by 6 points leading into half time. 

- The effort, energy, line speed and aggression is present.  Just need to catch and pass. 

- Another game next week! 

Negatives:

- Our ball handling and completions today was substandard and poor.  Ironically Wenty's lack of completions is tracking like our first grade team. 

- Our lack of ability to complete a set, kick to the corner and build pressure is glaring.  I think I only counted once during the whole game we completed a set and kicked to the corner (only once). 

- One (1) win from 6 is very poor.  The quality of this team is high and they should be at least 3-4 from 6.