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Week 2 Finals: Parra v Raiders GAME DAY THREAD @ Commbank 16/9/22

DaveMc

Juniors
Messages
906
I ended up parking near that cemetery in North Parramatta. Walking to the car after the game with my son, Dean was so special. Both of us are so excited. Talking about the great moments in the game. What a great night. One of the best ever.

God the area has changed. I actually like the progress. Will always have a special place in my heart. Being a proud Aussie Balkan emotional firecracker the nostalgia can bring me to tears.

f**k I love this club.
I love this post, mate. Makes me think of my upbringing.

Born in July 1986, and indoctrinated to the club. Dad was from Dundas. I never stood a chance. I’m told my cot had blue and gold streamers on grand final day in 86. And I can say I’ve seen an Eels premiership, by two months.

f**k, I love this club too. They shit me, at least weekly, if not daily during footy season. But I wouldn’t trade supporting them for anyone else. If the Eels didn’t exist, I wouldn’t give a f**k about the competition. I don’t have a second team.

So fire up merkins. Let’s win it.
 

Legal Eel

Juniors
Messages
434
I’m certain when ja came on the booing wasn’t for him. It was bc the Moses incident didn’t go on report and no penalty
I’m pretty sure people around me at the northern end were booing the failure to report wighton

don’t think anyone booed ja

on JA, he did the job in keeping the status quo, but my concern remains that we don’t look capable of scoring when he plays any sort of minutes and it is still a vulnerability

But we will have to accept he is getting picked and hope the other play as amazing as they did last night and render his selection an irrelevancy!
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,142
Ja wasn’t on for the sivo no try.

he was on when rapana passed the ball into ja’s head. Maybe then???
Yeah I watched that this morning. I didn't see anything in it. I thought Jake went ok last night. Got in front very well in D. His kicks were about on par with Dyls. No speculative passes. It also didnt feel like other defenders were trying to cover for him. His Face Falcon came in handy as well. The crowd around me supported him well.
Good effort Jake!
 

IFR33K

Coach
Messages
17,002
Yeah I watched that this morning. I didn't see anything in it. I thought Jake went ok last night. Got in front very well in D. His kicks were about on par with Dyls. No speculative passes. It also didnt feel like other defenders were trying to cover for him. His Face Falcon came in handy as well. The crowd around me supported him well.
Good effort Jake!


the falcon was the play of the day!
 

Incorrect

Coach
Messages
11,828
Watched the replay just now and I've gotta say I'm really gunna miss Marata. Such an unassuming kind of guy. Yes he got himself suspended on occasions and that may have hurt the team but all in all, goes about his business really well and basically did a lot of stuff nobody else put their hand up to.
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,142
Watched the replay just now and I've gotta say I'm really gunna miss Marata. Such an unassuming kind of guy. Yes he got himself suspended on occasions and that may have hurt the team but all in all, goes about his business really well and basically did a lot of stuff nobody else put their hand up to.
Back to his best. Center this week no doubt.
 

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
73,538
^^^^^^


Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead has been hit with two charges from Friday night's 40-4 semi-final loss to Parramatta but will be free to play for England in the opening game of the World Cup.

Whitehead was hit with two dangerous contact charges for incidents involving Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown in the 49th minute of the match at CommBank Stadium and prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard two minutes before fulltime.
 

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
73,538

Droughts broken, head slams and short turnarounds: The set of six, Parramatta Eels vs Canberra Raiders​

The Eels are through, but there was plenty to come out of the game.​

The Parramatta Eels have finally made a preliminary final after handing out a shellacking to the Canberra Raiders on Friday evening.

The beatdown, with a final score reading 40 points to 4, saw the blue and gold skip away with the game after a fast start which never showed signs of abating.

Canberra simply never showed up or got into the game, and their season comes to an end at a much better place than it once looked like it would.
Here are the big points from the game.

Eels finally break drought, but how far can they go?
It was one of the overarching storylines heading into this match.
The Eels had been knocked out in the semi-finals three years in a row coming into the clash against the Canberra Raiders.

That record has now been emphatically knocked for six, with the Eels rewarding their long-suffering fans by finally moving to a preliminary final and within 80 minutes of the big dance.

That doesn't mean it'll be straightforward - beating the Cowboys in Townsville is a significantly tougher challenge than the Raiders on a six-day turnaround at home.

But none of that will change the fact that the blue and gold will see a groundswell of support this week, and not just that, but an incredible momentum boost thanks to the win.

It's as big as there has been in Western Sydney for some time, and one more could just about blow the roof of the Leagues club.

What to make of the Raiders season?
Ricky Stuart came out in his press conference after last night's loss with the emphatic claim that his side could have made the top four without early-season injuries.

On the surface, it seems like a coach looking for an excuse.
But if you dig a little deeper, the claim actually makes a certain degree of sense.

The Raiders had an abysmal start to the season - so bad that the finals looked beyond them, and Ricky Stuart keeping his job was starting to come under the microscope, although saved by the abysmal performances of the Tigers, Bulldogs and Warriors elsewhere around the competition, while pressure also hit the shoulders of Adam O'Brien at the Knights and Justin Holbrook at the Titans before it got anywhere near Stuart.

The green machine completely flipped the script following the return from injury of Jamal Fogarty, and while they still weren't perfect, they were far, far better and ultimately snuck into eighth spot.

However, it's clear they wouldn't have made the finals without the Broncos stumbling as badly as they did.

A semi-final appearance is something most fans of the club would have taken if offered it in the pre-season and yet, there is a feeling they probably could have achieved more.

A firing Clint Gutherson and Dylan Brown makes the Eels
There were plenty of differences between Friday's effort and the one that the Eels served up last week in a loss to the Panthers.

From defensive effort, to the ability of the Eels to dominate territory, it was a completely different game, albeit against a different opposition, for the blue and gold.

That all said though, there were two differences which were arguably as big as any - Dylan Brown and Clint Gutherson.

The stat lines are simply ridiculous.

Brown ran an unbelievable 276 metres from 28 carries, had a try assist and busted his way out of six tackles, while Gutherson assisted a pair of tries and sprung up everywhere during his 216 metres.

The duo, alongside edge forwards Shaun Lane and Isaiah Papali'i were simply phenomenal and gave Mitchell Mosesthe time and space he needed to run the team.

The quarter mentioned will need to be at their absolute best next weekend.

How much did a pair of short turnarounds hurt the green machine?
We have certainly heard Ricky Stuart talk openly about the problems regarding short turnarounds for the green machine.

There is no solution to the issue either - the NRL need to play all games at different times to keep TV broadcasters happy, and shorter turnarounds are going to be a nature of the beast.

However, the Raiders, who finished eighth, had a six-day turnaround to last week's clash in Melbourne, followed by another one to their semi-final in Parramatta.

Meanwhile, the Storm enjoyed nine days ahead of the elimination final, while the Eels enjoyed seven ahead of last night's game having opened the finals last Friday.

Again, there is no obvious answer, however, there is little doubt they impacted Canberra.

The side looked flat from the opening exchanges, and combined with the emotional comedown from last week's thrilling win in Victoria, was always going to be a lot to overcome.

The Eels can't carry Jakob Arthur on the bench next week
This is a tough one for Brad Arthur - and not because Jakob is his son. That simply doesn't matter and wouldn't be factoring into the decision making at this time of year.

To suggest otherwise - and some have - is absolutely barking mad.
However, the fact that Arthur is essentially sitting there as a stop-gap measure in case Mitchell Moses gets injured just doesn't work in the finals.
Everyone needs to have a role in the team, and heading to a likely hot and humid Townsville to play one of the competition's strongest forward packs next week will make the problem all the more glaring.

The best option for the Eels would be to play Bryce Cartwright, who at the very least can spend some time in the forwards during the game if he isn't needed in the halves.

If they decide against Cartwright though, there is no reason extra muscle on the bench from Nathan Brown wouldn't work as the solution.

Should Moses suffer an injury, there is no reason Clint Gutherson can't attack as a half, with Marata Niukorehaving incredible flexibility to slot into the backline to fill a gap.

The solution is there, but Parramatta need extra size and minutes in the forwards next week - not a maybe something will happen solution.

Does the NRL need to take a tougher stance on head slams?
Head slams are something which we don't see all that often in the NRL, but when they do happen, they always look ugly and uncalled for at the best of times.

That is exactly what it looked like in the west of Sydney when Mitchell Moses was slammed into the ground by Canberra half Jack Wighton.

The impact from the Canberra half went unpunished at the time - no penalty, no report and no sin bin. Just one play later the independent doctor would stop the game from the bunker and instruct Ashley Klein to send Mitchell Moses for a concussion test for the second week in a row.

Moses passing that test doesn't make the impact of a head slam any safer though, and you could only imagine the outrage from Parramatta and their fans had Moses failed the test and be placed in doubt for next Sunday's semi-final in Townsville against the North Queensland Cowboys.

The NRL has come a long way in protecting the head and neck, but this is one area that has slipped by the wayside because it simply doesn't happen often enough, so isn't an area of criticism.

 

Bandwagon

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
41,833
The other argument on retaining Jakey is why do you change a squad that has performed as it has over the last however many weeks. Yeah we got towelled up by Penrith after losing Moses, but does weakening a few spots ( like moving Gutho into the halves if Moses gets injured causing a substantial reshuffle ) give a better result that weakening one spot with a direct replacement, albeit strengthening the forward rotation somewhat.

As per that article above the King was f**king everywhere, his effort on effort to get into position in defence was elite level on Friday, and is a f**king big reason we kept them to four points. We aint gonna get that from any other merkin in our squad filling in for him.

That doesn't mean we have to have Jakey on the bench, but I do reckon that if we need to be able to cover for Moses, moving the king into the halves should be an option that's way down the list. I'd rather we trained Carty all week as a makeshift half than move Gutho, and I don't wanna see Carty anywhere near the halves.
 

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
73,538
There are certainly risks in our bench. We have no genuine hooker on the bench, whilst other teams do. Jake halves sub is really for his kicking game and not disrupting the rest of the team.

If we get through to the GF it will be because we didn’t get any significant injuries or HIAs and BAs risk in rolling the dice has paid off. BA has confidence in Matto and Oregon and he holds his breath when using Makka and Jake. Makka can patch an injury to Lane, Ice, Matto, Marata, Reg, Jnr or Oregon. Jake can patch an injury to Rheed, Mitch or Dylan.

So, is a GF qualifier the right time to be rolling the dice ? Probably yes, because going all conservative now is gutless. Playing gutless is like how we approached the Pennys match, where we were trying not to lose, rather than trying to win.

So with my fingers and everything else crossed, I reckon we stick to what seems to be working.

BTW, I absolutely agree that we should have better options than having to rely on Makka and Jake. Carty can’t be trusted and Brown’s drop in form and/or favour with the coach is a shame. Whilst the Brown issue warrants further examination, now is not the time to be combing through the ashes for answers. Emu’s failure to take a premium opportunity with both hands is immensely disappointing as is Ogden who has only really established himself as a bottom 30 in the depth chart signing.
 

strider

Post Whore
Messages
78,603
As per that article above the King was f**king everywhere, his effort on effort to get into position in defence was elite level on Friday, and is a f**king big reason we kept them to four points. We aint gonna get that from any other merkin in our squad filling in for him.
This is a really good point. Gutho is a freak at the back in defense. How many times does he make an important tackle on a line break on one side of the field then managed to get across to defend the spread on the other side.

People talk up that Savage from canberra, but he is so young with a f**kload to learn. I noticed on Niukores try, he literally strolled across the back never even looked like having any intention to try and get across in cover, then totally didnt bother n watched niukore run around under the posts. Sure the game was gone by then, but still make an effort.
 

Gronk

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
73,538
Very interesting from Muggo. Fast forward to 20 mins + to game analysis.

 

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