What's new
By:
Advanced search…
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Rumours and Stuff

JokerEel

JokerEel

Referee
Messages
20,192
Poupou Escobar said:
Burton
Cleary
Crichton
Leniu
McLean
Staines
Tago
Turuva
Yeo

Mostly the outside backs, as is the case for most teenaged debutantes. Even Yeo started as a centre.
Click to expand...

Thats it and how many debuted the same year..

Even Too was 21

On us debuting anyone i think we will get Loenzo. Thats it under 20
 
TheRam

TheRam

Coach
Messages
14,015
Eelementary said:
Also, this may be a controversial statement (and in no way meant to excuse a pathetic performance), but I don't think anyone would have beaten the Storm in round 1.

At home, with all the Lomax stuff fueling them...it was a perfect storm of shit for us.
Click to expand...

I do, as much as they looked great at times, they were assisted even more greatly by the ref adjudicating mostly only against one team.

I have no doubt that a quality team like the Panthers or even the Raiders would have blown them away. We basically dropped our bag of lollies totally when the ref hammered us with the binning's and all those early 6 agains. We just don't, at this point, have a quality enough team to withstand an onslaught like that, as this past weekend also showed not many teams do. The Storm are a quality team of course, but not a great team. That team that played us in round one had many weaknesses that we just did not exploit at all, or weren't given the chance to, whichever way you want to see it.

That is the main problem I have with the 6 again. If a team is on the wrong side of a handful of them consecutively, then most teams will get blown away and find it very hard to come back unless it is early enough in the game to then get a similar roll on of 6 agains and time to reverse the scoreline.

We unfortunately didn't receive anywhere near the same kind of a roll on and even when the ref gave us a few to even the balance he gave them on the 1st or 2nd tackle compared to giving the Storm theirs on the 4th and 5th tackle which makes a massive difference.

I like the 6 again and I would hate to go back to the massive wrestle that we had before and all those stoppages and boring moments, but the refs need to be full on threaten and made to ref both side at the same time. Not penalise the crap out of one side and then try to even up the ledger when the game is all but over and give the losing team a few to make the stats look good. When a ref does that he should be immediately dropped. There is no way any NRL team is not breaking a rule or two in the ruck or onside for 10-15 mis while the other side is breaking them almost every set of six. You just have to watch the play the ball and I could ping either team in any game in any set of six. So why the lopsided count?

It just ruins the game and if we put our conspiratorial cap on it just gives a leg up to the team that the NRL may favour over the other.
 
JokerEel

JokerEel

Referee
Messages
20,192
King-Gutho94 said:

Pezet has a bullseye on his head.

Sink or swim.

I think this is good it might steel him up very quickly.

We will find out quickly if he has anything to offer us this year.
Click to expand...


I see Joel didn’t watch Riki play on Friday night....

Plus his inside and outside forwards should be snapping Riki in half.. but we know they wont
 
Eelementary

Eelementary

Post Whore
Messages
58,885
TheRam said:
What's the point in waiting for all these potential juniors to come good and if they do come good, when by the time they come good we will have lost our greatest strength, our number 7. I don't fancy us getting another great one for at least a decade or so. Sorry but I have been around way to long to think Parra have truly turned the corner and will be good enough in recruitment or even retention to bag another top 3 half again for many, many years.

And if you think we don't need a top 3 half to WIN a premiership, then you don't know footy or Parra at all. Even the best run clubs have top three 7's or at least halves at their peek were in the mix of that type of half or at least a rep quality halves combination of some sort.

We would be starting from scratch again and we know how we get things so right and we will have a great quality halves combination real quick and vying for a title quick smart without much of a hiccup at all...NOT!
Click to expand...

Ok, calm down, mate - I've not once said we don't need an elite halfback.

But clearly, elite players are steering clear of the Eels at the moment.

We don't really have much of a choice...
 
Eelementary

Eelementary

Post Whore
Messages
58,885
TheRam said:
I do, as much as they looked great at times, they were assisted even more greatly by the ref adjudicating mostly only against one team.

I have no doubt that a quality team like the Panthers or even the Raiders would have blown them away. We basically dropped our bag of lollies totally when the ref hammered us with the binning's and all those early 6 agains. We just don't, at this point, have a quality enough team to withstand an onslaught like that, as this past weekend also showed not many teams do. The Storm are a quality team of course, but not a great team. That team that played us in round one had many weaknesses that we just did not exploit at all, or weren't given the chance to, whichever way you want to see it.

That is the main problem I have with the 6 again. If a team is on the wrong side of a handful of them consecutively, then most teams will get blown away and find it very hard to come back unless it is early enough in the game to then get a similar roll on of 6 agains and time to reverse the scoreline.

We unfortunately didn't receive anywhere near the same kind of a roll on and even when the ref gave us a few to even the balance he gave them on the 1st or 2nd tackle compared to giving the Storm theirs on the 4th and 5th tackle which makes a massive difference.

I like the 6 again and I would hate to go back to the massive wrestle that we had before and all those stoppages and boring moments, but the refs need to be full on threaten and made to ref both side at the same time. Not penalise the crap out of one side and then try to even up the ledger when the game is all but over and give the losing team a few to make the stats look good. When a ref does that he should be immediately dropped. There is no way any NRL team is not breaking a rule or two in the ruck or onside for 10-15 mis while the other side is breaking them almost every set of six. You just have to watch the play the ball and I could ping either team in any game in any set of six. So why the lopsided count?

It just ruins the game and if we put our conspiratorial cap on it just gives a leg up to the team that the NRL may favour over the other.
Click to expand...

Hard to disagree.

I hate the 6 again rule.
 
Poupou Escobar

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
101,367
JokerEel said:
Thats it and how many debuted the same year..

Even Too was 21

On us debuting anyone i think we will get Loenzo. Thats it under 20
Click to expand...
You only asked about merkins under 20. I never said they need to debut that young. Unless they're outside backs or future 300-gamers, most players won't debut as teenagers. Usually it's a sign of poor depth if a club has to throw a pathways kid into the NRL as a backup. But I don't think it hurts them.

For our over 20s, we have these pathways merkins contracted to the club:

Alameddine (21)
Brown (22)
Guymer (22)*
Latu (23)
Lokeni (21)
Miller (21)
Nanva (22)
Penisini (21)
Pryke (22)
Tuivaiti (21)*
Twidle (22)

* Already debuted
 
Last edited:
JokerEel

JokerEel

Referee
Messages
20,192
Poupou Escobar said:
You only asked about merkins under 20. I never said they need to debut that young. Unless they're outside backs or future 300-gamers, most players won't debut as teenagers. Usually it's a sign of poor depth if a club has to throw a pathways kid into the NRL as a backup. But I don't think it hurts them.

For our over 20s, we have these pathways merkins contracted to the club:

Allameddine (21)
Brown (22)
Guymer (22)*
Latu (23)
Lokeni (21)
Miller (21)
Nanva (22)
Penisini (21)
Pryke (22)
Tuivaiti (21)*
Twidle (22)

* Already debuted
Click to expand...

Brown Guymer Tuivatu are the only markings from that list who at the moment are any chance.
The rest will probably be replaced by our ball merkins this year.
Twidle I still would keep though.
 
Delboy

Delboy

First Grade
Messages
8,948
Eelementary said:
But clearly, elite players are steering clear of the Eels at the moment.

We don't really have much of a choice...
Click to expand...
Strange , the Dogs signed Burton AND Kikau when they were playing like a dogs breakfast and added Crichton, Tigers signed Laui, Turuva and Terrell May when they were last.

What’s the issue with the Eels, could it be the guys tasked with selling the club🤔
 
Johnny88

Johnny88

Juniors
Messages
1,713
Parramatta flyer Josh Addo-Carr is shaping as a shock inclusion for Thursday night’s clash against Brisbane.
Addo-Carr missed round one’s loss to Melbourne after undergoing surgery for a thumb injury suffered in the second week of the trials.
Addo-Carr was initially slated to return in either round three or four but the winger confirmed he is pushing to be back for the Broncos clash.
“It’s good ... I’m a chance of playing but I have a few tests ... a chance of playing this week against Brisbane,” Addo-Carr said.
Addo-Carr will have to get through Tuesday’s field session before the Eels jet off to Brisbane later that afternoon.
If medical staff clear him, his addition will likely come at the expense of either Sean Russell or Bailey Simonsson. Another option is to shift Russell into the centres, which will come at the expense of Brian Kelly.
Newcastle’s Brodie Jones won’t be available for Sunday’s clash against Manly, and remains a week-to-week proposition after the forward missed out on the Knights’ season opener in Las Vegas.
Jones didn’t travel with the squad to the states after he suffered a toe injury in Newcastle’s second trial.
—Fatima Kdouh

Brisbane Broncos v Parramatta Eels
Thursday, 8pm, Suncorp Stadium
Broncos:
Despite a seemingly settled team list, watch out for Michael Maguire to pull a potential late switch once more in Round 2 with Ben Hunt the key man.
Hunt was shifted from starting hooker to the bench and then into the halves on game day, leaving Ezra Mam on the bench and Cory Paix starting at hooker. Given Mam’s standing as a long term member of the spine, Maguire could be under pressure if the move backfires again.
Elsewhere, Jack Gosiewski is once again expected to start with Brendan Piakura not fit.
The rest of their side will be named 1-13.
Eels:
J’maine Hopgood will be unavailable for at least one match following his charge against the Melbourne Storm.
This could see Jack de Belin shifted into the front row and Dylan Walker into the starting lock role. Prop Sam Tuivaiti is also a chance to join the run on side.
Josh Addo-Carr is eyeing an early return from a broken thumb. Sean Russell would likely switch to centre with Brian Kelly dropping out.

 
Johnny88

Johnny88

Juniors
Messages
1,713
The Broncos have vowed to target future Brisbane halfback Jonah Pezet after Melbourne provided the blueprint on how to muzzle the Parramatta prodigy.
Pezet will run on to Suncorp Stadium from the away dressing rooms on Thursday night in Parramatta’s No. 6 jersey when the Eels look to add further misery to Brisbane’s shaky season start.
Pezet, 23, will join the Broncos next season on a three-year contract following a one-season cameo with Parramatta on the back of his Storm exit.
He has been earmarked to replace retiring Broncos captain Adam Reynolds in Brisbane’s No. 7 jersey, but won’t be receiving any favours from his future teammates.
The Storm put Pezet under enormous pressure in last Thursday’s 52-4 thrashing of Parramatta, which didn’t go unnoticed at Red Hill.

The Broncos have confirmed they’ll put 2026 signing Jonah Pezet in the firing line this week. Picture: NRL PHOTOS
Broncos centre Kotoni Staggs said Brisbane’s backrow hit-man Jordan Riki would target Pezet.
“We have him next year and that’s next year,” Staggs said.
“We’ve got to focus on this year now and he’s a Parramatta Eel so we’ll just try to play our game against him.
“If you watch that (Storm-Eels) game, they were sending some traffic down to him. We won’t change it.
“We’ll probably put Riki on him and make him make tackles.
“We’ll focus on that game (in video review), but I feel like we’ll get some joy down that edge.”

Melbourne's Joe Chan terrorised his former teammate Jonah Pezet, revealing the blueprint for Michael Maguire ahead of Brisbane's Thursday night clash against the Eels.
After flopping in the World Club Challenge, the Broncos are stinging following a poor 26-0 loss to Penrith to open their premiership defence.
Brisbane made 16 errors and completed at 62 per cent in what was at times a comical performance from the reigning champions.
The Eels were even worse in a 48-point loss to Melbourne, but shocked the Broncos in this corresponding fixture last year.
The Broncos were sitting fifth on a four-game winning streak when Parramatta, 15th at the time, rolled into Suncorp and produced a 22-20 boilover on the back of halfback Mitchell Moses’ brilliance.

Jordan Riki will be tasked with targeting Pezet. Pictures: Adam Head
The Broncos lost the 2023 grand final and them bombed out with a 12th-place finish in 2024, but Staggs insisted there were no signs of a premiership hangover.
“No, not at all. They (Penrith) were better on the night and we just didn’t play our game,” he said.
“It is round one and we’ll get better, we’ll learn from this game. It’s only early days.
“Teams are coming after us, they always do come after us and it doesn’t change the way we need to go about things. We’ve just got to focus on what we can do in this building and on the field.
“Being premiers was last year and that’s last year. We’re focused on this year and we’re going into this comp as a normal team that’s going for the same prize as what every other team’s going for.
“(Maguire) didn’t really have much to say. We know what we need to be better at.
“I don’t think you’ve seen any team that has 18 errors and 60% on the ball that will win a game.
“There’s two things that we need to focus on this week going into the game and we’ll be ready to go come Thursday.”

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Top