The Eels shouldn't be in the grand final

[bradeel]

what a steaming pile of horsesh*t. I am not offering rival fans any apologies whatsoever for the fact that our team have had a brilliant 2nd half of the season to sneak into the Top 8 and take all comers before us. Unpredictability is what makes sport great and as much as they would have deserved their positions in the GF, had they gotten there, there would have been nothing more boring than the Dragons and Bulldogs (teams #1 & 2) facing off in the decider. The media and the NRL community is so damn excited about this finals series because of the remarkable run of the Eels and the Broncos in upsetting a few more fancied sides.

 

[cgee221]

FFS.....of course we deserve to be in the grand final!

We had to achieve a near impossible feat just to make the semi's!

We followed the structure of the competition and played to the rules. I learnt a valuable lesson from the 2001 season, and that was you have to be good enough on the day. The teams finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd should have been good enough to beat a statistically weaker team in us and they didn't. You can cry and whinge about it as much as you like....but the teams in the Grand Final and the team that wins the competition are the deserving Premiers, as they have always been.

None of this, we don't deserve to be in the Grand Final sh*t of course we do! We did what was required to get there and if we win, we did because we deserved to.

 

[Parra]

Might as well not have finals.

Just end the comp in July, before the hard stuff starts.

I suppose it's lucky for us that it is a real competition, with real finals, and a real need to win when it counts.

GO THE EELS

 

[Casper The Ghost]

Here (the article) is a classic example of not taking full responsibility for your dream/s.

Poor me, me, me, i, i, i victim..........

You get what you think and feel!!!!!!

 

[cgee221]

Here (the article) is a classic example of not taking full responsibility for your dream/s.

Poor me, me, me, i, i, i victim..........

You get what you think and feel!!!!!!

Exactly what my next post was going to say Casper..."poor little old me" you beat me to it

 

[bradeel]

I learnt a valuable lesson from the 2001 season, and that was you have to be good enough on the day. .

This is a damn good point. I don't see anyone handing us the rights to the 2001 and 2005 premierships because we were minor premiers those years and we were called chokers on both occasions. And for the record I don't recall any Parra fans making an excuse that we deserved a premiership because of our great season up until the knock out games back then.

The media and rival fans were unflinchingly brutal and Parra had again choked. Why is it that when the Bulldogs put together a gutsy and determined string of sudden death victories in Sept they are called "Finals Specialists" and Never Say Die Doggies Spirit, but when we do it, the system is flawed. And when we go into the finals favourites only to bow out in the final or penultimate games of the season we are chokers, but when the Doggies and Dragons do the same, the system is flawed.

These jealous pr*cks seem to be having a bit each way.

 

[tresurehunt]

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/...e-in-the-grand-final/1637365.aspx?storypage=0

The Eels shouldn't be in the grand final

The fact that Parramatta is in the grand final on Sunday is proof to me that the NRL's finals system is wrong.

Put simply, the Eels shouldn't even be there. And the reason they are is because of a big fault in the McIntyre Top Eight.
The McIntyre system has been hit with criticism this season, all of which misses the point. It's not the "Top Eight" part that's the problem.
That's just too many teams.
I know why it exists - and it's everything to do with revenue and nothing to do with what's best for footy.

It exists because it keeps more fans interested in the finals chase for longer. Then, once the final placings are decided, it means there are eight groups of supporters to sell finals tickets, T-shirts and whatever else to.
But a top eight means that, in any given year, half of the competition makes the finals (or more than half in years we only had 14 teams).
The finals are supposed to limited to the best of the best. They're supposed to be something to strive for and it cheapens that aura somewhat when the league lets in half the teams.

It cheapens it more when some teams who make the finals have an ordinary win-loss record. By ordinary I mean a team that lost as many games as it won. I think we can agree that a team with a 50-50 record or worse has no business even thinking they deserve to be in the finals.
Yet, since we got rid of the top five in 1995, an ordinary team has made the finals in nine of the 15 seasons. Even worse, a team with a losing record played finals footy in six of those seasons.

Particularly embarrassing was the 2002 season, where three teams - Canberra, St George Illawarra and Parramatta - all had losing records yet all made the finals.

What a joke. The finals shouldn't be about rewarding mediocrity, letting teams stumble into eighth spot like a drunkard trying to make their up the front steps to their front door.

What we should have is a top five - make a finals position actually mean something rather than giving them away to any team that wants one. It used to be good enough for the league - from 1988 to 1994 we had a top five with a 16-team comp.

And I bet it's no coincidence that that brief six-year window gave us arguably the two greatest grand finals ever - 1989's Canberra-Balmain match-up and the 1991 Canberra-Penrith game.

So, if we'd done the right thing and had a top five this year, the Eels wouldn't have played finals footy.
But there's another reason to punt the top eight. It rewards hot streaks over consistency.

The Dragons and Dogs were the two most consistent teams all season, yet they dropped a few games and they're gone. But a team who was absolutely bloody awful for most of the year, who was in 14th spot going into Round 18 on five (yes, FIVE wins) is playing in the grand final.
Jeez, if a grand final berth is the reward for stringing together a few wins late in the season, what's the point in anyone busting their backsides between March and June?

Might as well start the comp in July


:lol::lol:

have a good listen to this Muppet :lol::lol::lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLkiT3XMomI

 

[PJ Marshal]

timmah probably wrote this article the big dickhead

 

[Runaround Man]

The top 8 is really not that different that the old classic top 5 because that was only a 12 team comp.

You can't really have a top 7 because that would mean a 5 week finals period and 6 or 5 is too few teams.

Top 8 is here to stay.

Ain't it great.....most folks just can't accept that we have an amazing team.....

If/when we beat the Storm....then everyone will have to face the truth........

 

[hindy111]

Parra only lost one more game than manly who finished 5th-The thing is the competition is so close you need a top 8....If there was a huge gap like 5-10 yrs ago than yeah top 8 is to much.But it gives teams like parra who have had some injuries a little time to still make something of the season....Most occasions team 8 wont do anything-Just cause they have we need a review...
I say this all the time-At the end of year the best 2 teams always make it and this year the best two teams are there again-So what we came from 8th.Only prooves we where better cause did it harder.
You do need to keep fans interested and jsut cause you play consistent at start of year like titans and dragons doesnt mean by the end of year you are playing the best footy out of everyone which i think your season should be about-Improving as year goes on -Not getting worse

 

[Mong]

This is a damn good point. I don't see anyone handing us the rights to the 2001 and 2005 premierships because we were minor premiers those years and we were called chokers on both occasions. And for the record I don't recall any Parra fans making an excuse that we deserved a premiership because of our great season up until the knock out games back then.

The media and rival fans were unflinchingly brutal and Parra had again choked. Why is it that when the Bulldogs put together a gutsy and determined string of sudden death victories in Sept they are called "Finals Specialists" and Never Say Die Doggies Spirit, but when we do it, the system is flawed. And when we go into the finals favourites only to bow out in the final or penultimate games of the season we are chokers, but when the Doggies and Dragons do the same, the system is flawed.

These jealous pr*cks seem to be having a bit each way.

:lol:

Are you sure that is what is usually said when Saints bow out? Seems to me it is nothing like that at all.

 

[Hass]

Parra only lost one more game than manly who finished 5th-The thing is the competition is so close you need a top 8....If there was a huge gap like 5-10 yrs ago than yeah top 8 is to much.But it gives teams like parra who have had some injuries a little time to still make something of the season....Most occasions team 8 wont do anything-Just cause they have we need a review...
I say this all the time-At the end of year the best 2 teams always make it and this year the best two teams are there again-So what we came from 8th.Only prooves we where better cause did it harder.
You do need to keep fans interested and jsut cause you play consistent at start of year like titans and dragons doesnt mean by the end of year you are playing the best footy out of everyone which i think your season should be about-Improving as year goes on -Not getting worse

I'm sorry, but we don't "need" a Top 8 just because the competition is close. If the competition is so close then it should fall upon the teams to win more matches. You have to draw the line somewhere and we've decided to draw it at halfway. That's an absolute crock in my opinion. Should we have joint-premiers because the comp is so close we can't separate teams at the top?

If Parra only finished one win behind Manly then they should have won one more game.

What's the bloody point of playing 26 rounds of football in the first place?

It's nice that we are getting to benefit from the Top 8 for a change, but that doesn't change the fact it's a steaming pile of horse manure.

I also don't believe the best two teams "always make it". That line is just an attempt to justify the status quo. Were North Queensland really one of the best two teams in 2005? Yes, the made the Grand Final, but they got through thanks to the quirks of the system. They got a second chance in the finals but the first and second placed teams didn't. That is not the way to go about identifying the best two teams.

This is one of my bugbears, so I'm sorry if I'm raining on the parade a little. I'd just be a massive hypocrite if I stopped criticising the top 8 now that my team has benefited from it.

 

[Eelementary]

The top 8 is fine. You don't have a divine right to win a comp just because finish in the top 4. If you're good enough, you'll win your finals games and win the Grand Final. End of story. This whole "how can you justify a team with a 40-60 win-loss ratio making the 8 and making a Grand Final" argument has no legs - the race to the Telstra NRL Premiership is a marathon, not a sprint. It makes no difference if you go the 26 regular season rounds undefeated if you can't keep it going in the finals. It means nothing. The New England Patriots were undefeated...Until they choked in the Super Bowl. The Giants, rightfully so, will be forever accepted as the champions because they won when it mattered.

 

[manly40gimps0]

This article is bullsh*t you guys played what was in front of you and won against the odds,what was it 10 from 11 ?

39-nil would be a great result

 

[george]

I guess this knob from the Illawarra Crapburry would also argue that his St Chokers deserve to be in the Grand final despite only winning one from their last 6 games.

 

[manly40gimps0]

I guess this knob from the Illawarra Crapburry would also argue that his St Chokers deserve to be in the Grand final despite only winning one from their last 6 games.

100% correct

 

[The Engineers Room]

If you finish first and can't beat the lowest ranked and the team ranked sixth you don't deserve to play in a grand final.

Parramatta may have had a bad start but in terms of their overall form I think we have been a better team than the Dragons. They won games with a negative style of football and when it came to the finals they were found out.

If we had a top five they would have still lost two in a row and been eliminated, so they don't deserve to be there. Also, if it was a top 5, teams would act differently. Who knows if our run may have started earlier as the must win games would have been earlier on.

 

[Stagger eel]

This article is bullsh*t you guys played what was in front of you and won against the odds,what was it 10 from 11 ?

39-nil would be a great result

mate, i'll settle for 1 nil our way, deal?

 

[cgee221]

I also don't believe the best two teams "always make it". That line is just an attempt to justify the status quo. Were North Queensland really one of the best two teams in 2005? Yes, the made the Grand Final, but they got through thanks to the quirks of the system. They got a second chance in the finals but the first and second placed teams didn't. That is not the way to go about identifying the best two teams.

Yes, North Queensland was. They had to beat an inform Melbourne and inform Parramatta against the odds and they did so.

The best two teams do always make it because they can prove so under pressure, if a team came first in the regular season, they get rewarded for it with the minor premiership but they need to prove it under the finals system. If they are really the best team then they should be able to cope and handle with the finals pressure. Additional to this the finals prove who can cope with this type of pressure and who is best suited for rep footy. People were heralding Soward's efforts at the start of this year....saying he should play origin, but after what he showed in the finals would you really want him to be in the no. 6 for NSW seeking redemption when they're 1 nil down in the series, its game 2 and NSW are losing 10-6 with 10 minutes remaining?

The best two teams will always make it into the grand final no matter what. It proves that this game has a huge mental factor to it once again and those that can handle it thrive and deserve to do so.

 

[The EELiminator]

I guess this knob from the Illawarra Crapburry would also argue that his St Chokers deserve to be in the Grand final despite only winning one from their last 6 games.

he should take his sour grapes and go start a whinery :lol: