Tooooks
Bench
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- 3,204
Being a 'glass half-full' kind of guy (at least I try to be), as bad as we've been (and I do think we'll lose against the Titans and collect the spoon), I've been trying to look at the positives.
While no one wants to 'win' the wooden spoon, at the end of the day, it's not the worst thing in the world and if we do get the spoon, it's still nowhere close to the worst season I've seen. In 1991, we finished second last. In 1992 we avoided the spoon only because the Gold Coast were stripped of two points. But our worst season (in my lifetime) was 1995, where we finished 19th (of 20) with just 3 wins. Some of the losses that year were embarrassing:
40 - 18 (Souths)
40 - 4 (Auckland)
56 - 6 (St George)
50 - 12 (Raiders)
60 - 14 (Broncos - after leading 14-6 at halftime)
36 - 4 (Norths)
52 - 12 (Illawarra)
48 - 18 (Sharks)
+ several others where we conceded 30+ points.
That was the 9th year of a 10 year stretch of massive fail, where we didn't make the finals and didn't even come close. We will never go through a worse period than that again, but we will occasionally have years like this. Anyone who followed the Eels through that decade will remember celebrating ANY win, no matter how ugly or if it was against the worst team.
This season, we have competed - and could've beaten - Manly x 2, Storm, Broncos, Bulldogs, Penrith, Roosters etc. With a fairly poor quality roster, we've shown that we can compete with the best, but just lack the killer punch (and possibly some mental toughness).
It's been a depressing year, but compared to the 87-96 years, it ain't so bad. Here's hoping for a win against the Titans and a much better '12.
While no one wants to 'win' the wooden spoon, at the end of the day, it's not the worst thing in the world and if we do get the spoon, it's still nowhere close to the worst season I've seen. In 1991, we finished second last. In 1992 we avoided the spoon only because the Gold Coast were stripped of two points. But our worst season (in my lifetime) was 1995, where we finished 19th (of 20) with just 3 wins. Some of the losses that year were embarrassing:
40 - 18 (Souths)
40 - 4 (Auckland)
56 - 6 (St George)
50 - 12 (Raiders)
60 - 14 (Broncos - after leading 14-6 at halftime)
36 - 4 (Norths)
52 - 12 (Illawarra)
48 - 18 (Sharks)
+ several others where we conceded 30+ points.
That was the 9th year of a 10 year stretch of massive fail, where we didn't make the finals and didn't even come close. We will never go through a worse period than that again, but we will occasionally have years like this. Anyone who followed the Eels through that decade will remember celebrating ANY win, no matter how ugly or if it was against the worst team.
This season, we have competed - and could've beaten - Manly x 2, Storm, Broncos, Bulldogs, Penrith, Roosters etc. With a fairly poor quality roster, we've shown that we can compete with the best, but just lack the killer punch (and possibly some mental toughness).
It's been a depressing year, but compared to the 87-96 years, it ain't so bad. Here's hoping for a win against the Titans and a much better '12.