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He’ll say it about every team at some point just to cover his bases
That sounds like someone we know.
@Barry O'Speedwagon are you going to take that from Soren?!?
No wonder our tackling has improved (well until this weekend) if we’re practicing on Jabba sized tackling bags.
We eventually got off the bus, which may be a good thing in itself, but we certainly didn’t start with the effort level we would’ve wanted. All in all my point was we’ve so far only had about half an hour of game time across all games where our effort was below where it should be. Actually now that I think about it, I think the final half hour this week our effort level was actually too high. We were over trying, when really if we played simple like in the Cows game, we’d have completed the comeback. There was another hat trick for Sivo on offer there
Absolute troll article. We don't finish teams off? We've shut out about half a dozen teams in the second half this year, and only lost two games. We've played two other current top four sides and beaten them both, as well as winning three from four against the current top six.'Mentally weak' Eels no chance for NRL title until they toughen up, Phil Gould says
By Tim Elbra
18 hours ago
High-flying Parramatta are no chance of becoming NRL premiers until they solve chronic problems with their mental toughness, Phil Gould says.
The legendary coach gave a searing appraisal of the Eels after their poor 22-18 loss to Manly, in which they gave an error-riddled performance despite entering the match atop the NRL ladder.
Gould said that Des Hasler's Manly side had exposed "weaknesses" in the Eels, including a long-term problem with managing hype.
Parramatta haven't won a premiership in 34 years and any success is always met with fervent excitement from the long-suffering army of blue and gold supporters.
Manly's Marty Taupau scores a try against Parramatta after just two minutes on Saturday night. (Getty)
"I always have concern for the Eels because they're a team that can get blown away by the hype a little bit," Gould said on The Sunday Footy Show.
"They've sort of been cruising along, played a lot of their games here in Sydney at Bankwest [Stadium], now they're on the road a little bit. I thought they were pretty average against the Knights last week up in Newcastle and they certainly got to Manly with their heads off last night.
"From the opening whistle, you could see that Manly were there with a belief that they could beat this side. They'd spotted weaknesses in the Parramatta team and they just felt if they could make it hard enough, tough enough, fast enough, that Parramatta wouldn't come together.
"And they didn't come together. That's Parramatta's Achilles heel.
Gould said that Parramatta needed to focus on controlling their attitude, above all else. They conceded four soft tries to Manly in the first half, with Sea Eagles prop Marty Taupau scoring the opener after just two minutes.
"Most of this game, you're not ever going to get everything your way," Gould said.
"They're going to be times when the opposition is playing really well. You've got to be able to deal with that, you've got to [handle] oppositions coming after you.
"As [Eels coach] Brad Arthur said after the game, 'We want to be a top side, teams are going to come after us'. Well, you've got to be able to fend that away. You've got to be able to fend that off and still come over the top of them and get the victory.
"And Parramatta just can't do that. Their last 20 minutes in a couple of big games this year, they've been found wanting, and if you can take them to the hour mark and you're still in the contest, you're a really good chance of beating them because they just don't finish the game off strongly enough.
"That's a mental weakness, it's a fragility and it's something that's got to be fixed. Getting away and blowing away the bad sides and just beating them by big scores does not make you a great football team."
Manly inflicted only the second loss for Parramatta this season, following a respectable 24-10 defeat against reigning back-to-back premiers the Roosters in round six.
The first half fade-out against the Sea Eagles was uncharacteristic of an Eels defence that leads the NRL, with just 118 points conceded through 10 games; 11.8 per match.
Parramatta (+110) trail only the Roosters (+152) on points differential. They next face Wests Tigers on Thursday night at Bankwest Stadium, after Michael Maguire's side thrashed Brisbane 48-0 last Friday.
https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/parram...a-eagles/bfac2d1a-7337-44be-b7a4-1cef3ff9b2b2
