2017 Finals Wk2 - Eels v Cowboys (GAME DAY THREAD)

[eel01s]

I too knew we were gone as soon as Smith let that ball bounce. He has done a handy job but you don't get to Grand Finals with a player like that at fullback. I'll say it again but I think Norman was crap last night. Forget your appearances on the Professor Corey, you are our highest paid player and shit yourself last night. He is slowly becoming one of the games most overrated players.

Agree about letting the bomb bounce. Smith was badly out of position there. Just like in the 2009 GF, that simple play cost us big time.

I too thought Norman was woeful last night. Some poor last tackle kicks, no decent running game. He just wasn't in it last night.

 

[sammythesaint]

That will teach you guys to think you could actually win it this year....overhyped....out in straight games, thank f..k!

 

[parra pete]

the pricks have no ticker

I blame Tim Smith.....

 

[Bazal]

That will teach you guys to think you could actually win it this year....overhyped....out in straight games, thank f..k!

Thank God the Saints are still there to carry NSW hopes to a premiership!

Wait...

 

[sammythesaint]

Thank God the Saints are still there to carry NSW hopes to a premiership!

Wait...

Ha.....we knew we had no hope with mary as coach.
But you poor buggers actually had a dream.....and thats all it was ever gonna be....a dream
Arthur is the next madge and ricky......o.v.e.r. r.a.t.e.d.

 

[Bazal]

Ha.....we knew we had no hope with mary as coach.
But you poor buggers actually had a dream.....and thats all it was ever gonna be....a dream
Arthur is the next madge and ricky......o.v.e.r. r.a.t.e.d.

Yes, we thought we would win the grand final. That's why we all said how much we overachieved this year.

So far I'd give you efforts about 1.5/10. You could probably improve that top about a 4 with a little more attention to detail and wit.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Concede the first try, get back in the game to go up 10-6 at half time. Something bad happens at half time. We shit the bed making stupid errors and concede tries to fall behind. Score one late but too little too late.

Story of both our semi final games. Whatever it is that causes us to shit the bed at half time needs to be fixed

I think the refs interceded after half time last week. They just started turning a blind eye to everything Melbourne did. That wasn't our fault.

Last night we lost composure after the Asiata try. That's down to lack of experience. That combined with our lack of size in the middle contributed to fatigue which was pretty obvious in the last 20. The Hess and Morgan tries were both due to middle defenders not pushing across to fill the gap. Alvaro and Moeroa were big losses.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

nobody kicking against us is ever put under pressure because we never rush the kicker just another 1 percenter other teams do well that we do badly or not at all

Our kick pressure is usually pretty good, including in the first half last night. We slowed right down in the second half. We missed Alvaro badly in the second half.

 

[El Diablo]

I blame Tim Smith.....

Parra are the Bernard Tomic of the NRL

 

[Poupou Escobar]

That will teach you guys to think you could actually win it this year....overhyped....out in straight games, thank f..k!

With some luck we could've won it but it'd be better not to have to rely on too much luck. Our lack of experience came out in the finals, but we'll be more experienced next year.

Anyway we won 16 games this year and lost two finals by a combined ten points. It was a great year. Much better than your useless mob.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

You can't fail in the finals if you don't actually make them. However you can still troll the forums of the better teams who did, especially if you're a sad idiot.

 

[yy_cheng]

I was pretty disappointed in Mau in the last 2 games.

 

[strider]

Manu probably went through a really good patch a couple of years ago - and now we expect that level from him always ... I think he plays injured a bit

I still think he is a very effective, versatile player .... and he always goes in hard

People hang shit on him for dropping the ball going for a try last night .... he came within about 5cm of scoring - I never hang shit on guys who go so close to scoring, they are having a crack

I also appreciate that we have some guys with a bit of merkin in them who will go in and be prepared to belt a few guys if shit starts up .... some people call it ill discipline, but its its better than being a team that others know they can intimidate out of games

 

[Bazal]

Manu probably went through a really good patch a couple of years ago - and now we expect that level from him always ... I think he plays injured a bit

I still think he is a very effective, versatile player .... and he always goes in hard

People hang shit on him for dropping the ball going for a try last night .... he came within about 5cm of scoring - I never hang shit on guys who go so close to scoring, they are having a crack

I also appreciate that we have some guys with a bit of merkin in them who will go in and be prepared to belt a few guys if shit starts up .... some people call it ill discipline, but its its better than being a team that others know they can intimidate out of games

Some fans hang shit on Edwards for his discipline, but Edwards realistically is a bit of a troll and pretty harmless.

I think Manu maybe felt he has this image as a tough, hard, intimidating player and tried to amp that up. Can't blame him for the error trying to score (although it wasn't the right play, he was trying) but I do think he gave away some penalties that were really poor in the Storm game and then he could easily have been sin binned last night flying in and throwing what were very close to punches....I dunno, just seemed like he went full mad merkin

He's just gotta play footy IMO, he's most intimidating when he's running hard and cutting blokes down in defence

 

[PARRA_FAN]

I would've posted last night but was so angry I'm sure a few expletives would've been thrown in but I'm a lot more calmer today. Last night was a bit frustrating, not because we lost but the way we lost. Missed tackles, poor completion rate, when you compare it to the performance against Melbourne, I was expecting them to come into the game more alert, decent game plan, even after half time I was expecting them to play a bit better but again they took the foot off the pedal and just weren't in the game. Same sort of attitude against Newcastle, and that's been a problem for a while. Im hoping that's what they will fix next year. Unfortunately losing Alvaro didn't, geez we've had bad luck with HIA's, but I will say the selection of Pritchard and Terepo is something I don't agree with. I think Gower and Vave would've helped with the go forward, especially after Alvaro coming off, would've taken a bit of pressure off Brown, who really tried hard last night. I can sort of understand using Pritchard with the hooker rotation but he came on late so its pointless. Terepo didn't really have much impact and hasn't played for a period so its a big risk using him in a sudden death semi.

In the end I'm happy with the whole season, finishing in the top 4 is probably something I didn't expect in the off season but the boys did really well to get there. It gives us plenty of hope next year, but there are some areas they need to fix. I'm just disappointed how it ended.

Also thanks to Semi Radradra on a great career at Parramatta, hopefully he'll come back.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I would've posted last night but was so angry I'm sure a few expletives would've been thrown in but I'm a lot more calmer today.

You would've been better off saying merkin than preceding a comparative adjective with 'more'.

 

[Gronk]

Media today: Did you see JT picking up rubbish in the changeroom ? What a special guy !

 

[Noise]

I think the refs interceded after half time last week. They just started turning a blind eye to everything Melbourne did. That wasn't our fault.

Last night we lost composure after the Asiata try. That's down to lack of experience. That combined with our lack of size in the middle contributed to fatigue which was pretty obvious in the last 20. The Hess and Morgan tries were both due to middle defenders not pushing across to fill the gap. Alvaro and Moeroa were big losses.

Yep agreed. The lack of size on our bench really hurt us. Matagi was gassed playing extra minutes and missing tackles and althoughEdwards played well he is not suited to 80min. He is much more effective when he comes on after 20 and plays 60min. Gower and vave in a short stint would have at least helped those issues

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Yep agreed. The lack of size on our bench really hurt us. Matagi was gassed playing extra minutes and missing tackles and althoughEdwards played well he is not suited to 80min. He is much more effective when he comes on after 20 and plays 60min. Gower and vave in a short stint would have at least helped those issues

Vave would have lasted fewer minutes than Kritchard and made less tackles. Sure he would've helped our go forward - for about ten minutes. After that he would've been a liability. He is at his most useful inside the opposition half while in possession and we had too little of that for him to matter.

Terepo's go forward is better than Gower's and Kritchard was obviously needed in case King's nerve damage took him out of the game.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Thought peni did ok apart from that dropped ball, made 113 m / 23 tackles not a bad effort considering it was his first game back. Made some good runs!