2018 R24 Fri - Cowboys 44-6 Eels @ 1300SMILES

[TheFrog]

Jeez I hope Arthur puts a broom through the joint for next year.

They've had a bad year allright, but much more interesting is the other mob. They could complete at 88% and control 64% of possession, albeit with plenty of help, and their 25,000 fans were presumably sent away into the night happy. But I would not have been happy were I a fan of this club. If you can play like that in this game, what has been going on all year?

 

[beave]

They've had a bad year allright, but much more interesting is the other mob. They could complete at 88% and control 64% of possession, albeit with plenty of help, and their 25,000 fans were presumably sent away into the night happy. But I would not have been happy were I a fan of this club. If you can play like that in this game, what has been going on all year?

Injuries have cruelled us as well as a bit of complacency.

I'd be more worried about your own mob to be honest mate.

 

[Russell Coight]

They've had a bad year allright, but much more interesting is the other mob. They could complete at 88% and control 64% of possession, albeit with plenty of help, and their 25,000 fans were presumably sent away into the night happy. But I would not have been happy were I a fan of this club. If you can play like that in this game, what has been going on all year?

I think chopping and changing their spine all year + no Morgan and McLean through injury have played a part

If that team that was fielded last night played most of the year I reckon they would be top 4 certainties

 

[TheFrog]

I think chopping and changing their spine all year + no Morgan and McLean through injury have played a part

Chicken and egg argument here. Why did they change their spine? Because they were losing games. McLean was injured during their 3rd straight defeat but was a big loss. Morgan was injured when they'd won 4 from 15. They had more injuries last year than this year and other sides that have made the 8 have had more injuries than them.

The problems were all between the ears, I suspect. Much like ours are at the moment.

 

[TheFrog]

Injuries have cruelled us as well as a bit of complacency.

I'd be more worried about your own mob to be honest mate.

Plenty of other team's fans commenting on us.

 

[beave]

Chicken and egg argument here. Why did they change their spine? Because they were losing games. McLean was injured during their 3rd straight defeat but was a big loss. Morgan was injured when they'd won 4 from 15. They had more injuries last year than this year and other sides that have made the 8 have had more injuries than them.

The problems were all between the ears, I suspect. Much like ours are at the moment.

Morgan was injured before a ball was kicked (hence why he missed the first few rounds) and was never right when he came back into the side.

Forwards- Scott has missed a lot of the year, same as Mclean, Asiata missed 10 weeks, Hoare was done for the season very early on.

Linnett missed the first 12-13 weeks, Coote was injured from the start and has never looked right. His absence is purely caused the shuffling in the halves.

 

[TheFrog]

Morgan was injured before a ball was kicked (hence why he missed the first few rounds) and was never right when he came back into the side.

Forwards- Scott has missed a lot of the year, same as Mclean, Asiata missed 10 weeks, Hoare was done for the season very early on.

Linnett missed the first 12-13 weeks, Coote was injured from the start and has never looked right. His absence is purely caused the shuffling in the halves.

Hope you have better success next year then.

 

[isaiah]

Wow, those stats. 21/21

reminds me of two perfect halves in origin. one was when fifita went berserk and nsw won an opening game a couple of years ago. the other was when qld hit with the shoulder in a deciding game a few seasons before that.

 

[t-ba]

Really like those Souths Jerseys. Good alternate imo.

 

[Bazal]

Morgan was injured before a ball was kicked (hence why he missed the first few rounds) and was never right when he came back into the side.

Forwards- Scott has missed a lot of the year, same as Mclean, Asiata missed 10 weeks, Hoare was done for the season very early on.

Linnett missed the first 12-13 weeks, Coote was injured from the start and has never looked right. His absence is purely caused the shuffling in the halves.

It's funny, a lot of punters had both sides going deep into the finals, and both sides have had similar seasons...and very poor ones at that.

Both started slowly after a decent showing in Rd 1, both have had a lot of injuries and a lot of luck go against the, both have struggled to ever really find any confidence.

From an Eels perspective we had Gutherson and French, integral to our attack last year, out for the start if the year. French got injured again and hasn't been right since, Gutherson has failed to really find his groove. Nathan Brown has missed ten games or so. Tony Williams gave us some size out wide and was actually playing quite well, he's been out for most of the year. Hayne missed pretty much the whoke first half of the season. Pritchard once again got injured just when he looked like he was finding his feet somewhat at hooker. Alvaro and Mannah have spent decent time on the sidelines, so has Manu Ma'u. Beau Scott was a broken shadow of himself and retired mid-year. Kenny Edwards got himself sacked, he was a huge player for us off the bench. Even Moses missed a couple.

Add to that the atrocious form Mennings has been in (he as, IMO, almost single-handedly nullified our right edge attack), and the fact that we had Vave and Matagi combine to run for over 100m something like 22 times last year and both have struggled to crack the side this year (and usually been ordinary), and it's just been a disaster.

And people want to lay the blame entirely on the coach....

Not that I'm trying to make it a Cowboys vs Eels, who has had it worse argument. It really just goes to show how important luck is, at the end of the day. Both sides have had appalling luck, from injuries to the bounce of the ball (or the position of the goalpost...) at times.

There are some shining lights for us though, despite the year. Daniel Alvaro has been absolutely outstanding, so has PenisHands Terepo. Gennings has been a very solid addition. Niukore and Salmon look at home in the top grade. Mannah has found his best form again, and so did Ma'u before injury. Hopefully we can forget about 2018 and reset for 2019.