A few positives but still alot of improvement left

[lucablight]

I'm very happy with the win but I still feel we played quite poorly and have alot of work to do. Some observations of mine

*Good to see Tim Smith take on the line. At the start of the match he ran the ball near the line and nearly scored. I was also surprised at the pace he showed to score that intercept try. He is showing glimpses of his 2005 form but still has to dominate more consistently especially in the oppositions 20. We didn't take advantage of our field position when we should have.

*Feleti Mateo is a very good ball runner no doubt however there was alot of arm grabbing out there today which is a bit of a concern. I hope he improves his defence as he looks like a very good player. I also feel he should be used closer to the tryline as the opposition teams seem to have alot of trouble handling him.

*It was disappointing to see the amount of yardage we gave the Tigers forwards. We simply gave away too many metres each set of 6. We barely hung on in defence on some sets because the Tigers had plenty of ball handling problems of their own. If some of the balls had stuck or we were playing a better team it very well could have been a different story.

*Brett Finch has been very quiet.

*Nathan Cayless gets bagged alot but he has been close to our best in all 3 games this year. I think this is the best he has played in ages.

*Is is just me or was it the Nathan Hindmarsh of 2001 playing out there today? The haircut, the dragging along defenders....everything. I liked his performance because he contributed alot more in attack and defence. 155m and 35 tackles. Outstanding.

*Our goal line defence was medicore. Some might say we were lucky to get away with the victory. Overall defence wasn't much better. Hope it improves ALOT very soon.

 

[Eelementary]

I'm very happy with the win but I still feel we played quite poorly and have alot of work to do. Some observations of mine

*Good to see Tim Smith take on the line. At the start of the match he ran the ball near the line and nearly scored. I was also surprised at the pace he showed to score that intercept try. He is showing glimpses of his 2005 form but still has to dominate more consistently especially in the oppositions 20. We didn't take advantage of our field position when we should have.

*Feleti Mateo is a very good ball runner no doubt however there was alot of arm grabbing out there today which is a bit of a concern. I hope he improves his defence as he looks like a very good player. I also feel he should be used closer to the tryline as the opposition teams seem to have alot of trouble handling him.

*It was disappointing to see the amount of yardage we gave the Tigers forwards. We simply gave away too many metres each set of 6. We barely hung on in defence on some sets because the Tigers had plenty of ball handling problems of their own. If some of the balls had stuck or we were playing a better team it very well could have been a different story.

*Brett Finch has been very quiet.

*Nathan Cayless gets bagged alot but he has been close to our best in all 3 games this year. I think this is the best he has played in ages.

*Is is just me or was it the Nathan Hindmarsh of 2001 playing out there today? The haircut, the dragging along defenders....everything. I liked his performance because he contributed alot more in attack and defence. 155m and 35 tackles. Outstanding.

*Our goal line defence was medicore. Some might say we were lucky to get away with the victory. Overall defence wasn't much better. Hope it improves ALOT very soon.

I agree.

Although on the goal-line defence point, there were times when we looked good.

Anyway, an ugly, scrappy win like that, when you're struggling for form, can often help you more than a good win. We at least showed attitude, passion, aggression (I thought every one of our forwards aimed up at some stage tonight, whether in defence or attack) and showed team pride and spirit.

Well done, lads!

 

[jayjayselmes]

to be honest it was a piss poor game from both sides. The tigers really should have won the game, The tigers made about 7 good line breaks with no support and luckily didnt pull any scoring points from those breaks.

Thee eels looked poor in defence especially up the middle and Robbie farah really ask the question to the forwards and made them look like poweder puffs. Cayless was good again tonight. Hindy was also a shadow of his normal game which is to be expected, i guess hit fitness will come over the coming weeks.

Hats off to burt tonight what a champion and rarely gets the kudos he deserves.

The halves: its clear one has gotta go and go now. No direction at all sloppy and very disorganised. It was good to see Tim smith on the receiving end of an intercept instead of the multiple intercepts he throws per game. Finch was poor and Tim also offered zero except for the kick for mateos try. Was finch even playing tonight ??

I guess we can take the 2 points but if we were up against the cowboys, thurston and bowen would have had a field day up the middle andwe would have got done by quite a hefty score.

what happened to parras defence???

 

[Eelementary]

We have to remember - we were never going to go from last week's shambles to best all round team. We were rusty and out of form.

But an ugly, passionate, proud win like this one will go a long way towards giving the team the confidence they need.

 

[jayjayselmes]

We have to remember - we were never going to go from last week's shambles to best all round team. We were rusty and out of form.

But an ugly, passionate, proud win like this one will go a long way towards giving the team the confidence they need.

yeah lets hope we build on this win

 

[Eelementary]

I think we can.

Moimoi and Grothe due back next week; Hindmarsh will be better off for the run; and Cayless is still playing very well.

I think this could just be the catalyst we needed. My only concerns are (1) defence and (2) for Finchy to get more involved in attack and not go missing.

 

[Hurriflatch]

It was good to get a win but really the game was very crappy despite to excitiment of tje golden point finish.

AS Said Finch needs to get more involved but not step onm Tim's feet doing it AND THE DEFENCE is abysmal but Hagan coached sides have always had poor defenesive records.

 

[Utey]

I made a thread on it, but our scramble is what saved us tonight. As you said, there's plenty of improvement there.

 

[Stagger eel]

I'm very happy with the win but I still feel we played quite poorly and have alot of work to do. Some observations of mine

*Good to see Tim Smith take on the line. At the start of the match he ran the ball near the line and nearly scored. I was also surprised at the pace he showed to score that intercept try. He is showing glimpses of his 2005 form but still has to dominate more consistently especially in the oppositions 20. We didn't take advantage of our field position when we should have.

*Feleti Mateo is a very good ball runner no doubt however there was alot of arm grabbing out there today which is a bit of a concern. I hope he improves his defence as he looks like a very good player. I also feel he should be used closer to the tryline as the opposition teams seem to have alot of trouble handling him.

*It was disappointing to see the amount of yardage we gave the Tigers forwards. We simply gave away too many metres each set of 6. We barely hung on in defence on some sets because the Tigers had plenty of ball handling problems of their own. If some of the balls had stuck or we were playing a better team it very well could have been a different story.

*Brett Finch has been very quiet.

*Nathan Cayless gets bagged alot but he has been close to our best in all 3 games this year. I think this is the best he has played in ages.

*Is is just me or was it the Nathan Hindmarsh of 2001 playing out there today? The haircut, the dragging along defenders....everything. I liked his performance because he contributed alot more in attack and defence. 155m and 35 tackles. Outstanding.

*Our goal line defence was medicore. Some might say we were lucky to get away with the victory. Overall defence wasn't much better. Hope it improves ALOT very soon.

* Tim was very good..but needs to do it on an ongoing basis.

* Feleti is definitely a bench player at this stage and needs to toughen up in the D, maybe after a few games under his belt he'll be the strikepower we all know and love but this is a completely different ball game to pl and the challenges will be greater...he now has the opportunity with Lowrie possably breaking his hand in pl lastnight.

 

[Stagger eel]

oh! Caylo has been phenominal and Hindy for his first game back was very good, and he'll be much better for the run.

 

[shiftysmith]

one reason why i think finch does not get involved that much is did anyone see how far he stands from smith to recieve the ball...the ball goes from dummy half to smith then finch is another 15-20 metres away and by the time the ball gets to finch the defence is up on him.....just a small thing noticed over the weeks

 

[Twizzle]

I hope this now ends the battle between Matao and Lowrie, its a no brainer

It good to have a win and I know we are trying to be positive and stuff, but bottom line is, if this is the best we can do we wont win too many more games this season

 

[eels_fan_01]

F*ck me dead. We lose you complain, we win you complain. Although i agree it was an ugly win, they showed passion and grit to win it. Wasnt that what you dopes have asked for in round 1 well there you got it.

I personally thought Tim Smiths game was a 50% improvement and i liked what he did.

1 win from 3 is alot better than 3-0 so just take it.

Its early times but im likely the look of Feleti Mateo. I think he can cause even more trouble when Fui Fui plays as Fui Fui draws in defenders than he can go off the back of hes runs.

 

[Twizzle]

oh, I forgot the main positive

good to see Hindy back

 

[varion]

Not wishing injury to anyone but if Lowrie has broken his hand - this is great news. Maybe now Mateo will get a decent run in 1sts, with time he will get better once he gets used to the pace of 1st grade.

He is an attacking weapon - something we have little of.

Zeb Taia was the same when he was in 1sts , poor D and giving away penalties or looking off the pace but at least looked like contributing in attack.

I think with Wags / Chad / N Hindy in the side for defense we should also give another PL standout a go in the forwards possibly at the expense of Ian Hindmarsh who offers us little (hes not the same player he was when he was with us back in 2001 and he wasnt excellent back then). We have enough defensive guys as it is.

 

[Prodigal Eel]

* Tim was very good..but needs to do it on an ongoing basis.

I wouldnt sat very good, but he is our best option at halfback and if he builds on this will be dominate once again.

Also i thought our scramble defence was good....they made a number of breaks but we always seemed to stop it, even if they did have support players.

I also think we need to look at wags position....imo he has been great to the club over the years but offers nothing in attack, and hasnt got the legs in him to be the workhorse...i think having N.Hindy, Robo and Wagon will harm us down the track, when the bigger teams have there defence soughted out....we wont be able to find that extra attacking weapon when the opp dont expect it.

 

[parra_jesus]

wasnt a great performance but we got the two points in the end. from the reaction from all the boys after burt kicked the goal to win the game it looked like a weight had been lifted of their shoulders , hopefully we are starting to gain some momentum.

 

[Maroubra Eel]

I was a bit disappointed with the try on our line that Reddy let in.

Does Reddy usually defend inside Ben Smith?

 

[Fathead]

Reddy wont be the last player that Benji marshall beats one on one. A quality player that Benji Marshall. A bit hard on young Reddy IMO

 

[Maroubra Eel]

Reddy wont be the last player that Benji marshall beats one on one. A quality player that Benji Marshall. A bit hard on young Reddy IMO

Yeah I see your point. He is a bit of a tricky bastard that Marshall.