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PARRAMATTA coach Michael Hagan will wield the axe in the wake of a third straight loss as his side's season threatens to slip away.
Touted as top-four material at the start of the season, the misfiring Eels are the biggest disappointment of 2008.
After slumping to their 10th loss of the year on Friday night against a Manly side missing Matt Orford and with Jamie Lyon and Jason King injured early in the match, Parramatta will have to win five of their last seven games just to make the finals.
The Parramatta players were at a recovery session at Stanhope Aquatic Centre at Blacktown yesterday trying to come to terms with another insipid performance that featured flimsy goal-line defence, one-dimensional forward play and a lack of discipline.
Reluctant to publicly crucify his team, Hagan has shown faith in his top 25 playing roster. Until now.
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He refused to confirm he would dump several under-performing players for next Friday's match against North Queensland, but The Sunday Telegraph understands Hagan has lost patience with his side.
Centre Joel Reddy is the man most likely to follow fullback Luke Burt, who was dumped leading into the Manly loss.
Reddy came up with a critical blunder two minutes before halftime when he coughed up possession in Parramatta's 20m zone and watched team-mate Taulima Tautai get bundled into touch.
From the scrum, Manly winger David Williams touched down in the right corner to send the Sea Eagles to a 10-6 lead.
"I was really disappointed with the try we conceded before halftime,'' Hagan said.
"That was critical and a bit soft with two minutes on the clock to turn the ball over against a quality team like Manly.
"You come (to Brookvale) knowing you can't give them free shots at you and we did that on halftime.
"We were entitled to have done better and certainly the game was there to be won if our goal-line defence and execution had been as good as it could have been.
"I thought without Orford and when Lyon went off we were a genuine hope. In terms of showing a bit of resilience to a couple of sets of six or a penalty against you, that's something we've got to improve on.''
Other Parramatta players under review include NSW Origin flyer Jarryd Hayne, who was switched to fullback against Manly, and bench back-rower Todd Lowrie.
The Eels led 6-0 early and clearly held the upper hand after Manly lost playmaker Lyon with medial ligament damage to his knee.
But when it came time to consolidate in preparation for a decisive blow, the blue and gold outfit were left with few answers.
Manly hooker Matt Ballin's opening try to level the scores at 6-6 echoed the theme of Parramatta's poor season.
Dejected Eels captain Nathan Cayless had few answers to why the Eels' goal-line defence has become so fragile, while Hagan conceded Parramatta needed an attitude adjustment towards defending their own line.
"We've come up with two soft tries on our own line and lost by 18 points,'' Hagan said.
"It's an attitude to stopping the opposition on our line.''
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,24045411-5006066,00.html
Touted as top-four material at the start of the season, the misfiring Eels are the biggest disappointment of 2008.
After slumping to their 10th loss of the year on Friday night against a Manly side missing Matt Orford and with Jamie Lyon and Jason King injured early in the match, Parramatta will have to win five of their last seven games just to make the finals.
The Parramatta players were at a recovery session at Stanhope Aquatic Centre at Blacktown yesterday trying to come to terms with another insipid performance that featured flimsy goal-line defence, one-dimensional forward play and a lack of discipline.
Reluctant to publicly crucify his team, Hagan has shown faith in his top 25 playing roster. Until now.
Related Links
He refused to confirm he would dump several under-performing players for next Friday's match against North Queensland, but The Sunday Telegraph understands Hagan has lost patience with his side.
Centre Joel Reddy is the man most likely to follow fullback Luke Burt, who was dumped leading into the Manly loss.
Reddy came up with a critical blunder two minutes before halftime when he coughed up possession in Parramatta's 20m zone and watched team-mate Taulima Tautai get bundled into touch.
From the scrum, Manly winger David Williams touched down in the right corner to send the Sea Eagles to a 10-6 lead.
"I was really disappointed with the try we conceded before halftime,'' Hagan said.
"That was critical and a bit soft with two minutes on the clock to turn the ball over against a quality team like Manly.
"You come (to Brookvale) knowing you can't give them free shots at you and we did that on halftime.
"We were entitled to have done better and certainly the game was there to be won if our goal-line defence and execution had been as good as it could have been.
"I thought without Orford and when Lyon went off we were a genuine hope. In terms of showing a bit of resilience to a couple of sets of six or a penalty against you, that's something we've got to improve on.''
Other Parramatta players under review include NSW Origin flyer Jarryd Hayne, who was switched to fullback against Manly, and bench back-rower Todd Lowrie.
The Eels led 6-0 early and clearly held the upper hand after Manly lost playmaker Lyon with medial ligament damage to his knee.
But when it came time to consolidate in preparation for a decisive blow, the blue and gold outfit were left with few answers.
Manly hooker Matt Ballin's opening try to level the scores at 6-6 echoed the theme of Parramatta's poor season.
Dejected Eels captain Nathan Cayless had few answers to why the Eels' goal-line defence has become so fragile, while Hagan conceded Parramatta needed an attitude adjustment towards defending their own line.
"We've come up with two soft tries on our own line and lost by 18 points,'' Hagan said.
"It's an attitude to stopping the opposition on our line.''
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,24045411-5006066,00.html