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Eels Attack Analysis

Happy MEel

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,860
Chipmunk said:
Do any of the top 5 teams have their halves as far away from the dummy half as what we do?

A long pass from dummy half might sound beneficial, but I'm not seeing this making our attack more efficient...if anything it is a hindrance. All our attack that leads to a break or try seems to come from shorter passes from dummy half, not long ones.
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Spot on mate. That long pass from dummy half allows the opposition to stack that side of the field and we either run out of room or there’s no space on the edge.
 
Happy MEel

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,860
I think we need to be a bit more creative in those settler plays in the opposition 20. There are ways to still find the right spots on the park for a shift and still be threatening. That slow unders line 7m from the defensive line is fodder for the defence, which results in a slow play the ball and waste of a shift on the next play. We should play with a bit more risk and throw some short balls at the line, try some outside inside balls or at the very least run that unders play right at the line on those “settlers”. These little trick plays can all be done in the same areas on the park we need them to be. We may get lucky and find a gap but at worst we should get a quicker play the ball for a decent attacking shift. Furthermore, having to mentally and physically be up for defending 4 or 5 actual attacking plays a set on your own goal line instead of 1 or 2 is fatiguing.

From an outsider looking in, it’s like the players are scared to play with a bit more risk, which I reckon comes from our coach’s obsession with a bash and barge, hold onto the ball (possession) game plan. That’s fine in our own half but we need to be far more creative at the other end of the field.
 
Happy MEel

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,860
Poupou Escobar said:
Some do, some don't. We have won the ruck in plenty of games. But sometimes, like last night, we bring piss to a shit fight and the ref puts his whistle away.
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I’d agree with you in the middle third of the field, but attacking the opposition’s line I’d argue that very rarely happens. Opposition defences know what our go to play is attacking their red zone (that ineffective unders settler 2 or 3 times a set), so can put plenty of numbers in the tackle to make it a slow play the ball.
 
Happy MEel

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,860
crocodile said:
We've scored 484 points so far this season. Can't be as bad as some of these poojabbers indicate.
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We can score points against shit defence, no one is suggesting otherwise. Us “poojabbers” see major deficiencies in attack that seem
to restrict our point scoring against the better teams, which is holding us back from being genuine contenders.

But thanks for your insightful comments, they have contributed immensely to the discussion.
 
crocodile

crocodile

Bench
Messages
3,551
Happy MEel said:
We can score points against shit defence, no one is suggesting otherwise. Us “poojabbers” see major deficiencies in attack that seem
to restrict our point scoring against the better teams, which is holding us back from being genuine contenders.

But thanks for your insightful comments, they have contributed immensely to the discussion.
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What a load of horseshit. We've still scored 484 points. We've knocked over the storm and came within a whisker of knocking over Penrith. There's always room for improvement no matter how good you are but to say our attack is poor defies the number of points scored. We seem better at loosing to teams below us than above.
 
Eelementary

Eelementary

Post Whore
Messages
57,236
crocodile said:
What a load of horseshit. We've still scored 484 points. We've knocked over the storm and came within a whisker of knocking over Penrith. There's always room for improvement no matter how good you are but to say our attack is poor defies the number of points scored. We seem better at loosing to teams below us than above.
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That's actually good point - we seem to show up, ready to play, against the elite sides, but struggle to show up against the sides we ate expected to beat.

Is it a case of hubris? Arrogance? Lack of talent? Lack of preparation?

I don't know.

But I would expect the coaching staff to pull the players into line, if they were arrogantly thinking that all they have to do is show up to win.
 
Eelementary

Eelementary

Post Whore
Messages
57,236
Conversely, though - the way we played against the Storm, Roosters, and Panthers...we haven't played like that since, really.

Our defence has stayed very strong all year, but our professionalism in attack from our games against elite opposition has waned.
 
IFR33K

IFR33K

Coach
Messages
17,043
Haven’t read all the posts but I’ll chime in anyway.

Our forward pack is one of the best in the nrl. Paulo and RCG are probably the best front row pairing, across all teams. Rheed is arguably top 3 hookers in the game too.

Our back rowers are very good but not in the class of our front row IMO. Papa has been a revelation, but maybe been overused. Matto for his size and supposed talent hasn’t been as effective as papa. But it could well be his halves aren’t creating any opportunities for him. NBrown for all his short comings, does provide go forward and energy. His numbers are always impressive. His often settlers, have been mind boggling to say the least. Often when we should be pressing for a try, we go to brown for a settler. I first assumed his fourth tackle settlers were to provide a quick play the ball to get an attacking/clearing kick away, but sometimes they are very slow. Very very slow. His settlers stiffles the attack.

With our forwards, metres aren’t a problem. They are defensively excellent too. Our creativity isn’t an issue either, with rheed continuing to improve. We also have a great kicking option from hooker too. Overall IMO we lack a little strike on the edge, and NBrown can overplay his hand a little, but we have a very capable pack.

Our halves. Considering we score many points off Moses’ boot, it’s obvious there’s an issue there with creativity. Brown for all his speed, lacks creativity and a real passing game. His dummy and run isn’t fooling the opposition. There’s no money ball to his edge players. I’m not convinced he’s the answer.

Apart from sivo and gutho, our outside backs have been average. Any wide sweeping plays look slow and clunky. Our centres aren’t breaking the line or imposing a threat. Honestly across all teams, it’s like we the least likely to create anything from our centres. It’s clear if gutho is quiet the eels are quiet. He’s also often the one passing to sivo to score in the corner. Maybe he needs to play more on the right so we aren’t as predictable moving forward.

Our attacking game is very limited. Bash and barge and kick on last hoping for the best. It’s obviously clear we can score tries against the weaker teams but against the contenders we’re limited and well covered. The disappointing thing is our forwards have had us in every game this year, only to be let down by our backs.
 
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