Eels Attack Analysis

[Poupou Escobar]

Do you realise how stupid you sound. When we lost to Souths, they were below us on the table.

You're right, which is why merkins were so furious when they beat us, but Souths' ladder position now is a better indicator of their quality than it was when we played them, due to being a larger sample

Personally, I picked Melbourne, Penrith and Souths as the three best teams in the comp at the start of the year, so I wasn't surprised they beat us. I expect them to beat us next time too.

 

[IFR33K]

I guess that's where our money is spent. Players who chase the collision. So we don't have enough money in our backs. Waqa also wastes alot of the dough.

We don't have a Hayne or Semi anymore who can make half chances and get the opposition on the back foot. Gutho is not quite at that level. But when gutho is having a off game, we don't have anymore.

We need 2 real strike backs.

That’s why I said will penisi or whatever is his name should be included. When was the last time our centres broke the line? Do they do it enough? We need strike out wide, if we want to be a chance. That young centre for the cowboys had a great game lst night and created havoc for the storm defense

 

[Poupou Escobar]

If we can get it right, there’s more upside to waqa than opa. He can be a weapon but needs opportunities from the men inside him. Can’t see opa breaking a game wide open in a million years. A sound player but won’t terrorize the opposition defense. We need strike and opa isn’t it

You don't need strike from every player in the backline. You do need strong defence from most of them though. Opacic should be first picked.

 

[yy_cheng]

That’s why I said will penisi or whatever is his name should be included. When was the last time our centres broke the line? Do they do it enough? We need strike out wide, if we want to be a chance. That young centre for the cowboys had a great game lst night and created havoc for the storm defense

Yeah Totally, He made some mistakes but he looked more promising than Waqa.

I would go Sivo, Peni Oppa Fergo
next year Get rid of Waqa but if we can't Waqa takes Fergo spot on the Wing.

I reckon Peni will know how to use Sivo better too

 

[IFR33K]

You don't need strike from every player in the backline. You do need strong defence from most of them though. Opacic should be first picked.

We’re getting no strike from our backline. Only gutho adds something. Sivos job is limited on the wing. The rest in attack are average

 

[Chipmunk]

We've been without our halfback for two of those games and in the other we scored our two tries against the league's best defence. This is why comparing small samples against big samples is f**ken dumb.

I predict my stats are only going to look worse come seasons end.

 

[crocodile]

You're right, which is why merkins were so furious when they beat us, but Souths' ladder position now is a better indicator of their quality than it was when we played them, due to being a larger sample

Personally, I picked Melbourne, Penrith and Souths as the three best teams in the comp at the start of the year, so I wasn't surprised they beat us. I expect them to beat us next time too.

I was more annoyed at losing to the drag queens and Moanly myself. We still scored 20 points against the bunnies. Defence let us down that day. Dillybags was out and that left JArthur and the diabolical Waqa defending the bunnies notorious left side attack. Any wonder Fergo lost the rest of his hair.

 

[Chipmunk]

You're right, which is why merkins were so furious when they beat us, but Souths' ladder position now is a better indicator of their quality than it was when we played them, due to being a larger sample

Personally, I picked Melbourne, Penrith and Souths as the three best teams in the comp at the start of the year, so I wasn't surprised they beat us. I expect them to beat us next time too.

Souths have put 38 or more on us 4 of the last 6 times we've played them. I'd be surprised if we get anywhere near them to be honest. Their greatest strength against our biggest weakness, the result seems likely to only go one way.

 

[Eelementary]

who do you drop ?

1. Gutherson
2. Sivo
3. Opacic
4. Blake
5. Penisini

They can rotate.

Or:

1. Gutherson
2. Sivo
3. Penisini
4. Opacic
5. Ferguson/Blake

Penisini held his own in defence, and was a headache in attack.

He must play again imo.

 

[Eelementary]

seriously ?

he's been pretty consistent and excellent defense

My only criticism of Opacic is his error rate - he is good for at least two errors per match.

 

[Eelementary]

That's a pretty big and inaccurate generalisation. We have won by 20+ seven times this year. But I agree we're not up every week. That might be a coaching issue but I believe it's more a problem of the leadership group. Then again, how many teams are up every week?

Fair points.

I guess the phrase to use would be that we seem to be inconsistent.

And I do buy into this theory that we probably need some more big- game leadership at the club.

 

[Chipmunk]

I was more annoyed at losing to the drag queens and Moanly myself. We still scored 20 points against the bunnies. Defence let us down that day. Dillybags was out and that left JArthur and the diabolical Waqa defending the bunnies notorious left side attack. Any wonder Fergo lost the rest of his hair.

I'd agree at the time with the Manly thing, but in hindsight their performances last year and their poor start to the season (both without Tommy Turbo) probably shows that they're a better side at full strength than we gave them credit for. They also played 3 of the other Top 6 sides in the first 4 weeks.

If you discount the first 4 rounds of the season this is the comparison:
Manly - 10 wins / 3 losses - 451 points scored and 198 against (Differential of 253)
Parra - 9 wins / 5 losses - 380 points for and 163 agains (Differential of 217)

Manly also have a game in hand to come this weekend against one of the bottom 5 sides.

Based on that, they're probably actually better than us at full strength.

I think everyone excepts the DragQueens performance was unacceptable.

It was 38 to 10 with 10 to go against Souths.

 

[Eelementary]

1. Gutherson
2. Sivo
3. Opacic
4. Blake
5. Penisini

They can rotate.

Or:

1. Gutherson
2. Sivo
3. Penisini
4. Opacic
5. Ferguson/Blake

Penisini held his own in defence, and was a headache in attack.

He must play again imo.

I rate Blake Ferguson, and he was brilliant on Thursday.

But if we are not going to keep him beyond 2021, I reckon we should look to the future.

 

[IFR33K]

We’ve built a Ferrari without an engine. A strong forward pack that can match it with the best teams. Even hurt them. But all the better teams in the Comp have the better back. We can’t continue with the same players and tactics.

 

[Gary Gutful]

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.

When are you releasing the Poojabber Burger, MEely?

 

[Gary Gutful]

We’ve built a Ferrari without an engine. A strong forward pack that can match it with the best teams. Even hurt them. But all the better teams in the Comp have the better back. We can’t continue with the same players and tactics.

Wouldn't a better analogy be a Ferrari with shit handling and steering? Our team has a solid engine but sometimes in attack we end up spinning it into a ditch.

 

[IFR33K]

Wouldn't a better analogy be a Ferrari with shit handling and steering? Our team has a solid engine but sometimes in attack we end up spinning it into a ditch.

whatever u want. I’m sure u get the jist of my jibe

 

[Delboy]

We’ve built a Ferrari without an engine. A strong forward pack that can match it with the best teams. Even hurt them. But all the better teams in the Comp have the better back. We can’t continue with the same players and tactics.

Went to get my scripts at the chemist this morning, the pharmacist who I haven’t spoken to for 6 months at least , made a point of coming down with them. Can’t remember if I even spoke to him about footy before. He started by saying” we can’t just bash our way from our goal line to their try line”, then said how frustrating it was watching the Eels play.

That says how even people outside the obsessed like we can be , judge how we are playing. Hopefully it has become that obvious that minor changes need to be made to take us to the level required to take on the top 3 or 4 sides.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

Has anyone ever suggested a straight swap between Dyan and Gutho? I've been thinking about it all day. His speed with a bit more space could be a big asset, and we already know he's an elite defender. Gutho in the line might be a different story though, but he's a better ball player.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We’re getting no strike from our backline. Only gutho adds something. Sivos job is limited on the wing. The rest in attack are average

I think that's more a problem of the spine than the outside backs themselves. Give a player room and he'll look a lot better than if he's just making hit ups.