Eels Attack Analysis

[TheRam]

Interesting comments from Paulo starting from about 2:37: https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2...t-to-be-known-as-a-team-that-is-going-to-win/

The players have a licence to use the ball, but the decision is with them whether to pass or not. Against Canberra the on-field decision makers just didn't play eyes up footy.

No sh*t they didn't play eyes up footy. They didn't play any footy.

It's no good to tell the players that they can use their own discretion as to when to use the ball, if they haven't practiced ad infinitum the types of plays that may get them out of trouble in games like that.

I'm telling you there is a reason we don't and can't execute a different style of play when it is needed. We don't do anywhere near enough training for it. Listen to when Storm players talk about how they prepare for their game plans and attacking structures. All current and former players when asked always say that they train for hours and hours on the training paddock for all possible contingencies. They don't leave any stone unturned.

I don't believe we do. In fact I have heard our players say in passing and hint during different interviews that we don't do all that much other then the standard attacking structures we all see game to game and are bored sh*tless with. I can't prove it but I would bet my last $ that we aren't focused of attacking structured anywhere near as much as a team like the Storm.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

No sh*t they didn't play eyes up footy. They didn't play any footy.

It's no good to tell the players that they can use their own discretion as to when to use the ball, if they haven't practiced ad infinitum the types of plays that may get them out of trouble in games like that.

I'm telling you there is a reason we don't and can't execute a different style of play when it is needed. We don't do anywhere near enough training for it. Listen to when Storm players talk about how they prepare for their game plans and attacking structures. All current and former players when asked always say that they train for hours and hours on the training paddock for all possible contingencies. They don't leave any stone unturned.

I don't believe we do. In fact I have heard our players say in passing and hint during different interviews that we don't do all that much other then the standard attacking structures we all see game to game and are bored sh*tless with. I can't prove it but I would bet my last $ that we aren't focused of attacking structured anywhere near as much as a team like the Storm.

I think Arthur's knows how much they train at the Storm. He did spend four years there.

Anyway, I hope we're focusing on our defence, because that's what has let us down in our last three finals games.

 

[Noise]

Obviously the stronger teams have more attacking options. That's why they're stronger. To be fair, this year we've added Mahoney's playmaking around the middle. That wasn't an option in previous years. It would be nice if the right edge was a legitimate attacking option but that's a matter of Drown continuing to develop his game.

Drown was a threat when he was on the left. Gutho, and to a lesser extent Moses were more of a threat than Brown when they were on the right.
They shouldn’t have swapped.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Drown was a threat when he was on the left. Gutho, and to a lesser extent Moses were more of a threat than Brown when they were on the right.
They shouldn’t have swapped.

Swapping Drown and Moses has improved our defence significantly. We have only conceded 20+ points four times this year, and two of those were while Drown was unavailable. A third was in a sloppy win over the Tigers, which preceded a sloppy loss to the Dragons.

Defence is what we need to win in the post-season. The swap was about that.

 

[Noise]

Swapping Drown and Moses has improved our defence significantly. We have only conceded 20+ points four times this year, and two of those were while Drown was unavailable. A third was in a sloppy win over the Tigers, which preceded a sloppy loss to the Dragons.

Defence is what we need to win in the post-season. The swap was about that.

After 19 rounds last year we had only conceded 20 + points 5 times. Hardly a significant difference. Our overall points against differential was 3 points better last year. Again, not a significant difference but I don’t see how our defence has improved. It’s about the same.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

After 19 rounds last year we had only conceded 20 + points 5 times. Hardly a significant difference.

No, but Drown played in four of those games (from 16 total). This year, in games he's played (14 so far), we only conceded 20+ twice.

Our overall points against differential was 3 points better last year. Again, not a significant difference but I don’t see how our defence has improved. It’s about the same.

It's improved compared to how many points teams are scoring this year. You can simply look at our own attacking improvement to see this. Last year we scored 19.6 per game, this year we've scored 26.9. The top attacking team is scoring 36.2 ppg compared to 27.6 last year. Overall teams are outscoring their 2020 versions by 23.1 points to 20.9, with winning teams evidently accounting for a majority of the scoring increase relative to losing teams.

Put another way, we conceded 4.3% of points scored in the NRL last year (over 20 rounds). This year we are responsible for conceding 4.0% of points. I'm not expecting that to change significantly after 25 rounds, though I don't think we'll score many in the coming month.

 

[Twizzle]

Dylbags is improving though, he is still pretty young, best defensive half in the NRL, however that just a bonus and not really the job of a back up No 7

He is not a 7 so we really shouldn't compare his to one, he has a long kicking game, play making kicks are average but he can finish better then a lot of halves and has good speed, runs more like a centre

 

[yy_cheng]

No sh*t they didn't play eyes up footy. They didn't play any footy.

It's no good to tell the players that they can use their own discretion as to when to use the ball, if they haven't practiced ad infinitum the types of plays that may get them out of trouble in games like that.

I'm telling you there is a reason we don't and can't execute a different style of play when it is needed. We don't do anywhere near enough training for it. Listen to when Storm players talk about how they prepare for their game plans and attacking structures. All current and former players when asked always say that they train for hours and hours on the training paddock for all possible contingencies. They don't leave any stone unturned.

I don't believe we do. In fact I have heard our players say in passing and hint during different interviews that we don't do all that much other then the standard attacking structures we all see game to game and are bored sh*tless with. I can't prove it but I would bet my last $ that we aren't focused of attacking structured anywhere near as much as a team like the Storm.

yeah.. that's why there are no decoy runners coz it's eyes up, it's what the players see and not what they have rehearsed.

 

[Pazza]

No sh*t they didn't play eyes up footy. They didn't play any footy.

It's no good to tell the players that they can use their own discretion as to when to use the ball, if they haven't practiced ad infinitum the types of plays that may get them out of trouble in games like that.

I'm telling you there is a reason we don't and can't execute a different style of play when it is needed. We don't do anywhere near enough training for it. Listen to when Storm players talk about how they prepare for their game plans and attacking structures. All current and former players when asked always say that they train for hours and hours on the training paddock for all possible contingencies. They don't leave any stone unturned.

I don't believe we do. In fact I have heard our players say in passing and hint during different interviews that we don't do all that much other then the standard attacking structures we all see game to game and are bored sh*tless with. I can't prove it but I would bet my last $ that we aren't focused of attacking structured anywhere near as much as a team like the Storm.

Very true

I can't remember the last time I saw a parramatta winger go over for a try untouched because the players and structure on the inside worked to perfection.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

 

[hindy111]

Irony is we did Stuck to game plan and with some good goal kicking we have another 4 points and almost certain of a top 4 spot.

 

[TheRam]

yeah.. that's why there are no decoy runners coz it's eyes up, it's what the players see and not what they have rehearsed.

Eyes up also means that you should be able to call and execute plays that you feel will work because the opposition are doing something that you believe a curtain rehearsed play will reap dividends.

We should have a bag load of calls that we can call on that every player should know instinctively and can get into position for. Not just the boring unders play or pass, pass, pass , pass along the backline or the hitups we do. Listen to all the great halves and they will tell you they had calls for everything that they called think of by the time they retired.

Our coaching staff should be working on these sorts of things for hours on end every week and the players shouldn't even have to think to execute them, they should hear a call and their bodies should react instinctively. When curtain things happen on the field our players should all know that when they see this, then we do "X" and not stick to the main playing structure. Adjust for the circumstances. When done instinctively and rapidly, it may look like it was off the cuff and should, but it sure as hell isn't and has been practiced forever.

If we are not capable of doing this then I don't believe we are being coach well and changes need to be made to get these types of responses from our players. At the moment they are just so one dimensional. It doesn't need to be complicated either. We can start off with simple but effective plays that have been around forever and you slowly build from there season on season and roster to roster. But we have virtually nothing when the barge and kick isn't working other then risky stupid plays and then people like pou say we shouldn't do Parra ball because it is to risky, which is true because we are doing it through desperation and not when appropriate.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

we are not capable of doing this then I don't believe we are being coach well and changes need to be made to get these types of responses from our players. At the moment they are just so one dimensional.

We attacked like this in 2017 when we had quality ball players Norman, Ma'u and Edwards on our edges, as well as finishers like Radradra and French. Just like now, we played to our strengths. It's just that our strengths were very different then:

I'm pretty sure you were one of the ones demanding we spend more on props.

 

[Twizzle]

Jason Moran played for the Storm ?

 

[84 Baby]

I’d be really interested in how opposition fans view our attack. If any of them could do it seriously that is

 

[lingard]

I know you don't like Murphy but maybe the players aren't as talented as you think or maybe they are just lazy.

Do you seriously believe that our players are 'lazy'? And as far as talent is concerned: Paulo, Lane, Papalii, Matterson, Cartwright, are extremely talented ball-players and/or off-loaders. They are being coached to run at the opposition players rather than between the opposition players. Do you really think they are lazy and just think, "I couldn't be f**ked, I'll just run straight into the opposition"?

 

[lingard]

We definitely need to look for something different, but another serious question for you to consider...

When we played Penrith 3 weeks ago and matched them 2 tries each, they scored their 2 tries from (1) a play that started at the right hand post, went right 2 passes and then a big missed tackle by Papali'i 10 metres out from the line and (2) a play that started near the left posts after a settler from Penrith and then shifted left 2 passes before a late offload found a support player who went past some lazy defence from Lane not following and closing the gap. Penrith had nothing in attack that we couldn't defend against, except for missing tackles.

Like my original post asked, is our attacking structure and plan really any different from anyone else or is it just execution?

Penrith were without the current best half-back in the world. But, in any case, if our attack was better, their two tries wouldn't have brought them close enough to beat us.

 

[lingard]

I think Arthur's knows how much they train at the Storm. He did spend four years there.

Anyway, I hope we're focusing on our defence, because that's what has let us down in our last three finals games.

If our attack was better, there wouldn't be so much of an onus on our defence to rescue us.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

If our defence was better, there wouldn't be so much of an onus on our attack to rescue us.

 

[lucablight]

Anyone who denies there is a problem after tonight is genuinely clueless or a liar.