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Eels Attack Analysis

Poupou Escobar

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Brad Fittler asked Angus Crichton if the Roosters felt threatened by what the Eels were throwing at them in attack and he hesitantly replied with “I don’t want to bad mouth any teams”. Even the opposition players can see it.
Should've asked him how he felt when we put 30 points on them earlier in the year.
 

Poupou Escobar

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With the amount of possession we had in that game it should have been way more.
Why? We're a controlling, grinding team, not a sideline to sideline team.

In a recent TCT podcast Joey Grima mentioned we prefer to keep the ball in the middle after a quick play-the-ball. That's why our edges don't look like Melbourne's. We use the edges for hit ups (Matterson and Papali'i). It's a deliberate ploy, and unlike you I think we would win fewer games if we played any other way.
 

lucablight

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Why? We're a controlling, grinding team, not a sideline to sideline team.

In a recent TCT podcast Joey Grima mentioned we prefer to keep the ball in the middle after a quick play-the-ball. That's why our edges don't look like Melbourne's. We use the edges for hit ups (Matterson and Papali'i). It's a deliberate ploy, and unlike you I think we would win fewer games if we played any other way.
How much possession do you think a team like ours needs to put 40-50 points on? Or are we just incapable? I see us more of a team who can dominate or hold our own in the yardage battle against any team but doesn’t have much creativity in the opposition 20. I think we do go sideline to sideline in front of the opposition goal line but it’s slow and predictable and the players don’t run very good lines. The pundits seem to be agree. That’s not a grindy team. That’s a team with a great forward pack that has deficiencies in how they conduct their attacking sets.
 

Poupou Escobar

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How much possession do you think a team like ours needs to put 40-50 points on?
It depends which team we're playing against, but I think when we're in front the intent is to keep controlling the ball rather than taking more risks and trying to pile the points on. If the points come they come. The main thing is to win, and for us that means keeping the ball away from the opposition.
 

lingard

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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.
The swap was all about covering for Waqa Blake.
 

Delboy

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All the arguments really underline that we have a good forward pack that gets the side into the opposition 20 ( we don’t seem a side that is going to score long range tries). The issue is how poor we are with structure and tactics when the team gets field position. Don’t care how many people want to make excuses , that’s a coaching problem, either the attack coach isn’t good enough or the players aren’t listening to him.

He may be a really nice bloke, so perhaps he can run the water etc wearing the blue vest, but don’t need to pay that person as an asst coach, get one that can take the team to a level that makes them threaten.

At the end of the day, as Angus Chrichton intimated in the interview with Fittler, we don’t scare anyone with our predictable attack. Easy to defend, 3 crash plays, a sweep, and unders run then a kick .

Bring in some new coaching blood and let’s see if we can improve, the roster is actually decent , need some speed I guess in the backline, that’s about it.
 

Poupou Escobar

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as Angus Chrichton intimated in the interview with Fittler, we don’t scare anyone with our predictable attack
He wasn't so smug when we scored five tries against them. They knew what was coming and still couldn't stop it. But it relies on executing our kicking game well, and Moses is key to that.
 

Delboy

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He wasn't so smug when we scored five tries against them. They knew what was coming and still couldn't stop it. But it relies on executing our kicking game well, and Moses is key to that.
There should be more to any attack than executing a kicking game, the point is we have a relatively stale, predictable attack with the ball in our hands. It’s always good to win, but as a team we need to do more and be more to get where the other teams are to threaten them.
 

lucablight

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He wasn't so smug when we scored five tries against them. They knew what was coming and still couldn't stop it. But it relies on executing our kicking game well, and Moses is key to that.
He wasn’t being smug. He just didn’t know how to answer the question without sounding rude. Why do the Eels get a free pass with one player out yet the roosters have 60% of their cap sitting on the sideline and that doesn’t matter?
 

Poupou Escobar

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There should be more to any attack than executing a kicking game
Well Gutherson and Mahoney are both in the top 12 for try assists. Sivo is in the top seven for tries, for the third year in a row. We certainly don't just have a good kicking game, but the kicking game is essential for building pressure. Without Moses it just isn't good enough. Maybe after another off season our other kickers will be good enough, but this year we are reliant on Mitch Moses.
the point is we have a relatively stale, predictable attack with the ball in our hands. It’s always good to win, but as a team we need to do more and be more to get where the other teams are to threaten them.
Yes we can always get better. I just don't think 'ideas' are the solution for our team. We didn't threaten the Roosters defence because we didn't build any pressure, unlike last time we played them. And as soon as they got some ball they scored two quick tries. Without Moses we didn't have the confidence to grind our way back into the game and just resorted to throwing it around. That's 'plan B', and it is by definition not as good as plan A. When we have matched the top six teams this year it's been by sticking to plan A and remaining patient. Plan B is the easy option.
 

Poupou Escobar

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He wasn’t being smug. He just didn’t know how to answer the question without sounding rude. Why do the Eels get a free pass with one player out yet the roosters have 60% of their cap sitting on the sideline and that doesn’t matter?
Because at full strength they are much better than us. Does anyone ever refer to Parramatta's salary sombrero? Our team isn't as good as theirs. That's just a fact.

But some players are more important to their team than others. Nobody in our team can do what Moses does. Have a look at how Manly were going early in the year without Trbojevic. On the other hand, the Roosters have so much talent that they don't rely on one player. It would be great if our 'cap management' was as good. Hopefully one day it will be.
 

lucablight

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Because at full strength they are much better than us. Does anyone ever refer to Parramatta's salary sombrero? Our team isn't as good as theirs. That's just a fact.

But some players are more important to their team than others. Nobody in our team can do what Moses does. Have a look at how Manly were going early in the year without Trbojevic. On the other hand, the Roosters have so much talent that they don't rely on one player. It would be great if our 'cap management' was as good. Hopefully one day it will be.
No one has ever said we are a one man team until now.
 

hineyrulz

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ooze sleeping GIF
 

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