Eels backline the hottest in NRL: Finch

[Monk]

yeh... lets talk bout 02' twas a very good year

 

[neeknitsuj]

Roosters have the best backline by far.

 

[Nathan B]

Must be only talking about attack, because their defence, especially the right-hand side, is shocking. No chance of a grand final if they can't improve on their display against Manly and the Dogs.

 

[lockyno1]

Roosters have the best backline by far.

ROFL turn it up..not even remotely close.

Mini>Burt
Hayne>Perrett
Tahu>Monaghan
Smith>Soliola
Grothe>Williams

All the Parra players are rep players (except Smith,Burt) and that is even leving Inu out!

 

[lucablight]

I don't think there's anything arrogant about praising your own team mates. What's the problem? If you're talking about 1-5 it's a pretty fair argument.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

parramatta dominanted the entire f**king year what the hell are you on about? parramatta were probably the shortest priced favourites of all time. looking back newcastle had a great team that year but parra just f**ked everyone in the arse until that sunday night

They overachieved all year. Counts for little in the big one though.

Honestly, how much do you rate this team:

1. Hodgson
2. Moodie
3. Vaeliki
4. Lyon
5. Burt
6. Buettner
7. Taylor
8. Cayless
9. Drew
10. Vella
11. Hindmarsh
12. Hindmarsh
13. Wagon

14. Marsh
15. Ryan
16. Solomona
17. Chan

Sure it's a good side but not too many of them played rep footy that year.

Compare that with:

1. O'Davis
2. Tahu
3. Gidley
4. Hughes
5. MacDougall
6. Rudder
7. Johns
8. Perry
9. Buderus
10. Parsons
11. Simpson
12. Kennedy
13. Peden

14. O'Brien
15. Marquet
16. Grief
17. Abraham

That backline is just full of Origin players, not to mention Buderus, Simpson and Kennedy in the forwards.

The only place Parra was better than Newcastle was on the bench, and possibly at five-eighth. We had more mobility in the front row but as grand final day showed we were seriously undersized.

We might've had the best results all year but we hardly had the best team. We were lucky to beat Brisbane in the preliminary final to be honest.

Parra's 1-5 in 2007 are streets ahead of their 2001 counterparts, and our forward pack are bigger, older and harder.

Whereas in 2001 we had only one player who had played in a Grand Final (Dave Solomona played for the Roosters in 2000) this year we have Burt, Tahu, Finch, Wagon, Hindmarsh, Hindmarsh, Cayless, Marsh and Robinson.

Our only concern is doubts over the mentality of our halves but Tim Smith has put his 2006 second-season syndrome behind him to find some consistent form in '07. Brett Finch has shown he can keep his head in a big match (Origin game 1 2006) and he has considerable finals experience.

I think we're more chance of winning a Grand Final this year than we ever were in 2001. And imo we're still only 3rd or 4th favourites.

 

[Red Bear]

Warriors have the best backline IMO, loving he way them and the tigers are playing

 

[tiger_nick]

They overachieved all year. Counts for little in the big one though.

Honestly, how much do you rate this team:

1. Hodgson
2. Moodie
3. Vaeliki
4. Lyon
5. Burt
6. Buettner
7. Taylor
8. Cayless
9. Drew
10. Vella
11. Hindmarsh
12. Hindmarsh
13. Wagon

14. Marsh
15. Ryan
16. Solomona
17. Chan

Sure it's a good side but not too many of them played rep footy that year.

Compare that with:

1. O'Davis
2. Tahu
3. Gidley
4. Hughes
5. MacDougall
6. Rudder
7. Johns
8. Perry
9. Buderus
10. Parsons
11. Simpson
12. Kennedy
13. Peden

14. O'Brien
15. Marquet
16. Grief
17. Abraham

That backline is just full of Origin players, not to mention Buderus, Simpson and Kennedy in the forwards.

The only place Parra was better than Newcastle was on the bench, and possibly at five-eighth. We had more mobility in the front row but as grand final day showed we were seriously undersized.

We might've had the best results all year but we hardly had the best team. We were lucky to beat Brisbane in the preliminary final to be honest.

Parra's 1-5 in 2007 are streets ahead of their 2001 counterparts, and our forward pack are bigger, older and harder.

Whereas in 2001 we had only one player who had played in a Grand Final (Dave Solomona played for the Roosters in 2000) this year we have Burt, Tahu, Finch, Wagon, Hindmarsh, Hindmarsh, Cayless, Marsh and Robinson.

Our only concern is doubts over the mentality of our halves but Tim Smith has put his 2006 second-season syndrome behind him to find some consistent form in '07. Brett Finch has shown he can keep his head in a big match (Origin game 1 2006) and he has considerable finals experience.

I think we're more chance of winning a Grand Final this year than we ever were in 2001. And imo we're still only 3rd or 4th favourites.

Yep agree 100%. I couldnt believe how short priced parra were. What happened in the first 20 minutes that night didnt surprise me in the slightest. Parra were dreadful the week before against Brisbane, very lucky to win that game. Brad Drew pretty much got them home single handedly if i remember correctly. They certainly brought that form into the big one. The Knights backrow and Johns ran riot. Hodgson and PJ Marsh were the only Eels who looked switched on.

 

[kia ora storm]

Gees..Parra boys are talking it up already...yes they have a good backline but I would not be putting my head on the block with a number of rounds to go !!!.

 

[Hurriflatch]

maybe Finch means that they are the sexist backline in the comp and he has a man crush on Hayne, Inu asnd Guru

 

[Dutchy]

maybe Finch means that they are the sexist backline in the comp and he has a man crush on Hayne, Inu asnd Guru

Makes sense coming from Funch

 

[sydraider]

I think parra's backline is better than the Storms.

 

[Parraren]

Some people are forgetting one very important thing re Parramatta prior to 2007.

Brian Smth.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Some people are forgetting one very important thing re Parramatta prior to 2007.

Brian Smth.

Don't start with that crap.

 

[ShineDog]

Must admit the Eels have some great outside backs...pitty the don't have a heart...they will lose first week of the finals!!

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Must admit the Eels have some great outside backs...pitty the don't have a heart...they will lose first week of the finals!!

'97 - lost first week of finals to eventual Premiers Newcastle
'98 - won in first week of finals against North Sydney
'99 - won in first week of finals against Newcastle
'00 - won in first week of finals against eventual runners-up the Roosters
'01 - won in first week of finals against the Warriors
'02 - lost in first week of finals against Brisbane
'03 - didn't make finals
'04 - didn't make finals
'05 - won in first week of finals against Manly
'06 - lost in first week of finals against eventual runners-up Melbourne

I count 5 wins and 3 losses over the past 10 years.

That's our record in the first week of the finals since we started making the finals again. Before that you'd have to go back to 1986 to see our finals record and I'm sure you know how we went that year.

 

[kia ora storm]

Must admit the Eels have some great outside backs...pitty the don't have a heart...they will lose first week of the finals!!

Dunno about that ??...they will be hard to beat...

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We have an even better record in the second week of the finals.

In the past ten years we have played only 3 times (we also had 3 BYES) in the second week of the finals for 2 wins and a loss:

'97 - lost to Norths
'98 - won against eventual Premiers Brisbane
'99 - BYE
'00 - won against Penrith
'01 - BYE
'02 - didn't make second week
'03 - didn't make finals
'04 - didn't make finals
'05 - BYE
'06 - didn't make second week

As you can see, we haven't played in the second week of the finals for nearly 7 years, but when we do we have a great record.

Unfortunately our record in the third week of the finals (the Preliminary Finals) is dreadful:

'97 - didn't make preliminary final
'98 - lost to eventual runners-up Canterbury
'99 - lost to eventual Premiers Melbourne
'00 - lost to eventual Premiers Brisbane
'01 - won against Brisbane
'02 - didn't make preliminary final
'03 - didn't make finals
'04 - didn't make finals
'05 - lost to eventual runners-up North Queensland
'06 - didn't make preliminary final

That's five appearances for only one win.

And of course our Grand Final record over the past decade has been fairly poor - 0% but then, if we win one our Grand Final record for the period will be the same as Canterbury's - 50%

 

[m0j0]

Mojo you have no idea have you.
Newcastle had the best team, A.Johns was out for a good period that year.
Parra broke a lot of records but let me remind you Newcastle beat Parra convincingly that year down in newcastle with Johns playing. It was reversed when he was out in the return game at Parra.

So many times I have heard how Parra had the better team, what absolute garbage.
Knights had the experience and the better side, parra were a youthful bunch who did A LOT more than anyone thought at the begining of that year

I think you missed the point of my post. You should've gathered from my last sentence that I didn't actually believe the hype myself which is why I put a bit of money on the Knights and hence collected on GF night.

 

[mattyg]

on the subject of being cocky, i just come up with a pearler against my brother (manly fan). The conversation went a bit like this:

Me: *calls my bro to my room to show him the grand final tickets are up on ticketek*
Him: "you don't need to worry about GF tickets bulldogs won't be there".
Me: "anything can happen in the finals"
Him: "we've scored the first try in 16 games this year and we're the best team at grinding out a win"
Me: "the finals are different"
Him: "we only need to win 2 games and we're there"
Me: "we only needed to win 2 games last year look what happened"
Him: "yeah dogs are chokers"
Me: "that coming from someone who's team hasn't won a finals game this century"

he can be a cocky little thing at the best of times, has been all season. I didn't hear out of him for 2 weeks after we smashed Manly in rd 15. I can't wait to see his reaction if Manly bomb out in straight sets. *hope it happens*