Eels in the media

[Poupou Escobar]

And dont forget Will Smith.
We had two quality halfs that "couldnt work together". They were the only problem. Everything else was wonderful and by the way they were both "NRL ready". We get rid of one. Really didnt matter which one. Both were free to go. Now our problem is poor Mitch has to do it on his own. The same bloke who was free to go miracleously earns a new upgraded 3 year contract while we wait for our under 20 saviours to become NRL Ready.
Gronky I love your blind optisim but surely even you can see that swapping the deck chairs on the Titanic wont improve the situation. But then again you might. Now thats what I call being "just silly". To each their own mate.

I don't know if you've noticed but we are one of the top attacking teams in the NRL. Our defence is the problem. We are sitting in first place for points conceded. Another kicking option will certainly help that but really we just need a few better defenders.

 

[strider]

Or the bloke we punted Norman for... Dylan Brown.

Moses' problem is he needs to be the dominant half .... BUT he couldn't be a steady leader for a team if his life depended on it

 

[Gazzamatta]

I don't know if you've noticed but we are one of the top attacking teams in the NRL. Our defence is the problem. We are sitting in first place for points conceded. Another kicking option will certainly help that but really we just need a few better defenders.

Well good luck with that Poo. Im just glad all other responsibility was removed from the Coaches so they can now concentrate on what they do best. Our club needs change. The players need a new voice. A few better defenders is never a bad thing but how long will they remain good defenders within our culture and structures. How would you think Tepai would go at The Storm? I reckon he would have his bad habits coached out of him but thats just my opinion. We live to dream.

 

[strider]

Well good luck with that Poo. Im just glad all other responsibility was removed from the Coaches so they can now concentrate on what they do best. Our club needs change. The players need a new voice. A few better defenders is never a bad thing but how long will they remain good defenders within our culture and structures. How would you think Tepai would go at The Storm? I reckon he would have his bad habits coached out of him but thats just my opinion. We live to dream.

re: the storm stuff .... totally agree ..... how many times do people go, "why didn't we keep X?" .... fact is "X" would have probably been shit had we kept him

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Moses' problem is he needs to be the dominant half .... BUT he couldn't be a steady leader for a team if his life depended on it

Well that's obviously not why we signed him.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Well good luck with that Poo. Im just glad all other responsibility was removed from the Coaches so they can now concentrate on what they do best. Our club needs change. The players need a new voice. A few better defenders is never a bad thing but how long will they remain good defenders within our culture and structures. How would you think Tepai would go at The Storm? I reckon he would have his bad habits coached out of him but thats just my opinion. We live to dream.

Our points conceded since 2009:

2009 - 6th
2010 - 5th
2011 - 12th
2012 - 16th
2013 - 16th
2014 - 13th
2015 - 13th
2016 - 5th
2017 - 8th
2018 - 13th
2019 - 16th

Who was in the 2016-17 team that isn't there now or last year?

De Gois
Pritchard
Scott
Radradra

I don't think Radradra did much for our defence, but the other three certainly f**king did. In Pritchard's eight games last year we conceded 18.5 points per game. In the 16 we played without him we conceded over 25. Likewise, we conceded just over 20 ppg with Scott in the team (seven games). Without him we conceded 24 per game.

 

[emjaycee]

Our points conceded since 2009:

2009 - 6th
2010 - 5th
2011 - 12th
2012 - 16th
2013 - 16th
2014 - 13th
2015 - 13th
2016 - 5th
2017 - 8th
2018 - 13th
2019 - 16th

Who was in the 2016-17 team that isn't there now or last year?

De Gois
Pritchard
Scott
Radradra

I don't think Radradra did much for our defence, but the other three certainly f**king did. In Pritchard's eight games last year we conceded 18.5 points per game. In the 16 we played without him we conceded over 25. Likewise, we conceded just over 20 ppg with Scott in the team (seven games). Without him we conceded 24 per game.

So who are the numphy defenders we replaced them with?
Marata and Junior?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So who are the numphy defenders we replaced them with?
Marata and Junior?

My point is that the problem isn't with the players we have, it's with the players we don't have. This is why I don't like hunting for scapegoats.

There's nothing wrong with any of our players. They're all good enough in the right team. For us to be the right team we need a few more leaders.

Let's not forget we've still won about half our games. If the Titans win by 8+ today we'll still be in the top eight ffs

 

[yy_cheng]

We make too many mistakes and give away dumb ass penalties on top of the crap defence

 

[Gronk]

And dont forget Will Smith.
We had two quality halfs that "couldnt work together". They were the only problem. Everything else was wonderful and by the way they were both "NRL ready". We get rid of one. Really didnt matter which one. Both were free to go. Now our problem is poor Mitch has to do it on his own. The same bloke who was free to go miracleously earns a new upgraded 3 year contract while we wait for our under 20 saviours to become NRL Ready.
Gronky I love your blind optisim but surely even you can see that swapping the deck chairs on the Titanic wont improve the situation. But then again you might. Now thats what I call being "just silly". To each their own mate.

There seems to be a gaggle of gooses on here that love to go to town on the club whenever we lose. The club is shit, the team is shit, the coach is shit and no matter the facts behind the loss, they are shit.

The Smith, Gower, Moses, Mahoney spine was never going to get us close to a Sharks team that are brutal up the middle and super slick in the backs.

We need a fit 6 and we need to not select Will Smith ever again. Hopefully the staff think that Salmon has been rested enough to play NRL next week. Better still young Dylan.

 

[Kornstar]

Agree ... like corey norman .... oh hang on

He was no help to anyone. He went stale with us, it was the same play over and over. Grab the ball pretend to pass and then try and step his way through the line.

He was predictable and stifled our attack almost every time he got the ball and the worst part was that he always got the ball.

Norman is talented but i still think his best position is fullback, he just doesn't want to play there.

 

[Delboy]

At the end of the day, there are only a couple of teams with worse starting props than us, and they have poor backlines , which we don't.

Tigers, Bulldogs and possibly the Panthers and Titans have similar or worse issues, and that's where it starts and gets added to by poor options and bonehead penalties from players who haven't improved .

Moses is an easy scapegoat, but once Gutho left the field , the opposition only had one playmaker to target, and Mahoney couldn't do much as he was too busy tackling. End result , you saw it.

Until we get a coupe more hard headed experienced front rowers nothing much changes,2005 showed what can happen if you are aggressive in the player market and hit your recruitment targets.

Souths in that particular game were only in the game due to their big forwards who scored both tries, but our backs managed to seal the result, if we had been able to compete in the forwards then the margin would have been greater.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Moses is an easy scapegoat, but once Gutho left the field , the opposition only had one playmaker to target, and Mahoney couldn't do much as he was too busy tackling. End result , you saw it.

Fair enough our attacking structure wouId have been affected by gutho leaving, but that wasn’t the issue.

Our main problem especially in the first half was our kicking game, which is Moses responsibility. Gutho leaving didn’t make it any easier to target Moses kicking game, our second kicker smith was still out there to take pressure off Moses.

Additionally the opposition wouId have already known to target Moses as he is always our main kicker (Smith takes minimal amount of kicks each week, think it’s something like 1,6 and 0 kicks in his last 3 games plus he took 2 kicks last night)

 

[Kornstar]

Fair enough our attacking structure wouId have been affected by gutho leaving, but that wasn’t the issue.

Our main problem especially in the first half was our kicking game, which is Moses responsibility. Gutho leaving didn’t make it any easier to target Moses kicking game, our second kicker smith was still out there to take pressure off Moses.

Additionally the opposition wouId have already known to target Moses as he is always our main kicker (Smith takes minimal amount of kicks each week, think it’s something like 1,6 and 0 kicks in his last 3 games plus he took 2 kicks last night)

What you are saying is true but if you don't think Gutho going off affected Moses even more in general then you are delusional and not wanting to see it.

Moses kicking game was garbage and has been garbage for a while but also there are other significant factors. How many times are we seeing opposition in his face as he is kicking the ball? It is pretty much most kicks, that means the forwards also aren't doing their jobs properly. He is our only option so oppositions are already targeting him, and our players aren't helping him at all.

Poor coaching and motivation is also a massive issue right now.

 

[Soto]

What you are saying is true but if you don't think Gutho going off affected Moses even more in general then you are delusional and not wanting to see it.

Moses kicking game was garbage and has been garbage for a while but also there are other significant factors. How many times are we seeing opposition in his face as he is kicking the ball? It is pretty much most kicks, that means the forwards also aren't doing their jobs properly. He is our only option so oppositions are already targeting him, and our players aren't helping him at all.

Poor coaching and motivation is also a massive issue right now.

Yep spot on.
Agree with Delboy too though.
Get RCG, Lodge in the fwds and Waqa Blake in the backs and i reckon we have an ultra competitive side.
How good would good the following backline if we could snare Blake now? I rate Waqa Blake. Good enough for origin when fully fit

1.Guth
2.Sivo
3.Jenko
4.Blake
5.Fergo
6.D Brown
7.Moses

And the fwds with RCG? Going into the origin series last year he was the best prop in the game..
13.N Brown
12. Lane
11. Mau
10. Junior
9. Reed
8. RCG

 

[Joshuatheeel]

What you are saying is true but if you don't think Gutho going off affected Moses even more in general then you are delusional and not wanting to see it.

Moses kicking game was garbage and has been garbage for a while but also there are other significant factors. How many times are we seeing opposition in his face as he is kicking the ball? It is pretty much most kicks, that means the forwards also aren't doing their jobs properly. He is our only option so oppositions are already targeting him, and our players aren't helping him at all.

Poor coaching and motivation is also a massive issue right now.

Moses / smith have been our main kickers for the last 3 weeks, how would gutho going of, affect their kicking game ?

Our 2 main kickers were still on the field. Call me delusional but can’t see how those 2 were affected, however happy to consider other ideas how it would be affected (always happy to learn) substantial compared to previous weeks.

 

[emjaycee]

Moses / smith have been our main kickers for the last 3 weeks, how would gutho going of, affect their kicking game ?

Our 2 main kickers were still on the field. Call me delusional but can’t see how those 2 were affected, however happy to consider other ideas how it would be affected (always happy to learn) substantial compared to previous weeks.

Although Moses has always been the main kicker (this year), there would have been options either side of the ruck if Smith has been able to stay at 6. With him going back to fullback, there was never really that option and although Moses may have been the main kicker regardless, there was still disruption.
Our 6 and 1 kicked a total of twice for about 20 metres, including putting one dead.

So yes, Moses' kicking game wasn't up to scratch but FFS we lost our second most experienced spine player and replaced him with an aging forward - of course there would be disruption to the remaining spine and our kicking game.

Would we have won that game with Gutho playing the full 80? Probably not but to think there was no effect on Moses and his overall game is a bit naive.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Moses / smith have been our main kickers for the last 3 weeks, how would gutho going of, affect their kicking game ?

Our 2 main kickers were still on the field. Call me delusional but can’t see how those 2 were affected, however happy to consider other ideas how it would be affected (always happy to learn) substantial compared to previous weeks.

*knickers

 

[parrathruandthru]

Can anybody open this?
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...y/news-story/e0e2a2e86a1187d47862e8e9665a621f

 

[emjaycee]

Can anybody open this?
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...y/news-story/e0e2a2e86a1187d47862e8e9665a621f

It's in the Rumours thread mate.