Finals equation becomes tougher for Eels

[FUIFUI_MOIMOI]

Parramatta coach Michael Hagan denied his side's finals chances had nosedived despite suffering a third straight NRL loss against an understrength Manly.

The Eels, in desperate need of a win, failed to capitalise on a clear opportunity for an upset after Manly lost halfback Matt Orford (thigh) before kickoff and five-eighth Jamie Lyon (knee) and Jason King (ankle) early in the first half at Brookvale Oval.

The signs looked good for Parramatta when they led 6-0 but they failed to stop the in-form Sea Eagles, who ran out convincing 28-10 winners.
The loss now leaves the Eels in serious danger of losing touch with the top eight.

If Penrith beat the Gold Coast on Saturday night, it would leave Parramatta three points outside the top eight with only seven rounds remaining.

"I thought tonight was a very important game for our end of season chances, in terms of how we played and also in terms of hopefully coming up with an upset so you can still be in the hunt after this weekend," Hagan said after the loss.

"But we said (we needed to win) 5 from 8 last week (to make the finals) so it's 5 from 7 from now on in, so the maths and the equation hasn't changed to much.

"I don't think we're too far away from sorting it out ... But we know we've got seven pretty tough games to follow and we're going to have to win five of those to be thereabouts.

"Nothing's changed too much from that point of view.
Hagan admitted the Eels let an opportunity slip.

"I think certainly the game was there to be won if our goal line D and our execution was as good as it could have been but you can't be 70-80 per cent against Manly," Hagan said.

"You've got to be at your best and I thought without Orford and when Lyon went off we were a genuine hope."

The Eels will be hoping to get their campaign back on track when they host the last-placed Cowboys at Parramatta Stadium next Friday.

http://news.smh.com.au/sport/finals-equation-becomes-tougher-for-eels-20080718-3hm8.html

 

[salvy71]

Dead set that'll do me ........the guys a fkn clown .......stand aside Bob Fulton - there's a new Bozo in town .........

 

[V1er]

Shouldnt we be aiming to win all 8 games? Telling the players, oh if we win 5 out of 8 then we can still make the 8 i dont think sends a clear enough message as to how important all the games are.

 

[Daneel]

Still make the finals what a joke. Id be relatively pleased if we won 2 out of our last 7. 5 i don't think so.

 

[sammygee]

"I don't think we're too far away from sorting it out ... But we know we've got seven pretty tough games to follow and we're going to have to win five of those to be thereabouts.

"Nothing's changed too much from that point of view.

Thereabouts????? What is that?

Show some balls and admit there are serious problems.

Nothing's changed from my point of view... Hagan has to go... my grandmother to coach!

 

[COACH STERLING]

"I think certainly the game was there to be won if our goal line D and our execution was as good as it could have been but you can't be 70-80 per cent against Manly," Hagan said.

Well f**k me dead Mr Hagan, you recon you can make them play 100 - 110%.

 

[Daneel]

Thereabouts????? What is that?

Show some balls and admit there are serious problems.

Nothing's changed from my point of view... Hagan has to go... my grandmother to coach!

Hagan may as well stay for the rest of the year. Maybe unfairly but i don't rate Fairliegh either and that would probably be the clubs logical replacement. Time to give Rip Taylor a go.

 

[bartman]

"But we said (we needed to win) 5 from 8 last week (to make the finals) so it's 5 from 7 from now on in, so the maths and the equation hasn't changed to much.

Hmmm, it's gone from needing a 62.5% win rate to needing a 71.4% win rate... our current win rate is 41.1%:lol:

"I don't think we're too far away from sorting it out ... But we know we've got seven pretty tough games to follow and we're going to have to win five of those to be thereabouts.

Cliche watch! Either that or Hagan's finally given up too, and is just going through the motions as politely as he can.

"Nothing's changed too much from that point of view.
Hagan admitted the Eels let an opportunity slip.

"I think certainly the game was there to be won if our goal line D and our execution was as good as it could have been but you can't be 70-80 per cent against Manly," Hagan said.

"You've got to be at your best and I thought without Orford and when Lyon went off we were a genuine hope."

I just wish he could show some emotion about it, take ownership and admit when we screw uop and have no direction or hope :lol: He could at least start to show a sense of humour about it now too, give us all a laugh?

 

[Daneel]

"I think certainly the game was there to be won if our goal line D and our execution was as good as it could have been but you can't be 70-80 per cent against Manly," Hagan said.

Well f**k me dead Mr Hagan, you recon you can make them play 100 - 110%.

I'd be happy with maybe 85 to 90% at the moment.

 

[salvy71]

Still make the finals what a joke. Id be relatively pleased if we won 2 out of our last 7. 5 i don't think so.

In their current form 2 would be the best we could hope for .....Hagan must be on something ....I wish I was living on his planet ...maybe i wouldn't get so stressed out .......
Parra's final 7 games

Cowboys (h)
Newcastle (a)
Roosters (a)
Wests Tigers (h)
Bulldogs (a)
Saints (a)
Warriors (h)

It's a fairly easy run home ........but then again I thought Penrith/Souths were gonna be wins a month ago .

 

[mrblue]

Hages blasé commentary is quickly becoming as predictable as our one out runs. It's time to update that coaches manual I think, the football cliches are getting a little stale, although the straightman delivery of his introspections is the best in the business and far more entertaining than the Eels atm.

 

[FUIFUI_MOIMOI]

our 5th tackle options r still pathetic, finch is always under presure and isant it funny how when the opposite team kicks none of out team puts presure instead we rely on hayne to leap high in the air.

SICK OF HAGANS EXCUSES.

 

[Redback71]

should be able to win all of those except the roosters game. but... then again well most lilkley loose them all.

 

[slippery nipeel]

Hagan is kidding himself. With that lack of intensity no wonder we are up sh*t creek without a paddle (Mateo injured and we had nothing in attack. Except for the first 15 minutes we did not look like beating Manly last night. The fact that Manly won so easily without their two main playmakers just goes to show how far we are off the pace this year.

 

[Hanscholo]

The question is at this stage, why would you want to make the 8. Like scraping home is some sort of win for a club that was going to dominate and coast into the top 2.

 

[Stagger eel]

The question is at this stage, why would you want to make the 8. Like scraping home is some sort of win for a club that was going to dominate and coast into the top 2.

very true, so why would you guys want to make the 8??

 

[sammygee]

The question is at this stage, why would you want to make the 8. Like scraping home is some sort of win for a club that was going to dominate and coast into the top 2.

Yeah fair call... sounds like that's what the team's resigned to already.

 

[benoir91]

our 5th tackle options r still pathetic, finch is always under presure and isant it funny how when the opposite team kicks none of out team puts presure instead we rely on hayne to leap high in the air.

SICK OF HAGANS EXCUSES.

finch needs to develop a grubber kick, its non existent in all our games, all he does is the crossfield bomb, not including the one or two chips every 6-7 weeks but, at least he tries

 

[The EELiminator]

Shouldnt we be aiming to win all 8 games? Telling the players, oh if we win 5 out of 8 then we can still make the 8 i dont think sends a clear enough message as to how important all the games are.

bugger the 5 lets win ONE first and go on from there that seems hard enough atm

p.s. the one thing everyone is forgetting in this is our poor for and against which took another hit last night to make it to the finals we have to get into the eight outright

 

[bartman]

Hmmm, it's gone from needing a 62.5% win rate to needing a 71.4% win rate... our current win rate is 41.1%:lol:

Or to put those stats another way...

Before this week's loss, we needed only a 43% turnaround in our win rate to get these 5 games to make the 8. (Only!)

But after the Manly loss, the win rate turnaround we need to get those wins has now gone up to 57%!! We need to be 57% better in our final games than we have been all year to make the 8 now, and with each game over the past three weeks it's gotten harder!!!

So Hagan is talking bollocks when he says "the maths and the equation hasn't changed to much". Give us some credit, coach!!