Forward Pack

[lingard]

Once again that game shows that it you don't turn up mentally, you'll get your pants pulled down.

I'm not going to critique each and every player, simply because Penrith would have done a job on most of the other 14 teams last night.

Hopefully that was the kick in the pants that we needed to jolt us back to reality. Next week the Bunnies will have a less dominant pack and they are the perfect team for us to play right now.

I agree with you there, Gronk. But the Souths pack? Ooh. They`re pretty big. Possibly not as well-drilled as Penrith`s though. But Taylor, Pettybourne, Burgess, Ross, Stuart, Asotasi. Not to mention Isaac Luke. I`d rather be playing the Tigers next week.

 

[lingard]

Funny...No one complained about Keating last week.

Well, we don`t want to complain about him every week. That would be boring. :lol:
But, seriously, you`re right. He was pretty good last week. But he didn`t have anywhere near the impact of McGuire last night.

 

[Mr Pmatta]

Our forward pack was completely out enthused and out muscled. We got smashed.

Usually I am quite critical of Mortimer but geez how can you play behind that abysmal forward pack.

Allgood - decent/should learn to offload otherwise too one dimensional
Mannah - poor game by his standards - he needs to lift
Keating - f**kwit - sh*t for brains clay for hands - no directions - stupid inside passes
Lasola (sp) - poor player - should spend his time in Wenties - cant break the line - as soft as butter
Horo - average game - dropped the ball that lead to the first Penruff try
Hindmarsh - workaholic but does nothing in attack
Smith - showed some agression
FFMM - tried to inspire but was a one man wrecking ball
Shacks - tried hard but was ineffective

Another thing - how sh*te are out outside backs?

I hate to say it but very much agree re hindy he is inspirational but does offer very little in attack if anything, though always there to make up for others missed tackles, Lasalo I think is a very average player, and am still trying to recover from the Keating resigning:?

 

[Mr Pmatta]

I think for 2011, we are going to have to get used to the fact that when our forwards don't win the battle we are a very slim chance of winning games. Penrith came out all guns blazing and won the battle early on then at least matched us if not bettered us for the rest of the game.
Our halves and outside backs are simply not big, fast or skillful enough to solve the problem when we are not going forward, apart from Hayne and to a lesser extent Burt.

Mortimer and Robson are solid players are good enough to pay first grade, but neither are match winners unless we are on a roll. The simple fact is perhaps we have no other options that are any better. Murray, Humble or McGuire, the first two are not proven and McGuire has never been a match winner as a half, better suited at hooker.
Robson is what he is, a solid player with no particular amazing trait to his game. If he was playing next to a lockyer or carney or campese he would be fine, but he isn't.
Mortimer, well even tonight I think he looks better than last year. But he lacks genuine playmaking ability and his lack is size is an issue. Once again if he has Johns inside him, he'd be fine, but he doesn't.

Our outside backs don't offer much strike power. Burt is a clever player when given a chance. Reddy is strong, but he is no blockbuster. The other centres lack, none of the options are either really quick, strong or deceptive. A centre needs one of these traits. The lack of threat outwide doesn't help our halves, because there is no need for the defence to focus on the guys outside allowing our halves more space. We also lack a geuine star edge backrower.

There is no real solution in 2011, If our core players win the battle we will be a chance of winning, when they don't like tonight its going to be hard. The good thing is we should hope with the likes of Hindy, Poore, Mannah, Fui, Shack and allgood we should generally do pretty well in the middle. Tonight we didn't.

 

[Mr Pmatta]

Keating offers about as much as a HayneTrain post.

:thumb

 

[tresurehunt]

i love hindy ,he is a great bloke and was a good player, but i think he is only there for the captaincy role. his running of the ball is so pedestrian and almost volunteers in the tackle, i think he is a great captain , and thats why he is there.

 

[Joely01]

Full credit to the panthers they were just to good, I said walking to the game that this will be a very hard game to win due to what happened to the panthers last week and that's what happened. You can't win a footy game with no go forward and we had none tonight bar moi moi. Maybe Blair would be a good signing.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Why the hell did SK start with Keating?

Because he knew Penrith were keen to take us on up the middle and didn't want Casey to burn all his juice early on heavy defence.

Our dummy half game wasn't our problem last night.

We looked a bit flat last night but we weren't that bad. Penrith were just psyched for this game (as you'd expect after their effort last week). That plus a couple of unlucky errors put us on the back foot very early.

With a 10 point lead in the wet, Penrith tried to lure us into going wide on early tackles and to our credit we didn't. Otherwise it could've been an absolute flogging.

Remember where we're tipped to finish this year. No matter how well we played the week before, and no matter how poorly our opposition played the previous week, there aren't many games we should be favourites for this season.

Maybe at home against the Sharks, Knights and Cowboys we should be favourites*. In every other case our expectations should be realisitic.

* And still, look how the Knights and Cowboys (and us) went last week away from home. The NRL is a bit of a lottery, especially at the start of the season.

 

[aqua_duck]

Mannah needs to play more minutes. With Poore and Cayless gone and FFMM coming off a disrupted Pre season, Mannah needs to be the forward leader IMO. He's gotto play atleast 60mims a match to compensate for Poore and Cayless. Allgood is decent but only a rookie and Shack isn't a really a prop IMO

 

[EELMAN JACK]

Horo in a post game interview on parraeels.com.au seemed to think they competed in forwards and weren't dominated. There is the problem right there. They players are dilusional!

in total agreement, defence wise, they go to pieces when opposition gets up on them quick.

in defence they are too slow to slide out towards the wing when the ball is heading that way. instead of running to defend out wide they go for a morning trot.

all round a shocking performance after last week in nz.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Shack isn't a really a prop IMO

He's been a lot better at prop in the past two weeks than I expected he would be.

 

[tresurehunt]

He's been a lot better at prop in the past two weeks than I expected he would be.

maybe shack and benny then , i thought it doesnt really matter . prop ,second row, they play a similar role anyway

 

[Poupou Escobar]

maybe shack and benny then , i thought it doesnt really matter . prop ,second row, they play a similar role anyway

Prop and the central back-row spot maybe. But Ben Smith is a wide back-rower. He'd be far less effective in the middle, at least in attack.

Likewise, I'm not sure Shackleton would be as effective out wide.

 

[born an eel]

Once again that game shows that it you don't turn up mentally, you'll get your pants pulled down.

I'm not going to critique each and every player, simply because Penrith would have done a job on most of the other 14 teams last night.

Hopefully that was the kick in the pants that we needed to jolt us back to reality. Next week the Bunnies will have a less dominant pack and they are the perfect team for us to play right now.

apparently this was recognised during the off season and corrected by Kearney. :sarcasm:

 

[Poupou Escobar]

apparently this was recognised during the off season and corrected by Kearney. :sarcasm:

It's ultimately up to the players to compete.

So far this year every sh*t performance has been backed up by a good one. So next week we'll se if that's still the case.

Prior to last night we'd strung 3 good games together in a row. You can't expect a team as lacking in quality as us to be up every week, especially early in the season - look at the Panthers and the Broncos last week. Look at Canberra last night. Early season is a lottery.

 

[mrpwnd]

Look at Canberra last night. Early season is a lottery.

Lol@the 'best forward pack in the game' tag. Their best player was from the Sharks too, I'd be more worried as a Raiders fan than as an Eels fan atm tbh.

 

[True EEL]

perhaps this is the way to go with the forwards.....Lasolo might have to miss out for a while:

8. Mannah
9. McGuire
10. Moimoi
11. Hindmarsh
12. Smith
13. Horo

14. Keating/Mitchell
15. Shackleton
16. Allgood
17. Webb

i don't mind Allgood starting, he has done a pretty good job so far, but i think Fui should maybe start, the same as Ben Smith should start or in contrast, probably miss out at the moment, he is offering no impact from the bench and at least he usually sets the tone in defence when he starts games....the couple of penalties on him last night were pretty lame, Fui's as well....and Penrith did two similar high shots that were let go....

other option would be too start Allgood or Shackleton in the backrow in favour of Smith

 

[Mickyd39]

I would like to see Carl Webb get a go against the Rabbits and see what he can offer.

I like the forward pack in the above post.

 

[Chipmunk]

perhaps this is the way to go with the forwards.....Lasolo might have to miss out for a while:

8. Mannah
9. McGuire
10. Moimoi
11. Hindmarsh
12. Smith
13. Horo

14. Keating/Mitchell
15. Shackleton
16. Allgood
17. Webb

i don't mind Allgood starting, he has done a pretty good job so far, but i think Fui should maybe start, the same as Ben Smith should start or in contrast, probably miss out at the moment, he is offering no impact from the bench and at least he usually sets the tone in defence when he starts games....the couple of penalties on him last night were pretty lame, Fui's as well....and Penrith did two similar high shots that were let go....

other option would be too start Allgood or Shackleton in the backrow in favour of Smith

Id probably go with something similar in the forwards (without Keating, Id make him captain of Wenty at best), but I think Id try Lasalo from the bench and see how he goes, Id give Webb a try off the bench too, gives us a bit more impact off the bench. Id probably leave one of Allgood or Shackleton out.....

 

[dazeely]

Id probably go with something similar in the forwards (without Keating, Id make him captain of Wenty at best), but I think Id try Lasalo from the bench and see how he goes, Id give Webb a try off the bench too, gives us a bit more impact off the bench. Id probably leave one of Allgood or Shackleton out.....

IMO Allgood and Shackleton have been close to our best. I definately think I need to have my eyes checked.