Game day thread (trial): 6pm Eels v Chooks 21/2/26

[Wally21]

You’d hate to share a bag with him.

f**k Stevie, I just cracked up in the middle of a shop, waiting for my missus! You funny f**ker!!!

 

[Lemon Squash]

Watching the game again,good apart from the appalling biased commentary, which is worse than first look. The Roosters basically rotated their first choice pack through the game, and with 10minutes left, they were still on the field, Tedesco and Williams stayed for a lot longer than the media would have you believe.

Kevvie Walter’s must be there for a reason other than his commentary as it’s useless and all he did was talk uo the Roosters. When Volkman stopped Crichton, he just carried on about Sam Walker and Crichton dominating, he is deadset embarrassing. Shouty Voss is not getting any better.

Some decent signs with Talatina and Papalii more than handy with Tuavati and Teancum showing good ability. Not expecting anything other than competitive season, Guessing 6 to 10 the position depending on availability in the halves and no significant injuries in the back 5 .

It actually boggles the mind that 18 months ago he was coaching the Broncos and is the current coach of the Kangaroos. Seems like a good fella but he can barely string a sentence together.

He didn’t even know what was happening when the mutual infringement was called, Vossy had to explain it to him lol

 

[Wally21]

It actually boggles the mind that 18 months ago he was coaching the Broncos and is the current coach of the Kangaroos. Seems like a good fella but he can barely string a sentence together.

He didn’t even know what was happening when the mutual infringement was called, Vossy had to explain it to him lol

In all seriousness, a lot of these blokes Kevies age will be dealing with some level of CTE Lemon. But it is a punish to listen to them in commentary

 

[viole02]

Lorenzos short kicking game and running looks good and seemed to translate against first grade level players which is always promising. Imo the perfect type of 6 next to moses. Wasnt really able to see much defensively which will be his biggest worry but if he learns from joash technique wise i think hell be fine. Pezets solid but if im thinking about the now and future of parra i would rather start lorenzo and get moses and lorenzo reps together. Pezet would be a great backup for Moses knowing how many games hes missed so far and a more like for like swap.

Tuivati (my fav young forward) looked to have good bursts. I hope he can stay healthy. Samrani also looked good - somehow always sneaks over for a try. Just high effort and always in the right places. I still have some worries over his defence but good to know we have options when baileys out. Theres a few flashes of good from TDS but boy does he need more time to develop. Seanie is also looking very powerful and was a stand out player. Its a shame hes going to perth next year but im assuming he got the bag and well deserved if so. Otherwise wouldve loved for him to stay over penis. Penis had moments too but ironically below sean now imo. I had penis rated higher than Sean before coming into last season but now its conpletely flipped.

Anyways long para but lots of promise from the fellas

 

[Suitman]

Almost everything that needs to be said, has been said about last night's match.
However, one thing I really noticed hasn't been.

Our umbrella defence around the ruck. Particularly during the last 20 minutes, when the Roosters were rucking it out from their tryline for the first 3 or 4 tackles, and even while we were still behind on the scoreboard.
There were 5 or 6 defenders ready to shut down the hit-up each and every time, with great defensive line-speed.
This showed me a level of commitment and fitness, that I have not seen for years. This, on a particularly hot evening.
It was this commitment that forced errors from the Roosters and gave us opportunities that we would otherwise not have had. It was very Melbourne-like.
We wore them down.

 

[Wally21]

Almost everything that needs to be said, has been said about last night's match.
However, one thing I really noticed hasn't been.

Our umbrella defence around the ruck. Particularly during the last 20 minutes, when the Roosters were rucking it out from their tryline for the first 3 or 4 tackles, and even while we were still behind on the scoreboard.
There were 5 or 6 defenders ready to shut down the hit-up each and every time, with great defensive line-speed.
This showed me a level of commitment and fitness, that I have not seen for years. This, on a particularly hot evening.
It was this commitment that forced errors from the Roosters and gave us opportunities that we would otherwise not have had. It was very Melbourne-like.
We wore them down.

Good call Suity. The commitment all round was special. Following on from the second half of 25. I’m just super impressed with what Ryles etc are building from the NRL down. Feels special. Dare I Say it, have had this feeling since the late 70’s and late 90’s

 

[Pazza]

does anyone think Doorey harmed his spot in the team with some of his defensive issues last night?

 

[Stevie]

does anyone think Doorey harmed his spot in the team with some of his defensive issues last night?

I don’t. Ryles has played his had. He’ll talk to him about not undoing all his work and fix it.

 

[Eelementary]

I think it’s fair to assume Russell hasn’t just locked down his left side position, he has stamped his name on it.

Is there any uncertainty over the backline now is Simonsen /Samrani for that right centre spot outside Penisini?

I'm so happy for Sean - I've always liked him.

Great attitude, hard worker.

But I always thought he would be solid at best (and there is nothing wrong with that at all).

But he seems to have found some power, and pace.

Sad to see him go, but genuinely happy for him, because he deserves a big offer.

In the time being, we can enjoy Seany having a ripped of a season in the Blue and Gold!

 

[Soto]

does anyone think Doorey harmed his spot in the team with some of his defensive issues last night?

Not at all. Still very early on in the season and he is a top metre eater, hole runner and developing a nice pass too. Im not too worried about stats. I see what I see.
As mentioned previously lots and lots of players will get wrecked by Sam Walker. Im not blaming Doorey for Crichtons try.
They will review it and be better next time.

 

[Soto]

Any news on JAC. Had ice on his hand...apologies if already posted. I dont read every single page

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Samrani is a try scorer and can play forward or back, might be a good bench option.

So many players have improved under Ryles. Penisini was a different player last night. Where has this been ?

Penisini is coming off his worst ever season, so he is probably just reverting to his normal form. But he’s young enough that he should still be on the improve. At the end of the year we’ll know if he’s just had his best season.

 

[JokerEel]

does anyone think Doorey harmed his spot in the team with some of his defensive issues last night?

I think Ryles will play the video to Doorey and they will work on that error..

It's not the first time though that Walker has done that as well..

But a club needs to have a 100+ forward running at Walker when attacking the line when he rushes up and puts himself 1 on 1..

 

[Soto]

I think Ryles will play the video to Doorey and they will work on that error..

It's not the first time though that Walker has done that as well..

But a club needs to have a 100+ forward running at Walker when attacking the line when he rushes up and puts himself 1 on 1..

Should've just brought Kelma on to run straight at Sam and give him nightmares again..

 

[TheRam]

Almost everything that needs to be said, has been said about last night's match.
However, one thing I really noticed hasn't been.

Our umbrella defence around the ruck. Particularly during the last 20 minutes, when the Roosters were rucking it out from their tryline for the first 3 or 4 tackles, and even while we were still behind on the scoreboard.
There were 5 or 6 defenders ready to shut down the hit-up each and every time, with great defensive line-speed.
This showed me a level of commitment and fitness, that I have not seen for years. This, on a particularly hot evening.
It was this commitment that forced errors from the Roosters and gave us opportunities that we would otherwise not have had. It was very Melbourne-like.
We wore them down.

This was also the main thing that I was very, very pleased with over everything else. I can't remember the last time we had a team that actually played like this for an entire game right to the very final whistle.

However I didn't want to say anything about it until the season proper games showed us what really lies ahead this season and beyond. As we all know, as long suffering Parra supporters, we have had many, many false start and heart breaks and these games are just trials after all. So I will wait and see. It'll take a month or so of real footy before we really know what we have for a footy team this season.

Also what did concern me a little was our lack of momentum or power with the ball in that first 5 mins before the lightning break. We really struggled to get out of our own quarter with very poor go forward starting our sets, now that Lomax is not there. Then when we came back from the break, it was like a switch reset and we seemed to overcome this deficiency al of a sudden.

The question that I ask myself is did we actually aim up and improve or did the Roosters just mentally just slightly switch off and not come out as fired up as before? I know most here will say 4-5 mins is a nothing burger in time, but in a real premiership game and no lightning break, the momentum would have been all with the Roosters and we could have easily been down 20-0 before you knew it.

Anyway, Parra did brilliantly in the trials overall. I'm hoping we can just keep getting stronger and better from here on in. Here's to a great and fun 2026 for all our club and especially us schizophrenic happy/sad supporters.

 

[Pazza]

Also what did concern me a little was our lack of momentum or power with the ball in that first 5 mins before the lightning break. We really struggled to get out of our own quarter with very poor go forward starting our sets, now that Lomax is not there. Then when we came back from the break, it was like a switch reset and we seemed to overcome this deficiency al of a sudden.

The question that I ask myself is did we actually aim up and improve or did the Roosters just mentally just slightly switch off and not come out as fired up as before? I know most here will say 4-5 mins is a nothing burger in time, but in a real premiership game and no lightning break, the momentum would have been all with the Roosters and we could have easily been down 20-0 before you knew it.

it was three minutes and there were three sets of six with parra only having one in possession.

Since this side turned the corner which im claiming is the broncos win rnd 21 last year we have played 9 games (including pre season) and had 144 point scored against us. for an average of 16 PPG. We havent played easy beats either in that time, side such as the broncos, storm, warrriors, roosters x 2 and sharks.

watching this team, i feel like they could withstand a little possession against them.

 

[Timana]

Almost everything that needs to be said, has been said about last night's match.
However, one thing I really noticed hasn't been.

Our umbrella defence around the ruck. Particularly during the last 20 minutes, when the Roosters were rucking it out from their tryline for the first 3 or 4 tackles, and even while we were still behind on the scoreboard.
There were 5 or 6 defenders ready to shut down the hit-up each and every time, with great defensive line-speed.
This showed me a level of commitment and fitness, that I have not seen for years. This, on a particularly hot evening.
It was this commitment that forced errors from the Roosters and gave us opportunities that we would otherwise not have had. It was very Melbourne-like.
We wore them down.

yup and it was consistently man next to man. No one really came out of the line from memory and causing overlaps.
And we pressured DCE all night.

I was wondering how we would go without Dylbro's defense. Seemed to go alright

 

[Pazza]

I was wondering how we would go without Dylbro's defense. Seemed to go alright

Dylan went well in BAs up and in defense which lead to a million overlaps and dyl had to make the scramble cover tackles.

 

[TheRam]

it was three minutes and there were three sets of six with parra only having one in possession.

Since this side turned the corner which im claiming is the broncos win rnd 21 last year we have played 9 games (including pre season) and had 144 point scored against us. for an average of 16 PPG. We havent played easy beats either in that time, side such as the broncos, storm, warrriors, roosters x 2 and sharks.

watching this team, i feel like they could withstand a little possession against them.

I don't know yet. We will see in time. But when you have JAC taking the second hit up and getting smashed and the forwards still reeling to get their breath back and contribute again, well it doesn't inspire great confidence. But like I said, we just don't really know just yet. Our go forward against the better teams is still an unknown quantity no matter what any of us thinks or says right now.

This team is still developing and we have way to many old and young players that have questing marks all over them. But I can see why most have optimism and I too have a feeling that Ryles and his staff have us going in the right direction, but for right now, we are an unknown. Will our youth truly develop into bonified long term quality and will our veterans have enough in the tank to get a full season or two of quality as well to help these juniors come through unscathed? I think they will but...

Time is where it's at my friend.

 

[Soto]

Zero concerns for me Dylbro is not there...I think what we have now is all if not almost all who have bought into Ryles way.
If everyone does there job we will have more wins than losses.
Good signs. Not getting carried away as it means nothing if we aren't winning competition games but not shitting myself thinking oh no here we go again...there is optimism we can be up to our eyeballs in this comp