*Live* Parra v Penrith Game Day thread, March 11, 2018

[Poupou Escobar]

Kikau and Rcg ripped us to bits.

And I told ypu all Merrin is in for a huge year.

We'll see how they go in a month's time when we get to fix our stupid mistakes. The boys would be chomping at the bit and the Panthers wouldn't be happy at having to give us a chance to get square so soon.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Anyhow we have entered year with a tiny pack. Lets see how it pans out. I reckon Kasiano was the man we should of went for.

That tiny pack had us finish ahead of the Panthers over 26 rounds last year. That's worth more than the result of one game away from home. It was three tries each FFS.

 

[EelsFan05]

It didn't change by magic, it changed by actions occurring on the field. The shit Evans pass to Matagi was one that comes to mind as was the Moses-Hoffman short side play that ended up with Hoffman pushed into touch on our 40 metre line.

This, plus Mau's pathetic attempt at a tackle leading to their first try. Once we lost the momentum and field positon we were done. We were forced into giving away penalties to slow the ruck down. It was fecken hot yesterday and we couldn't get back into the game.

I thought we should have been further ahead with the possession we had to start the game. 18-0 at half time and I think the end result is different.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Comes back to my points doesn't it. I didn't like our selected team and said they were too small. Our lack of big men will bite us in the bum. The forwards were tired as our smaller forwards had to work so hard to contain their bigger men, we wilted and they got stronger. Unfortunately we have no big men to counter the many big packs we'll come against this year. Kikau absolutely smashed us and we just couldn't contain him. The loss of Semi is huge and we just can't replace him unless we went big in the forwards. End of story.

It is one game. We had smaller forwards last year and finished in the top four. The Roosters lost to Wests this weekend FFS. The only thing about round one that means anything is that it's still worth two points. As an indicator of quality it is worth very little.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Jennings free to play next week:

 

[hineyrulz]

Edwards would've at least given Kikau something to think about.

Well he’s a mad merkin, they always give you something to think about.

 

[Bazal]

It didn't change by magic, it changed by actions occurring on the field. The shit Evans pass to Matagi was one that comes to mind as was the Moses-Hoffman short side play that ended up with Hoffman pushed into touch on our 40 metre line.

Yes. So what your pretty little made up stat fails utterly to demonstrate is the reasons for that possession swing and the fact that the bench players played a massive hand in it. They didn't continue the intensity the starting players set, they defended poorly and they had no answers to the Panthers attempts to wrestle momentum back.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Tiny pack with nothing to fear off bench.

Alvaro and Mannah work hard and good defenders. Neither offload or pass before line. Manu and Brown are also small while Tepai doesnt run hard and bowl guys over or split the line like a Frizzel or Papali can.

How did Frizell and Papalii's teams go last year?

It feels like some people on here dont understand other teams have forwards who not only work hard and defend well but can offload and bust the line plus have some ball skills.

Those players are very expensive though, and can be replaced by a team of forwards doing the same thing. There is no need for one gun forward who can do it all.

Manu runs more like a centre imo. Great player but the balance in our pack is out.

Our forwards may of worked hard but they didnt take the emrgy out of there guys. Pou can throw his dumb stats around about Mannah and co but like I keep saying you cant measure the amount of energy that is sapped during a game from guys who bash you hard and bruise you all game.

We finished ahead of the Panthers last year and lost to them (three tries each) at their home ground yesterday. And you suddenly think that means they will finish ahead of us? They were fired up by their shit trial form and all the negative press about their coach. They won't be fired up every week.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Im making the call now. Unless our forward pack changes we wont play finals.

Just like last year hey?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I actually like the stat, but for either a single player or a single game it's next to useless. If you kept coming up with the same numbers consistently using the same rotations then it may highlight certain things

I actually think it is only useful for a single game - to show possession flow. Over the course of a season I would expect it to flatten out for everyone. It might still show which forwards are more in the team for their defence or attack but runs and tackles per minute is a much better stat. However now that the NRL have completely dumbed down their stats for us deadshit slobs I can't find the minutes played stats for anybody. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough but NRL.com pisses me off too much to waste my time.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Watch teams work out how to roll our little pack. Griffin benched his impact forwards as he didnt wamt to waste them on our hard workers. Once tbey come pff he brought them on and they ripped pur guys apart.

I said before kickoff that this could be why he started RCG off the bench. It helped that they had plenty of ball when he came on. We just chose the absolute wrong moment to try to get fancy. Chalk the game up to ill discipline coupled with a bit of bad luck.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The reason they have weight divisions in boxing is because the bigger man generally hits harder than the smaller man,. And the bigger man uses less energy generating the same power over the smaller man. Makes sense.

Our pack with 1 or 2 110kg players against their 3 or 4 115kg plus players just hit harder wearing our forwards down in the heat. We were buggered after 30 mins and they just didn't seem to be bothered at all. It can't be they are fitter than our players but they didn't have to work so hard to contain our pack. Once they got a even share of possession they just powered away.

If Moses is getting dominated do something about it, isn't that the coaches job? Bring a good defender across to his side to help in D.

It still doesn't take away that their bigger pack dominated our pack so Bazal take off those rose coloured glasses that BA gave you.

They didn't dominate our pack until they got more ball than us. Let's judge over the course of a season rather than just one game. They were fired up while we dominated early and then got sloppy. We won't let that happen again any time soon.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

What did you just say in the rumours thread....? Something about merkins posting stats and niot taking into account what the stats miss, IIRC...lol

Yes that's what most people do when they misuse statistics. What do you believe I've not taken into account here?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

This, plus Mau's pathetic attempt at a tackle leading to their first try.

Waqa Blake is in the NRL because of his ability to break tackles. There was nothing 'pathetic' about Ma'u's attempt. It was a missed tackle - one of two he made during the game.

How about you name your favourite defensive second rower and let's see if he misses more or less than two tackles next week.

Once we lost the momentum and field positon we were done. We were forced into giving away penalties to slow the ruck down. It was fecken hot yesterday and we couldn't get back into the game.

I thought we should have been further ahead with the possession we had to start the game. 18-0 at half time and I think the end result is different.

Yeah maybe. The important point is that it's too early to slash wrists just yet.

 

[hindy111]

Of the 9 forwards each side had (5 starting / 4 bench), panthers on average wasn't that much bigger then us:

Panthers 108.78 kg / 189 cm
Eels 107.22 kg / 187.78

Panthers didn't really have a massive forward size advantage!

More powerfull. Guys like CNN prob have simmilar stat size as Beau Scott. But he is far more powerfull amd runs twice as hard.

 

[Fangs]

For your viewing pleasure:

 

[hindy111]

That tiny pack had us finish ahead of the Panthers over 26 rounds last year. That's worth more than the result of one game away from home. It was three tries each FFS.

Bring in Terepo and KE. Goodbye to Matagi and Scott.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Yes. So what your pretty little made up stat fails utterly to demonstrate is the reasons for that possession swing and the fact that the bench players played a massive hand in it. They didn't continue the intensity the starting players set, they defended poorly and they had no answers to the Panthers attempts to wrestle momentum back.

Well until you can back up your reasons for the possession swing with some evidence it's just a pet theory. It could be true but I'm unconvinced. Allowing the opposition to make easy metres should be a reason to keep the ball away from them rather than giving it back in good position and then conceding penalties in kicking range. Evans still made over 10 metres per carry yesterday. Tucking it under his arm would've been smarter than throwing silly passes.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

For your viewing pleasure:

Zero cover on the inside. Very poor.

 

[hindy111]

Look we should of won. Moses missed 25mins which didnt help.
I dont see what Scott offers over Terepo these days. Kenny always lifts pur side when he would come on.

I have no issues with Mannah and Alvaro but my team would be different. We need a 2md rower who runs straight amd hard and can bust the line. Im hoping still Tepai becomes that but his times running out. If not move him into the middle with Alvaro.