Looks like we're last tonight.....

[Parra]

It was all luck. That was proven by missing the finals in '08 and '10.

Just like the Roosters run last year.

Piss off with "it was all luck".

 

[Poupou Escobar]

That truly is a silly question, quite simply no Hayne no semis let alone GF. If you think otherwise you are deluded.

Exactly. Why does it have to be credited to any coach?

Hagan made us miss the semis in '08 and Anderson didn't assemble the '09 team. I don't see how either of them deserves cerdit for '09 just as no-one deserves the blame for this year's fiasco.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Piss off with "it was all luck".

Well what else was it?

'05 - preliminary final
'06 - week 1 finals
'07 - preliminary final
'08 - finished 11th
'09 - grand final
'10 - finished 12th
'11 - finished 14th-16th

Grand final appearance aside, that's the results of a club on the decline. The fact we made the grand final from 8th position shows we were just lucky to hit form at the right time.

 

[IFR33K]

Exactly. Why does it have to be credited to any coach?

Hagan made us miss the semis in '08 and Anderson didn't assemble the '09 team. I don't see how either of them deserves cerdit for '09 just as no-one deserves the blame for this year's fiasco.

Surely you are a troll. How the f**k can no one be held accountable for the performances in 2011, yet in 09, no one deserves credit.

Dumber then what I thought.

 

[hybrideel]

regardless of how we go in the next 2 games, this will be our worse season since 95 under supercoach Hilditch when we won 3 and lost 19 a points differential of -380 and our top tryscorers bagging a whopping 5 meaties for the year.
And with household names Chris Lawler, Phil Howlett, Jo Bartolo, Lee Oudenryn you could almost forgive them.
Are we really that bad a team this year?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

How the f**k can no one be held accountable for the performances in 2011, yet in 09, no one deserves credit.

BECAUSE THEY WERE BOTH THE FIRST YEAR WITH A NEW COACH!!!!

This is what I've been saying the whole f**king thread. You can't judge a coach in his first year at a club. Not Hagan, not Stuart, not Anderson and not Kearney.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Are we really that bad a team this year?

The comp's so even now you only need a few injuries and a bit of bad luck and you're last - that '95 side had a points differential of -380 yet we're sitting on -172. That's how much more even it is. That makes luck much more of a factor.

The Roosters ran last in '09 and made the grand final last year. Now they're in the bottom half of the table. Their luck has gone up and down.

 

[hybrideel]

i agree to a certain point but it's not like we have been missing Hayne, Hindy, Fui or Timmy for a stretch of time. The guys we have been missing may have helped jag a win or 2 at best i reckon. Still not a great position to be in.
Ah well i guess we just hope for the best in the next 2 games and look to brighter times ahead

 

[Poupou Escobar]

i agree to a certain point but it's not like we have been missing Hayne, Hindy, Fui or Timmy for a stretch of time. The guys we have been missing may have helped jag a win or 2 at best i reckon.

Yeah I don't think injuries have been that big a deal for us, but they have compounded the already shitful roster we started the season with. That's where we've been most unlucky - the way we've cut players but had nobody to replace them with.

The upside is we've had a lot of salary cap room to sign the players we needed, including the first rep quality halfback we've had at the club since John Simon. Next year's going to be awesome.

 

[ShaunC]

I look at this way. If we get the Wooden Spoon it simply means that the Eels in 2012 become the first side since Wests in 1933 to go from last to Premiers.

 

[bartman]

So you reckon everybody wishes Kearney, Ossie and the board the best of success?

No-one here wants any of them to fail. Not one person that I can think of.

Sure, some people feel that they are failing or might fail, but no-one wants that to happen. I note that you couldn't name one forummer that holds the view that you implied that some did....

How would you know what he's capable of? He had a great record as a club leader and he served a pretty lengthy apprenticeship at a very professional club. His resume's as good as any rookie coach, and it's unblighted by failure at club level, unlike so many ex-first grade coaches.

At the moment I'm basing it on his NRL coaching record. 5 wins from 22 matches doesn't suggest a great capability at this stage in his career.

It's easy to say that with the ideal playing roster, and luck with injuries that his achievements might match your perception of his ability. But you could make that excuse for absolutely any coach anywhere whose record is poor, so the assertion is meaningless. We can only judge him on his record, and I hope for his own sake and the club's sake that he enjoys a more successful season next year.

Just hate whingers mate. With a passion.

Most of all I hate people who always have to find a scapegoat and point the finger. And I'll keep giving them hell, thankyou very much.

Hmm. Do you see the irony in whinging about and pointing the finger at people who you think less of for whinging and pointing the finger? I'm not sure if that constitutes "giving them hell", but it sometimes sure can be hell to read through...

 

[Parra Pride]

I look at this way. If we get the Wooden Spoon it simply means that the Eels in 2012 become the first side since Wests in 1933 to go from last to Premiers.

This.

 

[strider]

As if you'd know what offers anyone gets.:lol:

don't laugh. pou pou knows everything - just ask him

 

[Gronk]

NRL cellar-dwellers out to avoid spoon

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David Beniuk AAP Sun, Aug 21, 2011 - 7:18 PM




It might not be an English soccer-style battle to avoid relegation, but the next two weeks will mean avoiding devastation for the NRL's cellar-dwellers.
Parramatta (15 points), Gold Coast and Canberra (both 16) are at the front line of the battle to avoid the wooden spoon, with the Eels-Titans clash at Skilled Park in round 26 a potential "grand final" for the unwanted prize.
The Eels crashed to dead last with Sunday's 31-12 loss to the Wests Tigers, their sixth straight and are in the fight of their lives to avoid finishing last for the first time since 1972.
"I'm the captain of a club that hasn't won the spoon in God knows how many years, a great club, of course I'd worry about getting the spoon," an emotional Nathan Hindmarsh said at the Sydney Football Stadium.
"I'm very determined and so is the team, no one wants to finish the season with the spoon.
"It starts again tomorrow, doesn't it?"
Parramatta face the Sydney Roosters on Friday night, just as Brian Smith's 2010 grand finalists have won consecutive games for the first time this year to move away from the danger zone on 20 points.
Canberra have tough games against Penrith (at home) and St George Illawarra (away), while the Titans face a virtual mission impossible against the Tigers next week before taking on the Eels.
Cronulla remain a highly improbable mathematical chance of picking up the spoon.
"It's heartbreaking for the group, disappointing for the group," Eels coach Stephen Kearney said.
"The last two-and-a-half months we're getting no reward for putting in a fair bit of effort.
"It's getting tougher but it has been a real credit to them."

http://www.nrl.com/nrl-cellar-dwellers-out-to-avoid-spoon/tabid/10874/newsid/64368/default.aspx

 

[hybrideel]

A credit to them?
We are stone motherless for f$%k sake

 

[Gronk]

I doubt we will beat the Roosters next week. They played some good footy on the weekend against a good team in the Sharks. It's pretty clear that we will get the wooden spoon this year for the first time in 45 years. As much as you can put spin on that result (coach didn't pick the squad etc) it's still a woeful result. In fact the worst result for our club in 45 years.

It's a very sad time for our club and astonishing that we made the GF only two years ago and that the salary cap (which is usually the culprit in these events) has little to do with it. Ando may very well be the easy go-to scapegoat in this scenario, but it all boils down to commitment and desire.

 

[strider]

i reckon we are almost certainties for the spoon tbh ... roosters are playing better and the titans on the road, pffft as if we'll win that one.

Our defense is f'n diabolical at times - and there's no real excuse for that .... yeah we don't have the cattle, but the main thing SK brings is an attitude change which should help defense .... only happening in dribs and drabs atm

 

[yy_cheng]

I know Hayne went for a strip on ayshford, but Morgan was standing there watching and eating popcorn.

Morgan should have came in and smashed him.

ETU would've

I also think that defensively, Benny at centre doesn't help the team.

Too slow and being one out from the side line means he makes less tackles. we've lost his awesome defense since he moved into the centres

 

[oldmancraigy]

I know Hayne went for a strip on ayshford, but Morgan was standing there watching and eating popcorn.

Morgan should have came in and smashed him.

ETU would've

I also think that defensively, Benny at centre doesn't help the team.

Too slow and being one out from the side line means he makes less tackles. we've lost his awesome defense since he moved into the centres

I can't believe I'm about to agree with yy.....

But yes - Ben Smith's biggest asset as a first grade footballer is his ability to 'impose' himself defensively around the centre 3rd. He loves to get up quickly and try for a big hit.

He isn't 'slow' (go watch his chase on Benji again, he shows good pace to foot it with both Benji and Hayne in that chase) - but he cannot move laterally. That's the consequence of his knee injuries, he just can't go sideways anymore.
You see it happen in basketball all the time to the guys after knee surgery - they go from great defenders to passengers because they can't move sideways.
BigBen can go forward and back, but to move sideways he needs to turn, which makes him easily steppable.

Mind you, I've no clue who else we could've put out wide for the last 4-5 weeks? Perhaps the better move would've been to put Lasalo out there? But I think he's fairly suspect defensively on the edges anyway.

 

[SDM]

This week will be a good week for us loyal supporters to sink the slipper into the club. That way, if the bastards win, and deny me the pleasure of having 6 months to moan about the spoon and the useless merkins who delivered it, I will have had a good weeks worth of pretending they got the spoon.