Next year.......

[EELS13]

I also think Cannings has possibly the biggest potential improvement of all our buys. If Smith can increase his fitness in a similar way to the way he molded Widders (who people previously thought would never be fit enough to play first grade consistency.)
I think Cannings was caught out of position a few times due to lack of fitness but this would quickly be a thing of the past with a good solid pre season under his belt.
And nothing lifts a team more than a front rower breaking tackles all over the place, getting the defensive line back tracking, which in turn opens up gaps for players like Lyons, Burt etc to make the breaks, similar to the way we did in 2001.
it was mentioned earlier that running from dummy half is one of Burts specialties, and i agree. This will become even more obvious behind a big pack continually going forward.
Our buys in the forwards also has a heap of great off loaders amongst them (Pearson, Cannings Muckertt) so the quicks will have to be ruunning off there shoulders all day, and i predict many long range trys because of this. This art of off loading in the tackle is something we have also missed so i think with it part of our arsenal this year, we could be in for some big time excitement next season.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

while i do agree with you, simply catching an offload won't give you a try. You need support players to run off the guy catching the offload so he can draw the fullback and pass it on.

With moods gone we are gonna need someone to step up in the support play stakes. Lyon is good at this, but people like Dykes, Burty and Hopkins will need to make sure that they are on track when an offload happens

 

[Eelectrica]

Hodgson was great in support. So many tries came because of Hodgson being in position to grab an offload and then being able to do something with it.

 

[EELS13]

I noticed when Graham first came on too the scene that he has the eye to back up the ball carrier and sniff out a break. I think this is definitely an underrated skill.

 

[sportive cupid]

Round and round it goes...and where it stops nobody knows

 

[Jake the snake]

I think next year we will be all playing it down as we don't want to raise our hope after this disaster of a season. I wont make any 2005 predictions my only hope is for us to walk out smiling after a game for once...its been a long time between drinks.

 

[Hurriflatch]

Jake: This topic is actually one looking at 2004 not 2005.

Just replace a few names here and there and you couldn't really tell any difference, tho.

 

[William Hung]

Jake: This topic is actually one looking at 2004 not 2005.

Just replace a few names here and there and you couldn't really tell any difference, tho.

Yeah-

Replace the names Thorman, Muspratt, Muckert and insert Riddell, Tahu and Morrisson...we'd wanna be performing better next year.

 

[Hurriflatch]

What I mean is that it just shows there were people last year thinking that the likes of Thorman, Muspratt and Muckert would have the same impact they are now saying Riddell, TAhu and Morrison will have.

 

[JKS]

Hurriflatch did you see Riddell play on Friday night? ... obviously not.

 

[fish eel]

What I mean is that it just shows there were people last year thinking that the likes of Thorman, Muspratt and Muckert would have the same impact they are now saying Riddell, TAhu and Morrison will have.

There is a bit of a difference in class between those guys mate.

 

[Parraren]

It's starting to sound like a broken record :?

Wasn't this year meant to be the "acid test" for Brian Smith? Let's not kid ourselves, he's untouchable.

We did have our fair share of major injuries this year, missing Lyon, Cayless, Vaealiki, Grothe & Cannings for well over 3/4 of the season, and recently Dykes & Morris both going down. But even considering this our performances early in the season when we were full strength were still quite inconsistent & often dissapointing. Let's face it, this year is a major failure and Smith in particular has failed to improve on last year's failures. We are actually in a worse position this year than we were last year when we missed Hindmarsh for most of the season. These are the hard cold facts. We are going backwards.

 

[Eelectrica]

Right on Parraren. It's safe to say this season is broken and was supposed to be a "Make" or "Break" season for our coach...

 

[Eels Dude]

What I mean is that it just shows there were people last year thinking that the likes of Thorman, Muspratt and Muckert would have the same impact they are now saying Riddell, TAhu and Morrison will have.

That was more wishful though, we wanted to think those blokes were good players and could turn our club around. The guys we have recruited for next year ARE class players. No excuses if we don't perform.

 

[Utey]

LOL that sounds very familiar. Next year will be the exact same in everybodies mind. If we dont get a hlaves comibnation it will be the same. Its all up to sMITH now. He has the personel.

 

[Hurriflatch]

Did I say that I thought the players were the same level NO
but the posts here for many people had the same general feeling they have this year.

I really wish people would read before typing.

 

[Eels Dude]

Of course we're going to have the same feelings though, we want to see our club do well and obviously are hoping for the best our of our players.

 

[Suitman]

Interesting that you say that another year of failure should see him possibly shown the door. After 2 years of failure already, why is there such rediculous opposition to take that action now?

There is an opposition now because the CLUB HAS NOT taken this course of action. The board, and in particular Alan Overton, have stood behind Smith for next year at least - whatever opposition you or anyone else have at this stage to Smith remaining at the club probably will not sway the board unless there isn't a dramatic increase in the performance of the team. Smith will be under immense pressure next year but until THE CLUB takes that direction most people will stand behind him as he is in charge.

GROUND HOG DAY.

Suity

 

[The Colonel]

Interesting that you say that another year of failure should see him possibly shown the door. After 2 years of failure already, why is there such rediculous opposition to take that action now?

There is an opposition now because the CLUB HAS NOT taken this course of action. The board, and in particular Alan Overton, have stood behind Smith for next year at least - whatever opposition you or anyone else have at this stage to Smith remaining at the club probably will not sway the board unless there isn't a dramatic increase in the performance of the team. Smith will be under immense pressure next year but until THE CLUB takes that direction most people will stand behind him as he is in charge.

GROUND HOG DAY.

Suity

Very much so but cracks are appearing.....

 

[True EEL]

sure seems like Ground Hog Day or Years to me