playing ugly

[boxhead]

It was good to get a win to start the season. Our forwards were Awesome. Morts was ok. Lets wait a few games. Whats the point of expecting miracles from him in one game.

Yeah exactly, on all points.

 

[eels81236]

Rookies were good. Etu showed ticker. The centre, Lasalo and Allgood were all good.

Interesting to see the fittest team in the comp almost get run down, though. Did we hang on because we are so fit, or, are we not as fit as anticipated when at match pace, hence, almost getting run down? Chicken or the egg?

A win is a win in 2011 for the Eels. So I am happy.

Mortimer still stinks.

 

[ParraSteve]

Etu was ok, I nearly chocked on my dinner when the NZ commentator said Etu had a good defensive game.

 

[Eels Dude]

I watched Mortimer very closely and he was solid. He wasn't good at all but he was solid and he was much improved on last year. His kicking game was weak but it wasn't terrible. Some of his long kicks were decent actually. Mortimer was a 6 or a 7 behind a team of 7's and 8's. If he was the worst player on the field it wasn't by much, or rather he looked solid where most others were great.

Don't "c'mon" me when you have been criticising the kid for the whole off-season.
I can distinguish between them and I definitely could inflate the ratings either way for several players, but the way I saw it was that it was a very good team effort and as such I had my system was a lot closer in marks then what others may have been. I was more going off a player was 7.1 or a 7.9 than thinking of a straight 10 point system. But that's another matter entirely.

I'm not going to be overly harsh or overly praising on one particular player because they all performed as a well drilled machine. Robson and Mortimer - and Mcguire I should add - controlled the game well. What more do you want? They are no frills halves and they did their job.

I can say your judge of assessment is equally flawed, does your opinion automatically equate to being elevated over mine because yours differs from mine?
Both halves were heavily involved and both performed to the expectations that would have been set on them. Neither are world-beaters and we shouldn't treat them as such. Both had their hands in most of our attacking plays and we looked good going forward - mostly off the back of our forwards, but regardless they controlled the game.

I think anyone could see that even if they weren't crash-hot tonight our halves still out-performed their more highly praised counterparts.

Mortimer's kicking was very ordinary but his passing was good. Hell I went into this game knowing several people who have been extremely critical of Robbo and Morts in the past, and I can say now that all of them were impressed. It's a start and that's all we can really hope for.

That's fair enough Boxy. You're entitled to your opinion. But Mortimor did not play well. My opinion is is not overall better than yours, but we do need to have variables. You give half our players a 7 and half our players an 8. That's pretty much saying everyone played as good as each other but that is not the case.

If Morts was a 7 then Hayne and Mannah should be a 13... and Allgood and Shacks should an 11... and Walker should a pretty weak 4. Robson played a lot better than Morts, so deserves to a better rating than him. That's all I'm saying.

 

[ParraSteve]

Mortimer went alright, not as bad as last year. though i wanted to punch the tv when he gave that penalty away towards the end of the game, I do think that only Hayne should be kicking inside our own 40, no one gets as much distance as he does.

 

[Eels Dude]

Rookies were good. Etu showed ticker. The centre, Lasalo and Allgood were all good.

Interesting to see the fittest team in the comp almost get run down, though. Did we hang on because we are so fit, or, are we not as fit as anticipated when at match pace, hence, almost getting run down? Chicken or the egg?

A win is a win in 2011 for the Eels. So I am happy.

Mortimer still stinks.

It's not a matter of fitness, but also talent. We nearly got ran down because we were a playing a much better side at their home ground. I expected us to lose by 20 tonight.... we won. We should all be pleased with that. Fitness has nothing to do with it.

 

[bartman]

Robson > Morts, in terms of points rating. Can't believe anyone is arguing otherwise... ;-).

Does anyone else think if Morts doesn't "click" by round five we could see SK go with:
6. Maguire
7. Robson
9. Keating
14. Mitchell?

We wouldn't lose much there imo.

 

[mrpwnd]

Robson > Morts, in terms of points rating. Can't believe anyone is arguing otherwise... ;-).

Does anyone else think if Morts doesn't "click" by round five we could see SK go with:
6. Maguire
7. Robson
9. Keating
14. Mitchell?

We wouldn't lose much there imo.

Considering Maguire's still in the process of finding his feet in the 9 would it be wise to put him into new territory again by giving him more responsibility in the 6? IMO he'd be much better off in the 9 and at the end of the day the club should play to their strengths rather than compensate to cover up a weakness.

I'd suggest Humble as a back up for Morts, but who knows what the f**k happened to him.

 

[mickdo]

Etu was ok, I nearly chocked on my dinner when the NZ commentator said Etu had a good defensive game.

He did take out the beast ;-)

 

[boxhead]

That's fair enough Boxy. You're entitled to your opinion. But Mortimor did not play well. My opinion is is not overall better than yours, but we do need to have variables. You give half our players a 7 and half our players an 8. That's pretty much saying everyone played as good as each other but that is not the case.

If Morts was a 7 then Hayne and Mannah should be a 13... and Allgood and Shacks should an 11... and Walker should a pretty weak 4. Robson played a lot better than Morts, so deserves to a better rating than him. That's all I'm saying.

Don't worry I understand and in many respects agree with your opinion too

With the ratings, my view of the 'played as a team' thing sorta did affect what I finally wrote, so I'll give a fairer assessment;

Hayne 9 - brilliant as always, didn't overplay his hand.
Burt 8 - 16 points in a game! Good runs.
Walker 5 - Didn't do much, but was never targeted.
Morgan 6 - Was solid on debut, found out defensively but by a very dangerous team. Made some good metres.
Uaisele 7 - Made some damn good runs, chewed up metres and pulled off the tackle of the round.

Mortimer 5 - Probably the only player that didn't play to the game-plan, was off the pace.
Robson 7 - Controlled the game well and generally passed and kicked well.

Allgood 8 - Absolutely amazing debut for a young kid. I'd say keep him there.
Mcguire 9 - Outstanding. My tip for buy of the season. Was involved in every play.
Mannah 9 - Was awesome as always. How long until he becomes the official best young prop in the game?

Hindmarsh 7 - Was good as always, was not forced to work his arse off in defence and did a lot of running.
Lasalo 8 - The kid was great again. If he keeps this up he deserves to keep the spot.
Horo 8 - The guy keeps getting better and better.

Keating 7 - Was good off the bench, looked far better than in 2010.
Shackleton 9 - He was outstanding in his first game back and played big minutes, chewed up metres and worked his arse off.
Smith 6 - Wasn't too good but still carrying a slight injury apparently, didn't play many minutes.
Moi Moi 8 - Great impact off the bench!

I know a lot of people will disagree with these

 

[mrpwnd]

Mortimer went alright, not as bad as last year. though i wanted to punch the tv when he gave that penalty away towards the end of the game, I do think that only Hayne should be kicking inside our own 40, no one gets as much distance as he does.

IMO if Morts could get rid of his hesitancy particularly in his kicking game he'd go a lot better, from what I've heard it seemed like he took a fair while to get his kicks out, beyond that I don't think there was much else criticism in his game excluding a lack of creative spark, which I don't think anyone was expecting anyway.

 

[boxhead]

Considering Maguire's still in the process of finding his feet in the 9 would it be wise to put him into new territory again by giving him more responsibility in the 6? IMO he'd be much better off in the 9 and at the end of the day the club should play to their strengths rather than compensate to cover up a weakness.

I'd suggest Humble as a back up for Morts, but who knows what the f**k happened to him.

Agree on Mcguire, but moreso on the principle that he was very well one of our best from the 9.

 

[Gaffman]

I don't agree either with this "win ugly" sentiment. For round one, at least for most of the match, i couldn't get over just how sharp our game looked. And that completion rate! McGuire had us going in the right direction all night, and Keating didn't exactly let that slip off when he came on either. Looked like both were on the same page and kept our forwards doing what they do best.

Morts is just Morts. I don't think he had a bad game as such... he's just tentative. Not the best kicks but Hayne can't be asked to clear the ball every time.

I seriously just love watching Etu play. He's so raw. His tackling technique is awful, positional play in defence is questionable but he makes up for it with an insane amount of intensity =D Who goes head first at the legs of Manu? What a madman! That was an NFL hit and flippin' brilliant!

 

[CrazyEel]

One thing you have to admit about Morts, his performance was downright boring.

 

[bartman]

Considering Maguire's still in the process of finding his feet in the 9 would it be wise to put him into new territory again by giving him more responsibility in the 6? IMO he'd be much better off in the 9 and at the end of the day the club should play to their strengths rather than compensate to cover up a weakness.

I thought he played a fair bit of dummy half at Catalans, so his feet should be quite ok... I was more thinking that we have 3 x 9s (Maguire, Keating, Mitchell) with top grade expereince, and we can afford Maguire to shift to cover a weakness (if Morts doesn't step up) when we can call on the other two to cover the dummy half aspects.

I'd suggest Humble as a back up for Morts, but who knows what the f**k happened to him.

Yep, me too... but it seems Humble is apparently out of the mix for the time being at least :sarcasm:.

Mortimer 5 - Probably the only player that didn't play to the game-plan, was off the pace.

That's better Boxy, rating Daniel (accurately) as the equal worst player in the team tonight, and giving him barely a pass mark...

I don't think too many people will be arguing with your re-assessment ;-). Here's hoping Morts improves in Round 2, and gets closer to really earning his contract money (ie. outplaying the lower paid Robson by a factor of two on a weekly basis).

 

[bartman]

That Etu hit on Vatuvei was pretty "ugly"... I could see him lining him up, and then his whole body seemed to go much lower than I expected at the last minute. Can't believe he got low enough to connect shoulder to knee front on and flip the bloke - no wonder Manu's knee is now a bit f**ked!

 

[Eels Dude]

Don't worry I understand and in many respects agree with your opinion too

With the ratings, my view of the 'played as a team' thing sorta did affect what I finally wrote, so I'll give a fairer assessment;

Hayne 9 - brilliant as always, didn't overplay his hand.
Burt 8 - 16 points in a game! Good runs.
Walker 5 - Didn't do much, but was never targeted.
Morgan 6 - Was solid on debut, found out defensively but by a very dangerous team. Made some good metres.
Uaisele 7 - Made some damn good runs, chewed up metres and pulled off the tackle of the round.

Mortimer 5 - Probably the only player that didn't play to the game-plan, was off the pace.
Robson 7 - Controlled the game well and generally passed and kicked well.

Allgood 8 - Absolutely amazing debut for a young kid. I'd say keep him there.
Mcguire 9 - Outstanding. My tip for buy of the season. Was involved in every play.
Mannah 9 - Was awesome as always. How long until he becomes the official best young prop in the game?

Hindmarsh 7 - Was good as always, was not forced to work his arse off in defence and did a lot of running.
Lasalo 8 - The kid was great again. If he keeps this up he deserves to keep the spot.
Horo 8 - The guy keeps getting better and better.

Keating 7 - Was good off the bench, looked far better than in 2010.
Shackleton 9 - He was outstanding in his first game back and played big minutes, chewed up metres and worked his arse off.
Smith 6 - Wasn't too good but still carrying a slight injury apparently, didn't play many minutes.
Moi Moi 8 - Great impact off the bench!

I know a lot of people will disagree with these

To be honest Boxy I cannot disagree with too many of those... You're pretty much spot on. Though I do think I'd upgrade Hindy to an 8 and Lasalo down to a 7. But never the less, they both had great games.

 

[Fifty Metre Line]

Steven Kearney - 10.

 

[eels81236]

Have some nuts Boxy and stand up for your first ratings.
As terrible as they were, they were yours.
There are no redo's.

It's better to keep quiet and have people think you are silly than open your mouth and prove it.

 

[Fifty Metre Line]

Have some nuts Boxy and stand up for your first ratings.
As terrible as they were, they were yours.
There are no redo's.

It's better to keep quiet and have people think you are silly than open your mouth and prove it.

Patience.

The kid's still learning.

He has just proven that he is able to take on what others say, think about it, and then form an opinion looking at both sides of the argument.

More than I can say for a lot of people on this forum.