Rd13: Parra v Penrith GAME DAY THREAD @ Commbank 1/6/25

[Poupou Escobar]

Other players seem to be able to execute.

You don't praise his defensive work rate when his turn overs are the reason why he's making a good amount of tackles in his allocated game time.

Maybe that why he's only player 35mins, he's well out of form.

He played 35 minutes because we were chasing points and Walker plays the same role but does a better job in attack (and worse in defence). That's why Hopgood played longer minutes in previous weeks despite making more errors. Because we were defending a lead for most of the game.

 

[Pazza]

He played 35 minutes because we were chasing points and Walker plays the same role but does a better job in attack (and worse in defence). That's why Hopgood played longer minutes in previous weeks despite making more errors. Because we were defending a lead for most of the game.

Hopgood played less minutes than any other forward in the team cause he was having a shocker. From memory he was hooked not long after one of his errors.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Hopgood played less minutes than any other forward in the team cause he was having a shocker. From memory he was hooked not long after one of his errors.

No, he had a shocker against the Knights (3 errors) and still played 48 minutes. The reason he was finally replaced against the Panthers was because he was gassed from working so hard in defence. He made 31 tackles in 35 minutes, a Herculean effort.

Eels middle	Tackles	Minutes	Tackles/minute
Hopgood	31	35	0.89
Walker	33	45	0.73
Moretti	28	39	0.72
Papalii	10	14	0.71
Smith	46	66	0.7
Matterson	20	41	0.49
Paulo	18	51	0.35

The full match replay is available online, so you don't need to rely on your memory. He was hooked with about ten minutes to go because he had been tackling his guts out, we were chasing points, and we needed Walker back on. I rewatched the ten minutes before he came off and there were no errors and no bad passes (almost no passes at all). Just lots of tackling as Penrith ground us out of the contest:

Full Match Replay: Panthers v Eels – Round 13, 2025 

The Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels face off during Round 13 in the 2025 Telstra Premiership

www.nrl.com

 

[Joshuatheeel]

No, he had a shocker against the Knights (3 errors) and still played 48 minutes. The reason he was finally replaced against the Panthers was because he was gassed from working so hard in defence. He made 31 tackles in 35 minutes, a Herculean effort.

Eels middle	Tackles	Minutes	Tackles/minute
Hopgood	31	35	0.89
Walker	33	45	0.73
Moretti	28	39	0.72
Papalii	10	14	0.71
Smith	46	66	0.7
Matterson	20	41	0.49
Paulo	18	51	0.35

The full match replay is available online, so you don't need to rely on your memory. He was hooked with about ten minutes to go because he had been tackling his guts out, we were chasing points, and we needed Walker back on. I rewatched the ten minutes before he came off and there were no errors and no bad passes (almost no passes at all). Just lots of tackling as Penrith ground us out of the contest:

Full Match Replay: Panthers v Eels – Round 13, 2025 

The Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels face off during Round 13 in the 2025 Telstra Premiership

www.nrl.com

Additionally his error was around the 15.50 min mark, he wasn't replaced until 18.50 min.

Last few weeks he is normally replaced around 22 mins with Walker.

I suspected he may have came off a little earlier then normal is we had a "free" interchange with the Moretti HIA. Moretti came back on at 18 mins as well. So why not get Walker on earlier.

 

[Pazza]

The reason he was finally replaced against the Panthers was because he was gassed from working so hard in defence. He made 31 tackles in 35 minutes, a Herculean effort.

He was replaced after 18 mins and came on later for another 16 or so min stint.

Hardly Herculean

 

[JokerEel]

I am not sure why there is a few that are defending Hopgood (especially with stats.....)He hasn't been good for a while now.

Everyone knows he also is good for an error a game and this week it was in the first set plus when attacking the opposition line.

 

[jk13]

hoppy was good for an offload so they tried to turn him into a ball player. not sure he has the footy smarts for it.

 

[Pazza]

I heard somewhere that back injury had given him a bunch of grief

 

[Stagger eel]

I heard somewhere that back injury had given him a bunch of grief

well I'm hearing that it he hasn't missed a field session at training, so on the surface he doesn't appear to be having to manage an existing injury.

 

[Timana]

I still think it is him adjusting to JR's style.

In the BA days, he always looked to offload each play rather than ball play.
JR has shutdown the offloads (though they are slowly coming back) and he is in 2 minds as to what he is to do.

He might see what Walker is doing and thinks he can do that too.

He should just run hard and straight and in between defenders or at spot defenders.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

He was replaced after 18 mins and came on later for another 16 or so min stint.

Hardly Herculean

The work rate was Herculean. He made 60 minutes worth of tackles in 35 minutes. Of course he needed a rest.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

The work rate was Herculean. He made 60 minutes worth of tackles in 35 minutes. Of course he needed a rest.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

suggesting Hopgood shouldn't pass and just focus on running straight/hard, is asking him to go against Ryles "game plan/structure".......

 

[Pazza]

The work rate was Herculean. He made 60 minutes worth of tackles in 35 minutes. Of course he needed a rest.

Rcg and Paulo use to work pretty hard and you didn't feel like they needed a rest.....

 

[Timana]

suggesting Hopgood shouldn't pass and just focus on running straight/hard, is asking him to go against Ryles "game plan/structure".......

Umm i dont think this is for everyone in the team.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

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Rcg and Paulo use to work pretty hard and you didn't feel like they needed a rest.....

Paulo doesn’t work hard. He made 18 tackles in 51 minutes ffs. He gets his rest while he’s on the field.

 

[Pazza]

Paulo doesn’t work hard. He made 18 tackles in 51 minutes ffs. He gets his rest while he’s on the field.

When he was in his prime he played huge minutes and had plenty of impact

 

[Poupou Escobar]

When he was in his prime he played huge minutes and had plenty of impact

Impact and work rate are two different things. You can play long minutes and do relatively little work. This describes most backs. When he gets a long rest between collisions (runs/tackles) it allows the player to stay on for longer.

But high impact middles like Paulo need hard workers like Hopgood to carry them in defence.

 

[Pazza]

Impact and work rate are two different things. You can play long minutes and do relatively little work. This describes most backs. When he gets a long rest between collisions (runs/tackles) it allows the player to stay on for longer.

But high impact middles like Paulo need hard workers like Hopgood to carry them in defence.

Point is you had no issue with Paulo and RCG getting minimal rest, now hopgood does a few tackles and he needs to be taken off, so what changed???

 

[Timana]

Point is you had no issue with Paulo and RCG getting minimal rest, now hopgood does a few tackles and he needs to be taken off, so what changed???

That's because his hugged one, said, if you get paid more, you should be on for longer minutes.
Quantity minutes over quality minutes.

JR is more, if you are playing bad, you get ditched for the day and get minimum time.