Rd14: 4pm Parra v Bulldogs GAME DAY THREAD @ Accor 9/6/25

[T.S Quint]

When Hopgood came on in the second half his defense on our line was top notch then he got beaten easily for that try which was disappointing.

He seems to have times in the game where he just has fatigue issues..

He got beaten by a quicker man with good footwork. It wasn’t good but the real problem was no one covering on the inside. Papalii was not in position.

 

[JokerEel]

He got beaten by a quicker man with good footwork. It wasn’t good but the real problem was no one covering on the inside. Papalii was not in position.

Probably doesn't fall for the step of he wasn't fatigued either..

 

[Delboy]

He got beaten by a quicker man with good footwork. It wasn’t good but the real problem was no one covering on the inside. Papalii was not in position.

Asking Papalii to defend in th front line is not really something he is good at. He can look up and position himself with speed, doesn’t have the technique, experience or size to play consistently in the middle .

 

[T.S Quint]

Moses has to get through Origin yet. His track record is poor.

This is exactly why I didn't want him playing Origin this year yet his whole focus the past 2 weeks has been keeping himself fit for game 2.

He has played in a dinner suit for 2 weeks.

Mitch deserves more criticism then anyone his kicks are shit, lacks a torpedo and doesn't change momentum when on the back foot with a kick on the 3rd or 4th to turn the opposition around and turn the momentum of a contest.

When was the last time he tried a 40/20

Ever tried kicking a 40/20 from your own 30m line off a slow play-the-ball?
Because that’s what you’re expecting Moses to do here.

We’ve had no field position and are getting monstered in the ruck. Moses kicking is pretty much as good as I could be.

He did have one charged down yesterday. That was pretty shit.

I’m really not sure what you expect Moses to do. We tried making metres up the guts and couldn’t. When we tried moving the ball sideways we were shit down quickly. Couldn’t throw an offload to save our lives. The criticism of Moses (and Brown as well) in this game is unwarranted, imo.

 

[T.S Quint]

Geeze I felt that one.

View attachment 102966

To be fair to @Avenger he seems more like the kind of guy to stab you in the front.

Then he would regret it two days later.

 

[T.S Quint]

Matto had the flu.

Woke up crook so pulled out.

If his not 100% matto won't play

Have you ever had the flu?
I don’t blame him. The team is better off having someone healthy there.

 

[T.S Quint]

Asking Papalii to defend in th front line is not really something he is good at. He can look up and position himself with speed, doesn’t have the technique, experience or size to play consistently in the middle .

Well, that’s on Ryles.
Just pointing out that it wasn’t all on Hopgood.

 

[T.S Quint]

I actually had a mate who is a Dogs supporter have the nerve to say that the Eels were lucky the ref was on their side otherwise the Dogs would have scored 50.

Even before the game he was telling me that Sutton was gonna look after Parra as he always does. Then I looked it up and Eels have a 38% winning percentage when Sutton is ref, whilst Dogs have 45%.

Delusional.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Probably doesn't fall for the step of he wasn't fatigued either..

Which try was that?

 

[Joshuatheeel]

I actually had a mate who is a Dogs supporter have the nerve to say that the Eels were lucky the ref was on their side otherwise the Dogs would have scored 50.

Even before the game he was telling me that Sutton was gonna look after Parra as he always does. Then I looked it up and Eels have a 38% winning percentage when Sutton is ref, whilst Dogs have 45%.

Delusional.

My dog supporter mate (who is a life member at a junior club there), reckons the eels played well. It was just the dogs "systems" which they have had 3 years to developed, eventually just got the better of us late in the game.

 

[JokerEel]

Which try was that?

The try when they were up 18-12 Mann steps Right/left and Hopgood falls for it.

Joash needed to slide and probably realise that Hopgood had been busting his ass in defence for a while.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

The try when they were up 18-12 Mann steps Right/left and Hopgood falls for it.

Joash needed to slide and probably realise that Hopgood had been busting his ass in defence for a while.

Actually don't think it was Papalii fault. More KK/Drown/Walker.

Papalii pushes in on his own (think he was marker). Then has to either take Mann or watch outside for the pass to an unmarked dogs player (which KK/Drown/Walker should have pushed up for).

This creates the space for Mann to put the step on Hopgood.

 

[chiefy1]

My dog supporter mate (who is a life member at a junior club there), reckons the eels played well. It was just the dogs "systems" which they have had 3 years to developed, eventually just got the better of us late in the game.

That and Brad left us with f**k all forward depth. With two class middles, we probably would have won yesterday.

Sam Tuivaiti will help when he comes back. Looking like Luca cheekbone fracture .

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Ever tried kicking a 40/20 from your own 30m line off a slow play-the-ball?
Because that’s what you’re expecting Moses to do here.

We’ve had no field position and are getting monstered in the ruck. Moses kicking is pretty much as good as I could be.

He did have one charged down yesterday. That was pretty shit.

I’m really not sure what you expect Moses to do. We tried making metres up the guts and couldn’t. When we tried moving the ball sideways we were shit down quickly. Couldn’t throw an offload to save our lives. The criticism of Moses (and Brown as well) in this game is unwarranted, imo.

The Dogs are conceding nearly 18 points per game this year and we only managed 12 points. It’s f**king bullshit.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

That and Brad left us with f**k all forward depth. With two class middles, we probably would have won yesterday.

Sam Tuivaiti will help when he comes back. Looking like Luca cheekbone fracture .

We had Matterson, Lane and Cartwright unavailable, and shitcanned RCG after Arthur left. All those forwards are proven attacking threats. Tuivaiti will also become an elite attacking forward. These are the types that can wear down small, mobile defences like Canterbury’s.

They are also more likely to concede points, especially with all the mistakes we made yesterday.

 

[T.S Quint]

This loss came down to three things - our many unforced errors, the dogs incredible completion rate, and the ref giving them more leeway throughout the whole game.

We can fix up one of those things. The other two we can do not much about unfortunately.

 

[Wally21]

Have you ever had the flu?
I don’t blame him. The team is better off having someone healthy there.

I have some new influenza A strain at the moment, have been in bed since Sunday week ago and still f**ked.

 

[Eelementary]

Losing always sucks, but the final scoreline did not reflect the quality of the game.

We competed with them for most of the game.

We had some really dodgy calls go against us.

We ran out of puff, and they sailed home.

For 60 minutes, the game was a genuine contest.

I'm disappointed we lost, but as soon as Ryles can fine-tune our roster, we will be looking good.

Just to add further to this - yes, it sucks that we are taking "we competed well for X minutes" as a positive.

But it's pretty clear to see that there is structure in our attack, and defence.

We just need better cattle.

And we've got some beauties in our younger age groups.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I really like some of what we are doing in attack. Its better than anything I've seen in some time. I trust that Ryles will stick to this and eventually build a team that can deliver. Dare I say it, but we appear to have 'shape'.

Some great scrambling defence and love the effort but I think posession and field position is a major problem at the moment. BA's answer was to do nothing in attack and complete at a high rate but that only gets you so far if you cant score.

I'm confident that we'll learn from this period and improve enormously over the next couple of years. In the process we will get the balance between risk and reward right. I think we are a far better team than the ladder would suggest.

 

[Noise]

. I think we are a far better team than the ladder would suggest.

Really? We are second last. We have the 2nd worst defence in the comp. The 3rd worst attack in the comp. And the 2nd worst points differential. I’d say our ladder position is pretty indicative of our team.