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Rd15 2024: Eels v Roosters GAME DAY THREAD @ Commbank Stadium June 15th

Poupou Escobar

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We signed the wrong players. Poor recruiting. Who's to blame is question. Some is BA and a lot would be MON i assume.
These players took us a long way. The only team to beat us in the finals 2021-22 was Penrith. And they beat everybody.
Juniors neglected also...
The juniors are doing fine. The best players from last year’s SG Ball are playing well in reserve grade.
 

hindy111

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These players took us a long way. The only team to beat us in the finals 2021-22 was Penrith. And they beat everybody.

The juniors are doing fine. The best players from last year’s SG Ball are playing well in reserve grade.

Yes 2001 and 2022 in their peak years right? We knew they where in peak. Its why we made the GF.
There all 30 now and still have 2 yrs after this one.
 

Poupou Escobar

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Yes 2001 and 2022 in their peak years right? We knew they where in peak. Its why we made the GF.
There all 30 now and still have 2 yrs after this one.
Gutherson, Paulo and RCG re-signed before the 2022 season started, Matterson re-signed mid season. How good would we have gone if we'd told them 2022 would be their final year with the club? Right after losing by two points to the eventual premiers?

In any case, giving older players an extra year is a way to get them to agree to less per year. Anything longer than a single year for a player over 30 is essentially a back ended deal. I dunno about you but I was surprised we could fit Lomax into this squad given the only top 17 player we might lose is Simonsson.
 

hineyrulz

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We only have 1 of those Ball kids signed for 2025.........
Season 3 Ash GIF by STARZ
 

Eelementary

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So I rewatched the 2nd half making a point to record Moses’ involvement as he seems to be copping it. Whilst I thought he didn’t set the world on fire, I didn’t think he was too bad.

My overall observation was that we predominantly went left and gave Drown more good ball (rightly so as he played well in the second half).

For what it’s worth, here is the record I made of our sets in attack:

1st: Moses involved in 4th tackle sweep. Drown ends up scoring in this set

2nd: Moses passes in a 2nd tackle shift. We receive a penalty.

3rd: Passes for a 3rd tackle shift. Also shifts out to Penisini in space off a Paulo offload.

4th: Involved in a 4th tackle shift. Last tackle attacking kick average as it was not deep enough.

5th: Helped out at dummy half for two plays. Good long kick on last is caught on their 10m line.

6th: Lussick on 🤮. Involved in 2nd tackle shift. Shifted on the last and then ends up with the ball again. Very good grubber should have pinned Roosters in goal but shithouse chase meant they made metres.

7th: Dummy half on the 2nd. Good long kick caught on 10m line.

8th: Doesn’t touch the ball. We were dominated rucking it out and didn’t make the 30m line. Excellent long kick gets us out of trouble and is caught on 20m line.

9th: Involved in 2nd tackle shift. 4th tackle short ball to Carty, then receives offload, runs the ball and then passes long which finds ground that we end up knocking on. **First poor contribution from Moses**

10th: Not involved as we were trucking it out from our own 10m. We drop the ball on the 4th.

11th: Rucking it out again but we receive a penalty.

12th: Ineffective inside ball to Carty on the 4th. Decides to run it on the last and throws a hospital ball to Drown who is caught on the last. **second poor contribution from Moses**

13th: Involved in 2nd tackle shift. Also involved in 4th tackle shift that was ineffective. Very good attacking kick on the last that should have resulted in a drop out but Asi gets a touch on it for a knock on.

14th: We drop the ball on the 2nd.

15th: Involved in a 3rd tackle shift which results in good metres. Starts 4th tackle shift which also results in good metres. Throws a ball on the last creating space for Penisini which almost results in Blaize scoring.

So there you have it. Two poor options but not exactly terrible across 40minutes.


I'm not sure that you did Moses the service you think you did, mate.

Out of those 15 involvements you earmarked, three of them resulted in either a penalty, or a dropped ball, so we can't judge him for that.


Out of the remaining 12 involvements, he threw a poor pass on two of them...this, from an Origin halfback, earning a million dollars a year...I don't know, but it doesn't seem good enough for a player of that calibre.

Not to mention that he was involved in 15 sets from a potential 20 - you'd really want your million-dollar man having the ball on every set.

I will concede that perhaps I was a tad harsh on my judgements on his game; however, historically speaking, those criticisms are apt - he lacks the ability/leadership to dig us out of a hole, like Cleary did in the Grand Final last year for Penrith.

I do think that he is somewhat of a victim of having a pretty rubbish, and ill-disciplined, team around him, though.
 

Eelementary

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His game against Manly, with a broken foot, was awesome. A great comeback win. He was very good against Cronulla too, though we were front runners in that one.

He has it in him to do it - he's kicked us game-winning field goals.

He's not not consistent, and it irritates the hell out of me.

When Tim Smith was our 7, you felt confident when we were 20 metres out, we'd either get a try, or a repeat set.

These days, though...
 

Chipmunk

Coach
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17,365
This comment has aged terribly
You can't get much better situation than 68% possession in a half...it's the equivalent of fresh powder after a 5 metre dump of snow...

It's the quintessential equivalent of the best conditions for a downhill skier...
 
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