Rd17 2024: 530pm Eels v Knights GAME DAY THREAD @ MJ Stadium June 29th

[JokerEel]

People want a saviour. MA did fine for a 19 year old debutante.

Wat this team is some fresh blood, fresh ideas and the toughest pre season eva

Yep 100% I would have thought MA should have spent the year in Flegg developing but we know why he was pushed into CUP..

I highly doubt he will stay with the club after his Dad was given the boot..

I rate Riley Smith Highly and think he is our future if MA leaves.

 

[Legal Eel]

What have I done wrong now ?

you just rub people the wrong way....I think its either because you are a f**kwit or just because you play a f**kwit character on these forums.

 

[JokerEel]

think we’re being a little hard on Blaize purely due to the overall form of the team. He’s come into a badly losing team, and that’s all he’s played in.

He needs practice under the high ball, lots of it, but he’s shown enough for mine that he has a place and I think wing is that for now. He’s happy to take tough runs, more so than Sivo, and is less a defensive liability than Sivo too.

as for the bunker calls - there is no doubt we were dudded in some big calls - but imo when you miss 57 tackles - you don’t deserve to win a game or get 50/50 calls

He can score a nice try...

If the team and he are serious they would go away this offseason get him some sprint training and he will be a good fullback in a year..

His best game was at fullback against the Broncos taking bombs that Chevy from the Raiders dropped..

 

[JokerEel]

Cam Smith wasnt a dynamic hooker either. He just made the right decisions over and over again

Yep same as that other hooker grub from the Storm..

 

[Pazza]

Yep 100% I would have thought MA should have spent the year in Flegg developing but we know why he was pushed into CUP..

I highly doubt he will stay with the club after his Dad was given the boot..

I rate Riley Smith Highly and think he is our future if MA leaves.

BA was given so much more rope than any coach I've seen (apart from maybe sticky in Canberra) I've seen in my 25 years following the game. MAs been part of the club most of his life.

Plus how was MA going to excel in a BA coached team. All BA wants his hooker to do Is tackle and pass.

There's a future here for MA

 

[yy_cheng]

think we’re being a little hard on Blaize purely due to the overall form of the team. He’s come into a badly losing team, and that’s all he’s played in.

He needs practice under the high ball, lots of it, but he’s shown enough for mine that he has a place and I think wing is that for now. He’s happy to take tough runs, more so than Sivo, and is less a defensive liability than Sivo too.

as for the bunker calls - there is no doubt we were dudded in some big calls - but imo when you miss 57 tackles - you don’t deserve to win a game or get 50/50 calls

I recall gutho and Russell had troubles under the high ball on the wing when they first started.

It took them 2 to 3 games to correct it

Blaize doesn't seem to have made any progress

 

[Delboy]

Just an observation, take a look at our 2 to 5 backline and the lack of new players, then realise that the Storm backs have all been signed in the last 3 years. Coates, Meaney, Warbrick and Reimis Smith a Parra in junior reps signed from Dogs as a project.

No competition between Storm recruitment and Oneil plus Rogers from our lot.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Ironically we conceded 2 of those 6 tries because of our lack of cohesion in attack not shoddy defence when Best scored those 2 runaway tries.

It's true. Our completion rate was very poor, and we were punished for it. Our shoddy defence was best reflected in the massive number of missed tackles.

 

[JokerEel]

I recall gutho and Russell had troubles under the high ball on the wing when they first started.

It took them 2 to 3 games to correct it

Blaize doesn't seem to have made any progress

Rewatch the Broncos game

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I probably would have said similar about Lomax a few yrs ago ..... though admittedly never saw him play elsewhere (just seemed a set skillset) ... now i think he is an elite wing and probably decent (or more) fullback option.

I didnt watch yesterdays game properly. I was very concerned about Blaizes fullback ability a while back but he had a decent game there a while back. Wing? I think he is still young n light. Not a real speedster for wing.

Yeah his best features are his power and footwork rather than his speed.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I am a little concerned with the pile on MA.

He wasn't slow last night running out of dummy half or in defense.. Kind of makes me worried about some people's opinions...

MA was fine last night nothing more nothing less..

Btw I still stink Riley Smith could be better...

Arthur at least proved he can tackle at NRL level. He's not quick but the greatest NRL hooker of all time wasn't quick either. They just need to be quick between the ears.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I was hoping for a quick pj marsh crafty type of hooker.

These merkins stand out on the rare occasions there's an opportunity, but hooker is a high involvement position in attack and defence. They need to be low risk rather than high impact.

 

[Gronk]

you just rub people the wrong way....I think its either because you are a f**kwit or just because you play a f**kwit character on these forums.

Nah was just the mean girls having a flex. They’ll get over it.

 

[yy_cheng]

Just an observation, take a look at our 2 to 5 backline and the lack of new players, then realise that the Storm backs have all been signed in the last 3 years. Coates, Meaney, Warbrick and Reimis Smith a Parra in junior reps signed from Dogs as a project.

No competition between Storm recruitment and Oneil plus Rogers from our lot.

Besides Coates, the others aren't that special. 2 were dog rejects. Maybe their coach taught them how to do the basic things well.

Our ex coach could polish a reject backrower and focused all his attention there.

He had no backup for guth nor mahoney but had lots of middles and edges cause that's where his strength is. He probably instructed mon to look for them ala davey.

We would have a top 30 if we kept those who left, davey, momo, murchie not sure about the guy who went to england

So it seems to be more what the ex coach wanted. Mon got the rejects, however, ba failed to polish them. They were given cracks at first grade so it wasn't as if ba didn't really want them

 

[Hindmarshisgod2]

These merkins stand out on the rare occasions there's an opportunity, but hooker is a high involvement position in attack and defence. They need to be low risk rather than high impact.

Yeah....I guess your right.

I just hope now that MA has the cam Smith qualities, cause he definitely doesn't have speed

 

[hindy111]

I probably would have said similar about Lomax a few yrs ago ..... though admittedly never saw him play elsewhere (just seemed a set skillset) ... now i think he is an elite wing and probably decent (or more) fullback option.

I didnt watch yesterdays game properly. I was very concerned about Blaizes fullback ability a while back but he had a decent game there a while back. Wing? I think he is still young n light. Not a real speedster for wing.

What where you doing?
I missed the game. I went for Woodford pizza

 

[Matty Bhoy]

I’m probably swimming against the tide here… I thought Matt Arthur was really decent for a 19 year old kid playing his first game. Line speed good. Passing pretty decent, better than Lussick. I’d imagine he’d have been nervous as all hell so it’s going to get better. Two good tackles leading to opposition dropped ball. A lot to like in my opinion.

 

[Eelementary]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not piling on the kid....but I have never seen him.playe, and his first run he took he looked like he was running in sand....after reading all the hype, and getting excited, that just uninspired me.....

He might be good, but I was hoping for a quick pj marsh crafty type of hooker.

As I said, we overhype our juniors. From what I've seen, they don't look like anything special

To be perfectly blunt, the people who were telling you/insinuating that he's a quick, nippy dummy-half, haven't seen him play much.

Matt Arthur is smart, creative, and has a very good skill set - but he's not nippy.

Never has been, probably never will be.

What he does, is take the right option (more often than not), take darts out of dummy-half when he identifies lazy/offside markers (and he did that last night, getting us aat least one more 6-again), and keep markers honest.

In terms of play style, he's more Cam Smith, than PJ Marsh (before people get their knickers in a twist, I'm not saying he's anywhere near as good as Smith; just that the way he plays is similar).

 

[Pazza]

I’m probably swimming against the tide here… I thought Matt Arthur was really decent for a 19 year old kid playing his first game. Line speed good. Passing pretty decent, better than Lussick. I’d imagine he’d have been nervous as all hell so it’s going to get better. Two good tackles leading to opposition dropped ball. A lot to like in my opinion.

Found a lazy marker early giving us a 6 again

 

[Eelogical]

What where you doing?
I missed the game. I went for Woodford pizza

What pizza joint in Woodford? Maybe you should have gone to the Station Bar in Katoomba instead.