This was a deeply disappointing, but moreso alarming, loss. It shows, to me, that we’re far behind the eight ball in terms of how first grade rugby league is played these days. We have limited mobility in the middle, which is a killer in an era of quicker middle forwards. The problem with that is that there’s no easy fix - the problems (Paulo and Matterson especially on tonight’s performances) are on contract for a while. Lussick is absolute dogshit, for the record.
I love the guy, but this is the first time I’ve genuinely thought Gutherson might not be the best fullback choice for us. Going forward, the genuine challengers will be zippy and adaptable. I don’t know that Gutho is. Maybe if he’s busted next week that would be a blessing in disguise, to give Blaize a go at fullback. His defence is ordinary, but he’s quick.
Things will need to change pretty drastically for us to have any chance of making the 8. Our for-and-against is utter dogshit already, and it’s hard to see that changing any time soon. We have just conceded 9 tries on the trot to a team with about a third of their salary cap on the sideline.
However you look at it, that’s the most insipid Eels performance since … 12 days ago.
Time for change, from top down. It’s not all on BA, but he’s definitely a very large problem. This is a team that is not adaptable or dynamic. Let’s just hope that Lomax doesn’t have any second thoughts - given the drastically different performances tonight, I think I’d rather be playing in a Red V than Blue and Gold for the foreseeable future.
