Rnd 18 Eels v Knights Game Day Thread.

[hindy111]

Watching Panthers today their forwards are hard asses.. ours are just asses...

I heard Hethrington took it to Fafita in tunnel.
Sign this kid BA. He will be the intimidating mass we need

 

[Bazal]

So....did we win?

 

[hindy111]

Should we do something crazy and offer Cam Smith 1.5 mill for a season next season (has he resigned with Storm)?

1.5?
Get the duke

 

[hindy111]

People were telling us not to sign Hayne about 3 weeks ago.......

Mannah is on the shit list often on here.

Norman was to be moved on 4 weeks ago.

We are f**king fickle as f**k!

You shit me most

 

[hindy111]

So....did we win?

24-12 Sharks

 

[T-Boon]

1.5?
Get the duke

who is the duke?

 

[hindy111]

who is the duke?

 

[T-Boon]

that thing looks dead,

 

[hindy111]

Tepai still yet to have a break out game.

Hayne and Alvaro impressive.

Gutherson 2018 always going to be garbage. Since when does a guy come back from a knee reco and kill in. Lets see how he goes in 2019.

 

[Chipmunk]

So....did we win?

Yep, The Plane got us home like it was 2014

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Gutho to centres and Hayne to fullback. Is there a more obvious decision to be made??

It HAS to happen. The Gutho fullback experiment is well and truly over.

Gutherson to centre where he can just tackle and support on his side of the field, French to fullback where his lack of size is less of an issue and he is better able to use his speed and skill, Hayne to wing where he can just carry the ball 15+ times every week without having to worry about tackling or support play.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Sticking Hayne in there absolutely fixes it and makes them instant favourites as far as I’m concerned.

Souths are creating overlaps, and a big part of that is Johnston's work off the ball. It's a team game. It's not just about sticking your best player at fullback and passing him the ball as often as possible. Someone like Hayne (and Inglis and Mitchell and Ferguson and any quality attacking outside back) thrives in one-on-one situations. That means attacking nearer to the sidelines where the space is.

Hayne would actually improve our team at fullback more than he would for Souths. He would disrupt their balance, whereas we are so shit we don't really have any balance. Just like when Hayne excelled for us at fullback last time he was here, only a shit team sticks their best runner at fullback, and Radradra would have looked good at fullback as well and possibly won a Dally M. But the team would have been worse off.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I'd make him captain and call his position "rover" in that he is in charge and gets the ball where he wants it when he wants it. He can just pop up anywhere.

Getting Hayne a lot of runs is obviously the key. The question is what to do with him in defence. I think wing is a no-brainer. He is great defensively there, and it doesn't require a lot of work. He can save himself for running the ball.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So kind of like a fullback then...

Fullbacks don't rove, they have responsibilities on nearly every play and cover more ground in 80 minutes than anyone. The good ones (like Slater and Tedesco) do anyway.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I don’t think any fullback does 10km at 80% effort. At fullback he can use his explosive effort and then rest each set out the back. I think people overestimate the work rate required at fullback. It’s a stop start position and sure they move a lot in the back play but it’s at low intensity. The halves in Origin this year were covering far more distance than the fullbacks.

How much distance were the centres and wingers covering? There's a reason they are the worst distance runners at every club. And halves might cover a lot of distance but they are mostly jogging compared to the constant bursts required of a fullback.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I disagree, he is not our problem.

He isn't *the* problem, but like most of them, he is playing worse than last year. At 24 years of age he should be playing even better than last year. He absolutely killed it. Much better than Norman last year. In the second half of 2017 he was one of the best playmakers in the NRL.

 

[The EELiminator]

French to fullback where his lack of size is less of an issue and he is better able to use his speed and skill

We tried French at fullback remember?
He was ragdolled into touch constantly so i don't get how his size isn't an issue plus he let in tries because he was caught out of position

 

[Gronk]

Mannah worked his but off. Quite a few did. Its the "couldnt give a fu*k" moments that hurt and they are there to see in every set. Its also the "head down bum up" attack. Teams compress and players get smashed. Its been happening for years. Players are not improving and probably piss*d off with the game plan which has been the same for years no matter who we play. Opposition coaches must look at our tactics with amazement.
Do we actually have an attack coach?
Do we actually have a skills coach?
Are they rubbish or are they just conforming to a directive?
Our fitness is poor by comparison to other teams.
Why are players who continually rush out of the line or turn their back continually selected?
How can we continue to play with just 1 winger?
We have massive issues that an off season and a few new players wont fix.

You do know we lost that match by the few cms that Bevan’s boot was on the line ?

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

You're right. But just beating the Knights is nothing to crow about.

 

[Happy MEel]

-2 over weekend. Keep warm

Thanks mate. 0.8 degrees right now.