The stats that sunk Grothe

[StEely Matt]

The stats that sunk Grothe

By James Phelps | June 03, 2008 12:00am

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,23804110-5006066,00.html

THESE are the statistics that forced Eels coach Michael Hagan to dump Eric Grothe to park football.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the former Origin winger has missed a staggering 27 tackles this year.

And it gets worse.

Parramatta has conceded 14 tries down Grothe's wing, almost a third of the Eels' total of 45. Most worringly, Grothe's poor reads in defence, are attributable to most of the tries let in down the flank.

He has also turned possession over at critical moments on a number of occasions.

Grothe was yesterday told to continue his career with Wentworthville in the NSW Cup with teenager sensation Tony Williams called up as his replacement.

"There are parts of Eric's game that we have asked him to work on and we feel we haven't seen the necessary improvement from him,'' Hagan said.

"It is a shame for him that Wentworthville have the bye this week in the NSW Cup, but we hope that taking some time to think about things will bring the desired result.

"Hopefully he goes back and works hard on certain areas of his game. We tried hard (to fix the problem) a couple of weeks ago when it almost came to this. Those things were pointed out to him but we did not see the changes in his game.

"It isn't a nice situation, but it is something that had to be done. "I hope Eric takes it the right way and nobody needs to put the boot in.''

Williams, who last week signed with the Sea Eagles for a staggering $150,000 a year, has been rewarded for his outstanding form in the Toyota Cup.

The Cabramatta junior is the fifth top points scorer in the Toyota Cup with 84-points. Weighing 110kgs and standing at 192cm, Williams will be one of the biggest players in the NRL when he makes his debut against the Raiders at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday night.

But while most his size play in the forwards, Williams has the pace and skill to play in the outside backs. He kicks goals to boot.

"Tony Williams will make his debut and will no doubt benefit from having Taulima Tautai and Krisnan Inu in the backline with him, given he's played plenty of football with them in the past,'' Hagan said.

"Were looking forward to seeing how he handles the step up. We always thought he would be an NRL winger at our club,'' Hagan said.

"He gets his opportunity and I am sure he will handle it. I am sure he will be good for us. He will be told to the basic things well and I am sure he will.''

 

[AlexTheEel]

A third down the right, a third down the left and a third down the middle. Seems fair to me. Bring back Eric!

 

[Gronk]

"Were looking forward to seeing how he handles the step up. We always thought he would be an NRL winger at our club,'' Hagan said.

'

Interesting quote there !

 

[the_eel]

A third down the right, a third down the left and a third down the middle. Seems fair to me. Bring back Eric!

Thats what i was thinking. A 3rd of the tries down one third of the field isnt't the greatest stat to bring out in support of defensive weaknesses.

 

[Parra Guru]

The whole situation sh*ts me. I'm not angry that Ecka got the axe, but those stats annoy me. And why aren't the guys playing in field partly responsible?

 

[bradeel]

yeah, that is totally wierd. Less than 1/3 down eric's wing. In my mind that makes him 1 try ahead of par!!

Not denying that he was due a spell in the lower grades because his defence has been really bad, but that is just shocking reporting.

And here's hoping he comes back a better player too by the way. I for one like the bloke and think we are a much better team with him firing.

 

[AlexTheEel]

4 of those 14 came last week.

 

[strider]

A third down the right, a third down the left and a third down the middle. Seems fair to me. Bring back Eric!

:lol: :lol: :lol: ... exactly

 

[ParraAds]

Who can we all ask to be axed next week then??

Start thinking guys.... whoever gets the 'xxxx should be sacked!!' thread up first then gets to say 'i told you so' for a few weeks....makes for great reading.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

I'm glad he's gone. People argue that he had no confidence in Reddys ability inside him, well that's his fault, maybe he should've and all those trys wouldn't have been conceaded. Reddy lined up ok last friday, grothe never had to come in, but he chose too. Grothe thinks because once he got lucky from coming in and smashing his opponent ( Tigers 2005) he can do it all the time and it will pay off.

 

[bartman]

The whole situation sh*ts me. I'm not angry that Ecka got the axe, but those stats annoy me. And why aren't the guys playing in field partly responsible?

I'm with you PG. It's infield, inside Reddy, and to me we need a change about how our defence in mid-field lines up when the opposition do anything more tricky than a one-off hit up.

Get the forwards all talking and pointing as they're moving up for the tackle (like they used to), or get a fullback behind them yelling and directing them how to slide when needed. I don't mind Eric having time in reggies, but at the moment you could put the best defensive winger anyone could name in his place and the results and stats would most likely be the same.

 

[V1er]

the 1/3 tries stat is pretty stupid, its like they just put it in there without even thinking where the other 2/3s of tries were scored

 

[Parraren]

A nothing story full of nothing stats

 

[stuke]

will be interesting to see how well we work the ball out of our end this week. Guru does a lot of work in this regard and our forwards will really have to step up knowing that he won't be there. the guys who are back there this week have little experience in 1st grade and will be interesting to see how they cope with it as well.

while it was probably overdue for Eric to be dropped, this week was a very inopportune time with S.O.O and injuries affecting the make-up of our team.

 

[WallyG]

A nothing story full of nothing stats

Would we expect anything else from the paper that has more agenda's than any other news outlet? The standard of the journalism is gutter at best.

Still glad that Grothe has been dropped. Whilst he is one of the most exciting players in the NRL when on song, he's only on song for 3 games a year...

 

[Avenger]

I'm not sure if Grothe has the mental fortitude to come back from this.

 

[HevyDevy]

4 of those 14 came last week.

And they were all Eric's fault were they? What about earlier in the year? Eric's fault?

 

[TheParraboy]

the 27 missed tackles is quite damming for a winger who usually is lucky to make 4 tackles a game

In regards to the 1/3 tries down his side,
How many tries have been scored in the other 2/3 when Grothe has stupidly lost/thrown the ball whilst carrying it back after a kick and the try scored away from his 1/3? 3 tries? 4, 5?, it surely has cost us at least one game, and put us behind the 8 ball in a couple of others at least.

 

[spiderdan]

A third down the right, a third down the left and a third down the middle. Seems fair to me. Bring back Eric!

"Parramatta has conceded 14 tries down Grothe's wing, almost a third of the Eels' total of 45. Most worringly, Grothe's poor reads in defence, are attributable to most of the tries let in down the flank." 1/3 on grothe's wing, not his third of the field. i like the way eric plays when his game his on. unfortunatly his defense and reading of play hasn't been good which is why he has been targetted so much.

that isn't to say that there aren't communication problems on that side of the field with all the players but they can hardly be blamed for eric's shoulder charges that don't work and expose the wing or him moving up, stopping and then back peddling while he slides on our line.

hopefully he will work on his game and come back a better player.

 

[HevyDevy]

No, i actually refers to that third of the field. I use the same program as they used from time to time.