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What's the matter with Parramatta?
July 18, 2008
They've spent all week up a dirty, smelly creek after their only paddle snapped. They've crawled on elbows and knees through a city's sewerage, like Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption.
But instead of escaping to freedom, Parramatta run out tonight in front of a packed, partisan Brookvale Oval to face the competition leaders.
As confidence in his side has drained, Eels coach Michael Hagan has argued for weeks that his team - which took the NRL by the scruff of the neck at the end of last season, pushing Melbourne hard in the preliminary final - is there or thereabouts.
But facts don't lie. This time last season Parra were third. They start tonight 10th and, if there's a bullet, it's pointed at them.
The redoubtable Nathan Hindmarsh - cited by Hagan as proof his team does not lack desire - tackled the problem head-on after last Saturday's 32-20 loss to Souths. Asked where the side was, Hindmarsh was clear. "Up sh*t creek, mate," he said. "We've got one paddle left."
That paddle was star five-eighth Feleti Mateo, missing with a knee injury from tonight's encounter, which the Eels enter as $5.10 outsiders.
The Herald convened a round table to answer the hard questions - Eels halfback Brett Finch, Eels greats Peter Sterling and Ray Price, former coach and Fairfax columnist Phil Gould and lifelong Parramatta fan Adam Daniel. Hagan declined the opportunity to take a seat.
1Can Parramatta still make the top four? Are they alive in this competition? I don't think they can make the top four. To be honest, I have questions about whether they can make the top eight. I haven't seen any consistent play all season, and it's not something you turn on like a tap.
Peter Sterling:
Brett Finch: We're definitely still alive to make the semi-finals but the top-four sides seem to be kicking away from most teams.
Ray Price: I don't know about the top four but they can get into the eight.
Phil Gould: You can't write them off because of the talent they have but, as a team, they've given me no indication they're going to rally. If anything, they should be a lot further down the ladder than they are; they've had a couple of lucky escapes.
Adam Daniel: Top four is a stretch, but although we are riddled with bullets we are still breathing.
2What has happened to the side that finished third in 2007?You'd have to ask each individual player what's happened but, from the outside looking in, it looks as if they've been playing as individuals. They've got to pull their finger out and start playing as a team. And playing a little bit better.
RP:
PS: I've always believed there was a sameness about their forward pack, and the game these days is dominated so much by what happens in the middle corridor. I don't think Parramatta have the forward pack to play a power game, but they also don't have the athleticism to play a style more like the Tigers.
BF: We've had a few tough decisions go against us and a few tight games we've lost on the bell. But we certainly set high standards for ourselves and we've fallen short of them.
AD: We've been asking this question since scraping through game one. I think last year led to overconfidence in the squad.
PG: You could see it from the opening game - they look soft in the head and soft in the body. It takes 18 months to destroy a good culture and 18 months to repair a bad one. Look at Newcastle and Parramatta, where they were and where they are now, and I think the answer is fairly obvious. The Eels have lost their hard, competitive culture.
3Is the team suffering from bad attitude, poor personnel or poor technique and tactics?Attitude rules the world. They've lost their intensity, they've lost their competitiveness, they've lost their ability to concentrate for a full 80 minutes.
PG:
AD: Their intermittent bursts of flair and invention show the personnel are still capable but the on-field attitude has lacked focus and the game plans have been too stagnant.
RP: It could be a bit of all. The coach reckons he's happy with how they're going.
PS: I can't dispute the effort, but I do think the personnel they have haven't been able to suit to what is winning football these days. It's not from lack of effort.
BF: I don't think it's any of them. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. The competition's that close you just can't afford to lose the close games, and we've lost the ones we would have won last year.
4Is there a quick fix that might save the Eels' season? Is there light at the end of the tunnel, or is that a train with Manly's name on it?I am terrified of Manly, especially without Mateo. A win there will make a huge difference to how the Eels play the remainder of the season.
AD:
BF: We're going over the bridge certainly believing we can win it. They're an extremely good team but there's no use putting the boots in the bag and paying the toll if we don't believe we can win it.
RP: There can be a light at the end of the tunnel but it's got to be turned on by the individuals in the team.
PS: There's never a quick fix but if you can't go to Brookvale on a Friday night ready to play the game of your life then you shouldn't be playing first-grade football. They've got to do what the Gold Coast did last week against the Roosters; they've got to defy expectations.
PG: Parramatta have the talent to beat anyone but there's got to be a massive shift in attitude to trouble a side like Manly, who've been steeling themselves for this stuff for five years.
5Can you remember a playing roster as talented as the Eels' (eight Test players and two Origin reps) performing this poorly?At the Roosters, I was in a pretty handy team that didn't make the semis in 2005-2006. We understand the talented roster we've got and we set high expectations, and we haven't lived up to them.
BF:
AD: Not in my memory. I'm sure there are other teams in the league who would swap squads for players of the Eels' calibre, but it means nothing unless they show it on the turf.
RP: No. They've had a few things go against them in each game but you can't keep harping on that.
PS: No, probably not. There was probably criticism levelled at the Dragons a few years ago but at least they got there at the end [of the competition]. For whatever reason, the talent that is there hasn't translated on to the football field this year.
PG: There's been plenty of examples. Talent is not the be all and end all. Talent's not enough, attitude is the key.
THE TROUBLE WITH THE EELS
PETER STERLING
'I don't think they can make the top four I have questions about whether they can make the top eight.'
BRETT FINCH
'We understand the talented roster we've got and we set high expectations and we haven't lived up to them.'
RAY PRICE
'It looks as if they've been playing as individuals. They've got to pull their finger out and start playing as a team.'
PHIL GOULD
'If anything, they should be a lot further down the ladder than they are - they've had a couple of lucky escapes.'
ADAM DANIEL
'The personnel are still capable but the on-field attitude has lacked focus and the game plans have been too stagnant.'
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