I bleed blue & gold
First Grade
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Tonga and Sio were poor imo. Although i agree MK is a good defender, there were a couple times i saw him get steamrolled over up the middle.
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Tonga and Sio were poor imo. Although i agree MK is a good defender, there were a couple times i saw him get steamrolled over up the middle.
Parramatta Eels face uphill battle, says Ricky Stuart
Dean Ritchie
The Daily Telegraph
February 18, 2013 12:00AM
RICKY Stuart has conceded he and his players face a "huge, huge job" dragging wooden-spooners Parramatta from what he describes as the rugby league "doldrums".
Stuart was talking at his club's fan day yesterday after Saturday night's 41-4 trial loss to Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Stadium.
It was a defeat that will have Eels fan nervous at the prospect of enduring another season like 2012, where the club ran last.
Stuart said the task of rebuilding a broken club would take significant time after claiming players had been "bashed around" for the past 18 months.
"Anyone who thinks we can rebuild in two or three months doesn't know the extent of the job," Stuart said.
"We have to be patient. This is a huge, huge job.
"The club has been in the doldrums now for a couple of years so it will take time to pull ourselves out of that.
"It's not an excuse - it's a fact. Take it how you want to.
"The team has been bashed around for the last 18 months, whether publicly or within, it's been tough for them.
"We want to win and be successful but it's going to take time. I've told them that I will be patient with them."
Stuart desperately hoped Saturday's 37-point loss wouldn't dent the confidence of his playing group.
"We have done a lot of hard work and are better than that," Stuart said. "We won't let it dent our confidence but we have things to work on. It was a trial match but we have to be better than that.
"We had three opportunities in the first half and we didn't take them."
Fullback Jarryd Hayne missed the match with a leg injury but looked on uncomfortably.
"We definitely didn't plan for that," he said. "It was only a trial match but we have some work to do.
"Benji (Marshall) and Robbie (Farah) and the Tigers were on song ... they looked very dangerous and everything they did turned to gold.
"They got some of the 50-50 plays but full credit to them, they played awesome.
"We just didn't take our opportunities - we bombed two or three tries at important times of the game.
"In the end the defence we did took its toll and we ran out of puff towards the end.
"Our attack wasn't where it should be but we didn't put our heads down."
Wests Tigers scored three tries in a nine-minute period to lead 24-0 at half-time.
"It was disappointing but we are still working really hard," said Parramatta halfback Chris Sandow.
"We weren't expecting that (scoreline) but a few calls didn't go our way.
"Our defence was good but the scoreboard doesn't show that. We are still confident we can do the job against Penrith (in this weekend's trial match)
Forward Reni Maitua didn't play through suspension but admitted the "scoreline was very disappointing".
"There are areas we recognise we need to work on, definitely," he said."
