Rd 1 vs Eels 3-2-1

[Dogieeeezzz]

Two things pretty irrevocable:
-No one is thinking Parramatta played really well here?
-We did not hold on to the ball- so we did not get a chance to attack or put on pressure to mount a cohesive attack.

 

[Dogieeeezzz]

Ciraldo doesn't help. You would think he would address the way we are reffed, but no, he doesn't.

It's almost as if we've been told to never mention the refs or we'll have a points deduction (lol) or huge fine.

Ciraldo is managing the team's mental toughness here by not giving the team the excuse to blame the refs for your loss. Its coaching 101.

 

[ILiveForDib]

Critta is gold that’s all I’ll say what a signing I love him

 

[beastwood89]

Only 29 missed tackles from 400 attempts. Parra had 23 miss tackles from 265 attempts. We made 135 more tackles than them. Honestly I can see improvement in a defence but we really need to cut the errors out fast and surly we can’t be that ill disciplined compared to them. They were allow to lay all over us while once we tackled them the ref was calling release almost immediately.

 

[bradtalo]

Why did Ciraldo leave Fox out there for so long when he was obviously busted (risking further longer term injury) ?
Wilson is now showing he has as many errors in him as Skelton (or more). 5 today although Salmon was to blame for at least 1. We're more in need of Skelton's tackle busting to start sets off well. Kiraz looks average again.
Hutchison is no threat breaking the line himself so its easier to defend against his support runners. Ciraldo will likely wait until our season is already over before he brings in Sexton.
We're not making enough use of our very expensive left edge. Why ? Kikau, and Crichton on 800K+ each but each touching the ball around 6 times per game. LOL
Burton on 800K+ but not taking on the line (3-4 runs in whole game). Every time he kicks why is it not a spiral ? Burton's passing game is still non existent. It's so obvious he does no extras at training.
Salmon is so average (or less) Curran should start but again it will take half the season (too late) for Ciraldo to realise
We have no big hard hitting middles to stop big opposing middles like Paulo. We should have been shopping for these even before TPJ quit.
If the Dragons continue to outperform us this year Gus obviously made the wrong call choosing Ciraldo over Flanagan and he deserves any shit he cops

 

[bricktamland]

Our defence is a lot better, I agree I am dissatisfied with what I saw, the 13 errors is out rageous and simply just not good enough. 400 tackles made and 29 missed.. 10x better then last year. We didn’t have the ball but surely ciro realises his career is on the line.

burton needs to step up , kikau needs to get more involved and Curran to start at 13.

 

[GA45]

Taffe should never see first grade unless there is a plethora of injuries.

That is an easy selection

 

[Dyldog]

Did Preston play today?

46 tackles, 3 misses

 

[flamebouyant]

You enjoyed that performance?

I never enjoy a loss. But im not throwing away our whole season and death riding every player that made a mistake because we lost.

 

[speedy2460]

Wilson doesn't belong anywhere near the NRL side

Didnt have the best game, but he is better than Kiraz.

 

[KiwiDog7]

3. Mann
2. Curran
1. Kiraz

 

[LordSidious66]

It's almost as if we've been told to never mention the refs or we'll have a points deduction (lol) or huge fine.

Ricky Stuart does it, and he still gets his teams firing. The players know that he will have their backs, not like guru who doesn't even stand up for the team and just throws them under the bus.

 

[flamebouyant]

Defense has certainly been at the forefront of our season, so I expect our attack to be a work in progress. As much as the loss disappoints me, I can definitely see the improvements on last year. Let's look at some stats:

Our tackle efficiency was 88.08% to their 90.75%, and we missed 29 tackles to their 23, yet we made 399 tackles to their 265.

Add to this line breaks were only 4-3 their way, tackle breaks only 29-23 their way, and average set metres 36.97 - 36.08 their way.

Parramatta had 13 more sets with ball in hand, had 240 runs to our 156, and completed at 89% to our 72%.

Add to this that the fox played busted for 10 mins and didnt play the second half, causing a us to move salmon out of his ball playing link role to the centres, and kiraz to the other side of the field.

If you look at these stats you would expect that we got pumped! Especially since we were up against a side with much better halves, and a far superior forward pack, that were looking for redemption after a very poor 2023. Yet the game ended 4 tries to 2. Hardly the flogging that the stats suggest.

 

[dekepefc]

How was Kikau reported? He missed the ball and then collided with the body a metre afterwards. So they penalise him if he kicks the ball?

Kikau was reported for the attempted charge down on brown where he made contact with his leg. He wasn't reported for the kicking at the ball incident which it sounds like you are referring to.. not on field anyway.

 

[dekepefc]

3. Mann
2. Curran
1. Kiraz

I thought Mann did really well, except when he took a dummy half run after a break when we needed to spread it. That was a dumb play.

 

[flamebouyant]

[emoji23][emoji23] You're kidding, right?? He's useless.

I've come around to him tbh, but if you look at our teams deficiencies, our forwards, then it would make far more sense to play skelton on his wing.

 

[KiwiDog7]

I thought Mann did really well, except when he took a dummy half run after a break when we needed to spread it. That was a dumb play.

Speaking of dumb dummy half runs what about Reed always trying to milk a penalty running to the markers like bro you ain’t getting that call just fkn pass the ball and don’t miss 10 tackles

 

[D.O.W.]

3 Curran
2 Mahoney
1 Daylight

Only positive for me was our defence in the context of the game, last season, Parra puts 40+ on us with 59% possession (most of which was in our red zone).

Low points:
-Our middles got dominated
-Zero creativity
-We had a severe case of dick fingers (13 errors)
-Coach should have hooked Fox when it was clear he was compromised
-Wingers incapable of strong carry’s (Skelton needs to come into the frame)
-Burton (is officially overrated, maybe the centre switch should come into play and sexy/hutch forms our halves?)
-Wilson and Taaffe struggled, particularly disappointed in Taaffe, had him as a surprise packet this season.

It’ll be very interesting to see what the 17 looks like next week.

 

[Grechy21]

46 tackles, 3 misses

How many runs and run metres?

 

[flamebouyant]

We might have the worst fullback in the comp. Can anyone point out a worse fullback???

I think your being overly critical. Despite losing the ball in a gang tackle where he was pushed back 10m, and should have been called held he actually wasn't that bad. My only real blight on his game was him passing to fox when he was clearly badly injured on that spread play. His positional play was pretty good, and he true to get into the game with limited opportunity.