Despite the fact that we lost 22-8, I am very happy with Parramatta's performance tonight for a number of reasons. For the first hour or so, I was ecstatic to see our players getting pumped up, going into tackles together, supporting each other and patting each other on the back. This is excellent to see after what's happened during the week and how poor we have been playing for the last few weeks. Our defence was excellent, I thought, despite the fact that we conceded 22 points. Two of the three tries scored were pure luck. The ball bouncing into the post, fortunately for the Dragons, and basically into Hornby's arms for the first. The second was from the most retarded lead-up, Dragons never looked like scoring but persisted and somehow found there way across the line. The last try they scored was pure fatigue, so we can take heart in the fact that all three tries were not a result of missed tackles, poor reads in defence, or the like. Jeff Robson, our fill-in halfback, I thought was extremely average, at best. He didn't do much wrong, but then again he didn't really offer much either. I don't believe he's our long-term solution at halfback ... I don't even believe he's FG quality, to be honest. On the other hand, I thought Kris Keating had an excellent game and, if we won, he would've gotten Man of the Match. He was so dangerous out of dummy-half and made some darting runs through the ruck: something his brother Matt Keating never seems to do. His passing was crisp and I can't find a single fault. When he filled in at halfback after Robson went off, he also played extremely well. His kicks were precise and creative... he was basically our only hope of scoring from a play tonight and, funnily enough, it was Luke Burt who scored our only try off his kick. Feleti Mateo was pretty poor tonight, I thought. With Finch gone, it was obvious he was going to get moved to five-eighth and I was originally in favour of this (now that Finch has left), despite my belief that he is a lock. I thought that, at five-eighth, he wouldn't tire himself by making ball-carting hit-ups like he has been doing for the first four rounds. This fatigues Mateo and leaves him with less energy to make enterprising play or even put together simple passes or offloads. He did this again tonight and it was unimpressive to watch. For the majority of the 2nd half, his performance was laughable. Incorrect decisions to offload, poor ball control and just laziness due to fatigue ... I suspect DA will give him a word about his performance tonight. I guarantee you, though, if he stopped playing a bloody prop forward role, he would be playing a lot better than he did tonight. Moving Hayne back to the outside backs was so obvious, as it's been said on this forum countless times. Although I was happy he wasn't going to be playing at five-eighth anymore, I remained skeptical about moving him back to the centres - a position where he blatantly failed at in 2008. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Despite making a few errors, he was strong in defence and looked dangerous every time he touched the ball. He was probably our best outside back tonight, besides Burt, and this is where he needs to stay. I'm in favour of Ben Smith's move to the backrow. He had a solid game, but I thought he would've been playing at 2nd row (or at least at lock if Mateo was going to move to five-eighth), but I was shocked to see Hindmarsh playing at lock. Don't really know what to make of Hindmarsh. He made less tackles than usual tonight, but he seemed to make more hit-ups ... I don't really know if that's good or bad. But seeing Hindmarsh, a famous 80-minute player, sitting on the bench 50 minutes in, sucking the big ones is not good at all. I'll be watching Hindmarsh closely over the next few weeks to see if he maintains his usual role as a primarily defensive 2nd rower or takes this new lock role which comes with time on the sideline... I thought the combination of Inu and Tautai was extremely poor tonight. Inu failed to inject himself properly into the game and looked off-colour whenever he had the ball. Tautai was 10 times worse. He made errors that you would only see in an under-6's side. Handling errors, bad reads, running backwards all the time and running for the ball when it's in the air but not bothering to catch it. What a farce. I, for one, can't wait to have Reddy back next week so Tautai can go back to reserve grade where he belongs. Cayless also had a strong game, IMO. Also, it was very good to see him taking command now as captain and group leader. He was patting the boys on the back after a good performance and talking to them all the time. I never saw Cayless do this before. It's a good sign. I think Finch's exit may have shook him up a little, but I hope he continues this way. Talking about Kris Keating earlier in this post, Matt Keating also needs some time out in reserve grade I think. If DA wants to persist with Jeff Robson at halfback, when Kris Keating MUST be our first choice hooker. He's so dangerous out of dummy-half and is really our only creative spark in the team these days. My favourite (LOLZ) player Todd Lowrie had a mixed game. He was decent in defence (also managed to drag a player into touch). But he was really poor when he had the ball. Wasn't running strong and made some errors, while, on the other hand, Galuvao was solid as usual. I think it's time for Galuvao to start FFS. The rest of the players were solid. No gripes with the performances of Moimoi, Burt, Oake or Mannah. This game is one of the few instances were I am actually happy for losing. Not only because it hits home to the players that it was a game we could have (or rather, on our performance, should have) won and gets them to train harder for the next one; but also gives encouragement to the players, coach and us on the back of their performance. It wasn't embarassing, it wasn't diabolical, it wasn't pathetic. It was strong on all fronts, but we just lacked that final touch, be it a correct 5th tackle option, a good offload, a perfect kick, or just that bit of luck. I daresay that if Kris Keating played the whole 80 minutes at halfback, then we would've scored much more points. Besides solace, I take a lot out of this game. There were far more positives than negatives to take out of it and it has convinced me that there is a future beyond Brett Finch. Against the Roosters last week, we lost by 18 and we were absolutely ****ing pathetic - a total embarassmen. This week, against the Dragons, we lost by 14 (not a big difference, really) but we played far better than against the Roosters. Bring on the Bulldogs this Sunday!
Agree with that. I think having a very flat number 7 meant that Mateo had to run the ball more, and cart it up, trying to make something happen. Hopefully Keating gets shifted to #7, with Mateo remaining at #6, but having to do less work, meaning he is fitter for the big plays. Smith needs to be at lock. Hindy played a very un-Hindy game when shifted to lock, and we don't want that, hopefully next week we see Hindy back to his normal position and Smith taking over the lock position. Also, agree with the fact that we need Reddy back, Tautai is soo shit it isn't funny, and is pulling Inu down with him, need someone else to support Inu and get his form back up. Galuvao needs to start, he must be feeling so ripped off that he hasn't cracked the run on side yet, each week he pulls off some great performances off the bench. I reckon that Kingston needs to be brought into the #14 spot to take over from M Keating during the match, he is becoming a little flat and really needs to work on his game over the next few weeks. Grothe I thought had a really good game, brilliant in attack and was solid-ish in defence. He had certainly improved on that, which is awesome to see. Having Hayne inside him was certainly good to see as well, Hayne looked really damaging in attack, and was solid in defence as well. Although I wouldn't be objecting to seeing Hayne go to Inu's wing, with Reddy going into centre inside Grothe, I reckon that could work quite well as well. Overall, I was impressed with the performance of the Eels. Good signs for the future, just need the aggression to be kept up.
Joe Galuvao was on a big contract at Souths and was playing reserve grade. Quite amazing that he could crack run on Eels side after all these years since 2003.
