PRE-GAME Finals Week 1 - Eels vs Broncos

eazy-duzzit said:
Not a fan of the calls to play Isaako at fullback, he should be lucky to keep his wing spot...absolutely horrible on defence the past 2 games
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Strong argument to get him off the wing however:

Staggs to FB
Boyd to WIng
Isaako to Centre where I understand he used to play. His performances to date clearly show he is not a winger - he has NFI how to read the defence out there.
 
It still hurts from when Kayla took them. They currently reside in a jar in her handbag.
 
Big Pete said:
It's been 10 years since the Eels have won a finals game, incidentally that was the Prelim Final against Canterbury that drew 74,000 odd fans. Since then the only time they've qualified for the finals, was in 2017 when they went out in straight sets.

On that occassion, they entered the finals series without Clinton Gutherson, who was arguably their best player and were down to their third-string fullback following an injury to Bevan French.

Not only do they have all their strike weapons on board, they also welcome back Nathan Brown following his two game suspension. Brown missed the Round 24 encounter between these two sides and his aggression through the middle will make the Eels a more fiersome opponent.

By rights they should be setting their sights on the second week of the finals where they'll likely take on Canberra. Canberra have a checkered record in the finals dating back to 2009, going 3-4 in their previous bids (1-1 2010, 1-1 2012, 1-2 2016). If the Eels can put on a strong performance against the Broncos, it could likely set them up for a Prelim Final where they could find themselves against Souths in a winnable game.

Essentially, if the Eels can put together their best half of football in the opening stint on Sunday, it could push them all the way.

Meanwhile Brisbane find themselves without a hope or a prayer of winning. Most of the experts have decided that their unworthy of making the finals and their presence is merely a testament of a horrible season where a lot of teams struggled.

Maybe so.

Strangely, Brisbane actually find themselves in a position where they can put up a better fight than they did in last year's series. Consider the following...

Last year, Brisbane found themselves against St. George Illawarra. The Dragons side was comprised of talent such as Tim Lafai, Paul Vaughan, James Graham, Ben Hunt, Gareth Widdop etc. all players with extensive finals experience and their much vaunted pack was filled with successful Origin players.

Their style of play suited finals footy and before Brisbane could make the necessary adjustments, St George had taken the game away from them well before half-time. The experience St. George had gained earlier in the year as competition front-runners showed and the Broncos soft under-belly was exposed in the most humiliating way imagineable.

In comparison, while the Eels are a talented outfit, they don't have the profile of their Dragons counter-part. They were never at any point the competition front-runners, infact they're one year removed from winning the wooden spoon. While they've done a tremendous job of turning their luck around, there are certainly some questions to be asked of their mental toughness.

Meanwhile, the Broncos are stronger through the middle than they were last year and there is this feeling that their campaign will start and end with Parra. There is no looking ahead to Canberra, it's all about Parramatta, a side they have beaten before and were unlucky not to have won by more.

I'm not sure if pulling off the unthikable would be in the club's best interests. They need an honest review of the season and have to do everything in their power to avoid this current spine and backline configuration. However, it would be a feather in Seibold's cap and a positive experience he and the players can draw from moving forward. For me the Broncos have a number of players that could be successful, but there are cancers in the side that need to be removed if they want to achieve any modicrum of success.

EDIT: How did that turn into a 600 word essay? FMD.
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I want to know what a modicrum is !
 
The Eels will be looking to blow us off the park early, that's the kind of side they are.

If we can weather the storm, that would put us in good stead for the back end of the match. The Eels aren't a gritty side, they were winning games but they were against easy opposition. Once they came up against sides that matched them and showed resilience (Bulldogs, us), they lost. Except for one (Warriors) where they got plenty of help from the refs.

If we can keep it close, I think our experience in finals games could get us over the line against them. Their spine has a real lack of experience compared to ours. Their most experienced players are Ferguson and Jennings.

We just need to keep grinding and keep fighting to stay in it. If our heads drop, it's game over. If they don't, I like our chances.
 
Super Freak said:
The Eels will be looking to blow us off the park early, that's the kind of side they are.

If we can weather the storm, that would put us in good stead for the back end of the match. The Eels aren't a gritty side, they were winning games but they were against easy opposition. Once they came up against sides that matched them and showed resilience (Bulldogs, us), they lost. Except for one (Warriors) where they got plenty of help from the refs.

If we can keep it close, I think our experience in finals games could get us over the line against them. Their spine has a real lack of experience compared to ours. Their most experienced players are Ferguson and Jennings.

We just need to keep grinding and keep fighting to stay in it. If our heads drop, it's game over. If they don't, I like our chances.
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Definitely need to start well and not give away cheap possession. I just hope we can find enough points as I have no faith in turpin at half back at all. Not taking our chances will frustrate us enough to cause the head drops.
 
A real problem will be the unconscious intent of the referee to square it up for the reported injustices the media claim Parramatta suffered last time the two sides met.

We won't get a decision and Parra will bring up that game as will the media. The referee will hear it too and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

We should look at slow ptbs, ensure Parra are standing still instead of springing as they do. The defence falls into a kind of rhythm, a synchronicity with the offense, we can disturb that by changing our ptbs. If we get a real slow ptb through great defence we should make the ptb suit us. Good defensive sides have great timing and it's even easier when they know a ref is sympathetic as they will be against us.

I forecast very few meaningful penalties early on and a slew in Parras favour followed by some inconsequential penalties later on to even up the ratio. That won't happen if we're winning though. In that case we'll just lose the penalty count which no one will notice, forgotten in our victory.
 
Huge said:
A real problem will be the unconscious intent of the referee to square it up for the reported injustices the media claim Parramatta suffered last time the two sides met.

We won't get a decision and Parra will bring up that game as will the media. The referee will hear it too and there's nothing we can do to stop it.
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The officiating is going to benefit us more than the Eels if that's the case.

The last thing the NRL wants is for blowout scores. They want the closest competition ever, they take pride in how close the comp and how close games are. They wouldn't want an Eels blowout so the refs would be keeping us in the game, not favouring them.
 
We desperately need to learn to wrap up the ball.
Teams offloading early against us is what is killing us. Look at the dogs last week, it was a clear tactic that worked beautifully.
Once a team is on top, we just start to fold.
The start is absolutely vital for us, we need to weather the storm early.
Hopefully as it is a do or die final, the eels will play a more conservative brand of footy rather then the dogs nothing to loose attitude football last week.

A big training week is what is needed this week.
Let’s hope we aren’t there just to fill in the numbers.
 
A big week concentrating on aggressive defence should be on the cards.

I might head along to training tomorrow and see for myself what actually goes on this week.
 
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