2021 Rd 6 V Eels: Game Day

[Hong Kong Raider]

I can’t believe there are people here thinking we lost today because CNK was out...just lol...

What will it be next? Penrith’s try celebrations??

Yep. Deluded.

Like Ricky

[GreenMachine]

I can’t believe there are people here thinking we lost today because CNK was out...just lol...

What will it be next? Penrith’s try celebrations??

Think I saw that one?

Anyway, not unexpected though. X player doesn't play and a (small) bunch of fans attribute the loss to his absence. Par for the course - often agenda driven

It’s getting out of hand ...
Why do people do this to themselves???

[Raiders666]

Whitehead seems to escape criticism

[Begbie]

Ricky blaming "individuals" rather than himself. Hmmm who are these individuals?

He blamed himself as welly, said he was **** about not having Kris on the bench.

[Green Blogger]

How did the two Coreys look like in reserves today?
What about Timoko and Valemei?
We need a reconstruction.

From all reports CHN played like he has absolutely no business playing in reggies

CHN was clearly the best on field in reserves - not for the first time. Young was awful in defence tonight - CHN must come in.

[Scared Hitless]

Oh wow Ricky just admitted he stuffed up not having Kris on the bench

Stuffed up not having him on the bench?

He stuffed up not having him first picked in the **** backline

One of his better pressers, I thought. Hopefully something changes.

[Raider of d Lost Ark]

Missed Ryan James tonight too

[Begbie]

Kris in for Scott I read from Ricky's comments- and one of the Corey's in for Starling (who is not at fault)

[Hong Kong Raider]

Ricky blaming "individuals" rather than himself. Hmmm who are these individuals?

He always blames others. Like the ref in the 2008 World Cup game when Aust lost.

He should look at this team selections and tactics.

If you select old men, reserve graders, and underperformers who never contribute, then you are to blame Stuart.

[Mickey_Raider]

If Ricky is serious then some of the favourite sons of the club are included in those individuals.

[1992]

Whitehead seems to escape criticism

Whitehead has been our most consistent player since he came in 2016.
Two games he has had to go to centre already.
I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[radicalraider]

Ricky blaming "individuals" rather than himself. Hmmm who are these individuals?

He blamed himself as welly, said he was **** about not having Kris on the bench.

He made bigger mistakes by picking Croker, Sia and Whitehead

[GreenMachine]

What are we going to do with Croker? He is signed until 2024!!!

Seriously, what is the club's plan? He will only get older and slower, chewing up a large chunk of the cap. He will end up being our Darius Boyd which is unfair on both the club and him and his legacy.

I feel like we’re all overlooking this in the hope that we have someone else step up in the backline so we can carry him in our side..
It’s sad but true...
What are we going to do with him? Touched the ball twice in the opening 20 minutes and got folded like a cheap pair of track pants every time he carted the ball up...
Then flicked the afterburners only to be outgunned by a back rower....
You would think Ricky’s eyes are painted on if he can’t see what we’re all seeing...

[radicalraider]

Whitehead seems to escape criticism

Whitehead has been our most consistent player since he came in 2016.
Two games he has had to go to centre already.
I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Whitehead offers very low impact. Should of been sold 2 yrs ago

[Hong Kong Raider]

Whitehead seems to escape criticism

Whitehead is no match for younger back rowers. But he escapes criticism on this forum as he is much loved like Croker and Stuart.

[Pete Cash]

Whitehead seems to escape criticism

He's played more centre than backrower

[Rickmando]

Rick’s spectre is going to hang over this club for a very long time. The next coach will be a puppet with Rick’s hand up his you know where The goose is cooked

[Botman]

Genuinely interested to see how this team and this coach responds to this. The standard is the standard, and we're firmly fallen short
It's a long season, we're in a hole.... so what, now what? Are we built for it? Or are we not.

Interesting spot for this football team

[Shano]

You know what, parra were far too good

[Hong Kong Raider]

Ricky blaming "individuals" rather than himself. Hmmm who are these individuals?

He blamed himself as welly, said he was **** about not having Kris on the bench.

He made bigger mistakes by picking Croker, Sia and Whitehead

I agree with you on the first two, but Whitehead's form hasn't been that bad in the first rounds. Croker has been @#$ for two years. Both him and Sia offered nothing. Absolutely nothing.

[radicalraider]

Ricky blaming "individuals" rather than himself. Hmmm who are these individuals?

He always blames others. Like the ref in the 2008 World Cup game when Aust lost.

He should look at this team selections and tactics.

If you select old men, reserve graders, and underperformers who never contribute, then you are to blame Stuart.

He likes to deflect from his deficiencies by blaming others. The individuals he's referring to are Papalii, hodgson, Croker, Sia and whitehead.

[Raider of d Lost Ark]

At this point I just want

A) some youth brought in

B) more balance on the bench

C) maybe bring starling on 10 minutes before halftime and play him 10 to 15 minutes the other side. Hodgson is clearly physically struggling and his decision making goes really bad when he's gassed. That said he has been producing some good things

Agree, the kick on the third into a parra forward was special

[GreenMachine]

If Ricky is genuine... then Croker, Whitehead, SIA, Rapana, simmonson and Havilli are all gone next week...

But it won’t happen..

We’ll get a sacrificial lamb (Scott) for Kris move...

Maybe.

[gangrenous]

You can't be serious

CNK organises our defence and when it fails he finds ways to stop tries. Ive said it for years he is our most critical player. Sure he doesn't offer much in attack, but attack isn't what has got us to a gf and prelim the past couple of years. Baring the warriors game our defence was good this year before CNK went down. I honestly don't think we'll win another game without him.

If you think CNK is the answer, then you're asking the completely wrong question/s.

If you think a fullback goes out there with the job of having to totally organise a pack of headless chickens trying to defend in a line, then I've got a bridge here to sell you. These guys don't go out there not knowing what to do do, nor is it possible for a fullback to keep his eye on the line at all times.

Our problem is our attack. Having a dangerous, threatening attack is as much a defensive measure as it is an attacking one. If you've got nothing to come at the opposition with, then all they'll do is just come at you where you're bound to leak eventually. CNK is a massive part of that problem.

You keep talking and none of it matches reality.

You're literally one of two people attributing the loss to CNK's absence.

Barely anyone is buying it, and you shouldn't even attempt to try and sell. Caleb Aekins had a very solid game tonight in line with expectations.

I’m not attributing the loss to missing CNK. There’s clearly a number of issues across the paddock at the moment.

I’m just saying it’s not surprising our defence got dramatically worse when you take out our defensively superb fullback.

But you can’t bring yourself even to admit the obvious.

[gangrenous]

If Ricky is genuine... then Croker, Whitehead, SIA, Rapana, simmonson and Havilli are all gone next week...

But it won’t happen..

We’ll get a sacrificial lamb (Scott) for Kris move...

Maybe.

He did jump aggressively at the changes question quickly. Doesn’t sound like he’s ready for a number of changes yet.

[Boomercm]

How did the two Coreys look like in reserves today?
What about Timoko and Valemei?
We need a reconstruction.

From all reports CHN played like he has absolutely no business playing in reggies

CHN was clearly the best on field in reserves - not for the first time. Young was awful in defence tonight - CHN must come in.

Agree. Young missed 5 tackles, 2 crucial. Looked tired and not up to it.

In his defense he had made 50 tackles because our middles leaked like sieve. They got pumped. That makes it very difficult on the edges.

[Hong Kong Raider]

I'm still boiling after that performance. West Tigers, Broncos and Manly played better than us

Croker, Sia, Havili and Bailey need to go

[BJ]

A few weeks in reserves wouldn’t hurt Croker gain some form and confidence.

Sia has gone a season too long.

Bench not properly balanced.

I’d rather that extra forward on the bench instead of Havilli. It simplifies our rotations.

We won our games with a simpler bench rotation featuring Lui. But note I want CHN, Hors or James not Lui. Just pointing out the fact.

[afgtnk]

CNK organises our defence and when it fails he finds ways to stop tries. Ive said it for years he is our most critical player. Sure he doesn't offer much in attack, but attack isn't what has got us to a gf and prelim the past couple of years. Baring the warriors game our defence was good this year before CNK went down. I honestly don't think we'll win another game without him.

If you think CNK is the answer, then you're asking the completely wrong question/s.

If you think a fullback goes out there with the job of having to totally organise a pack of headless chickens trying to defend in a line, then I've got a bridge here to sell you. These guys don't go out there not knowing what to do do, nor is it possible for a fullback to keep his eye on the line at all times.

Our problem is our attack. Having a dangerous, threatening attack is as much a defensive measure as it is an attacking one. If you've got nothing to come at the opposition with, then all they'll do is just come at you where you're bound to leak eventually. CNK is a massive part of that problem.

You keep talking and none of it matches reality.

You're literally one of two people attributing the loss to CNK's absence.

Barely anyone is buying it, and you shouldn't even attempt to try and sell. Caleb Aekins had a very solid game tonight in line with expectations.

I’m not attributing the loss to missing CNK. There’s clearly a number of issues across the paddock at the moment.

I’m just saying it’s not surprising our defence got dramatically worse when you take out our defensively superb fullback.

But you can’t bring yourself even to admit the obvious.

The absence of our 'defensively superb fullback' is not responsible for some Eels forward strolling through our right edge on the line. There is **** nothing he could or would do there that Aekins didn't do, who if you're not aware, is also an adept defensive fullback.

Wake up to yourself - there's barely anyone making anything of him apart from you because, clearly, HE'S NOT THE ANSWER.

[radicalraider]

If Ricky is genuine... then Croker, Whitehead, SIA, Rapana, simmonson and Havilli are all gone next week...

But it won’t happen..

We’ll get a sacrificial lamb (Scott) for Kris move...

Maybe.

He did jump aggressively at the changes question quickly. Doesn’t sound like he’s ready for a number of changes yet.

He will never drop Croker or Sia... good blokes you know

[Boomercm]

Yardage from back 5 a big issue. Such a key part of the game.

How do you maximize that with our squad when all fit. Maybe:

Aekins
Semi
Scott
CNK
Kris

As a backline. Right now I feel like a Moneyball approach is required. Pick the guys that will make the most meters and fit them in somewhere.

[Raider47]

Fully expecting the only changes to be Lui for Guler and Kris for Startling.

That is all.

[gangrenous]

If you think CNK is the answer, then you're asking the completely wrong question/s.

If you think a fullback goes out there with the job of having to totally organise a pack of headless chickens trying to defend in a line, then I've got a bridge here to sell you. These guys don't go out there not knowing what to do do, nor is it possible for a fullback to keep his eye on the line at all times.

Our problem is our attack. Having a dangerous, threatening attack is as much a defensive measure as it is an attacking one. If you've got nothing to come at the opposition with, then all they'll do is just come at you where you're bound to leak eventually. CNK is a massive part of that problem.

You keep talking and none of it matches reality.

You're literally one of two people attributing the loss to CNK's absence.

Barely anyone is buying it, and you shouldn't even attempt to try and sell. Caleb Aekins had a very solid game tonight in line with expectations.

I’m not attributing the loss to missing CNK. There’s clearly a number of issues across the paddock at the moment.

I’m just saying it’s not surprising our defence got dramatically worse when you take out our defensively superb fullback.

But you can’t bring yourself even to admit the obvious.

The absence of our 'defensively superb fullback' is not responsible for some Eels forward strolling through our right edge on the line. There is **** nothing he could or would do there that Aekins didn't do, who if you're not aware, is also an adept defensive fullback.

Wake up to yourself - there's barely anyone making anything of him apart from you because, clearly, HE'S NOT THE ANSWER.

At the very least, I guarantee he saves the first try Papalii scored in cover defence. I don’t doubt he saves others.

I’m not going to respond to you any more this evening. You live in a fantasy land of deluded hatred that prevents you seeing the obvious.

[Raider of d Lost Ark]

Fully expecting the only changes to be Lui for Guler and Kris for Startling.

That is all.

That’s sad

[Azza]

Remember in 2016 our outside backs (younger Rapana and BJ in particular) were hot stuff... we got nothing now.