Eels press conference - Round Six
The Parramatta Eels suffered a 18-2 defeat to the Canberra Raiders at GIO Stadium in Round Six of the NRL Telstra Premiership.
Speaking after the clash, Blue & Gold Head Coach Brad Arthur said that the side was a bit lost for words following the disappointing defeat.
“That’s the simple way to look at it [that things aren’t clicking].” Arthur said to the media after the game.
“I thought the effort was great, they are trying really hard but that’s not good enough to win NRL games.”
“We keep shooting ourselves in the foot with ill-discipline and penalties.”
“We are a bit lost for words at the moment because everyone is really disappointed. The boys are trying really hard but that’s not enough to win games.” Arthur added.
Arthur said that defensively the side was okay however with a lack of confidence, the side’s attack was not yet clicking.
“I thought defensively we were pretty good in terms of amount of field position they had and attacking our line, so we did okay there, we are just down on confidence, the bounce of the ball, breaking a tackle to score a try at the moment.” Arthur said.
“We just can’t scrounge out a try at the moment which is not great for our confidence. When we do get the ball back trying to get out of red zone, we probably try too hard to fore the issue and it just snow balls.”
Slipping to a 0-6 record, Arthur said the side had no choice but to get on top of their discipline and prepare for next week’s clash against the Sea Eagles.
“We have to go again next week, that’s all we can do.” Arthur said.
“I have to have a look at the game again, I won’t make any rash decisions tonight. We have no choice but to get up and go again.”
“It’s tough when they are having a real crack and the effort is there, it’s just not working at the moment.” Arthur added.
“Winning becomes a habit and unfortunately so does losing.”
“We have to get on top of our discipline and give ourselves a chance. We are just not giving ourselves a chance in any of these games.”
Moses: Nothing is clicking
Eels co-captain Tim Mannah echoed Arthur’s sentiments.
“The boys are trying hard it just isn’t going for us at the moment. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.” Mannah said.
“Our discipline needs to be much better than it is at the moment.”
“We are going to learn a lot about ourselves over the next few days.” Mannah added.
“It’s been a testing few weeks for us and we just really have to stick together, get through this and come out the other side.”
If there was a positive to take away from the game, Arthur said it was the return of Gutherson who had worked hard during the pre-season to return to the field.
“It was a good return for Gutherson. If we want to take a positive out of the game, he got through with his knee okay. “ Arthur said.
“Everyone had their heart in their mouths when blokes come back from horrific injuries like that so it’s good for him because he has worked really hard in the pre-season and given himself every opportunity, but he got better and better as the game went on.”
