**‘Legless’, ‘getting worse’: Hopeless Parramatta Eels slammed by NRL greats**
_Simon Brunsdon
April 14, 2018 10:12pm_
SOME of rugby league’s most respected voices have slammed the winless Parramatta Eels after the club slumped to a eighth straight loss, and sixth of the 2018 season.
The Eels remain winless on the bottom of the NRL ladder thanks to a 18-2 loss to Canberra at GIO Stadium on Saturday night.
It’s officially dire straits for the club that was tipped by many to finish in the top four this year.
Fox Sports commentators Greg Alexander and Braith Anasta could hardly find enough superlatives to describe Parramatta’s current woes.
Alexander labelled the side “legless” and pointed to their inability to score points.
“They look legless,” Alexander said.
“They can’t score a point, they spent 32 tackles inside the Raiders’ 20 (metre zone) yet couldn’t cross the line.
“I don’t know where to start with the Eels, I really don’t, and I don’t know if (coach) Brad Arthur knows where to start either.
“There was one shining light in tonight’s game and that was the return of Clint Gutherson. He was their best.”
Anasta commentated the game in Canberra and was critical of a number of Eels players during his call.
He pointed out the likes of Bevan French, Mitchell Moses, Kaysa Pritchard, and Corey Norman had barely ran the ball at all during the game.
He believes Parramatta is at the bottom of the barrel.
“They just look so unhappy. I don’t think there’s a team in the competition that looks more unhappy than they do,” Anasta told Fox Sports.
“They don’t look like they are enjoying their footy, they aren’t enjoying each others’ company.
“I don’t think you can get any worse. They’ve hit rock bottom.
“It was hard to call because you don’t want to be too critical on the guys but you’ve got to call it how you see it.
“It all comes down to intensity, effort and desire. That desire to win at all costs, they haven’t got that at the moment and I don’t know where they find that from.
“We’ve all been there as players. I’ve been there.
“It’s a very dark place when you’re going into a game and you’re trying to talk yourself into it that you can win the game … but it just doesn’t happen that way.
“They are digging holes at the moment and they are actually getting deeper. They are getting worse.
“Their execution was poor tonight but their discipline was ordinary and that just snowballed and made it harder for them.”
Anasta and fellow commentator Corey Parker admitted they had found themselves in similar dilemmas during their NRL careers.
Parker says there’s only one way for the Eels players to dig themselves out of the slump.
“There’s a lack of cohesion at the moment and a lack of confidence,” Parker said.
“They need some accountability from the side, they need some ownership, they need some hard looks at themselves individually.
“There’s only one way to get out and that’s together, collectively.
“We saw the footage there before of them sitting in the changeroom and there wouldn’t be too many guys talking at all.
“They need to look in the mirror, have a hard appraisal of themselves and where they are art, their preparation heading into a game.
“You’ve got to have a buy-in from 17 guys.
“They need collectively, as a group, to buy into a game plan and execute it.
“It’s not good enough just turning up thinking you can do your own job, you need to get in there together as a group.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/eels/legless-getting-worse-hopeless-parramatta-eels-slammed-by-nrl-greats/news-story/7704d237ce728593668672c9d9eba903
