‘How did we lose that?’: Arthur left baffled after Eels’ shock Magic Round loss

Eels coach Brad Arthur has been left in disbelief after the 2022 grand finalists let yet one more sport slip via their fingers in a 26-24 loss to the Gold Coast Titans on Magic Round.

The Eels fell to 4-6 for the season, two wins out of the highest eight.

It’s removed from what the rugby league world would anticipate from a grand finalist group because the aspect languishes in twelfth after 10 rounds.

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Although the Eels nonetheless have three byes underneath their belts, it’s been a brutal begin to the yr.

After shedding 4 of their first 5 — solely defeating the reigning premiers Penrith — the aspect was capable of get off the canvas with three wins from the following 4 video games.

But you could possibly argue the 26-24 loss to the Titans may form to be crucial lack of the season.

The Eels had 53 per cent of the possession, accomplished 29 of 35 units, ran a mixed 406m greater than the Titans, ran over 150 extra post-contact metres, had seven line breaks to 5, made 14m extra per set and had 18 offloads to 9.

Although there have been some negatives, together with 41 missed tackles to the Titans’ 22 and shedding the penalty depend seven to 3, Eels coach Brad Arthur had one query for his gamers at full-time.

“I said to the team just then — how did we lose that?” Arthur stated in his press convention.

“It felt like we did more than enough to win it. The effort was really good, we did a lot of good things, more good things than bad. But couple of big moments and a couple of system errors in defence hurt us.”

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Captain Clint Gutherson stated he was perplexed concerning the loss as properly.

“We were right in it, we played some good footy, missed a lot of opportunities, gave up some cheap tries,” he stated.

“You can’t give teams those easy tries. As Brad said, our effort was there until the end but sometimes we make it too hard on ourselves.”

The different draw back for the Eels is that Mitchell Moses will miss subsequent week’s match with an 11-day stand down after he reeled out of a deal with late within the match and was issued a class one HIA.

It means he’ll miss subsequent week’s match in opposition to the Raiders.

“He’s alright now, but it wasn’t good,” Arthur stated.

As for who will take the reins subsequent week: “Probably Jake (Arthur) but we’ll worry about that tomorrow.”

On the intense aspect, Dylan Brown has finest efficiency of the yr up to now, one which Fox League commentator Andrew Voss believed made him “one of the best players of Magic Round”.

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Brown had a outstanding 232m in 19 runs in addition to two line breaks, a line break help and two attempt assists in a whole match.

“He chased the game hard, stepped up, ran,” Arthur stated. “That’s two weeks in a row now he’s been like that.

“He was probably the best player on the field.”

But there’s a cause Moses was given an over $1m a season contract extension earlier within the yr and he’ll go away an infinite gap for the Eels in opposition to the Raiders who’ve gained 4 straight.

And Moses will return for the conflict in opposition to the pink sizzling Rabbitohs in spherical 12.

With each loss for the Eels after a gradual begin to the season, the prospect to make the finals dwindles barely additional.

While you could possibly argue that though they’re twelfth, the Eels for-and-against remains to be +32 and the closeness of the competitors means they’re two wins out of equal third, they’re additionally just one loss out of equal final on the ladder.

And whereas each group must go one sport at a time, the Eels can’t go away it too late to get into finals competition with the golf equipment’ ultimate 5 video games together with matches in opposition to the Storm in Melbourne, Broncos on the Gabba, Roosters at residence and Panthers at Penrith.