{"id":116151,"date":"2021-08-14T13:08:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T13:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=116151"},"modified":"2021-08-14T14:59:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T14:59:24","slug":"gus-stunning-takedown-of-eels-after-belting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=116151","title":{"rendered":"Gus' stunning takedown of Eels after belting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league icon Phil Gould<\/a> has dropped two crushing reality checks on the Eels<\/a> and weighed in on why Parramatta cannot compete with the top sides in the NRL.<\/p>\n

Gould's damning assessment of the club came after Parramatta's embarrassing surrender at the hands of Manly<\/a>, in which they slumped to a 56-10 defeat on the Sunshine Coast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The heavy loss<\/a>, which has all but ruled out a top-four finish as they strive to break a 35-year premiership drought, prompted the first of two demoralising statements from Gould.<\/p>\n

"They are as far away from winning a premiership as I think they've ever been, even though they're up there in sixth position," Gould said on Nine's post-match show.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The former NSW State of Origin<\/a> coach followed that up with an equally stinging call.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"People have thought [the Eels are] in a premiership window and I've kept saying, 'You're not, you're not in a premiership window'," Gould said.<\/p>\n

The Eels have now plummeted to four losses in succession, following previous defeats to the Raiders<\/a>, Roosters<\/a> and Rabbitohs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their two highest-paid players, halfback Mitchell Moses<\/a> and fullback Clint Gutherson<\/a>, are also horribly out of form.<\/p>\n

Gould says Parramatta's woes stem from being a 'manufactured' team.<\/p>\n

"They fold under pressure every time. As soon as some team takes it to [them] they get isolated as a team. There's no sense of team, there's no sense of resilience about them, there's no common cause about them," Gould said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It's kind of like as soon as they're challenged, they break up, they isolate, and it's every man for themselves \u2013 and we saw that tonight again.<\/p>\n

"They're not like the top-two teams [the Storm<\/a> and Panthers<\/a>]; the top-two teams are developed teams, they're kids that have come through together, playing together for a long period of time, they've been in the Storm system or the Panthers system, and even South Sydney and the Roosters have more of a culture and more of a feel and a personality and character about their club than what this Parramatta team does at the moment.<\/p>\n

"And that's not casting aspersions on individuals; it's just the way it's been crafted and brought together and cobbled together with high-price purchases. It's not always the way to win a premiership."<\/p>\n

Parramatta will face North Queensland<\/a> and Melbourne over the final two weeks of the regular season.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league icon Phil Gould has dropped two crushing reality checks on the Eels and weighed in on why Parramatta cannot compete with the top […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116151"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116153,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116151\/revisions\/116153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}