{"id":122416,"date":"2021-09-01T05:46:02","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T05:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=122416"},"modified":"2021-09-01T07:59:58","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T07:59:58","slug":"gus-raises-alarm-over-eels-final-round-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=122416","title":{"rendered":"Gus raises alarm over Eels' final-round gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary coach Phil Gould<\/a> has questioned Parramatta<\/a>'s decision to rest a host of stars for their final-round clash with Penrith<\/a>, predicting it will dilute their resurgence and declaring "a full-scale dress rehearsal" would be best.<\/p>\n

After stunning the Storm in a 22-10 boilover in Brisbane<\/a> last Saturday, the Eels have opted to rest five players for their match against the Panthers<\/a> on the Gold Coast on Friday.<\/p>\n

Coach Brad Arthur<\/a> has sidelined Clint Gutherson<\/a>, Mitchell Moses<\/a>, Junior Paulo<\/a>, Marata Niukore and Waqa Blake for the game as he lifts his eyes to what will likely be an elimination final a week later.<\/p>\n

But after the Eels managed to win just the second of their last six games in the upset of the Storm<\/a> last week, Gould has cast doubt over Arthur's thinking.<\/p>\n

"It's an interesting decision from Brad Arthur and this is where I may have handled it differently," Gould said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus<\/em><\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"When I look at what Parramatta did last week, which was so much better than anything else they've produced not just this year (but) in the last couple of years … Their upset win against the Melbourne Storm was thoroughly deserved and they dominated from the early stages of the game and they put in a really quality 80-minute performance of intensity. Then to dilute that the following week and think I can pick it up again in a fortnight?<\/p>\n

"I don't know. I don't know whether or not I would have gone into this one with a full-scale dress rehearsal and think, 'Well now that we've got there let's keep it there, now that we've got there let's maintain the rage, let's practice it again'.<\/p>\n

"And I know that risks injury and the finals are a big thing."<\/p>\n

The fifth-placed Eels would even be a long shot to steal a top-four berth if they had named a full-strength side for the Panthers game.<\/p>\n

Parramatta would need to beat Penrith and have Manly lose to North Queensland<\/a> to score the double chance that a top-four finish guarantees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It must have been an interesting discussion at Parramatta this week as to whether we keep the momentum going or whether or not we desperately need the rest," Gould said.<\/p>\n

"Now they've opted for the one where they'll be less criticised, I think, in resting their players … Gutherson, Paulo, Niukore, Moses and Waqa Blake come out of the team. That's a fairly healthy drop-off."<\/p>\n

The Panthers, on the contrary, will take an unchanged line-up into the final-round fixture.<\/p>\n

"The Panthers have gone the other way, saying we want a full dress rehearsal before we play our finals opponent the following week, knowing full well that if we win that we get a fortnight off anyway, leading into the preliminary final," Gould said.<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/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<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legendary coach Phil Gould has questioned Parramatta's decision to rest a host of stars for their final-round clash with Penrith, predicting it will dilute their […]<\/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\/122416"}],"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=122416"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122420,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122416\/revisions\/122420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}