{"id":328772,"date":"2023-09-06T02:43:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T02:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=328772"},"modified":"2023-09-06T04:00:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T04:00:58","slug":"hurtful-decision-that-put-eels-in-dire-straits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=328772","title":{"rendered":"'Hurtful' decision that put Eels in 'dire straits'"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eels<\/a>' hopes of replicating last year's fine grand final run was in dire straits before a ball was even kicked in 2023.<\/p>\n

They lost key forwards Marata Niukore (Warriors), Isaiah Papali'i (Wests Tigers), Ray Stone (Dolphins), Oregon Kaufusi (Cronulla) and Reed Mahoney<\/a> (Bulldogs).<\/p>\n

But the full extent of the damage could not have been predicted by anyone. In the past decade, only once has a grand finalist missed the top eight the following season.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> All the scores and action from the US Open day nine<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Sad' Schumacher reality a decade on from ski crash<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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READ MORE: <\/strong>'Senior figures' plot to oust 'under siege' Tigers boss<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

The Eels clearly lacked the fire power of previous years up front and just couldn't match it with the NRL<\/a> elite.<\/p>\n

\"Parramatta<\/p>\n

While J'maine Hopgood was one of the buys of the season and Reagan Campbell-Gillard<\/a> gave his all up front, the Eels' go forward wasn't what it used to be.<\/p>\n

Mahoney's departure was particularly hurtful in the key hooking role. His replacement, Josh Hodgson<\/a>, missed the entire second half of the year with a neck injury that forced him to medically retire last week.<\/p>\n

Star five-eighth Dylan Brown's lengthy suspension for an off-field incident, and then Mitchell Moses' injury \u2014 both in the run-in to the finals \u2014 were also massive blows.<\/p>\n

Best player:<\/strong> Captain Clint Gutherson is entering the veteran class but was still the Eels' Mr Reliable. He's a steady last line of defence and also a tryscoring weapon.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Clint<\/p>\n

Biggest disappointment:<\/strong> The Eels rolled the dice replacing Mahoney with 33-year-old Hodgson. He played just one game for the Raiders last year in round one, and then missed the rest of the year with a knee reconstruction. Sadly, the move failed.<\/p>\n

Key signing:<\/strong> None to date<\/p>\n

2024 losses:<\/strong> Jack Murchie (released)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Eels' hopes of replicating last year's fine grand final run was in dire straits before a ball was even kicked in 2023. They lost […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":328774,"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\/328772"}],"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=328772"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328777,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328772\/revisions\/328777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/328774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}