Worst nemesis: ‘Really hurts! Ryles boy Mitchell Moses counts Eels 3 major fuck up revolution after youth overdrive threatens major boilover “But we let that one get away, but we will take a lot of lessons out of them.“This one really stings because we didn’t protect the ball well when opportunities came our way. There’s a quality…

Worst nemesis: ‘Really hurts! Ryles boy Mitchell Moses counts Eels 3 major fuck up revolution after youth overdrive threatens major boilover “But we let that one get away, but we will take a lot of lessons out of them.“This one really stings because we didn’t protect the ball well when opportunities came our way. There’s a quality…

 

Mitchell Moses has made it clear that he’s focused on winning immediately, despite the Eels being in a rebuilding phase. After a narrow loss to the Storm, where the game remained locked at 10-10 for nearly 70 minutes before Xavier Coates scored the match-winner, Moses acknowledged his young team’s growth.

 

During the post-match press conference, the Parramatta captain was asked about his thoughts on the noticeable progress made by the side since their heavy 56-18 defeat to Melbourne earlier in the season.

“I think it’s all good we are in a learning process and a growing process, but we have a footy team here ready to win games now and we should have won that one tonight.

“But we let that one get away, but we will take a lot of lessons out of tonight.”

The likes of Ryley Smith, Tallyn Da Silva, Sam Tuivaiti, Charlie Guymer and Luca Moretti have all proven to be crucial youngsters for the Eels under Jason Ryles.

Moses was of the belief his team’s mentality has shifted, which began with a big upset victory over the Broncos in Round 21.

“They are getting a lot of confidence, Rylesy is showing them a lot of confidence and putting a lot of confidence in them to be able to go out there and perform,” Moses said.

“They are just going to have to learn on the run. At least they are learning lessons in the big games…. not just going out there and going ‘how much are we going to lose by today?’

“We are going into games (thinking) we can compete with anyone at the moment and it’s good lessons for a young kid.”

Moses, however, did admit that this loss in particular “hurts” given it was against one of the competition heavyweights.

“There’s been a fair bit of change… but it’s taken us a bit to know what footy that we can play and the type of footy we can play,” he said.

“We probably worked that out the last few weeks. We’ve been in games against some really quality sides, been there ready to win the game.

“We’ve struggled to execute in key moments, and that’s something that will improve with experience — the younger players are still learning,” said Moses.

 

“This one really stings because we didn’t protect the ball well when opportunities came our way. There’s a quality team in there, but it’s frustrating not to be capitalising with points.”

Coach Jason Ryles added that two costly mistakes led to one of Melbourne’s tries, while the other two came off kicks — suggesting the Eels had largely undone their own work.
“We know how far we’ve come, both individually and as a team,” Ryles said.

“Last week was a solid reminder that we’re making progress, and tonight backed that up. The effort and determination in this group is top-notch.

“No one is okay with losing — not the players, and definitely not me — but the week-to-week improvement is clear. Honestly, I believe we let that game slip away ourselves; Melbourne didn’t necessarily beat us. That gives us something positive to build on.”