Etihad allocates a small number of seats, and if they are sold out, they are sold out. On any airline, you cannot expect to get award seats in May for travel in May; that is completely unreasonable. Of course, some people will post that they got something at short notice, but some people also win the lottery. It does not mean you will.

To improve your chances, you have to book 11 months in advance, when AA booking opens. Even then there is no guarantee because EY's booking opens a couple of weeks earlier than AA does. Also, for example in J, EY allocates 2 seats per flight, so only 2 seats on ORD-AUH and JFK-AUH (widebodies) but also 2 seats on AUH-{ten cities in India} (narrowbodies). So if one couple books ORD-AUH-BLR, you're out of luck for ORD-AUH-{anywhere else} on that date since ORD-AUH is sold out.

Of course, EY might open up more award seats later, but to find out, you have to check constantly on EY's web site (with an EY FF program membership).

Expertflyer does not show EY awards; KVS does but it does not check and notify you automatically.