Ahh….round one of the NRL Season at Pirtek Stadium. Does it get any more exciting than this?

I can already see the sea of blue and gold amidst the smell of deep heat and mid-strength beer, as the sounds of the ‘Parra’ chant echo throughout the Cumberland.

There’ll be marches throughout the streets of the CBD and an array of activities in the TryLine City precinct outside the Michael Cronin Stand, as the Blue & Gold Army converges from across the land and we prepare to go to war with the Brisbane Broncos.

Ladies and Gentlemen, rugby league at Parramatta is back and the 2016 campaign begins with the catchcry for every NRL team supporters to be there and create history.

But just what do we expect tomorrow evening coming up against the 2016 favourites?

Much has been said of the Eels recruitment drive; many experts have expressed their views about where they expect us to finish; but there is only one absolute in rugby league – and that is turning up on the day for 80 minutes.

Like our opponents, we’ve had the luxury to name a near full-strength squad for the round one clash, so as supporters, we’ll learn just how far we’ve come this off-season, but make no mistake – the Broncos, as it currently stands, are the team to beat in 2016. With quality across the park it’s hard to identify a weakness in their 17, however this article will aim to do just that and where the Eels must be switched on if we hope to come away with the two points.

Devastating: Manu M’au is one player the Broncos have struggled to contain in the past

OUR OPPOSITION

With perhaps the exception of the Cowboys, Brisbane are the most well-rounded attacking unit in the NRL. They threaten you up the middle with athletic forwards who run all day and have the ability to pass before the line and offload; they threaten you on the fringes with great hole runners; they threaten you with halves who aren’t afraid to run it themselves; and they now threaten you out wide with great finishers – oh and let’s not forget, they’re pretty strong defensively too.

With that being said, I thoroughly expect the Broncos to play a very patient game against us. They’ll play for field position, they’ll kick early, they will spend portions of this game playing what may be viewed as very boring football. Why? Because unless they score early, it is likely they will have to weather an early barrage from a motivated Parramatta forward pack with a point to prove and a very parochial and vocal crowd who wants to see them succeed.

Believe it or not, this is exactly what Brisbane wants. They’ll want to weather the storm; they’ll want the crowd to be giving it to them and to then take them out of the equation; they know that there will be expectation on the new Eels recruits to produce and if they can limit their impact, they’ll go a long way to controlling and wrapping up the game.

It’s why the Broncos will spend large sections of this game biding their time and will make the most of their opportunities when it counts. It will happen in a flash and if we’re not switched on, it will happen repeatedly. There is only one way to negate this and that’s by overcoming our over-glaring weakness of years gone by, turning up on the day and playing for the full 80 minutes – we have to go with them.

Below I have detailed what to expect from our Brisbane counterparts tomorrow and the roles we will have to play to limit their effectiveness. As winger Clinton Gutherson said – defence will be key.

Evasive: Semi Radradra will be a handful for the Broncos

WHO WILL TRY TO EXPOSE US & WHERE

Darius Boyd: Darius will continue to go with his link man role and sweeping plays in attack. Although playing against a weakened opposition, he looked close to his best against the Wigan Warriors in the World Club Challenge series as he continued to get outside of his man and create overlaps. He will pose a threat like this all night within our half and the defensive choices of our halves, centres and wingers on both the left and right edge will be key to limiting his effectiveness. His passing game is still prone to error, so if we can rush and pressure him, we’ll break down the Broncos attack out wide. Brad Takairangi will be the Broncos target man in the Eels defensive line. His up and in defence will be crucial to our chances.

James Roberts: Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile. Roberts is a scary proposition for any player to defend against. However, so is Michael Jennings. I expect these two to be at each other all night. Again, the up and in defence of Jennings will be key to limiting the Broncos out wide; just as the Broncos right edge in defence will be the key to our success. Jennings will have to be at his best to limit Roberts in attack and to take advantage of Roberts’ sometimes questionable defence. The fact that Roberts still has a very raw and new partnership with English flyer Greg Eden will only work in the favour of the Eels potent left edge in attack.

Star Recruit: Broncos centre James Roberts has caused headaches for the Eels defence on more than one occasion

Anthony Milford & Ben Hunt: The Broncos halves are probably among the premier in the competition; the Eels halves have the potential to be. Both Milford and Hunt will play very direct football, running to the line as they look to put outside runners like Alex Glenn and Matt Gillett into holes; going out the back to Darius Boyd; or throwing a well-timed dummy to run through themselves – they’ll even utilize their fantastic short-kicking games to find space in behind the line.

Milford and Hunt are the heart of the Broncos’ attack. If your defence is on and you limit the options of these two players, you’ll go a long way to stopping the Brisbane juggernaut. Our second-rowers have to make it their mission to be in the face of these players all night – enter Beau Scott and Manu M’au. We know how strong and aggressive they are and no doubt Brad Arthur will be giving them orders to make a nuisance of themselves defensively. While the likes of Manu and Kenny Edwards will be instructed to run at these two all night long and rack up their tackle counts (particularly Milford).

Just as importantly, Michael Gordon’s positional play will have to be perfect. The Broncos halves will be peppering the line all night and if we can limit the space they produce out wide, they’ll resort to hitting short runners on the fringes and kicking in behind the line. This is where ‘Flash’ will have to be most switched on. His positional play and goal kicking could potentially produce a huge points turn-around in our favour.

Limited: Containing Ben Hunt is essential to Eels success

Andrew McCullough: This man likes to run and likes to throw a dummy or two close to the line. Our middle third will have to be focused because McCullough will be itching at the opportunity for a dummy-half try. However, McCullough also gets through a lot of defensive work himself and can easily tire. If some of our bigger boys run at him late in either half, there may be some opportunities for a middle forward offload to Michael Gordon to break the game wide open.

Alex Glenn & Matt Gillett: These two will be running screen plays and running at holes relentlessly. I can’t recall the amount of times I’ve seen either one of these guys make a clean line-break off a short pass from one of the halves to set up a try or score themselves. However, knowing it and stopping it are two different things – line speed will be key to pressuring the halves on these passes and for when either one of these backrowers are set to receive the ball. Both our edges will have to compress and an up-and-in defence will be key to preventing these two from stamping their presence on the game, just as selective passing will be key to finding them out when we’re on the attack, as both are prone to the odd missed tackle and misread. Expect us to test them with angled runs from our backrowers and centres.

Threat: Matt Gillett is one of a few Broncos players that must be heavily marked

Josh McGuire, Adam Blair, Sam Thaiday & Corey Parker: Stop the Broncos middle forwards from producing second phase play and you negate the ability of the halves and outside men to create opportunities. It all starts from wrapping the ball up and our middle third will have to continuously turn up, tackle after tackle, to prevent the Brisbane offload. This is where the game will be effectively won and lost.

Kodi Nikorima: It was a brief cameo, but this kid tore us to shreds in the back end of our ANZAC clash last year. He showed during the World Club Challenge series that he is a live-wire with plenty to offer. He’ll bring a change of pace to the game when injected and it is his presence that I think has contributed to the decision of the Eels coaching staff naming Kaysa Pritchard on an extended bench. Markers beware, because this man can split us up the middle and prove to be a real game changer for our opposition.

Forwards Game: The Eels will need to limit the offload of the Broncos forwards

All in all, the Broncos are a very tough side to beat. They are strong all over the park and you can’t place your focus too much on any one player – that’s why it will take a focused team effort for 80 minutes to beat them. It is here, we will see how far we’ve come and know where it is that we currently stand.

Although I don’t expect a polished performance from either side at this time of year, I do expect the game to be very well-managed by the team’s respective halves. They’ll test each other out and try to control field position before that one attacking play comes that will tip the balance of the game favourably for one side. Whichever team produces it first will go a long way to winning the match.

Brisbane will look to control the game from start to finish but early points, a strong defensive effort and a vocal Parramatta crowd are the key to an Eels victory. The more we, the supporters, turn up – the more our boys will turn up for us.

So with all this in mind, let’s get out there and create our own history tomorrow night.

Clint

All images courtesy of the Parramatta Eels, NRL.com and Getty Images.

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