Date: Saturday 12^th of March

Venue: Pirtek Stadium

Gates Open: 5:00pm

Kick off: 7:30pm (NYC U20s 5:15pm)

Head Referee: Jared Maxwell

Assistant Referee: Adam Gee

Head to head: Played 33, Eels 17, Cowboys 15 and drawn 1

Head to head odds: Eels ($ 2.35), Cowboys ($ 1.62)

Broadcast: Fox Sports live 7:30pm, Live Radio ABC and 2GB

Last four encounters:

1. Cowboys 46, Eels 4 at 1300 Smiles Stadium (2015)
2. Cowboys 36, Eels 30 at Pirtek Stadium (2015)
3. Eels 18, Cowboys 16 at Pirtek Stadium (2014)
4. Cowboys 42, Eels 14 at 1300 Smiles Stadium (2014)

Preview: Well ladies and gentleman, round has officially come and gone, and with that we are now onto round two. This round two match preview casts an eye over a battle between the 7^th placed North Queensland Cowboys and the 13^th placed Parramatta Eels. The Eels come into this round off the back of a thirteen point loss to the Brisbane Broncos whereas the Cowboys are coming off the back of very close six point win against the Cronulla Sharks up at 1300 Smiles Stadium. With the Eels set to welcome their superstar off-season signing, Kieran Foran, into the line up for this weekend, this is sure to be a very exciting encounter. I encourage all NRL fans to tune into this one as some of the games brightest talents will be on show.

Value Bet: My value bet for this one is for the Eels to defeat the Cowboys in a margin of 1-12 points, the Eels are at $ 3.75 to defeat the Cowboys by a margin of 1-12 points. As for the first try favorites for both teams the Eels have Semi Radradra at a very short $ 7, Clinton Gutherson and Michael Jennings out at $ 14, whereas the Cowboys have Kyle Feldt and Antonio Winterstein both at $10 as their first try favourites.

Interesting fact: The Cowboys have won six of their past seven encounters against the Eels. It should also be interesting to see how the likes of Johnathan Thurston and Beau Scott react to facing up against each other yet again; it’s sure to create more memorable moments.

It will be a big week for: Michael Jennings (below). Two Thursdays ago Michael Jennings made his debut for the Parramatta Eels, going very close to scoring his first try in blue and gold colours, Jennings was slammed by a few media outlets for having somewhat of a quiet game. With the Eels missing both of their first choice halves in the 2^nd half of last week’s encounter against the Broncos, you can understand why Jennings would not have received much quality ball. In welcoming back both Kieran Foran and Corey Norman, the Eels will have both their first choice halves on deck to take on the Cowboys, a fact which is sure is to see the likes of Jennings receive more quality ball (no disrespect to the halves in the 2^nd halves vs Broncos). Another aspect making Jennings a very integral part of the Eels line up will be his combination with Eels Fijian flyer Semi Radradra who surprisingly failed to cross the try line in the first round.

Danger man: This week’s danger man (from a Parramatta Eels perspective) is Cowboys human wrecking ball Jason Taumalolo (below). Whilst the Cowboys have many danger men including Coote, Morgan, Thurston and Granville, I have chosen to highlight Jason Taumalolo. Over the past couple of seasons Taumalolo has become one of the most destructive forces in the NRL and it’s little wonder; just about every time he carries the ball up for hit up its takes more then one or two defender to halt his forward momentum. Close to the try line, Taumalolo has the potential to cause the most damage either attracting a number of defenders prior to an offload or crashing over for a try at close range. The Eels will have to be very effective in their one on one tackle and first up contact if there are to stop the danger man that is Jason Taumalolo.

Team lists:

Parramatta Eels (13^th coming into the round)

1. Michael Gordon
2. Semi Radradra
3. Michael Jennings
4. Brad Takairangi
5. Clinton Gutherson
6. Corey Norman
7. Kieran Foran (C)
8. Junior Paulo
9. Nathan Peats
10. Tim Mannah
11. Manu Ma’u
12. Beau Scott
13. Tepai Moeroa

14. Kaysa Pritchard
15. Peni Terepo
16. Danny Wicks
17. Kenny Edwards

18. Daniel Alvaro

Coach: Brad Arthur

Late mail: The Eels are expected to run out 1 to 17 with Kieran Foran and Corey Norman both expected to overcome their respective injury niggles.

North Queensland Cowboys (7^th coming into the round)

1. Lachlan Coote
2. Kyle Feldt
3. Justin O’ Neil
4. Kane Linnet
5. Antonio Winterstein
6. Michael Morgan
7. Johnathan Thurston (C)
8. Matt Scott (C)
9. Jake Granville
10. James Tamou
11. Gavin Cooper
12. Ethan Lowe
13. Jason Taumalolo

14. Rory Kostjasyn
15. John Asiata
16. Scott Bolton
17. Ben Hannant

Coach: Paul Green

Late mail: Expect the Cowboys to be 1 to 17 with no late changes.

2 key match ups:

1. Kieran Foran vs Johnathan Thurston: The first key match up to highlight will feature as a battle of the halfbacks, as Eels captain Kieran Foran squares off against Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston. This also doubles as a match up between the respective halves of Australia and New Zealand. When it comes to halfback up against halfback individual match ups, they don’t get much bigger than this. Foran, a player with immense courage who gives a 110% each and every time he plays, up against Johnathan Thurston, a player who is the reigning golden boot winner. Thurston has always been in the elite upper tier NRL players for almost a decade, but over the past couple of years he has really taken his game to the next level. Thurston has improved his game so much that people are even comparing him to the most recent immortal Andrew Johns. Thurston has the potential to well and truly surpass Johns before the end of his career, given that he already has more career games to his name than Joey. Staying on the subject of Thurston, he is set to line up against notorious rival Beau Scott who has been known to give Thurston a very rough time. Physical intimidation of Thurston has somewhat succeeded in putting him off his game and one would imagine the Eels would instruct Scott to do more of the same come Saturday night. On the other side of the coin we have Kieran Foran, the Parramatta Eels marquee signing for the 2016 season. Foran in a perfect world would have made his Eels debut last week against the Brisbane Broncos, but we don’t live in a perfect world and Foran was ruled out through a minor hamstring complaint. This week is a new week and round two has well and truly arrived. Undoubtedly, Foran will enjoy the opportunity to lead his new club out onto Pirtek Stadium for the first time. The Eels will be hoping Foran starts his Eels career in spectacular fashion with a victory of the reigning NRL premiers.

2. Tim Mannah vs Matt Scott: The second key match up is the battle between the props, Eels stalwart Tim Mannah up against Cowboys workhorse Matt Scott. When it comes to any on field successes of both these teams, the likes of Mannah and Scott deserve more credit. In possibly the hardest position in the NRL to play week in week out, props like Mannah and Scott deserve every single accolade they get. Cowboys co captain, Queensland and Australian representative prop Scott has possibly been the best forward in the game over the past couple of years. Scott always manages to get his team on the front foot with every carry he takes. Like a number of other Cowboys forwards, he attracts a number of defenders when he runs the ball, has an offload and can find the try line on the odd occasion. If the Eels are to stand any chance of defeating the Cowboys come Saturday night they’re going to have to control the game up front and be the dominant team, something absolutely easier said than done against a team like the Cowboys. Eels veteran and stalwart prop Tim Mannah is a player who is very much in a similar mold to Matt Scott; he just gets his job done and regularly makes over 110m per game. Mannah has been the on field captain for the Eels for the past couple of seasons, a job he no doubt took great pride in. Mannah is seen as a leader at the Eels, even if he isn’t the on-field captain nowadays. One of Mannah’s most admirable traits is his play the ball speed; he is renowned for being able to achieve a quick play the ball after a hit up to put his team on the front foot. With players like Nathan Peats and Kaysa Pritchard ready to capitalise off of Mannah’s fast play the balls the Eels will no doubt try and wear the Cowboys down through the middle before testing the edges with the strike power lying out wide (eg; Jennings, Radradra, Gutherson, Takairangi).

My tip: On paper this seems like a straightforward game to pick, with the Cowboys having the edge. However, I believe the Eels are a very strong chance of causing an upset. Whilst the Eels lost to the Broncos they put on a very strong showing despite missing their two primary first choice play makers. The attacking game logically should be far better this week. Moving onto the Cowboys, they were able to defeat the Sharks in round one but it was by no means an impressive victory. I believe that the Cowboys were able to simply grind the Sharks down and relied upon their point scoring ability to shut out the game. The Cowboys are historically notorious slow starters to the season and don’t usually start hitting their stride till just before the half way mark in the season. If there is any time that you would want to run into the Cowboys, it’s now in the opening rounds of the season.

Due to those few facts, and given the home ground advantage, I give the Eels a reasonable chance of causing an upset. I am tipping an Eels victory, Eels 22, Cowboys 18.

Man of the match: Beau Scott or Michael Morgan (depending on the wining team)

Enjoy the game, GO THE EELS !!!

Nathan

Credit to the following sources for the images used:

• http://www.parraeels.com.au/content/dam/eels/news/2016/R1-2016/game-day-gallery/Jennings,M%2016030332%20copy.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg

• http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/NRL+Rd+1+Cowboys+v+Sharks+5bjNXNeEgfZx.jpg

• http://www.parraeels.com.au/content/dam/eels/news/2016/Round%202/Round%20Two%20Training%20Gallery/0H7A9945.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg

• http://www.parraeels.com.au/content/dam/eels/news/2016/R1-2016/game-day-gallery/Mannah,T%2016030301%20copy.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg

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