How good was our defense against the Bulldogs last Friday night?

Sixties and I were saying in our postmortems that you’d probably have to go back to the earlier years of Brian Smith’s tenure to find a defensive line as resolute and resilient as the one we displayed against Canterbury-Bankstown.

It really was a sight to behold wasn’t it Eels fans?

The tenacity and the aggression; the line-speed and ‘extras’ from inside men – these are the qualities that build and make premiership winning sides – and our boys have been displaying it from day one 2016.

But as the old-saying goes ‘caveat emptor’ (buyer beware) blue and gold army – as Head Coach Brad Arthur testified in the post-game presser last week: “Do we get comfortable or do we like winning games of football?” – After a stirring and inspiring effort against our arch-rivals last week, this afternoon we will learn where the  mentality of our Eels team, truly lies.

As a contest, on paper; by the form guide; and according to the bookies – our boys should win this one comfortably. However, seldom is a game of rugby league played within those parameters – caveat emptor, Parramatta.

This is the Easter Monday game, and if the previous two are anything to go by, both teams will be in this up until the final whistle.

The Tigers have trumped us in both clashes, with a late surge of points when the game was in the balance – Pat Richards in particular, playing a starring role in both games; and while he is no longer with the Tigers, there are still a team not to be taken lightly.

Possessing attacking prowess all over the park, the Tigers have the offensive structures to upset the Eels and the timely return of their hooker, Robbie Farah, could prove to be the difference for a Wests side, who have started the year much stronger than the majority of the rugby league community would have expected.

The Eels, on the other hand, welcome back the devastating Manu Ma’u for this clash, meaning Kenny Edwards shifts back to the interchange bench in an otherwise unchanged team from the Eels round 3 victory. Conversely, the Tigers lose Chris Lawrence to suspension, meaning Dene Halatau shifts to the backrow, while the aforementioned Farah resumes the hooking duties.

Both teams will fancy their chances today, the Tigers in particular seem to grow an extra leg for the Easter Monday clash and will back themselves to upset the Eels defensive structures; while the Eels will be confident they can withstand the Tigers attacking raids and bide their time until they have the opportunity to break down the Tigers defence, and score some points of their own.

Irrespective of late point-scoring sprees, more recent games between these two rivals have generally been in the balance until the last 10 minutes of the match and I think today won’t be too different, which way it falls however, is a different question.

Let’s take a closer look at our opposition and see where the threats lie.

Return: Manu Ma’u comes back from suspension to take on the Tigers

OUR OPPOSITION

The Tigers possess a very exciting backline – at times they have the ability to score points at will and they won’t ever die wondering. Skilful passing; offloads; and great finishing ability, the Tigers won’t struggle to generate scoring opportunities at points through-out the game – they are just one of those sides who can change the momentum of a match very quickly, with Fullback James Tedesco the main threat. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for them) they see the nastier side of this momentum swing as well, meaning they are subject to being on the receiving end of this momentum.

The Titans demonstrated this in their round 3 victory over the Tigers. For most of the first half, the Tigers looked somewhat in control and were cruising. However, a crucial try just before half-time to ex-Eel Daniel Mortimer, followed by a second half surge of points from the Titans, quickly changed the nature of the game. Manly showed during their Round 2 loss to the Tigers that they had parts of the game where they dominated and ran the show, the Warriors similarly in Round 1.

It’s symptomatic of a talented but somewhat inexperienced NRL side. In fact, it’s something as Eels fans, were all too familiar with in years gone-by – they have the ability to dominate you, they can dominate you; but they’re also susceptible to being dominated, and you will get an opportunity to take the game away from them.

Part of this comes down to the Tigers having a very inexperienced bench. The middle third of Grant, Woods, Farah and Sue are fantastic and comparable with any other middle third in the competition – it’s what the Tigers lose when these boys come off (which they all will at certain points this afternoon).

The same can be said for their fringe defenders – small halves with a high missed tackle rate; centres who posses all the attacking ability in the world, but are still finding their defensive groove in the top grade; and back-rowers who are less established than their counterparts.

So with that in mind, it’s easy to see where the Tigers will try to play this one – up the middle third.

With three origin representative forwards and one very impressive lock forward, the Tigers will be relentless in carving the ball up the middle and in trying to generate quick play the balls for Farah, Tedesco and the halves to play off-of.

If they can keep the Eels on the back foot, the Tigers will fancy their chances attacking our fringes and are likely to produce results, if they are playing against a retreating Parramatta defensive line – particularly down the short side. One thing Jason Taylor coached teams like to do from time-to-time is focus repeated efforts down a short side, eat up cheap metres and work over the fringe defenders with quick play-the-balls.

The key for us is in slowing down the play-the-ball. Ensuring Farah, Tedesco and the Tigers halves have little time to play with the ball in hand. Turtling, will be the order of the day. Preventing the Tigers forwards from getting to their elbows and knees will be imperative. Anything to slow down the middle thirds play-the-balls. If they get even a hint of a retreating defensive line, the Tigers have the ability to punish us and to do so quickly.

This will be the real challenge for our forward pack – how well they can dominate the ruck? How willing are they to show a merciless attitude towards a perceived weaker opponent? This is what Brad Arthur was sub-communicating in last weeks’ presser; it is this attitude that makes or breaks premiership winning teams – and if we want to be a premiership winning team, we have to be merciless in these type of games.

The fact of the matter is, we control their middle forwards and provide Farah, Tedesco and the halves with little time, we win this game comfortably. If we afford them any room, they will punish us and we may be the ones staring down the barrel of a 13+ points defeat.

So with that being said, let’s examine these individual threats.

Threat: Robbie Farah will allow the Tigers to play more direct in attack

WHO WILL TRY TO EXPOSE US & WHERE

James Tedesco: The most in-form player in the competition in my opinion. An incredibly dangerous attacking fullback, who is perfectly positioned and makes the most of any opportunities that come his way. Blessed with explosive speed and plenty of ball-skills, he gets on the outside of his man and creates something for his support runners or himself with consummate ease. A natural try-scorer and constant threat, Tedesco can easily pull our pants down. Players like him, in the form he’s currently in, are always going to produce something. So how do we address players like this? Limit their time with ball in hand.

Corey Norman’s kicking game will have to be on point here once again. Tedesco is just too much of a threat to be regularly receiving the ball and with time to return it. If he approaches any type of staggered defensive line, he’ll create problems. The solution? Kick in behind Jordan Rankin ALL afternoon. Work him over time. Of the Tigers back three he’s the weakest runner of the ball and the more times we force him to do work, the less time Tedesco sees the ball.

Controlling the ruck and slowing down the play-the-ball also limits Tedesco’s time with ball in hand on the Tigers attacking raids, if he’s getting the ball with the Eels defensive line close to in his face, we go a long way to containing him.

In Form: Tigers Fullback James Tedesco has the ability to turn a game on it’s head

Kevin Naiqama & Tim Simona: Both the Tigers centres are very dangerous when they get on the outside of their man, Kevin Naiqama in particular has caused us some headaches in more recent games. While I see Jennings and Semi being able to comfortably accommodate him on this occasion, his presence is still a threat and he should not be taken lightly. Simona on the other hand, will be next challenge for the ever-improving combination of Takairangi and Gutherson.

I expect plenty of raids down our right edge, (even more so when it’s the short-side) with Farah directing play out of dummy-half and the halves + Tedesco, looping around and looking to play the quick over lap for Simona and Rankin. The Tigers will fancy their chances down our right edge, but as Takairangi and Gutherson have showed the past two weeks, their combination is growing in confidence and they have the ability to contain them, should we ensure they’re not generating quick play-the-balls.

Mitchell Moses & Luke Brooks: The diminutive Tigers halves have the ability to cause any team trouble on their day – they can break the line and have the passing games to create space for outside men when given time on the ball. However, they’re also prone to high missed tackle rates and going missing under extreme fatigue. Not only by controlling the middle third defensively, do we limit their time in attack, but by working them over defensively with our edge runners, we take them out of the game completely. Manu M’au; Beau Scott; Kenny Edwards it’s your time to shine. I have no doubt these three will be relentless in working over the Tigers halves defensively and it’ll be their own work with repeated tackling efforts, that will prevent them from creating any havoc against ours.

Aaron Woods, Tim Grant & Sauaso Sue: The Tigers middle third are very strong. Both their props have played State of Origin and Sue is an absolutely fantastic prospect who to date has largely filled the void left by Marty Taupau’s departure. All three are metre-eaters, all three generate quick play-the-balls and all three get over the advantage line if you’re not in their face defensively and making your tackles.

These three hold the key to a Tigers victory today, if they win the middle third, the Tigers will have plenty of time and space to play with. If we limit their impact, we have this game under control. It is imperative from an Eels perspective that we control these three. The line-speed of De-Gois/Pritchard and Moeroa in particular, will go a long way to dictating the state of play. Isaac is a tenatious defender and it will be up to him to set the standard in our defensive line.

Woods in particular is the biggest threat of the three, he’s an Australian representative for a reason. He carries men with him and gets over the advantage line and has the ability to offload; Grant has been finding form by following Woods charges; and Sue is a kamikaze style runner who will keep coming all day and has a neat little offload of his own. If we slow down Woods, we slow down Grant. If we turtle Sue, we negate the damage his runs create. Preventing the generation of second-phase play is a must.

Defense: The Eels will have to be defensively sound to limit the impact of the Tigers middle forwards

Robbie Farah: The much maligned son of Leichhardt returns for his first outing in 2016, and what’s more, he’s doing it on the big stage against a rival he loves to come up against. Current NSW rake, Robbie Farah is always a performer in the big games and today he’ll be no different. He’ll help the Tigers attack play more direct and afford Tedesco, Brooks and Moses a little more time with the ball in hand. Everything the Tigers do today will be generated out of dummy-half.

He’ll try to expose our edge defenders with consistent short-side raids; he’ll scamper for runs himself; he’ll give the Tigers a great kicking option out of dummy-half; but moreover, he’ll be the cool-head experience that the Tigers need in their spine.

He could very well be the difference today and someone who’s been around the game as long as Farah won’t miss a beat. The only way we can control him is by ensuring that we keep a straight line in defence and slow the play-the-ball down so he has very little room to move. We do this, we control the game.

Try scorer: Semi Radrada has made a habit scoring, with a double in last years Round 17 clash

Today has the potential to be one of those games that can go either way. Both these sides in the past have been very Jekyll and Hyde. However, a different Parramatta team will be taking the field today and while it’s still early days to confirm that the efforts of weeks gone-by are now the expected norm, it’s the attitude of Arthur in last week’s presser that fills me with the confidence to suggest that irrespective of the way that today goes down, that we should come away winners.

There’ll be times in today’s match where Semi and Jennings will be afforded some room to work their magic. I expect early ball from Norman and Foran to afford these two room against their less fancied defensive opponents of Naiqama and Nofoaluma and that this is the game where we might see their combination start to come into its own.

Similarly, I expect the Tigers to create the same type of opportunities against us and to have plenty of time attacking our line – a lot more so than the Bulldogs ever did last week.

With dry conditions expected, I think it’s fair to assume that some football will be played today and the Eels defensive line to be tested like it hasn’t been so far this year. However, I also expect us to score more points than we have in our previous three games also, with the Tigers defensive line susceptible to more lapses than our previous opponents.

Control: Corey Norman, along with halves partner, Kieran Foran will have to manage the ebbs and flows of an unpredictable Tigers outfit

Norman and Foran will be key to not only creating opportunities, but to getting us out of trouble when we’re under the pump with their long kicking games. I expect to see them link on the same side of the field a lot more (similarly to how they did in the Panthers trial) than what we have seen in recent matches, and for the running games of both our halves to cause plenty of problems for the Tigers.

So long as we don’t give the Tigers any sniffs and our defensive line remains absolute, as it has the first three weeks of 2016, then we should win this game and really consolidate our performance with some tries in the last 20. However, this is the exact type of game the Eels have lost in the past and why Brad Arthur was as frank in his assessment during the Bulldogs presser about today’s upcoming clash. The Tigers could very easily, put some points on us, if we’re not up to the task.

As they say, caveat emptor, Eels supporters.

Clint

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

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