Following a shut-out of the flamboyant and attacking focused Wests Tigers on Easter Monday, our Eels head into today’s western Sydney derby 3-1 and the potential to top the table at rounds end.
If someone propositioned me in December last year when the 2016 NRL draw was released and said “How does 3-1 sound after the first month?” I would take it every day of the week and twice on Sunday – how great is it to be in this position for the first time since 1999?
One thing has become very clear about Parramatta in 2016 – this is a team that has heart and a team that works for each other all day. When you have those ingredients in your side, you generally find that you win, even when you play poorly.
After making 14 errors, conceding 10 penalties and affording the Tigers plenty of opportunities on our line, it’s amazing to think we kept them to zero – but this Eels fans, are what the good sides do – they win when they’re not on their game and they still defend with the resilience and heart our team is now becoming known for (Beau Scott anyone?).
Today we face our affectionately known ‘little brother’, the Penrith Panthers, on the best stage for rugby league – Sunday afternoon at Pirtek Stadium – and after an indifferent start to their campaign, the Panthers will be looking to make a statement today to rejoin the winners circle.
Narrow defeats at the hands of the Raiders (away); Bulldogs (home); Dragons (away), as well as a one-point victory over premiership favourites the Broncos (home) suggests that this game will also be tight. Penrith know how to stay in the contest, and irrespective of where the game is at, the will be in the fight with us today.
More recent premiership results between the two suggest this also, with six point margins separating the sides in their past two NRL clashes, with the Eels narrowly victorious in both of the 2015 fixtures.
At present, the Panthers strike me as a side still learning and understanding exactly how they want to play this season. An untimely injury to first choice hooker James Segeyaro, with no experienced replacement on the books, has resulted in some positional shifts within the Panthers spine – creating an opportunity for boom rookie, Te Maire Martin, to debut and stake his claim for a regular halves position.
Additionally, the absence of Captain, fullback and x-factor, Matt Moylan, has meant the Panthers attack has been weakened. His return today is significant as he has the ability to lay on tries at will for the impressive Panthers outside backs, and could provide Penrith with the class and finesse they have lacked to close out games in their three losses thus far.
After being, at one point, reduced to a one man interchange bench last week and having enforcer Manu Ma’u placed on report, the Eels could probably consider themselves lucky that Tim Mannah was the only casualty (and a minor one at that) out of the Easter Monday clash. Danny Wicks will move into the starting 13 in his place, with the much improved Peni Terepo, returning to the bench, after missing the Wests clash.
Penirth will draw a lot of confidence from the return of their Captain and best player Moylan, who will be looking to make an immediate impact upon in his first game of the season; while the Eels will be working towards a better attacking performance, after citing during the week a desire, to not just rely on their defence. .
This has all the makings of a classic – Sunday afternoon at Pirtek; Western Sydney derby; and a result that could really go either way. It won’t be all smooth swimming in Sydney’s golden west this afternoon, however, if we can manage the main Penrith threats, we should show, as we did in our trial match in late February, that we have the wood over ‘little brother’.
Attack focused: Eels Captain Kieran Foran is keen to improve the Eels attack
OUR OPPOSITION
The Panthers have, on paper at least, one of the best backlines in the competition in my opinion. Two very strong runners of the ball and great finishers on the flanks in the form of Josh Mansour and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak; two defensively sound centres who can sniff out an opportunity of their own in Peta Hiku and Waqa Blake (who is deputising for the very impressive Dean Whare); an exciting young rookie with a load of promise and skill in Te Maire Martin; a seasoned game manager and premiership winner with a great kicking game in Jamie Soward; and a fullback equally capable of creating, as he is scoring tries, in captain, Matt Moylan.
Additionally, the Panthers nursery continues to produce quality forwards, who although younger and more inexperienced than those of their predecessors from seasons gone-by, are still as big; skilful; and intimidating as they were and have the ability to dominate any pack on their day.
After initially being blown off the park by Brisbane in the first half of their round three match, the Penrith forward pack demonstrated their ability to dominate, by taking it to the premiership favourites in their comeback victory. Similarly for 65 minutes against heavyweights, Canterbury-Bankstown, the Panthers forwards had the ascendency.
There’s no denying that these impressive youngsters (if kept together) will be one of the most dominating packs in the competition for years to come. As it currently stands however, they still have little moments where they fall in and out of games, as shown by the quick scoring sprees of the Raiders, Broncos and Bulldogs of their previous 2016 matches.
This is typical of a forward pack that is largely inexperienced, with Trent Merrin and Sam McKendry, the only forwards (not including Peter Wallace here) to have played over 50 first grade games. There’s no doubt that when that experience comes, consistency will follow. However, for the mean time, they will experience performances where they will intermittently dominate, as much as they will experience performances where they will get found out – all part and parcel of learning to play in the NRL.
Inexperienced Forwards: Sam McKendry is one of two Panthers forwards to play over 50 NRL games
The thing that interests me most about the Panthers forwards is that this inconsistency, isn’t even that bad. It’s not as though they go missing for large portions of the game, it’s usually only a couple of untimely missed tackles or the odd staggered defensive line or kick chase that’s really creating opportunities for their rivals. For the most part, they’ve been quite good, as the nature of the score line suggests in their opening four matches.
So with that being said, it’s obvious that we’ll have to take our opportunities when they come, particularly given our desire to improve our attack and establish some continuity in our set plays – otherwise another tight, low-scoring affair, in which we’ll have to rely on our defence, will ensue.
I look at the Panthers fringes as the best point to target- with any space between the back-rowers and halves of either edge, as the place to create in-roads and score points – with particular attention given to isolating Martin, whose body is still adapting to the rigours of first grade.
Similarly, I look at the defensive roles of our middle third in the opening 20-30 minutes to be crucial in preventing the likes of McKendry, Campbell-Gillard and Merrin any chance to establish a platform for the likes of Moylan, Soward, Cartwright and company, to play off the back of. If we can set our own platform early, Norman and Foran will control the game. However, if we start slowly, we’ll be sucked into a defence orientated game in which we may have to chance our arm to score points.
Provided our forwards maintain form and we pressure the Panthers decision-makers, we should feel in control of this game from the opening whistle- but if the likes of the Panthers attacking weapons get a sniff of an opportunity, they have the firepower out wide to take advantage of their opportunities and create some real headaches for us.
Let’s take the chance now, to look more closely at our main threats this afternoon.
Key Forward: Junior Paulo will be important in laying a foundation against the Panthers
WHO WILL TRY TO EXPOSE US & WHERE
Matt Moylan: With incumbent Josh Dugan performing solidly and accolades following in-form Tigers fullback James Tedesco everywhere he goes, Panthers captain Matt Moylan has become the forgotten man of the NSW fullback equation. Make no mistake, Moylan is absolute quality and while a future in the halves beckons, he is still a fantastic runner of the ball who can easily sniff out a hole in any defensive line.
His match fitness may be down, so it could prove effective in testing him out under both the high ball and his positional play, however I think a player of his quality usually transcends these type of problems and we’d be better suited to keeping him off the ball as much as possible.
He should not be afforded any opportunity to drift across the field in an attempt to link up with angled hole runners, because if he is, he will find them; just as he will dummy and slice through himself. The line speed of our edges so far should prevent him the ability to do this, however, if the line is even slightly staggered, this man will take advantage of it. Eels edge defenders, beware.
Return: Panthers Captain Matt Moylan will make his comeback against the Eels today
Josh Mansour: The former Kangaroos rep is a big body, who makes big metres and has a very handy offload in him. He reminds me in many ways of Eric Grothe Jnr, in terms of the workload he provided to us and with the ability to not only regularly get over the advantage line, but to also generate second-phase play when it looks as though the movement has ended with him. It may sound small, but it’s these little moments that allow teams to generate momentum and get a roll-on. Wrapping him and the ball up will prevent future threats later in the Panthers attacking sets.
Additionally he attacks down Parramatta’s right edge, which has been the most vulnerable part of an otherwise defensively strong line in Parramatta’s 2016 campaign. Takairangi and Gutherson will have to be on-song again, in order to prevent Mansour and the following man any space today.
Peta Hiku: Hiku has started his Panthers career with a try in every game and poses an attacking threat to the Parramatta right edge defence. Although still adapting to the centre position full-time, he has shown he has the ability to create and finish for himself and will no doubt be hoping for the chance to do the same today. If Takaz and Gutho continue their up-and-in defence of the last three weeks, they should handle him and Mansour with ease in attacking raids.
Jamie Soward & Te Maire Martin: Whether you like him or not, Jamie Soward is a premiership winning half and fantastic game manager. If we give him the opportunity to run the show, he will, just as he did in our clash with the Panthers in 2014 at Pepper Stadium.
Soward is the man, who probably welcomes the return of Moylan above anyone else. He won’t have to worry about being the sole creator of points and it will afford both he and rookie Te Maire Martin the chance to play their more natural game and to pick when to inject themselves – for me this means both halves will be willing to run the ball more towards the backend of each half – so middle forwards and inside defenders will have to remain focused.
Additionally, these two men are the weak links in the Panthers defensive line, we can remove the sting and polish from their attack by wearing them down when we have the ball in hand – again I look to Manu Ma’u, Beau Scott and Kenny Edwards to do some serious damage here – the Parramatta backrow triumvirate are scary for anyone to tackle, let alone a half who is mixed defensively and a three-gamer.
Game Manager: Jamie Soward will be looking to control the tempo of the Panthers-Eels clash
Trent Merrin: Current Blues forward, Trent Merrin, is still adapting to life out at Penrith. Although his performances haven’t been outstanding, he remains solid and can offload in even the heaviest traffic. One of the keys to limiting the performance and space of the dangerous Panthers backline is by shutting down the play when Trent Merrin is carrying the ball. If his second phase play is limited, so is the Panthers attack.
Bryce Cartwright: In a couple of years (particularly given the new rule changes), Bryce Cartwright may very well be the best forward in the game. With the silky skills of a half; the light feet of a centre; and the offload of a backrower, Cartwright has already shown this year that with the ball in hand, he can terrorise even the best defensive structures. There is no doubt that he is a future representative star, but not until he addresses the one current flaw in his game – his tackle efficiency.
Cartwright has shown that as he fatigues he has the ability to fall off tackles and his presence in attack becomes more limited. To me this is typical of the talented but inexperienced forward I made mention of earlier, so working him over in defence is an absolute must – particularly given he defends with Soward outside of him.
Threat: Bryce Cartwright is becoming better with every NRL game he plays
Tyrone Peachey: Peachey is one of those players you love to have in your squad. A dynamic runner and can cover almost any position in the team. Not only is he Mr. Fix It, but he’s also a real game breaker. There have been quite a few times already over the course of his short career that he has made or created a clean break and turned a match in the Panthers favour.
With fresh legs, he has the ability to trouble tiring middle defenders with strong yardage gain and great support play. Inside defenders will have to be aware of his presence.
Fringe Attack: Kenny Edwards, along with fellow backrowers Manu Ma’u and Beau Scott will challenge the Penrith defensive line
As stated earlier, this shapes as a real classic and a game that will remain in the balance for a significant portion of the match. With two strong forward packs and dynamic backlines, the game managers of both teams will probably have the final say.
For Penrith, this comes in the shape of Moylan and Soward, who have the ability to quickly take the game away from their opponents. For us, this comes in the shape of Foran and Norman, who after quiet performances in our scrappy win last week, will be looking to improve and consolidate their growing partnership.
I have no doubt both teams will be strong defensively, with only momentary lapses creating opportunities for either side – but it’s hard to go past our boys in a tight affair when you consider how effective we’ve been off the ball to date.
I think set plays from angled runners on the fringes is our best opportunity for points, with the backrow triumvirate, the best players to hit on either inside or outside runs. Even Junior Paulo has found himself out on the right edge on a couple of occasions, linking with Foran to great effect.
I don’t think we’re too far away from seeing our attack click and those passes/set plays hitting their mark more regularly, however I believe it’ll still be another few weeks before this takes place. Make no mistake, we’ll still create all of our points today, but I think it’ll be another low-scoring affair.
Penrith will throw more at us then they have any of their previous 2016 opponents, simply by virtue of Moylan’s presence and the space and time he creates for his teammates, but our defence should remain strong enough to limit Penrith to under 20 points. With the game taking place at Pirtek, we should be able to cover for these 20 points, but not without ‘little brother’ making it a contest.
Clint
All images courtesy of the Parramatta Eels, NRL.com and Getty Images.
