Parramatta Eels 16 – NQ Cowboys 32 
The Good: |
The second half fightback was encouraging, and the tries were good fun, long rangers. The crunch in our opening defence gave as good as we got. |
The Bad: |
Letting in 32 points is not good enough. Our completion rate in the second half was also very poor. BA will no doubt be filthy on both aspects. While I’m at it, outside of our first “try” to Foran, we didn’t create a lot in attack. To be fair, the scoreline makes it look much worse than it actually was. |
The X-Factor: |
Copy. Paste. The NRL Bunker making a very questionable No Try ruling in the opening stanza denying Parra the first try of the game. Also worth noting – the first three of the Cows’ tries were off the back of penalties, the second to last off an Eels mistake. |
The MVP: |
The Cowboys deserved the win, they were the better team on the night. However, for mine our best on the night was Semi Radradra, who likely secured himself a Green and Gold jersey with tonight’s performance. Foran and Kenny Edwards were also in the mix. |
The Starters
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1- Michael GordonFullback, Parramatta Eels Safe as houses at the back and made an important conversion to give us the (temporary) lead. A big effort with 167 metres too. |
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2- Semi RadradraLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels We would have been out at sea without him tonight. Could have been a game changing performance – a monster 204 metres from 13 runs. |
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3- Michael JenningsLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels Everyone loves a long range intercept try and did a lot of work in defence with 11 tackles. However, tonight I felt he was missing the defensive urgency he showed in the early rounds. |
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4- Brad TakairangiRight Centre, Parramatta Eels His 89 metres was a lot more than I thought, but then again so were his 3 errors. The stepping on the ball 5 metres out was a momentum killer too. |
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5- Clinton GuthersonRight Wing, Parramatta Eels Thought he was pretty solid, but was made to look pretty ordinary by Antonio Winterstein in the 70th minute. We’ll also remember the dropped ball that lead to the Cows second to last try. With that said, the 164 metres (17 runs) was very appreciated. |
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7- Kieran Foran (c)Halfback, Parramatta Eels Despite the loss, he is a terrific leader to have in such games. He continues to show why he is a great Captain in pre, post and mid game situations. He also had no right to catch that half break before Semi’s second try. His 5 runs for 71 metres also outperformed several of our forwards and he had a ridiculous 37 tackles – another solid showing from the Captain. |
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8- Junior PauloProp, Parramatta Eels Terrific job diving on a couple of loose balls, but also missed a crucial tackle on Michael Morgan for the Cows first try. Him needing 11 runs for his 79 metres is very un-Paulo like too. |
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9- Nathan PeatsHooker, Parramatta Eels Thought he was pretty lethargic in the middle of the ruck, and had a couple of misses that led to Cowboy tries. The mini Magic 10 game (3 runs for 32 metres), and the 41 tackles were both positives, however. |
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10- Daniel AlvaroProp, Parramatta Eels If you’re the starting prop and only have 4 hit ups for 34 metres, you’re not doing your job. The team high 3 missed tackles don’t speak highly of his performance either. He’s a better player than he showed tonight, and I still think he will be definitely worth persevering with in the future. |
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11- Manu MauBack Row, Parramatta Eels He’d throw a drowning man both ends of the rope. In football terms, 110 metres and 26 tackles is a solid showing for the world’s scariest man. |
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12- Beau ScottBack Row, Parramatta Eels The silver medalist for the aforementioned competition had a very good showing against his favourite foe (31 tackles, 71 metres) – we needed more like him. |
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13- Tepai MoreoaLock, Parramatta Eels The hit he put on Matt Scott was only bettered by the hit Taumalolo put on him. The bone crunching 27 tackles was the good; it’s the 37 metres that needs his attention. |
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Interchange
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14- Isaac De GoisInterchange, Parramatta Eels Barely noticed him (8 metres and 12 tackles for those playing along at home). This grade is probably more the fault of his limited minutes. |
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15- Peni TerepoInterchange, Parramatta Eels Looked good when he came on but it quickly turned for the worse. Get the errors back out of your game Peni. |
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16- Danny WicksInterchange, Parramatta Eels Has a bench prop ever come so close to scoring two weeks in a row?Can we also take a moment to talk about his pick up of a loose ball in the 51st minute? With that said, 9 runs for 70 metres is a subpar game from you off the bench Daniel. Ps – You still owe me 50 bucks, Wicksy. |
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17- Kenny EdwardsInterchange, Parramatta Eels Back to his energetic, halfback in a front rower body best. Each of his 11 runs (for 111 metres – a Magic 10 game) freaked the Cowboys defensive line right out. |
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All photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels.
NRL team logos courtesy of the NRL.
Pretty fair analysis of our game mate. A couple of our forwards had really sub par games and make the selection of Mannah when fit an easier proposition. Junior had arguably his least effective game of the year.
I’m still fuming but must agree with your tough grading of a couple of our forwards. Foran was our best in my opinion.
Yeah a few people I’ve spoken to rated Foran as our best, which I don’t have a huge issue with. Thought he was great on both sides of the ball
Hard to disagree with any of the comments or gradings and like Sixties I’m still fuming. The penalties for lost balls and laying on the tackled player just aren’t consistent and cause so many momentum shifts. I seriously don’t think I know the rules anymore. Instances such as checking for the Wicks “try” just baffle me when it took away the eels advantage and allowed the defense to reset. I thought Foran, Semi & Scott were the best tonight and faults could be found in the rest if I was so inclined. Just filthy.
a few things I disagree with
-the gutho-widestein comment: we were down a player and he was forced to slide, not many wingers could have done better in that situation.
-nathan peats being lethargic: his line speed was not matched by any player on both sides, and it inspired our players, especially in the first 20 minutes. He also only gave away one penalty, cant remember if that led to a cowboys try though.
-I also thought the sin bin was harsh, especially considering morgan had grabbed norman by the arm to get around him initially,and norman followed suit. The video ref did not look at that for what ever reason.
No thought the sin binning of Norman was justified, the attack of the side appears to hinge on him, so once he was off the attack stalled and they allowed in 2 trys. This obstruction rule badly needs to be clarified. Surely there actually has to be an obstruction before it is called! They are saying that a block runner has contacted a defender, but the relevant defenders are NOT obstructed against getting to the ball carrier, and its now an obstruction. Wtf!
you are spot on re Peats and the penalties. I was thinking one thing and writing another – I’ve amended it to read missed tackles, which is what I originally intended to write – you were right to pull me up on it. Although I do maintain my lethargy comment – watch his marker defence on Cooper’s try, for example. All of these things I say reflecting upon the high standards we have set the team in 2016 however, as Peatsy would set re his defence. and a B- isnt a shabby grade in any case.
re the sin bin, if Norman was a NQ jersey I don’t think any of us would even be talking about it, let alone the furore there would be if he was a Cowboy and not sent off. but that’s me.
Can we add a score for the on field refs, the bunker and the flag boys/girls?
Their effort, need to be recognised, the good, the bad and the ugly.
I’m looking forward to the mid term report cards for all.
D’oh
I think you know what score I’d give the bunker! Lousy meal – is this typo a reflection on the Pirtek catering?