Parramatta Eels 24 – Cronulla Sharks 34
The Good: |
This team has a heart as big as Phar-Lap. Minus Mannah, Foran, Taka, (Paulo and Peats) we shouldn’t have been anywhere near as good as the table topping Sharks, but we were right there with them. Killer game. |
The Bad: |
We lost after leading 18-0. Ashley Klein’s imaginary refereeing credentials.
Paul Gallen is also a massive wanker. |
The X-Factor: |
Is it Beau Scott? Is it Brad Arthur? Is it Kenny Edwards and Tepai Moreoa? Where does this team, down on so many troops, and after another rubbish week get the nerve to defend set after set against the best team in the comp? Just amazing will in the face of incredibly difficult circumstances. Once again, hats off to the Blue and Gold boys. I don’t know what else I can say about this team. Whatever it is, sign BA for life – he’s a magician. |
The MVP: |
Bevan French. No disrespect to anyone wearing Blue and Gold tonight, but it wasn’t even close. That was a Jarryd Hayne/Semi Radradra calibre game. The commentators were running out of superlatives. Just sublime. |
The Starters
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1- Michael GordonFullback, Parramatta Eels That crucial knock on aside, thought he was very good. Also struck it well going 4 from 4 at goals. |
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2- Semi RadradraLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels Average week, average game. Apparently he made 118 metres – feels like a misprint. |
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3- Michael JenningsLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels About as bad as the bloke next to him, but at least Semi had an excuse. At times looked deadset disinterested. |
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4- Clinton GuthersonRight Centre, Parramatta Eels Sure he was caught out in defence a few times, but I thought a lot of those issues started in field, leaving him and The Croissant a little isolated. A monster 140 metres from 13 runs, and 22 (!) tackles for a centre is an outstanding game. |
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5 – Bevan FrenchRight Wing, Parramatta Eels Just unbelievable. 3 tries tonight takes his tally to 7 from 4 games. Another stat to consider – 4 runs for 137 metres. That is not a typo. Sign him for life. Notable nickname suggestions – The Croissant, Fries, Onion Soup, The Flying Frenchman, The Rocket, Asterix and my personal favourite – Champagne (credit to @colonel_1973 for that one). |
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6 – Kenny EdwardsFive Eighth, Parramatta Eels An unhappy night with 2 errors with the ball (although surely James Maloney stripped him the first time), but still you’ve gotta appreciate his ability to play well out of his natural position. |
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7 – Corey NormanHalfback, Parramatta Eels Thought he was pretty good in trying circumstances. It’s very easy for an opposition to target your kicking game when no one else on your team is kicking. Set up a couple of Bev’s tries, too. |
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8- Daniel AlvaroProp, Parramatta Eels Breaking the 100 metre mark is an indication of a great night from a prop. AS such, the 109 metres for our Danny Boy tonight tells the story of a young man who continues to establish himself each week. |
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9- Isaac De GoisHooker, Parramatta Eels It’s IDG against the world, and I think it’s exactly how the coaching staff like it. When you tackle 42 times in a game like IDG, the 6 misses are almost excusable. A better game than the stats will show. |
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10- Danny WicksProp, Parramatta Eels An unhappy first half, but a respectable night overall (12 runs, 98 metres), the 5 missed tackles weren’t endearing, however. Nonetheless, congrats on the new contract you cheeky bastard. Ps – You still owe me 50 bucks, Wicksy. |
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11- Manu MauBack Row, Parramatta Eels Manu Mau once went fishing and caught a shark. Those are two different stories. Probably the one of the few games this season where his automatic, fear-for-my-life-otherwise A grade wasn’t warranted. Don’t tell him I said that. |
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12- Beau Scott (c)Back Row, Parramatta Eels Every game he’s out there we defend and play like a completely different team (thankfully he’s yet to miss a game for us this season). 22 tackles and 3 offloads to boot. |
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13- Tepai MoreoaLock, Parramatta Eels Just another day at the office for big Tep with 8 huge runs, and a huge 33 tackles. But seriously Tepai, weren’t you knocked out like three times? (Hope the match review committee don’t read this.) |
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Interchange
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14- Cody NelsonInterchange, Parramatta Eels I love Cody Nelson as much as the next guy, and that’s why I’ve filed a Missing Persons report, hoping to ascertain his whereabouts. In all seriousness, minor minutes, but I suspect BA thought IDG was simply playing too well to sub him off. |
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15- Peni TerepoInterchange, Parramatta Eels Hard to make a name for yourself when we spend 85% of the second half making tackles. Peni had an energy sapping 22 tackles off the bench. He’ll be better next week against the Chooks. |
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16- David GowerInterchange, Parramatta Eels Again, lots of tackling (29) makes a second half impact difficult to come by. Gower too will also look to next week. |
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17- Rory O’BrienInterchange, Parramatta Eels Thought he stood up again, albeit in difficult circumstances – 4 runs, 45 metres and 24 tackles. Solid Rory boy. |
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Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels.
Stats courtesy of Champion Data via the Sportsfan site.
Parra’s heart – A
Officiating – Z
Sums up my thoughts right now
Totally pissed with the constant poor decisions.
When gordon goes the only thing we lose is his goalkicking ,brings nothing to our attack on regular basis
Hayne will bring plenty!
I hear you completely. it should have been our fullback taking the kicking pressure off Corey tonight, but alas Corey had something like 15 of our 18 kicks. and that’s leaving aside the back line moves that we lose with him there.
great positioning, solid fullback but we want to win comps.
LOL ”Paul Gallen is a wanker” never a truer word spoken, he’s really starting to shit me too, used to really respect him as a player, realised now he seems to be a wanker on and off the park.
If you discount the 10 points that Cronulla were given erroneously (forward pass from Barba to score try in second half and Fifita dropped ball on tackle before another try – honestly it was an obvious dropped ball and all 4 officials missed it. Could OPSM sponsor them next year please?). Also the ref penalising Parra constantly for slowing down in the ruck whereas Cronulla appeared to be much slower with constant niggling tactics.
I agree – I suspect sixties will be starting up a support group soon. we’ll keep you posted.
Great report Miatch. Maybe you could add a Match Officials rating for each game. It shouldn’t be hard to find some images of the officials to post – http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi1kZDU2NTNiNDFlYTQzYTIy
http://www.mememaker.net/meme/incompetent-people-incompetent-people-everywhere/
A couple of people have said that, but whatever grade I give them, Sixties would be up in arms.
Don’t want him to get an ulcer or something. But yes, good call- probably in for next season.
fair assesment but i’d give French a B, was out of position alot and looked lost a few times in defence. Also 4 runs from a winger is shocking, especially consdiering we were constantly coming out of our own half. This has been my main criticisms over the last few weeks and he definitely needs to work on them.
yeah that’s fair enough. I can certainly understand those points, but some of the stuff he did just screams future star.
BA certainly did express his concerns re Bevan’s defensive read, but the future looks bright.
The thing is mate is that if he were to be more involved you’d have people complaining that he was being dominated too often in the tackle. Plus he knows his role within the team, the other 16 players know what his role within the team is.
We’re lucky to have 3 good metre-eating backs so we don’t have to give Bev the ball to take a stock hit-up.
I understand he isn’t built for the typical hit ups but he definitely has the speed and acceleration to go for a run out of dummy half and hit the ground at the line for a good 8ms, then push for a quick play the ball or penalty. I’d like to see more of that to take the pressure of the other backs/forwards.
This is my comment on French from my review of our debutants a couple of weeks back:
Importantly, French has not overplayed his hand, choosing not to throw himself into the heavy hit-ups that are typical of the strongly built NRL wingers in today’s game. Instead, French has been the perfect man to be on the end of a final pass – and half chances have been converted to tries.
He’s not built for the hit up role. You play to your strengths. We can all see his strengths.
I hear what you’re saying Parra Supporter & understand the B, but I think we need to also give the young guy a massive well done since coming into FG. – Has not looked out of place & his speed is what will win us a few games down the track. – I thought Barba was quick, but this bloke gave him a cold!!
Maybe that’s the best comparison for Bevan French’s role/style – Ben Barba.
I think he will develop the hit up role in future but we could barely have asked more from him in attack in Saturday that what he delivered.
Right now he’s Nathan Merritt, and I’ll take that every day of the week.