Hands up if you thought we wouldn’t be competitive once Corey Norman became available last week? If your arm moved even slightly vertical, you’re not alone.

Like many Eels fans, I naturally thought we’d struggle to score points against the Panthers last week.

I had no doubt that we’d match them with effort and intensity, nor did I doubt we’d defend our hearts out. However, I thought once the game wore on, that with a little more strike power that they’d finish over the top of us – much like they did to one time premiership favourites, the Brisbane Broncos, last night.

However, by playing some simple football through Clinton Gutherson, we showed that even with a large contingent of our squad unavailable, we are still a damn hard rugby league team to beat.

The man affectionately known as ‘Cap’ (because of similarities in his appearance Steve Rogers/Captain America) really took charge of the Eels attack, having a hand in two tries, scoring one of his own and even having one called back for obstruction, simply by playing the man and what was in front of him – it’s an instinct that comes only to the natural footballer.

For any of you who have had the opportunity to see the Eels train this year, this would not have been a surprise at all. Although he may look a little unorthodox, Gutherson is one of the most creative players and natural footballers in our squad; and for him to do what he did against the Panthers last week, was no fluke.

We saw glimpses of this in the second half of our round nine clash against the Bulldogs where he deputised at fullback very strongly for the injured Michael Gordon; we’ve seen glimpses of it as he’s played in the centres and set up a few tries for Bevan French; and now the wider Eels & NRL supporter base saw it when he played five-eighth against the Panthers last Sunday afternoon.

For you see, Gutherson is an example of the type of player Brad Arthur searches for when it comes to his recruitment and retention strategy. It’s a mentality that filters right down towards our junior rep sides and it’s a concept known as “footballers first”.

Creator: Clint ‘Captain America’ Gutherson is a natural creator with the ball in hand

There was a period in time, not too long ago, in which the Parramatta club was renowned for having junior rep teams that dominated their rivals with big forwards and big outside backs who ran over the top of their opposition – purely by playing the power game.

It was something that proved very effective, as the Harold Matts & SG Ball sides would rack up championship after championship – and we as supporters waited optimistically for those players to come into contention for first grade selection. There was only one problem though – these players once they aged out of junior reps suddenly had to meet the very different demands of senior rugby league and would struggle to do so, leaving previous coaching staff puzzled and us as supporters ultimately frustrated.

Since Brad Arthur has taken over however, there has been a very deliberate move away from this line of thinking. Instead the Eels now purchase, retain and develop footballers.

Brad Takairangi is an excellent example of such; as is Corey Norman; so too Beau Scott. In fact I could list a number of players who fit this mould (all of them for very different reasons) and it is certainly a discussion for another post, however it is important today, because today is all about playing football and how it’ll help us beat the Titans.

Welcomed Return: The inclusion of Brad Takairangi in today’s squad is a huge boost for the Eels

I referenced the players to look out for and to manage the last time we played the Titans in my post Project Darwin (which creates great context for what we’ll be up against this afternoon) and that will certainly be more applicable to us this afternoon than in our previous encounter with the Gold Coast side. However, I want to focus a little more on us and how we’ll have to play it to overcome the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium this afternoon.

The Titans have been very tough this year. They’ve far exceeded my expectations and like us they are not immune to controversy and are certainly a reflection of their coach.

A friend of mine was only speaking to me the other day saying “In any other year, Neil Henry would go pretty damn close to winning coach of the year. The way he’s turned that team into a competitive side that’s capable of beating anyone on their day is no easy feat” It was hard to disagree with him.

Particularly when you consider the player exodus that took place on the sunshine strip over the last twelve months – Daly Cherry-Evans reneging on his deal, James Roberts leaving after his signature was forged, representative forwards Nate Myles and David Taylor moving on – and then losing their young playmaker, Kane Elgey for the rest of the 2016 season. By all means, this is another side that should not be competitive.

So with the two undesirable teams coming together this afternoon, one would think this would make for a very dull game – hardly – and it’s all because of the football.

For the Titans, the rapid (although not unexpected) emergence of Ash Taylor has been a god send and he’ll be the man to create for the Gold Coast this afternoon. For us, our points will come through the amount of time and space we can create for Clint Gutherson.

Both players represent the footballer – smart, opportunistic and skillful – they both have the ability to take the game away from their rival this afternoon.

The Eels game plan needs only be simple – if we play plenty of rugby league at the line with angled runners, we’ll go a long way to troubling the Titans this afternoon – it’s the best way to isolate the vulnerable Gold Coast defence on the edges. It’ll require us to play with a lot of second man passes to get around the outside of the Titans middle defensive third.

Hitting Form: Tepai Moeroa has made plenty of in roads since returning to the edges

The key is to hitting the likes of Moeroa and Edwards in the backrow, as well as Takairangi and Ma’u in the centres, with timely second many passes and not getting caught in the middle third slugfest – this is where we’ll cause the Titans plenty of headaches.

One needs only look back to how we were doing this to great affect against the Panthers in the first half last Sunday. Isolating Bryce Cartwright and racking up his tackle count took the Panthers main attacking weapon completely out of the game in the opening 40 minutes – we have to do the same against the Titans with Ash Taylor this afternoon.

Coincidentally, the easiest way for the Titans to beat us is to do the same to Gutherson and our fringes, which means today is ultimately a battle of the edges – whoever can create the most space down the flanks, provide the quickest play the balls and keep the opposition defensive line retreating, will likely take the points.

It’s smart rugby league and it’s the type of rugby league that footballers play – we do this better than the Titans, we win – they do it better than us, they win – it’s as simple as that.

In the end, as always, it really comes down to the footballers.

Clint

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

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