When a 38 to 16 score line flatters your team, you know that writing a report is a tough ask. The reality is that the Eels second half defence was their worst of the season and the pain of this defeat was written on the faces of Brad Arthur and Tim Mannah.
For the Broncos, it was a dazzling return to form for Anthony Milford. Was this a new dawn for Brisbane’s faltering Premiership campaign or a case of having everything fall their way in a tough day at the office for the Eels? Next week will probably answer that question for both teams.
The First Half – What Could Have Been!
In 39 minutes of that first half we saw another great example of the 2016 Parramatta commitment to the cause. Tries to French and Gower had the Eels level pegging with a Broncos outfit that was benefitting from both a 5 – 2 penalty count and a number of 50/50 calls going their way. Nonetheless, the Broncos had scored through clever shifts out wide and looked to be playing with a new found confidence.
With the scores reading ten apiece, it seemed a fair reflection of an entertaining first half for both the thirty thousand in attendance and the hundreds of thousands tuning in on Foxsports and Nine. Unfortunately for Eels fans, that last minute of the opening stanza provided the prelude to the second half as Milford broke the Eels defence with ease to set up Oates’ second try.
For those of us who’ve seen the Eels deal with adversity this year, it was a disappointing end to the half, but a four point deficit didn’t seem like an end to our hopes for the night. The effort from the team was there and it was logical that a tight result would again be on the cards. How wrong we were!
The Second Half – Milford Stars
Lets be honest. The second half became little more than an opposed training session for the Broncos. An absolute glut of possession during the opening 25 minutes of the half allowed Brisbane to flex their attacking muscle without any defensive workload tiring them out. In a magical night out, long distance kicks rolled perfectly into the in goals for repeat sets, line ball passes were given the all clear, and second phase offloads all hit their mark.
But without doubt, the star of the show was Milford. It’s an old cliche but very apt – the bloke looked like he had spiders on him. Parramatta’s usually sound defenders could not get a grip on the young superstar as he tore the Eels line to shreds. No team has embarrassed Parramatta like this in 2016, and were it not for some poor goal kicking, the score would have nudged 50.
Matching Milford for match honours was Adam Blair, who in my mind had his best game for the year. He tore through the middle with aggressive charges and stood like a colossus in tackles to initiate Brisbane’s second phase play. His performance was a stark reminder of what the Eels need to add to their pack to achieve domination through the middle third.
Will everything fall Brisbane’s way in their next match? Broncos fans will need to keep this in mind when dissecting a performance in which they enjoyed every benefit against a vastly undermanned outfit.
Where It All Went Wrong
I’ve given praise to Brisbane’s form and touched on the fortune that fell their way. I won’t ignore the missing personnel from the Eels, but for Brad Arthur, he selects 17 players to take the field and has an expectation that they will perform to a certain standard. His expectations would not have been met last night, especially in defence.
In a miserable second half, the Parramatta players simply did not make an effective first hit in their tackles, and they certainly did not stick. The hit and stick mantra of 2016 was missing in a team that simply ran out of steam under the weight of possession flowing Brisbane’s way. Nonetheless, possession flow is partially determined by the defensive pressure that a team exerts on their opposition, and the Eels lack of line speed afforded the Broncos too many easy metres before they met an all too often retreating defence. The result was second phase play and some of the softest tries that Parra has conceded this year. The final score line of 38 to 16 probably didn’t reflect how badly the Eels fell away.
However, let’s not ignore what the Eels are contending with. Parramatta have had their roster torn to shreds through cap dramas, suspension and now injuries. The makeshift halves are trying to create opportunities for a backline that features a second rower in the centres, such is the injury crisis. This is no reflection on the talent or efforts of players like Robson or Gutherson who can rightly feel proud of their performances. However, these blokes have played a handful of games together and are expected to guide their side around the park against teams with settled combinations.
The late withdrawal of Takairangi was another hurdle for the Eels.
Even ignoring the players that have left the Eels during this season, Parramatta are having to take the field without Norman, Radradra, Takairangi and Scott. That’s four important players and a massive ask of any team. That’s the reality and it’s biting hard.
Special Mentions
In a well beaten side, Manu Ma’u and Kenny Edwards threatened the Broncos defence every time they took on the line. In an effort that will surely go on his highlight reel, Danny Wicks came up with a superb try that showcased the incredible mobility of the big fella.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Eels with a trip to Canberra next up. They will no doubt give it everything but can ill afford to give the Raiders similar latitude in defence.
For Parramatta fans, it would be too easy and extremely unfair to judge the team on this Round 23 encounter. Even Bennett acknowledged that Parramatta have had to deal with unprecedented adversity this year. This season from hell is nearly behind us but a special future will be created from it. Stick solid!
Eels forever,
Sixties
I’ve felt like one of these beltings has been coming for some time now and with Scott and Taka out to add to the rest it wasn’t much of a surprise that it came in an away game against a team that has too many good players to have been as out of form as they have been.
Special mention to Danny Wicks who I backed to score a try at any stage of the match at very juicy odds.
Credit to the Broncos. They returned to the form they were demonstrating at the beginning of the year.
Couldn’t help but feel sorry for Manu. He played out of position admirably.
I think the lack of stiffness in defence in the middle (particularly Scott’s absence) opened the field for the Broncos to run riot.
I Wonder if BA will use these last few games to experiment by bringing up some young blood and play French as fullback for an entire game?
well said mate. good write up.
It was, unfortunately, a hiding that was a long time coming. They only just held on against Manly but lost the previous three matches(?) without really ever looking like winning. The loss of players has been huge but this seems to happen to us every year, particularly in the second half of the season.
I’ll say it again, our lack of size in the props and their general lack of offloading will continually hinder us in becoming the powerhouse we could become.
That may just change for next year.
U hearing something else sixties ?
I have a manly insider at brookvale who works full time doing another job ( can’t say the name of his job ) I need to protect my manly sauce. He is telling me that vava is closing in on signing with eels for 2years. Should give us good size up front.
The Broncos don’t have a big pack either. They won because they worked harder during that second half. Plus of course they fielded a much better spine.
You can sugar coat our performance, much like Olympic commentators ‘Campbell sisters performed well’ when they came 5th & 7th in 100m final, or make an honest assessment. We are THIRD LAST on points scored. If you have small forwards you cannot play bash & barge footfall, which they do, without eventually being worn down and they are almost devoid of an offload. Our attack has been poor ALL season, even when we had our full roster available, and you can only be desperate in defence for so long. Unfortunately if you score little points your only fallback is better defence than the opposition. The forwards are worn out by constant defence and being small it takes more out of them than if they were a larger pack.
Who’s sugar coating it? I just said the Broncos have a small pack as well. It has pros and cons, just like a big pack.
Good write up mate, tough game, understandable the boys will be looking forward to the off season, but if they can get through this year they can get through anything.
It’s going to be tough because we could be without both Taka and Scott for the remaining games. And to be truthful, why risk them now?
The boys have lost their puff?
Getting up each week for games that have no bearing on the finals for us, must be soul destroying at times?
If they can put together one more good performance this year and muster all the motivation they can, I hope it’s next week vs Pricky’s Raiders?
COME ON BOYS!
I really think parra fans are missing the big picture when they talk about our teams performance.
If those 12 points hadn’t been taking off us this lack luster team (as fans seem to think we are) would be sitting in outright 7th. A year full of horror injuries, players leaving and people playing out of position. 7th place!!
Couldn’t ask anymore of the players
This is an important point. People have made comparisons to the Storm and the Dogs over the points loss and their relative performances, but those teams mostly kept their key players, especially the Dogs. Parra have then been hit with a walkout, a long suspension, and continued key injuries (which exist throughout their grades). The club has had no choice but to use Ma’u in the centres. It has no other options in the halves (look at Wenty – we have to use an RM Cup player and a hooker as the halves there).
Forget the 12 points, we have now lost – Foran, Norman, Takairangi, Semi, Peats, Paulo, Scott, Morgan. That’s 3 of the starting spine. We then lost back up spine players, Cornish and Kelly and back up winger Faraimo. Back up centre, Toutai is playing wing.
Let’s be fair dinkum, we are missing 8 backs who have played first grade. Take that out of any team, it’s massive and you can’t prepare for that! Whether any return before seasons end (maybe Semi) we will have to wait and see.
The deficiency in the halves aside doing things like Manu playing in the centres weakens 2 positions. I am aware thathe only moves out one position but it still hurts. Further I am not saying that BA had a choicebut you have to work with what you have like half choice 5 and 6 so to speak.
Also I agree with Pou we were not out sized in the forwards we were out enthused. Next week we will be out sized in the forwards.