Harold Matthews Trial – Parramatta Eels (12 Tries) DEF Western Suburb Magpies (2 Tries)
The Eels produced a clinical performance in their final pre-season fixture to rout the Magpies on a scorching Saturday afternoon. Cambell Byrd got top billing on the scoreboard with three tries while Jandamurra Stewart and Justin Dalby nabbed two apiece. Braith Aspin, Tyler Field, Jed Edwards, Casey Sioli and I believe Nicholas Fonua rounded out the try-scorers.
David Hollis was extremely impressive in the front row, building on the solid game he played last week against the Panthers. The Magpies had little answer for his bullish charges from kick-offs (and bizarrely, kept kicking it to his side) while he showed some nice ball skills before the line for the second week running. With Sam Hughes out of action with a fractured finger, Henry Hall made a timely return for the Blue & Gold. A product of Scone, Hall seems to fit the workhorse profile after turning in a busy game in both offence and defence.
While Hollis and Hall thumped the Magpies in the ruck, Trey Mooney emerged as a potent weapon for Parramatta on the right-edge. The dynamic backrower was a handful for Wests all day and set the tone for the Eels’ dominance from the early exchanges. His combination with his outside men in Penioni (Ben) Tohi and Braith Aspin shredded the left-edge of the Magpies and it will be exciting to see how they perform together in regular season.
Caleb Tohi (cousin of Ben), Justin Dalby and Callum Scott rounded out the stand out performers in the forward pack, with the trio of backrowers getting constantly involved throughout the game with and without the ball.
Cambell Byrd played a textbook game in the custodial position, earning his hat-trick with stellar supporting play. He was equally impressive in his kick positioning and was busy organising the defensive line throughout the game.
Jandamurra Stewart was the other outside back that jumped out. Stewart is far from slightly built but he definitely plays bigger than his billed size, bringing some fiery passion onto the field. He showed plenty of class to finish off the second try for the Eels, diving and contorting his body over the left sideline in an effort that would make any first-grade winger proud. He would later go on to truck a defender while rucking the ball out of his own red zone and converting the tackle break into a 50m bust.
With the likes of bookends Christian Wahongi and Albert Etuai-faavae and backrower Jayden Skinner scheduled to return in Round 1 the Eels look set to make a strong start to the Harold Matthews campaign. Beyond that there is still plenty of class sitting in the injury ward with Sam Hughes and halfback Charlie Murray due back later in the season.
SG Ball Trial – Parramatta Eels (22) DEF. BY Western Suburb Magpies (30)
With temperatures soaring close to 40 degrees Celsius, the Eels and Magpies played a high-scoring affair in decidedly testing conditions. Parramatta started off strongly, racing out to a 22-point lead before the Magpies over-ran the Eels in the second half to finish 30-22 victors. While a loss is obviously an undesirable result, the Eels opted to expose their core players to the elements in an effort to get some important mileage into the team before Round 1. Vallance Harris, Dennis Maitaia, Dylan Brown and Harry Duggan were the try-scorers in the loss with Brown converting three of the four tries.
While his playing stint may have only been brief, it was incredibly encouraging to see Ethan Parry push through his 20-odd minutes in his return from a long-term leg injury. Usually a common sight at wing or centre, Parry lined up at fullback for the Eels in the first quarter of play. There were no particularly flashy plays to speak of but was moving fluidly throughout the hit out.
Vea Tapa’atoutai, henceforth Vea Tapa, was lively in the first half. Tapa showed off a marked improvement in his ruck vision, spying out a poorly defended short-side and springing loose to put Dennis Mataia over. He would later add a line-break to his name after splitting the defensive line wide open from a scrum win in mid-field.
Prop forwards Mark Tepu-Smith and former-backrower Vallance Harris were stout in the middle, with Harris scoring from close range. They were deputised by Harry Duggan and Bruce Wakeling, who both toiled hard for extended periods in the gruelling heat. Backrowers Jesse Cronin and Matt Doorey had their moments with the former laying on a couple of stiff shots in defence while the latter made a big break down the left-edge.
Like their junior counterparts in the Harold Matthews, the SG Ball are expecting considerable reinforcements for Round 1. Stefano Utoikamanu will add plenty of size and athleticism to the front row while Kyle Schneider will further augment the forward pack with his wily play at hooker. The outside backs will welcome back William Kei and there are also potentially a number of SG Ball eligible players currently training in the Holden Cup that will drop back for the opening fixture against the Bulldogs.
A massive thank you to Forty for these detailed notes. Forty not only has a great eye for talent, he makes it his business to build up his knowledge of the background and playing styles of these players. His opinions are respected by the club and they value the feedback that he provides for the supporters. Followers of TCT will get a coverage of juniors reps, NYC and Wenty that is unparalleled in rugby league social media. Personally, I think he is also one of the great undiscovered rugby league writing talents. I could be accused of bias, but after reading his work, surely the proof is in the pudding!
The conditions were oppressive yesterday and not at all conducive to quality rugby league. The lungs of these young blokes (and the Tarsha Gale girls) must have been burning. Yet the footy that I witnessed throughout the morning must have left Anthony Field and the junior development staff thrilled about where the club is at. I left during the girls match, and though I was disappointed at missing these last two hit outs, three hours in this heat was enough!
Just a couple of things that I’d add. Firstly, as Forty wrote, there was quite the collection of players missing in action through injury, resting, or playing in higher grades. These were treated as trials and the preparation going into them was reflective of the build up to the season. I think you can read plenty into the lead that was built up at the beginning of the Ball trial.
Secondly, the early trials featured a wealth of talent in the 14s, 15s and 17s development squad. These younger grades dominated their Wests opponents through a combination of superior fitness and skills. The thing that stands out is the power in the defence. To progress through the grades at the Eels, you will need to be able to tackle. I thought that this was evident even in the younger grades.
The 17s squad even contained younger members of the SG Ball team. I read with interest that Dennis Maitaia was a try scorer in the SG Ball trial. This young bloke was one of the players that doubled up in the 17s earlier in the day. Looks like a quick feed, and a dip in the nearby pool had him primed for his second match!
As for the girls, they were playing 9s footy, full field in that heat.
Personally, on behalf of Forty, Ham, Joe and Geoff, I’d like to thank the Eels staff for taking the time to say g’day. Also a special thanks to Kyle Schneider (one of our stars of the SG Ball team) for stopping for a chat. Kyle was the captain of the victorious Matts team last year and is a genuine leader on the field and off. Our gratitude again to Anthony Field for answering our many questions about some of the newer additions to the squad. Whether it be local, or far and wide, there’s some talent that he’s found for the Eels.
Finally, I’d encourage Eels fans to get out to at least one junior rep round. You’ll certainly witness future first graders in action and be amazed by the standard of the play.
As odd as it sounds my job is made a bit more difficult at times because I have to dial back the eagerness and optimism in my ramblings quite a bit. It is very easy for a one-eyed fan of any NRL club to get caught up in how special their club’s juniors are (I have certainly done that in the past!) but Parramatta are truly doing a phenomenal job at the moment.
What really jumps out at you when you sit down and begin to analyse any of our junior age group squads is how much Brad Arthur’s playing philosophy has permeated our club and just how well it has been embraced.
Our teams are fit, often supremely so and there is an edge to their defences that genuinely stands out at their levels of play. Further to that, with superior fitness levels and aggressive defensive play set in place our teams are encouraged to play ‘footy’ in attack. Forwards offload in traffic and ball-play before the line while our halves and backs rapidly shift the ball in fluent attacking raids.
If you want to win a title in the NRL and even more so, if you want to sustain success in any premier competition – you need to establish an identity for your club. Parramatta lurched from various wishy-washy cultures and identities ever since Brian Smith (love him or hate him) parted ways with the club. Brad Arthur is the first coach to give the Eels an identity and that is a big reason in why I am so confident with him at the helm moving forwards.
Sixties correctly lavishes praise on our development squads too. There are plenty or Harold Matthew and SG Ball calibre players that are being given more time to develop for an additional year before stepping into the programs at 16 and 18 respectively.
It is a fact of life that Parramatta are going to bleed a number of juniors to other clubs. We simply have too large a talent catchment and only so many spots we can fill with players. What we have done in modern times under Brad Arthur and Anthony Fields is quickly identify the very best in our own areas while also running a fine tooth comb through New Zealand, QLD and country NSW to augment our rosters.
Tepai Moeroa and Bevan French were the first generation of juniors in the new age at Parramatta – the prototypes if you will. Fans may need to readjust their expectations to more reasonable levels after the sensational rookie season of French but we have a number of prospects that will begin to push for first grade over the next year or so.
Of course, not all will make it because the NRL is a bloody hard competition to break into but Alex Twal and Jack Morris have joined the NRL squad after starring the Holden Cup in 2016 while beyond them you are looking at the likes of Troy Dargan, Dane Aukafolau, Tui Afualo, Ethan Parry and more.
I recommend that fans sit back and just enjoy what is happening at Parramatta. We may have lapsed back into the Stone Age under the guidance of Hagan, Anderson, Kearney and Stuart but we just might be on the cusp of another Age in the near future. One that shines so pretty.
I totally agree with all that the above men have written, how on earth Forty does it has me stumped and I watch him do the above job quite a lot. I have said/written often your talents are wasted. I had to leave during the half time break as all I could see was heat haze, but it was a good day which unfortunately was soured by the news that I received about young PJ Viagalu, thankfully the injury isn’t as bad as I had first heard however he will miss the entire year. To see him at the game was heartening as he is a very determined young man and he is looking to being ready for next year. See you all soon
Our best wishes are most definitely with young PJ. Terrific prospect to say the least and a non-contact knee injury like that is a bitter pill for him to swallow at that age. After speaking with him yesterday I am 100% confident he will bounce back and return in as good a knick as ever in 2018.
This is as tremendous a coverage of junior footy that I’ve ever had the privilege to read in life. Thanks fellas!
How good does Forty go Achilles? He’s humble, but I know his coverage is highly rated by the club. His opinions are rated too.
Forty is excellent. However, you’re not too shabby yourself! The both of you are like the dynamic duo in this post. Anyway, I must stop being ‘nice’ now, otherwise I’ll be taking up pottery classes before I know it!
Ha – yeah don’t do that!
Thoroughly enjoy your work Forty20. It’s like turning back the clock and watching all three grades on the same day so you can see who is coming through the ranks. Thanks for your efforts
Champion reporting eh Tragic! Try getting to a Junior Rep match if you can this year mate. You won’t regret it and you’ll start to see the “Parra footy” that will be the future culture of our club.
Passionate and loyal people like forty contribute a lot to the backbone of a rugby league club and were fortunate to have them as we are to have a quality site in TCT , know forty and the TCT people personally and thier passion ,support and indeed their nouse make any thing they say worth taking heed of , well done forty .
Thanks Bubbles. It’s a labour of love for everyone on TCT. As you know, being close to the action as we often are, affords us a certain insight. We share what we can
Thanks for a superb write up 40/20. Was nice to meet you the other week with sixties at Salesyards. Yesterday was v warm, and it amazes me the level of skills these players show.
I’ll definitely be up at Morry BREEN in April for the game here. I probably won’t get to Cabaramatta etc unless for finals.
It’s a superb coverage you all do here at TCT. And it makes for an easier off season and just think in one month it’ll only be a week or so away until the season begins.
I gathered all trials were played in quarters..?
Absolutely spot on about the quarters, Mitchy. I think the laws (and pure common sense) of the junior league actually mandate that games must take drink breaks in the event of severe heat.
Yes that seems to ring a bell mate. No doubt they need this.
Can I ask if you and Sixties also have drinks at the quarter break…? Sherbert variety….
I always stay suitably hydrated Mitchy!
Awesome report Forty. Thanks!
Cheers mate. Holden Cup First Look will be up tomorrow as well. Young but promising squad this year.
Can’t wait Forty, excited to read your insights!
Great stuff 40’s, great work. Such an indepth summary of our Jnr trials. On another note was any of the Snr coaching staff attending as well ?.
BA was there.
Forty, what were the scorelines in the other matches played yesterday? I’m not asking that you divulge the names of players or the details of each match, but just merely the scorelines. I recall Sixties making mention of the 15s running in 13 tries against the Panthers last week. Now that was impressive when you consider the strength of the Penrith junior district.
The 14s won by something like 7 or 8 tries to 3. The 15s and 17s won also, but I don’t recall the try tally. (Both finished well over the top of their opponents). The Girls were one try apiece when I left.
All in all, it sounds like it was a great day’s theatre except for the final act – marred only by that ‘busy old fool, (the) unruly sun.’ Cheers.