Parramatta Eels 34
St George Illawarra Dragons 16
The Good: |
That’s more like it. 2017 is our first 2 from 2 start since 1999, and we technically find ourselves on a four-game winning streak. Oh, and we’re also top of the table.
Some of the passing from the Eels backs was out of this world. The Jennings pass through his legs, the Bevan French pass to Semi – both freakish plays. Remember how the Dragons’ forwards steamrolled the Panthers last week? Well, not one of them cracked 100m vs Parra. That’ll put a smile on Brad Ar… well he probably won’t be as angry as normal. |
The Bad: |
Gutherson’s goal kicking (3 from 7) will need some work, although the wind and the position of our tries certainly didn’t help. |
X-Factor: |
Russell Packer’s hands, the wind, the incredibly vocal contingent of Eels fans at WIN Stadium all played significant roles in the game’s narrative. |
The MVP: |
It’s tough not to give it the big Fijian bloke who scored four tries. He could have easily had five. What a loss he’ll be. |
The Starters
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1- Bevan FrenchFullback, Parramatta Eels Remember that bamboozling try he scored in the second half? A little bird (aka a big bloke who calls himself Sixties) told me that Bevan did that exact play at training. I’m not sure if that’s more impressive than if he just played jazz and came up with it on the spot. A very solid game at the back once again. I’d love to see him chiming in more, particularly in the mid field, but really I’m splitting hairs here. He was terrific. Shame the bloke who used to wear the jersey won’t be there to face him next week. |
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2- Semi RadradraLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels You might be surprised to learn that is Semi’s first four try haul. With that said, four tries is pretty ridiculous, and the Eels haven’t been thrashing teams in recent seasons. A par-like 160m from the big Fijian monster. A sublime performance. Ps – Does Kevie Walters actually think it’s pronounced ‘Radrarda’? |
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3- Michael JenningsLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels What a freakish player. In a recent interview he credited losing a measly 2kg for his improved speed and endurance (what? I’ve lost 2kg just blowing my nose). In any case, I think he might be in his best form ever for the Blue & Gold and the stats (another 8 hit ups and some sublime set up work for Semi) seem to agree. |
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4- Brad TakairangiRight Centre, Parramatta Eels Good stats Bradley – 7 runs for 75m and a nice meat pie in the first half. Readers of the Throw will know how big a fan I am of the Taka-kick-it-on-the-last play, but sadly he kicked it dead tonight. Don’t lose the faith, Taka. |
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5- Josh HoffmanRight Wing, Parramatta Eels He had 10 runs apparently, yet I can barely think of one – the man must be a deadset ninja. Nonetheless, I just really like his game and think he’s a terrific winger. So, good work there, Josh. |
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6- Clinton GuthersonFive-Eighth, Parramatta Eels For all of those who thought Gutho was just filling the jersey, note he only made one less pass than Normie last week, and made 43 passes to Corey’s 26 this week. We might have ourselves a legitimate halves pairing here. The passing game looks crisp, but his running game is still the feather in his cap. Might need to work on kicking with a breeze, however. |
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7- Corey NormanHalfback, Parramatta Eels The Maestro. |
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8- Suaia MatagiProp, Parramatta Eels Good stats (92m from 12 hit ups), but what many don’t realise is that when Suaia made that bone crunching tackle on Jack de Belin late in the second half, it caused a landslide in Papua New Guinea. Thankfully everyone is safe. Except de Belin, he’ll likely need surgery. |
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9- Kaysa PritchardHooker, Parramatta Eels Continues to impress with his 80 minute stints and 40 tackles tonight. As an aside, Nathan Brown looks remarkably comfortable when he’s giving Kaysa a spell. I didn’t think I’d say this, but I like the younger Pritchard as our starting hooker going forward. Needs to work on reducing those 4 missed tackles, though. |
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10- Tim Mannah (c)Prop, Parramatta Eels A honest day’s work for honest Tim Mannah (93m from 11). Nice game you got there, Timothy. |
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11- Manu Ma’uBack Row, Parramatta Eels Lead the Eels forwards with a very impressive 160 running metres (from 17 hit ups). The 4 missed tackles are a bit of a downer, though. No offence, Manu. |
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12- Tepai MoreoaBack Row, Parramatta Eels Interestingly had identical statistics (51m from 6 hit ups) to Beau Scott (51m from 6 hit ups), which suggests we’re getting less a return from them as a pair before they swapped jerseys for 2017 (I thought Tep’s stats would have been stronger in 2017 than they have been). With that said, the collective result for the team seems positive, so it’s kinda moot at this stage. |
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13- Beau Scott (c)Lock, Parramatta Eels This might seem a redundant point, but he playing a very different role this year at lock than he was wearing the 12 jersey last season. Still, he managed to get through his customary 21 tackles without a miss. As noted above, Beau made a solid 51 metres, but is evidently being asked to do less of the heavy lifting in 2017. I still wouldn’t recommend upsetting him, however – he will end you. |
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Interchange
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14- Nathan BrownInterchange, Parramatta Eels He got through a tonne of work in his 55 minutes (16 runs, 19 tackles) was only second to Manu Ma’u in total running metres (with 153m). Did a much better job this week of judging the offload, letting two loose in a single set. Seriously brilliant second innings from Shut It Down. |
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16- Rory O’BrienInterchange, Parramatta Eels Some much better meterage this week (8 for 68m), but the missed tackles (3) did sting a little. On the plus side, he is really tall. |
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17- Frank PritchardInterchange, Parramatta Eels Helping himself to 82 metres in 30 minutes of game time is very pleasing. Kudos to you, Sir Tank. |
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No we weren’t perfect. Yes, the worst grade I gave was a B-.
But we were pretty good tonight, and it feels pretty good to be an Eels fan.
Go you Eels,
Mitch.
Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels.
Stats courtesy of Champion Data.
All definitely reasonable grades, Mitch. Thought Takaz had a much better game this week as I noted. Disappointing a few boys fell off a few tackles tonight, once they got an offload away they made a few metres, luckily our defense mostly held strong.
All in all another solid performance, I’m confident of going 3/3 next week
would you stop with the chicken counting Gem! I’m probably still skittish after my Dad told me to “enjoy a win” against the Cowboys at Pirtek in 2015. we all know how that turned out.
BA wasn’t all that impressed with our defence either, but that’s why we love him.
Haha good point! I can’t help but be a little excited though!
Nice read Mitch, and love your liking of our 9. I believe that Kaysa is gunna be hard to shift from that run on jumper.
I’m surprised as any, but there seems to be very little wrong with him at 9, particularly in attack (to be brutally honest the Paul Vaughn try should probably be considered as his 5th miss tackle). Not that I’m anyone of particular influence, but for mine, once he gets that defence right, I’m more than happy for BA to just let our spine continue to find its combination.
Bring on the Titans.
Mitch he has to work on the defence, but in some respects its a bit of a mismatch between Kaysa and Vaughin.
I’m mostly pleased for him though after years of injuries and taking the flack even in his short stints from the bench, he’s now got a top side run on and doing well. My hope and prayers are that he will continue the upward climb, to the point that there may not be the need any longer to recruit another 9.
I also have a gut feeling that we are going to be ok in the 6 spot as well.
If Kaysa had of scored when he dropped the ball over the line, would that have been given as a try assist to Frank. He did play the ball to him.
There are no mismatches in an Eels lineup. If Bevan French misses Jason Taumololo, he’ll hear about it. They all need to make every tackle.
Besides, Kaysa didn’t even attempt the tackle and our entire line didn’t move off the try line. But that’s me.
If you rewatch it you will find that Nathan Brown shooting out of the line cost that try.
The only way to miss a tackle is going for it !!!!!!!
preach it, Bubbles.
You have been talking Kaysa up all summer Col. Your faith is being rewared.
John I sincerelly hope that he continues in the form he has shown. In the match highlights I have seen even the Globetrotters pass by MJ, the pass from Kaysa out of dummy half was tops to Norman and across to MJ.
60’s has commented also in the past that the coach has a good opinion of him as well and thankfully has stuck by him. Just hope the supporters show the same level of support to him now he is showing his promise.
Likewise to get of Gutho’s back, not a 6 and can’t kick goals or even in the line. Sheesh!
the best bit? we’re still a work in progress.
we’re a construction zone, but we’re still managing to come away with a win in the first 2.
let’s hope we keep building.
Very true mate, a work in progress and like any good construction it has to have good workers at all levels, that includes the tradesmen and apprentices, the later are the future tradesmen.
ha, you and i are really running away with that analogy
Fell off the lounge laughing when French scored from a “training” move. Deja vu.
That was crazy to watch in a game. Noticed they tried the Semi to French move from the scrum a couple of times too. Worked the first time last season, I’ve got it at 0/2 to start 2017 though.
Was a good team performance but Taka was lucky not to get a C. A couple of bad reads in D and not much opportunities provided for Hoffman especially with our go forward. I love Taka and would be in my team every week but just thought he was off today.
Could have given the C+ to Taka, but he had all those metres and a good try. You make a point. Cdefensive combination between he and Hoff evidently still forming.
It’s nice to win so convincingly when some suggest one of your strike players is having an off day.
Not according BA
Corey Norman only got a B+? Wtf is wrong with you Mitch. Mark yourself down to a F with that, he gets an automatic A just by pulling his boots on.
I’ll let the media get carried away with Corey. He wasn’t as involved as he could have been (which is not a criticism of him, just what happened)
B+ is a really good grade, and Corey was really good.
Agree mitch re corey ,still finding match fitness and timing but lookout when he does because hes outplayed both opp combos already
who did you have for your man of the match Bubbles?
The inexperienced young spine ,this is a 6 or plus season thing ,bit like storm mate .
According to the press he carried the ” Hamstring Strain” through the game. Might explain why his game was down a bit. Still had a great day
Kevin Walters was starting to annoy me with his misinterpretation of Semi’s name
Loved the try that Semi scored of the inside pass from Bevan. He has so much upside that kid it is not funny
Training move ,ask parra thru !
obviously a beautifully rehearsed move. looked seriously terrific.
Parrathruandthru was sitting at the other end of the stand to me. When Bev scored that try we were both straight onto the phone to each other. Parrathruandthru described it as a parting of the seas when Bev put it on at training. It certainly had Murph cheering at Saleyards so I can imagine his response at the Gong.
it was a rush of bodies, but Semi sucked them right in. what a weapon.
Love how he dummies to God and the defence falls for it
Did it last game against the Warriors last season too when he ran from dummy half
All fair grades Mitch; was good to see the second half. All teams have lots of improvement and I just hope we tighten our defence over the first half of the season.
I cannot listen to fox much anymore tbh; listen 2MMM at times instead.
Was there any issue with Matagi ?
Hope they remain upbeat for titans game as they will be hungry to play being 0-2
I haven’t heard of a concern re Matagi, he came back on (obviously passed the HIA), and unless I hear otherwise I expect him to be fit for Round 3.
Nice piece miatch, and who said Jennings couldn’t pass ?😀.
I could watch that between the legs pass all day, and the French try, even the cameraman was bamboozled 😂🏈🏈🏈🏈
thanks mate. that pass was something else. I must admit I thought he should have passed to Semi a minute earlier, but of course him not passing to Semi every time just creates doubts in the defence’s mind as to who is going to burn them.
it should be (and often is) pick your poison for right side defences against Parra.
On another note? Has anyone seen issac de gois, at training, or at a match ?
I understand nothing has been mad official, but you’d have to think he’s played his last game.
nah that’s a stretch. recovering from a head knock. his bigger concern is how well Kaysa has played.
I fully expect Parra to beat another pretender, the Titans, before they meet the first of the contenders, the Sharks, the week after. Thankfully will give more time for the combinations to work on their game.
ha – what is it with you people and counting your chickens? has following Parra taught you nothing?
say it with me – there is no easy game in the NRL. Ask the Panthers about Round 1.
We could very well get flogged this week and it would be surprising, but not unbelievable in the NRL. We need to aim up, every game. Treat the Titans like they are the defending champs.
Spot on Mitch. I believed both these games were going to be tough ones, the Many game was harder than many give credit for and they defended exceptionally well with the dominance that the eels had with the ball they showed up.
Saints were in some ways a let down, mistakes cruelled them but the question is, did they give up? I don’t think so and when they came back with 3 tries it could have gotten much worse for the eels.
There’s still another 23 odd rounds to play this year, and while I expect that the eels will win the majority of them, they will face some stiff competition and will lose some. I doubt that they will surrender in a game and will play the full 80
Nice work mate, Our bench is the real standout for me this year and Brown the unsung hero. Has been brilliant in both games and very aggressive. The way he ran the ball back from a drop out in the second half was incredible.
The fact that we only used 4 interchanges so far into the game also shows how fit this team are and how lethal our bench is going to be into the back end of games coming on so fresh.
agreed – I thought Nathan Brown was terrific, and love how BA is using him.
And to think our bench will only improve when Vave, Terepo and Kenny are eligible for selection (I actually wonder if all three have a spot).
Great game for the mighty Eels. Good report Mitchy and fair comment for all players. Big Pete
good on you big Pete. thanks for reading mate.
Excellent read Mitch.
I can’t even say your marking was too tough this week. Very accurate assessment from my vantage point on the lounge mate.
It was quite interesting to read about Bevan French’s try being a repeat of an encore at training. The speed, acceleration and evasiveness was reminiscent of one Preston Campbell. Those Tingha boys can fly!
Theres some of that storm,cowboys broncs discipline starting to become a constant in the team but BA also allows the team to play footy and parra fans are the winners there,we like footy action ,like BA says he wants us to play a parra brand of footy, have a go as long as your prepared to defend your mistakes
Find it quite amusing i used to read “elsewhere” that ba was a defence orientated coach and he needed help with the attack dept, our attack is asking questions that cant be awnsered , i only read here now where people actually know footy and respect the players efforts .
I’ve always felt a bit sorry for coaches who didn’t have either the cattle or the time afforded to them to set their rosters on the right track. it takes time, a lot of time to really get the team you want on the park and performing how you expect.
we are incredibly fortunate that all the planets seem to be aligning – we have a brilliant coach, with a brilliant game plan, we have quality players and we now have a culture indicative of BA’s vision.
I’m not predicting outrageous success, or saying we are beyond injuries, but this year, next year and the foreseeable future I suspect we’ll be a very tough team to beat.
credit to the players, credit to the coaching staff.
Good read Mitch and a reasonable assessment 1 through 17. I Really enjoyed watching our forwards steam roll the Dragons pack early and then let the brilliance of the backs roll through.
So happy to see Kaysa punch out another good 80 mins of tough footy, fingers crossed for the young fellow that it continues.
yeah I thought Kaysa was great. really enjoying his play as our rake.