Round 2 Drink of Choice – Lagavulin 16 Year Old Scotch Whisky

When do we start petitioning the NRL to allow us to play the closing game to each round? Get onto it Bernie, because Parramatta are thriving in the twilight hours of Sunday footy. Fox Sports trumpeted a statistic throughout the coverage of the game that claimed the Eels hadn’t won across the opening two rounds of the competition since before Y2K was a thing (1999 for those who missed the coverage). In the end it was just another check mark on a lengthy list for Brad Arthur and his revenge tour in 2017. The effort today still wasn’t anything near perfect but the Eels are quickly establishing themselves as one of the benchmark teams in 2017 and in a worrying sign for our rivals – there is still a world of improvement left in our boys.

After a fairly lethargic preseason Semi Radradra has dispelled all concerns about his commitment to the Blue & Gold this year. He was workmanlike in our victory over the Sea Eagles but he thundered back to the lofty levels of form expected for the game’s premiers flanker today as he eviscerated the Dragons with a double hat-trick (or is it a double-double?). Terrorising the Dragons and score-keepers alike wasn’t the end of his feats either as the Fijian Adonis reached deep into his bag of tricks to defuse a late bomb with an effort that would make a contortionist in Cirque De Soleil proud.

Of course a large chunk of Radrada’s heroics can be laid at the feet of one Michael Jennings who posted a highlight reel for the ages when he did his best golden goose impression after laying a gilded egg for Radrada’s second. Seriously, if this effort doesn’t make the 2018 NRL season launch ad then a meteor has hit Earth or something equally catastrophic has occurred. I leapt off the couch and started hollering like a maniac as soon as it happened. What a special play from a rare talent. Jennings tormented the right edge of the Dragons in the first half, posting two try assists for Semi and nearly a third (or a try of his own) when he grassed a brilliant offload from Manu Ma’u with the try line begging. He posted a quieter effort in the second stanza but the Eels are certainly reaping the rewards of Jennings’ first proper preseason in a very long time after the representative stalwart was left out of the post-season Australian team.

On the topic of human highlight reels, Bevan French continues to add to his legend in the NRL. Gareth Widdop gave him something of a bath at the end of the first half with a wicked left foot step but French bounced back in a big way – scoring a phenomenal individual try as he danced and weaved his way through the right edge of the Dragons. The Dragons must have thought the Eels were playing Rugby Union after French threw close to 14 dummies – each to a different player – before brushing past defence that would make the Wallabies proud. French wasn’t done yet either as he showed that he can copy the best in the NRL too. Cooper Cronk would have felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle in the 75min of the game when French perfectly mimicked the Melbourne half to throw an unstoppable inside ball to Radradra for his fourth and final try. We still haven’t seen the best of Bevan but opposition teams will not be having a fun time trying to game plan for the influence of both him and Norman in the coming rounds.

At this point I feel like I must apologise to all of the Whiskey Musings readers. Last week I made a fallacious statement regarding Corey Norman in which I suggested that you would still be able to get tempting odds on the Eels’ franchise half winning the Dally M. As it turns out, Norman was already listed at the second shortest odds to win the illustrious medal and trailing only Johnathan Thurston at that. Thurston was brilliant in guiding the Cowboys home over the Broncos on Friday night but I would not be surprised in the least if Norman has further shortened those odds either.

Norman somehow only polled two points for his masterful performance against the Sea Eagles but he was again at his wicked best today – laying on a try for Brad Takairangi and feeding Jennings early and crisp ball before standing through heavy contact and throwing a nigh impossible cutout ball to Radradra to ring up his third try of the night. Norman’s presence on the field is simply irresistible at this point. Teams know that he is going to test their right edge out with his running game and yet he still finds ways to slice through. His ability to kick off both feet means that effectiveness of kick pressure from opposition markers is heavily dialled back. Welcome to the luxurious world of having a franchise half, folks!

From a statistical standpoint it wasn’t a hugely dominant showing from our forwards. Initial projections show only three forwards over the 100m mark (Matagi, Ma’u and Brown) but our work around the ruck certainly jumped off the screen. Suaia Matagi checked out of the game at the 5min mark for a concussion test (which I am sure will draw the ire of Andrew Webster) but returned for a hearty consolidatory effort after running riot againt the Sea Eagles. Jack De Belin will certainly be looking for ‘Tungs’ out of the corner of his eyes for days to come. Matagi forced a turnover on De Belin midway through the second half and closed out the game by nearly hitting him into the afterlife of your choosing (we welcome all faiths at TCT!).

Nathan Brown built fantastically on his first round performance and showed that he can add a little bit of everything to the Eels. Work rate? 129m and 21 tackles. Brimstone and fire? Just take a gander at the way he returned line drop outs. Versatility? Sort of. Brown made his utility debut for the Eels as he deputised Kaysa Pritchard at hooker for the final ~7min of the game. Unfortunately he was pinged for a forward pass to Rory O’Brien but he was otherwise tidy.

The knock on Brown coming out of his at Souths (and the Tigers before that) revolved around a distinct lack of discipline costing his team at the wrong times. The early signs at Parramatta however are encouraging with Brown playing hard but within himself. Brown is going to be a difference maker for the Eels down the track. He plays with his hair on fire and that mean edge he is looking to harness can be the difference between a good tackle and a turnover or a solid run and an unlikely barge over. Will he makes mistakes? Yes, but they will be far outweighed by his contributions on both sides of the ball.

As with Round 1, there were commendable efforts across the entire roster. Clinton Gutherson continues his steady and meticulous rise as a five-eighth, although he had trouble accounting for a fierce wind in his goal kicking efforts. Brad Takairangi and Josh Hoffman were both solid if understandably under utilised on the right edge. Daniel Alvaro and Rory O’Brien were industrious off the bench – even if it wasn’t always pretty.

So who are you raising your glasses to this week? What are you raising in your glass – seriously, share the name of any good drop! The Eels are on top of the table as we move towards Round 3 and if that isn’t worth a small sliver of one of your better drinks, than what is?

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