NRL Team List
It may have been done in unfashionable style but the Eels finally shed the monkey from their back on Easter Monday as they triumphed over the Wests Tigers 26-22. Scratchy as the win may have been, the Eels were set to be buoyed by the return of their impact backrower Kenny Edwards (aka Kenny Kramps aka Krampus) for Round 8 but instead the team sheet reads rather bittersweet this week.
Edwards has indeed been named to return following a 7-game suspension but Parramatta have lost Peni Terepo for the foreseeable future following a pectoral injury sustained in the dying exchanges in the victory over the Tigers. The club has tentatively placed a Round 22 tender on his return and he given his valuable contributions over the last two weeks, he will be a difficult loss to cover. Frank Pritchard has finally received a return date as well but he too is a ways off making it back to the field with the veteran forward scheduled for a Round 18 return.
The Eels are otherwise unchanged as they look to finally recapture some momentum in their 2017 campaign. Like the Eels, Penrith are also out of sorts and struggling to grasp the identity of their footy. The Cronulla Sharks put the cleaners through them in Round 6 and the bounce back factor could very well be in play this week as a result…and that is even before you consider the fact that the Panthers are always up for a game against one of their traditional rivals!
To the media’s delight, the saga between the Mitchell Moses and both the Eels and Tigers will drag on for another week following Ivan Cleary denying his personal request for a release today. I don’t want to linger too much on the ‘will they/won’t they’ drama of the Tigers potentially releasing him so until it is officially done consider this the last mention of Moses in TLT unless he is officially named by the Eels at some point in the future.
1. Clinton Gutherson
2. Semi Radradra
3. Michael Jennings
4. Kirisome Auva’a
5. Josh Hoffman
6. Brad Takairangi
7. Corey Norman
8. Suaia Matagi
9. Kaysa Pritchard
10. Tim Mannah (c)
11. Manu Ma’u
12. Tepai Moeroa
13. Nathan Brown
Interchange
14. Beau Scott (c)
15. Daniel Alvaro
16. Kenny Edwards
17. Siosaia Vave
18. David Gower
19. Will Smith
20. George Jennings
21. Marata Niukore
Intrust Super Premiership Team List
Speaking of getting monkeys off your back! The Magpies registered just their second win of the season on Sunday as they fended off the Canterbury Bulldogs 18-12 and showed some much needed guts in the process. Wenty now need to knuckle down and keep grinding away this week to ensure they don’t take a backwards step once more.
Dynamic backline option Honeti Tuha returns for the Magpies in what will be the sole change for the victorious squad but he will start from the bench barring a game-day reshuffle.
Wenty will be playing (somewhat counter-intuitively) at Pepper Stadium at Sunday while both their senior and junior cohorts also battle the Panthers – but at ANZ Stadium.
1. Will Smith
20. Bureta Faraimo
3. Nathan Davis
4. John Folau
5. George Jennings
6. Troy Dargan
7. Jamal Fogarty
8. Alex Twal
9. Cameron King
10. Joseph Ualesi
11. Marata Niukore
12. Cody Nelson (c)
13. David Gower
Interchange
14. Honeti Tuha
15. Kelepi Tangiona
16. Jack Morris
17. James Hasson
18. Sam Gorman
Holden Cup Team List
Luke Burt has not made a single change to his Round 7 team and I can hardly blame him as his charges belted the Wests Tigers off the park in a 48-16 flogging. There were stars all over the park for the Eels but Greg Leleisiuao, Dane Aukafolau, Denzal Tonise, Salesi Faingaa, Ray Stone and Reed Mahoney were the best in a tremendous team effort.
The challenge is real for our boys this week mind you. They host the ladder-leading Penrith Panthers who have 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss to their name. We prevailed over the Panthers in the final preseason trial but that means diddly squat in the regular season. Either way it should be a cracker and the ultimate litmus test of how our young team is travelling.
1. Anthony Layoun
2. Greg Leleisiuao
3. Tuimavave Afualo
4. Dane Aukafolau
5. John Fonua
6. Dean Matterson
7. Kamren Cryer
8. Sean Keppie
9. Denzal Tonise
10. Tangi Hokai
11. Filia Utoikamanu
12. Salesi Faingaa
13. Ray Stone
Interchange
14. Reed Mahoney
15. Mitch Butfield
16. Frank Salu
17. Oregon Kaufusi
18. Dom Murphy
19. Noel Aukafolau
20. Haze Dunster
21. Beni Valu
22. Austin Dias
23. Sam McGregor
I think that a lot of our issues are stemming from the hooking position – Kaysa works better coming on in the last 30, than starting him. I was hoping that King would be named somewhere in the man squad and eventually start, with Kaysa being injected at the 50-60min mark (although I haven’t seen King play in the ISP, so I am not too familiar with his form). I don’t think Kaysa is an 80 min hooker, and he has been struggling defensively and to set the line speed, and I don’t like taking Brown out as a hard running forward.
Basically I think we need to desperately bring Peats home!
The middle guys look buggered… Too many times over the last few weeks there’s been no marker & the opposition scooted out of dummy-half making a break every time.
Kaysa just doesn’t have the fitness yet & the prop rotation seems off, they’re out on their feet & can’t keep up.
Yes I agree Tim.
A spine consisting of Taka, Kaysa and Gutho is not ideal and I hope we do a Moses and secure a top line hooker with KP coming off the bench?
Hopefully the return of Kenny’s really lifts the boys? I reckon it will.
Looking forward to this game a lot.
Go you Eels!
Agreed with above…if our defence improves next week we will win.
Disappointed to see Peni out. How long is he out for? Was one of the big improvers for the Eels last year.
At the moment we are very predicable in attack as we always play down the left side to Semi but when we shifted to the right last week against the tigers we scored three tries in 10mins. I have a thought from way out left field and that is I’d like to see Gutho switch to hooker, Hoffman to full back and bring in Jenning, Falou or Faraimo to the wing. When French and Robson comes back, Hoffman to wing, Robson to Hooker Gutho back to 5/8. Just a thought as I don’t think we are getting bang for our buck with Hoffman at the moment and need a little more from our 9.
I wonder when Greg Leleisiuao will be promoted to a higher level…. a Wenty call up must be in cards soon.