Round 9 Drink of choice – Balvenie Single Barrel 15

For the third week in a row the Eels have strung together an increasingly improved performance as they comprehensively outclassed the Cowboys in Townsville 26-6. It was still a far cry from perfect but for the vast majority of the game tonight they had the Cowboys dancing to their tune and as a result they improve their overall record to 5-4. Regardless of results this week, the Eels will head into the global bye sitting inside the Top 8 for the first time since Round 2. Any sort of victory in Townsville is to be celebrated but a 20 point schooling calls for a healthy round of drinks! So sit back and keep the liquor flowing as we delve into the juicy details of Parramatta’s third win on the trot.

Cast your eyes over these numbers my friends and tell me which row immediately stands out? I can forgive you if your initial reaction was to say the first row because those are some truly herculean numbers – and rather befitting for the player in focus here. Rather, it is the final row that is the point of this little exercise as this table represents the performances of Jason Taumalolo over the course the first nine rounds this season (including a 2-game suspension for a shoulder charge). Taumalolo has been nothing short of terrifying for opposition teams in 2017 and yet the Eels completely bottled him up tonight. It was a defensive performance so committed, so compelling and so complete that the human juggernaut that is Taumaolo barely broke 100 running metres and was reduced to a feeble 8.15m per run.

The Eels had complete ownership of the ruck tonight and a huge portion of that had to do with the incredible defensive job the Eels did on Taumalolo. To be fair to Taumalolo though, he was the sole North Queensland forward to break the 100m mark – or to even really come close.

Bravo Brad Arthur, bravo Parramatta. Robbing an opposition team of its greatest weapon in such an effective way would almost make Bill Belichick shed a tear – if the NFL Sith Lord was capable of such a response.

Speaking of barnstoming young forwards, fans were robbed of what could have been a career day for Tepai Moeroa when the pony-tailed powerhouse had his night curtailed significantly due to a head knock. Moeroa had 91 running metres from 10 carries along with 22 tackles (0 missed) in the first half, as well as an unofficial line break to the eyes of this blogger!

The pure numbers are very good, albeit not mind-blowing, but Moeroa also came perilously close to scoring one of the individual tries of the season when he very nearly forced his way through half the North Queensland team to plant the ball down. The play would ultimately be called back as Will Smith was penalised for driving the pile but it was an eye-opening display of the sheer brutish power Moera possesses. This aspect of Tepai’s game has become increasingly apparent in recent weeks and as the hulking backrower learns to better direct that absurd strength towards weaker tackling zones, he could become a genuine nightmare for defences around the NRL.

Staying with Will Smith for the moment and the multi-talented utility made a solid debut for the Blue & Gold. Some neat support work secured him a try from long range and Smith otherwise fulfilled his duties as the secondary (or perhaps even tertiary) play-maker dutifully. Even when budgeting in Smith’s 5 missed tackles, Gavin Cooper had no success running at him in the red-zone and even without the presence of one Johnathan Thurston – that is a truly admirable effort for any backup half. Well done young man.

I will hand out plaudits to a number of worthy Eels soon but I want to give special mention to Michael Jennings early on. Jennings only (only!) ran for 107 metres from 11 carries but he made 3 (three!) linebreaks which proved to be crucial moments as the Eels piled on early points and was a constant thorn in the side of the Cowboys around the ruck. Jennings has been in imperious touch for the Eels in 2017, even allowing for missing a try-scoring opportunity or two for Semi Radradra, and it would be absolutely criminal if he was to be over looked for NSW.

The usual smattering of standouts for Parramatta were all in the thick of things tonight. Clinton Gutherson, Corey Norman and Nathan Brown were all invaluable in dispatching the Cowboys. Gutherson (12 runs, 150m, 18 points) is giving his coach the best sort of headache with an array of eye-catching performances in the #1 jersey. Only the sole blemish marred his game tonight with Gutherson dropping a testing bomb late in the piece. Arthur labelled him the first player picked every week in the wake of the victory over Penrith and Brad Fitler probably has the same thoughts for his City Origin squad. Ignoring of course Paul Gallen.

Brown will likely be joining Gutherson in the City Origin squad after churning out another phenomenal effort through the guts. 181m off 24 runs at 7.54m isn’t the most efficient running stats but the volume is outstanding and watching the game it felt like the Cowboys often had to fight to contain Brown. There was one errant offload following a strong carry into the North Queensland red-zone but we can overlook that following his fantastic effort to back up Michael Jennings and put Will Smith away for a try.

When the Eels were knocked down to 12-men following a lapse of focus from Kenny Edwards, it was Brown who set the tone in defence by laying out John Asiata. What a player. Brown may very well have cemented his place as the most important forward on this team and furthermore – he could probably give Kenny Edwards a lesson or two about channeling aggression.

His habit of getting caught on the penultimate tackle was on show at its frustrating worst tonight but Norman was otherwise controlled in his dissection of the Cowboys. Some excellent late-game kicking options ripped the wind out of the sails for North Queensland and once more Norman showcased why he might be the best short-side attacker in the entire NRL as he put Gutherson away for the opening points. In the head-to-head battle between the QLD and Australian incumbent in Michael Morgan, Norman took a decisive victory without every really slipping into top gear.

Kaysa Pritchard strung positive games back-to-back, although he missed more than a handful of tackles tonight. Still, the young rake is finally making a fist of his opportunity and it is no coincidence that the Eels have looked far more composed around the ruck just as he has started to hit his straps.

From the bench, Siosaia Vave  continues to impress and his contributions overwhelmed an opposition pack that was teetering on the precipice of defeat. 127m from 11 carries at the princely rate of 11.54m kept the Eels pushing over the advantage line – although like Nathan Brown there was also one offload that went astray. As the likes of Pritchard and Gutherson come to trust his ability to both promote the ball and generate fast rucks, the Eels will find more and more attacking opportunities through the middle.

A raise of my glass and a tip of my head this week to – Tim Mannah

This week’s closing award was shockingly easy one to hand out. Even with the superlative efforts from the likes of Jennings, Gutherson and Brown it was Tim Mannah who stole the show with a genuine tight-head scrum win and a fat-man try to seal the game. Actually, ‘fat-man’ is probably an unfair way to describe Mannah and indeed most modern props but it is a favourite habit of mine and I refuse to be changed damn it.

In an era when scrums are very much an afterthought the Eels have made a nice little habit of turning them on our opposition. Mannah’s use of his feet would have made any Rugby Union hooker proud and for that I salute you.

So kudos Tim, not only are you off the nudie run list but you join what I presume is an incredibly short list of players in the modern game to successfully strike for the ball and win the tight-head. David Middleton, if you are reading this by any chance feel free to tweet us with a list o confirmed tight-head winners. As for you Tim, you’ve earned yourself a drink son!

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