Every season has them Eels fans. Those game changing matches that can determine the outcome of any given year. Win them and you can start looking towards top four, lose them and you fall within the pack that’s contending for a top eight spot.
As we head into this afternoons away game against the Roosters, one can’t help but feel today, along with next week’s game against the Raiders, can be the real game changers in our season.
On the back of a rare and strong victory over the Cowboys in Townsville prior to the rep round, many of our boys got a much needed rest and the chance to heal some bumps and bruises ahead of a shown down with the Eastern Suburbs boys out at Allianz Stadium.
With the table as congested as it is at this point in the season, one game can have a four point swing to or against the winner or loser of that match.
If we win this afternoon, we consolidate our position inside the top eight. If we lose, we can drop out of the eight and then have to follow up with tough matches against the Raiders, Rabbitohs and Warriors.
Early Points Needed: The Eels have been much better at winning when starting with a lead in 2017
The Roosters, who currently have a 6-3 record and sit fifth on the competition table have shown some mixed form throughout their matches so far this year. In patches they’ve looked unstoppable. Halves Mitchell Pearce and Luke Keary have combined beautifully, laying on points at will and combining with precision either side of the ruck while working down the same attacking channel. Similarly, they’ve had moments where they’ve slipped off the pace and teams have scored some quick points against them.
Likewise our boys. After starting with two strong victories to begin the 2017 campaign they slumped to a four game losing streak, looking nothing like the team that rallied to perform against all odds to compete the year prior. However, a three game winning streak that saw us dispose of the Tigers, Panthers and Cowboys respectively has re-set the course of our season and a return to the aggressive defensive structure and play we have come to know an expect from our team.
So which Roosters team is going to turn up this afternoon? And for that matter, which Eels team is going to show face at Allianz when we kick off? Let’s investigate our opposition further so that we can see not only how we’re going to handle them, but what we need to do to come away with a very vital two points against the Roosters today.
Try Scorer: Former Eel Michael Gordon was pivotal in Parramatta’s last start win against the Roosters. Today he will be trying to do the same for the tri-colours
Michael Gordon: The former Eels custodian has been in fine form for his new side in 2017. Linking brilliantly into the backline and possessing superb positional play, Flash will be best placed to read any of the Eels attacking raids and know when and where to be to defuse the set plays our spine look to use this afternoon. One of Mick’s weaknesses when he was wearing the blue and gold was that he couldn’t get that final pass away to his outside men, often being pressured into a mistake or forced into taking a tackle. Likewise there were times where he was timid under the high ball. If we can exploit these facets of his game, we may be able to stop the Roosters sets and attacking plays before they get under way.
Latrell Mitchell: After starting the year off on fire scoring tries left, right and centre a few lapses in his defensive performance saw the Roosters fullback-turn-centre, Latrell Mitchell, relegated to reserve grade. The absence of Shaun Kenny-Dowell has earned him a reprieve and the Indigenous Round will have him primed for a big performance, particularly against our still developing right edge defence. Kirisome Auva’a will have the opportunity to cause some headaches for his opposite, but he better be careful that he doesn’t do it to him before hand. Big and mobile, Mitchell can stand up anyone on his day. Limiting his space and ability to get one-on-one with anyone will negate his ability to create havoc.
Tricky Customer: Latrell Mitchell caused the Eels defensive line problems in their 2016 encounter
Luke Keary: The former Souths five-eighth has found a real home in the number six at Bondi. Connecting effortlessly with his halves partner Mitchell Pearce, Luke Keary’s running game has caused many an opposition plenty of problems thus far in 2017. A sleight of hand or timely dummy has provided dividends for Keary and the Roosters, so our tiring middle forwards will have to work overtime to ensure they’re not allowing their line to be broken without the Roosters having to work their backsides off to earn any opportunities. The men either side of our edge backrowers will play a big role in determining whether this happens today or not.
Mitchell Pearce: The Roosters halfback has been in great form all year. Previously marked as having had his origin papers marked “never to play again” Pearce is on the brink of earning himself a recall to the state arena. Playing incredibly direct and opening up space for his outside runners, Pearce has been outstanding in the Roosters victories this year, often kicking for field position and executing fifth tackle plays with precision. Along with Jake Friend, Pearce provides the Roosters with a very accurate kicking game that keeps opposition wingers and fullbacks busy all day long. However, the Roosters number 7 is still prone to error-riddled games when appropriately pressured. Our aggressive line speed has the potential to throw him off and we will have to be in his face all day long if we want to come away with the ‘W’ today.
Pressure Him: Putting Mitchell Pearce under pressure removes attacking options for the Roosters
Jared Warea-Hargreaves & Dylan Napa: For many years now the Roosters have had one of the best middle forward rotations going round and a big reason for that are the two aforementioned prop forwards. Big bodied, aggressive and borderline crazy. Our boys showed against the Panthers a few weeks ago, the best way to take it to big middle forwards is to be in their face all day long defensively. If we do the same today, we can get over the top of the Roosters and this is where the game will be won or lost. If we allow either one of these two to dictate terms however, they’ll open up the space for the Roosters outside runners and if they do that, the Roosters halves will put the ball on the chest of these runners for points all afternoon long.
Jake Friend: The crafty hooker can take advantage of any space around the ruck if you give him the chance to. He also has a handy kicking game that’s been known to generate a 40/20 whenever the Roosters have needed it. Our markers will need to work hard to ensure this dummy half doesn’t have any room to breathe.
Boyd Cordner & Mitchell Aubusson: Two of the best hole-running backrowers in the game. How many times have we seen either of these guys break the line off a nice neat little short pass that either puts them through cleanly or one-on-one? It looks so good every time it happens, but my god is it frustrating to be on the end of. The key to stopping it? Don’t allow quick play-the-balls that generate the time for the Roosters halves to put these guys into those positions. Slow down the ruck, control the play-the-ball and these guys won’t get the sniff they crave.
Edge Runner: Both Roosters backrowers know how to break the line
With threats all over the park and an unfriendly record against the Roosters in recent times, one would think that the Eastern Suburbs unit is well positioned to win this game. However, their small inconsistencies this year suggest that our boys have the game capable of upsetting them.
The Roosters try to out intimidate their opposition in the middle, relentlessly rolling Warea-Hargreaves, Napa and Taukeiaheo up that third of the field. When they dominate their opponents there, the Roosters halves and hole runners run riot. However, when they’re limited, the Roosters try scoring opportunities dry up.
If we want to win today, the likes of Nathan Brown, Tim Mannah, Suaia Matagi and Siosaia Vave cannot take a backwards step and the likes of Beau Scott, Kenny Edwards, Manu Ma’u and Tepai Moerora will have to be in the face of these guys all day long. We do that and we do the one thing the Roosters fear of us – we frustrate them. And when we frustrate the Roosters into mistakes, we start winning the field position battle.
We have enough class across our backline to put points on the Roosters this afternoon if we win the field position battle and this will only be earned on the back of an astute kicking game from Corey Norman as well as forcing errors with our defence.
Masterclass Required: Corey Norman will have to repeat the masterclass he displayed against the Roosters in his last start against the tri-colours this afternoon
I’m expecting a rejuvenated Semi Radradra to turn up today. With the demons of the last twelve months finally laid to rest of the representative break, I believe our big Fijan flyer will be keen to prove a point against the NRL community that abandoned him and he’ll have no greater chance to do that than against the inexperienced Roosters right edge.
In fact our whole left edge can really come out and put some points on if we win the field position battle today, that’s really how crucial it is.
The field position game is the real game changer today and one can’t help but feel that winning this game can be the real game changer for the course of the victors season.
Author’s Note: I’m currently overseas in the United States as I write these words, so I may not be able to catch the coverage of this game in real time and look forward to reading the comments of our supporters to keep up with the match in real time. So from LA LA Land back to the Western Suburbs of Sydney, GO YOU MIGHTY EELS!
PS: And a very happy mother’s day to all those wonderful women who support us through thick and thin, be they still with us or not, much love to all the beautiful mothers of this world – you are everything to all of us.
Clint
All images courtesy of the Parramatta Eels, NRL.com and Getty Images
My apologies for plonking a pet-hate of mine in here. And a word of warning: what follows may be viewed by some as being gruesome or distasteful.
First, the Roosters were the better team today and deserved their comprehensive victory over the Eels. I’m comfortable with that. However, what I’m not comfortable with is the last two Blake Ferguson tries – and all tries like it.
The try that should be deemed a knock-on is really getting on my nerves. Basically, if you sever a finger from a player, glue it to the football, then kick that football into the next suburb, one can make a case for the player to have not lost possession of the ball. That’s all I wanted to say on the subject for the time being.
By the way, I am not advocating that this be tested at all. Cheers.
The notion of ball security in the modern game has become a farce, Chris. I have every intention of writing a piece about it because it’s become incredibly disturbing that ‘x’ is deemed a knock-on, ‘y’ is deemed a strip penalty and ‘z’ qualifies as being grounded.
The NRL has attempted to bring in some objectivity around it, but it’s only alienating people further. We had it so much better in the late 90s and early to mid 00s where there quality of refereeing and the referees interpretation were at it’s best.
As you said, these decisions had nothing to do with the result, but they are annoying for supporters of all teams and the game of rugby league
Was on a plane from Perth at the time the game started therefore I have not seen it yet. will probably see it tomorrow and give my opinion on your thoughts.
By the way when it was time to turn off my phone on the plane, at about the 5 minute mark, I looked at the score and it was 6-0 Roosters. I was not looking forward to turning the phone back on after arriving back in Sydney.
I managed to catch it via live streaming. After Guth scored I thought we had fought our way back, but the try to Daniel Tupou from the Kenny Edwards loose pass killed the momentum we had built. It’s a shame, I’ve seen Kenny execute that play and create an overlap a number of times before to great effect. Just need to be more patient and play possession football for a few sets before going for a clutch play.
Embarrassing shattering result, Norman out , mannah needs to be dropped but won’t happen, waiting on taka and French to be healthy for a return , maybe we get Moses this week , there is a lot of IFS and Mabyes, hopefully this is a wake up call to show the team this is what it takes to be in the top 8 let alone make a run for the finals …… raiders will be a very tuff game next week …
The only part of the game I was ultimately disappointed with Matty was our middle forwards (with the exception of Nathan Brown). They were comprehensively out-muscled and out-enthused. The real test is to back up after that performance and to turn it around against the Raiders. This game should serve as a line in the sand match for our forward pack.