Eels 13 def Bulldogs 12
Crowd: 14,061
It wasn’t a game for the ages, but to defeat the Dogs and grab two points is always sweet – and that’s all that counts.
Once again, the Eels were down to 16 men after a knee injury to Manu Ma’u in the opening 10 minutes forced him from the game. It was a dour affair in the middle with both sides unable to gain any real ascendency.
The Eels went into the sheds with a 12 – 2 lead but as reported in last weeks Stat Attack preview, the Bulldogs had won 5 of their 6 games when behind at the break, so there was an uneasy feel.
But the Eels dug deep, and in the face of some rough calls from the officials and some silly errors, showed that we can win a game against the odds with determined defence and a resilience that harkened back to 2016.
So let’s look at the stats that matter for Parramatta.
Score Flow
| Parramatta Eels | ||||
| H | Minute | Name | Event | Score |
| 1 | 4 | C.Gutherson | PENALTY GOAL | 2 – 0 |
| 1 | 16 | M.Mbye | PENALTY GOAL | 2 – 2 |
| 1 | 23 | B.French | TRY | 6 – 2 |
| 1 | 24 | C.Gutherson | CONVERSION | 8 – 2 |
| 1 | 35 | S.Radradra | TRY | 12 – 2 |
| 1 | 36 | C.Gutherson | CONVERSION MISS | 12 – 2 |
| 2 | 49 | B.Morris | TRY | 12 – 6 |
| 2 | 51 | M.Mbye | CONVERSION MISS | 12 – 6 |
| 2 | 69 | M.Frawley | TRY | 12 – 10 |
| 2 | 71 | M.Mbye | CONVERSION | 12 – 12 |
| 2 | 80 | M.Moses | FIELD GOAL MISS | 12 – 12 |
| 3 | 82 | M.Moses | FIELD GOAL | 13 – 12 |
Full Time Stats
| PAR | Team Stats | CAN |
| 47 | Possession (%) |
53 |
|
31/37 (84) |
Complete/Total Sets (%) | 30/38 (79) |
| 36:13 | Time – Opposition Half |
45:52 |
|
11:28 |
Time – Opposition 20 | 16:05 |
| 2294 | Metres Gained |
2318 |
|
2 |
Scrum Win | 9 |
| 0 | Goal Line Dropout |
0 |
|
7 |
Penalty Conceded | 6 |
| 0 | Forty Twenty |
0 |
Both teams completed well, but the Bulldogs dominated in territory and time in possession. The Eels resilient defence, led by Nathan Brown, was the catalyst to the Eels narrow victory.
1st Half
| PAR | Team Stats | CAN |
| 54 | Possession (%) |
46 |
|
18/21 (86) |
Complete/Total Sets (%) | 13/17 (76) |
| 16:39 | Time – Opposition Half |
23:36 |
|
8:20 |
Time – Opposition 20 | 3:58 |
| 1248 | Metres Gained |
1010 |
|
1 |
Scrum Win | 4 |
| 0 | Goal Line Dropout |
0 |
|
3 |
Penalty Conceded | 5 |
| 0 | Forty Twenty |
0 |
We witnessed a great completion rate from the Eels in the 1st stanza. Although Canterbury had more time in the Eels half, the Eels had a lot more time in the Dogs red zone and used that to their advantage. Through using their time with the ball a lot more effectively, the Eels made an extra 200+ metres.
Kudos must also be given to the Eels kicking game in this half. Time after time, the Eels finished their sets with kicks deep into the corners. This applied great pressure and resulted in two significant Bulldogs errors, leading to points.
2nd Half
| PAR | Team Stats | CAN |
| 39 | Possession (%) |
61 |
|
11/14 (79) |
Complete/Total Sets (%) | 17/21 (81) |
| 18:51 | Time – Opposition Half |
21:27 |
|
2:50 |
Time – Opposition 20 | 11:56 |
| 961 | Metres Gained |
1307 |
|
1 |
Scrum Win | 5 |
| 0 | Goal Line Dropout |
0 |
|
4 |
Penalty Conceded | 0 |
| 0 | Forty Twenty |
0 |
It was a massive swing in the second half to the Bulldogs. It was little wonder considering they had nearly had two thirds of the possession, an extra 7 sets, over half the time with the ball, an extra 340 odd metres and lots not forget not giving away a single solitary penalty.
Still, the Dogs couldn’t jag a win despite enjoying such an advantage. The statistics from the second half make Des’ complaint about the golden point penalty awarded to the Eels look utterly ridiculous. And indeed, it’s obvious that he was looking to shift some blame, albeit to an official that found no fault in the Bulldogs for the previous forty minutes. Des can carry on all he likes, but he seriously needs to look at the 2nd half stats and ask himself why his attacking structures could not take advantage of just on 70% possession in the second half.
Golden Point
| PAR | Team Stats | CAN |
| 100 | Possession (%) |
0 |
|
2/2 (100) |
Complete/Total Sets (%) | 0/0 (0) |
| 0:43 | Time – Opposition Half |
0:49 |
|
0:18 |
Time – Opposition 20 | 0:11 |
| 86 | Metres Gained |
0 |
|
0 |
Scrum Win | 0 |
| 0 | Goal Line Dropout |
0 |
|
0 |
Penalty Conceded | 1 |
| 0 | Forty Twenty |
0 |
Pretty self-explanatory. Kick off, hit ups, penalty, kick for touch, hit ups, fieldy, Eels win. Crowd roars. 2 points. Done and dusted. Go You Eels.
Attack:
| Top 5 Runs | ||
| Name | R | |
| PAR | N.Brown | 25 |
| CAN | W.Hopoate | 24 |
| CAN | A.Tolman | 19 |
| PAR | C.Gutherson | 15 |
| CAN | M.Montoya | 15 |
| Top 5 Run Metres | ||
| Name | RM | |
| CAN | W.Hopoate | 322 |
| PAR | N.Brown | 206 |
| PAR | C.Gutherson | 136 |
| CAN | M.Montoya | 134 |
| CAN | A.Tolman | 132 |
He’s quickly become a fan favourite, and little wonder! It was an awesome attacking display from Nathan Brown this week. In the toughest part of the field, he tucked the ball under the arm and carried it for a gain of 206 metres.
The Bulldogs run metres are easy to explain. Hopoate was hammered with a great kicking game from both Norman and Moses. Norman and Moses had a combined kick metres of 884. Hopoate’s kick return metres alone were 245m. No doubt a ploy was to kick to Hopoate as the Dogs wingers combined only ran the ball back for 52 metres.
Both teams had 4 players run more than 100 metres, with one player in the 90’s for the Eels.
| Nathan Brown | 206m |
| Clint Gutherson | 136m |
| Suaia Matagi | 105m |
| Tepai Moeroa | 103m |
- Semi Radradra 93m
Run Metres
Eels – 1327m
Bulldogs – 1564m
Defence
| Top 5 Tackles | ||
| Name | TAK | |
| CAN | A.Tolman | 54 |
| PAR | N.Brown | 42 |
| PAR | K.Edwards | 42 |
| PAR | T.Moeroa | 41 |
| PAR | D.Alvaro | 39 |
| Top 5 Missed Tackles | ||
| Name | MT | |
| CAN | M.Mbye | 3 |
| CAN | A.Elliott | 3 |
| PAR | C.Norman | 3 |
| PAR | D.Alvaro | 2 |
| CAN | A.Tolman | 2 |
Is it any surprise to see Nathan Brown also feature in defence? This bloke is surely close to the signing of the year, with a team high 42 tackles to go with his 200+ run metres in attack.
A massive accolade goes to Mitch Moses this week. His defence was brilliant. He had Klemmer, Kasiano and Jackson running at him all night and he never took a step back. He dug in and pulled off some fine hits. He missed two tackles but for what it’s worth, those 2 stopped the attacker momentum for others to come in and finish the tackle off. It was an outstanding defensive performance. Well done!
| Tackles | Missed Tackles | Ineffective Tackles | |
| Eels | 379 | 20 | 20 |
| Bulldogs | 336 | 20 | 10 |
Errors finished at 7 apiece.
With Round 17 done and the Eels cemented in 8th spot with a 4 point buffer to the 9th placed Panthers, the Eels will be heading down to Melbourne full of confidence. Knowing we still have a bye in hand can see us move higher up the ladder as we look to our first finals birth since 2009. Facing a depleted Storm outfit without their Origin players, this is a fine time to strike the ladder leaders. But as the ‘Baby’ Storm have shown, they are still a force and we cannot be complacent against them.
STAT ATTACK PLAYER OF THE WEEK
NATHAN BROWN
Did you see this coming? It was a no brainer really. Nathan has once again won our weekly award and thoroughly deserves it.
What a massive turn around for him in the months since joining Parra.
If you saw the interview on Fox Sports with Kenny Edwards last week, you were quickly reminded of Brown’s reputation at the Rabbitohs. He was labelled a grub in the media, and many fans and players felt similarly. But Brad Arthur saw what sort of player he was, and could be, and look at how he has evolved!
Browny is being looked at as the buy of the year and should be in the running for Lock of the Year at the major end of season awards.
I would dare say it’s a two-horse race between he and Gutherson to get the 2017 Thornett Medal.
Well done once again Nathan.
| Possessions | 31 |
| Runs | 25 |
| Run Metres | 206m |
| Offloads | 1 |
| Tackles | 42 |
| Missed Tackles | 0 |
| Minutes Played | 82 |
Colmac
Stats courtesy of Champion Data. All these stats and more can be viewed on our match centre at http://mc.championdata.com/nrl/ including live game stats.
Champion Data
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Nathan Brown is regularly showing up to be our best signing of the year and not far off best ever, & I have seen some good ones in the past. He is getting similar reviews already as being the signing of the in the NRL overall and certainly deserves it.
While early I believe he is already worth a contract upgrade, that gives incremental increases over the contract period.
The other stat that defies the brain snap moments of Kenny, shows why he too is valuable to the team, just needs to control things a lot better and get those snaps out of his game, as he could be an awesome player better than he could dream of.
Given the way those 2nd half stats show out its really a wonder regarding the defensive resolve of the team how they were able to run out the winners they deservedly won
True Col. I hope we pay him accordingly and hope he continues on in coming season. He could be capt material with Guth
Mitchy, Not sure if I am right or not, but I get a feeling that Beau Scott may retire at the end of the season, its also not beyond the realms that even Tim may call it a day if his form slump, that I believe is caused by an injury he suffered some games back to his left Shoulder (was it the one he did last year), that is IF it does not come good, would dearly love him to retire and be remembered for the overall work he has performed for the club than go out remembered for his last year of lower play standards.
Should either happen, I would believe that Brown would be our ideal captain going into the future, he has matured so much and sets such a huge example that it would not hurt for him to be given Scott’s spot officially for the remainder of the year.
Mitchy, its interesting to discuss potential future captains, tend to recollect that Norman was given the ropes, was it last year or the previous one on a few occasions, what disappointed me was that IDG in at least one game came in when Norms wanted to kick for penalty goal, IDG seemed to pull the call away from him and insisted on kicking for the line and go for the try, problem was that he hogged the dummy half and lost the ball mid point of the tackle count. I thought that was a poor effort and Norms should have stood for his decision to take the goal.
I like the idea of Brown being the captain into the future, and there will be times when he needs a break, the 2 or joint captains idea is one I like, thing is who else? You mention Gutho, and someone else mentions the idea of one being in the spine should be the captain, meaning that brings in Norms and Moses.
Given that incident with Norms, and its in the past, the big thing is that any one of the 3 could well be ideals for the on field captains role when Brown is off the field. Each of the three are talkers, which is good, and places them at an advantage, with you mentioning Gutho I would certainly think that is an excellent choice as he is very much respected all around, both on and off the field, yet a bit of coin toss though.
A good situation one would think in having quality players and quality people who can handle the roles.
Almost 10 min more in our zone; more penalties and time with ball and we still held on. Just a shame we have them a couple of extra chances with intercept and loose carries…we will need all our smarts against Melb and the luck of the refs…theyll have more pressure in the ruck than ever. This game will be tighter than last wk
How good was our defence to limit the Dogs to two tries in a half they spent camped on our line.
How good are all of Forty’s subtitles Pou. I tried to keep up but he went to another level!
The 2nd half defence in this game was amazing. I echo Colin’s thoughts on Brown. Dare I say it a little “Sattlerish” in what you are proposing to make the bad boy captain.
Of the 7 errors committed by the Eels, how many can be attributed to Kenny
From the Dogs perspective, how good was Tolman.
Hey John,
2 errors to Kenny Edwards out of the 7.
Thank you. Some of his mistakes would not come up as errors I guess.
Tolman really lifted as captain, I honestly believe that it would be the icing on the cake to make Nathan go to another level, if that’s possible.
Tolman is a player who averages big minutes (64) and a lot of tackles (39) each game. On top of that he averages 122 metres per game and has a wealth of experience.
It helped John Sattler go to another level for South Sydney all of those years ago.
Col, I would be interested in kicking metres or any kicking stats.
The other thing is even with all that ball the dogs could force a line dropout.
I said on another blog how good our kicking game has been recently. The difference has never been more obvious than that game on Thursday night.
What stats would you like to see Chris?
Thanks for all the responses thus far.
On the opinions already offered:
Future captains – Gutho or Moses are standouts for mine. It’s also advantageous that both are in the spine and have to do plenty of talking anyway. From my observations at training, they both are good talkers and have ownership of aspects of team direction already.
The defensive performance of the team was outstanding. No doubt we have to be better at getting out of our half when placed under such pressure, but the effort was irrestistable.
Sixties have you seen Willis Meehan around training at all. It has been reported that the NRL has now given him permission to train with the Eels.