Parramatta Eels 17
Wests Tigers 16
The Good: |
Remember the days where we would take a win, any win, no matter the circumstances? Evidently, these are no longer those days; and to be honest that’s probably a good thing. Our expectations have gone up, and so have our results. We have won 9 from our last 12 starts, and have won 4 straight for the first time since 2010.
BA was a bit more diplomatic than I plan to be with this post, but the bottom line is still the same – we won tonight, and continue to prop up our position on the ladder. |
The Bad: |
Well, it’s a bit of a contest tonight. I mean you could point out our completion rate (50% in the second half, 61% for the game), or you could highlight our atrocious rate of missed tackles (there were 29 of them). Our last tackle options, particularly in the first 20 minutes after half time were also woeful, and our energy levels weren’t great in that period, either. Our lack of pressure on the Tigers’ kickers, combined with our creative ability to bomb tries were also a feature of tonight’s contest. Like I said, the field is wide open.
Nonetheless, the biggest red flag I saw from tonight’s performance is our uncanny ability (no matter the week or the circumstance, or which players pull on the Blue & Gold) to only play as hard, or as well as the team opposing us that week. It was certainly true tonight against the 15th place Tigers (who admittedly were much better than I thought they’d be), but if we’re honest we are and should have still been a much better side than them tonight. It’s almost like it’s a part of the Eels’ DNA, and seems a relatively unique ability to Parramatta. If only we could find a way it could be used for good. Still, I can’t point out all this rubbish without once again noting that despite all this, we still found a way to win. |
X-Factor: |
The potentially serious knee injury to Clint Gutherson is gutting. Here’s praying for a good prognosis.
In the other fullback jersey, James Tedesco was like that rabid monkey from Outbreak and it was evidently our players who just ran from him (7 tackle breaks) in order to avoid his highly infectious virus. He almost singlehandedly destroyed us tonight, but we still found a way to win.  Starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and James Tedesco. So where was that in Origin 3, Teddy? Huh? Anyway, I digress. In good news, as someone else said on Twitter (sorry couldn’t find the tweet to acknowledge), at this rate we will have eliminated our For and Against in 18 weeks time. Also, is having 9 line breaks to 1 in a game where you only win by a single point a good or a bad thing? You decide. |
The MVP:
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Kenny Edwards certainly stuck to his word and avoided all bone headed plays, and Manu Ma’u was a monster all game. Nathan Brown and Semi are once again thereabouts in the MVP race. However it was Siosaia Vave’s huge game (in response to a relatively recent form slump) that claims the award from me tonight, a nose in front of Brad Takairangi’s classy try involvements. |
The Starters
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1- Clinton GuthersonFullback, Parramatta Eels Gosh I hope he’s ok. Not only is he one of the best players in our team (and the league according to the Dally M contest), but he certainly doesn’t deserve yet another lengthy lay off. A very classy 157 metres, 3 tackle breaks and a meat pie (we’ll ignore the 4 errors) is a very tidy outing for the man they choose to call ‘King’, irrespective of what Cameron’s birth certificate says. |
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2- Semi RadradraLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels A massive game from Bula in attack, cracking the 200 metre barrier (14 for 207m), and breaking 4 Tiger tackle attempts. If France is so good Semi, why is Bevan living in Australia? Come back soon, mate. |
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3- Michael JenningsRight Centre, Parramatta Eels Holy crap – 125 running metres for The Jet, along with 4 tackle breaks and some quality talk in defence on that right edge. Remember when he used to only contribute 50-60 metres a game for us? Me neither. |
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4- Brad TakairangiLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love it when Taka just tucks the ball under the arm and charges at the defence (10 runs for a huge 136m). To add, his creativity and ball playing ability lead to our second and third tries tonight, and it’s that additional contribution which makes him so damn valuable to our side. |
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5- Bevan FrenchRight Wing, Parramatta Eels Sadly, the “I’ve never seen Bevan drop a bomb” quote died tonight. Not his best game, but I suspect he’ll be primed for his likely return to fullback on Friday night. |
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6- Corey NormanFive-Eighth, Parramatta Eels Corey’s career first, game winning field goal was a microcosm for our performance; it was out of rhythm, wobbly and only just cleared the bar. Despite its flaws, it (and we) still got the job done. Corey was good tonight (7 runs for 122 m is pretty impressive), in a game held back by his 3 errors and 3 missed tackles. Corey’s kick out on the full was tough to watch, particularly when it wasn’t under a great deal of pressure, and more so when it led to the Tigers final try. With that said, Corey was integral in our first two tries, and the Taka to Corey to Semi movement was simply delicious to watch. Looking forward to some more show and gos from our cheeky number 6 in future weeks, and not unlike we expected from his halves partner this week, a big game against his old club on Friday. |
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7- Mitchell MosesHalfback, Parramatta Eels He certainly wasn’t bad, but I don’t think there’s too much about Mitch’s game he’ll be gloating about to his housemates (Brooks and Teddy) tonight, other than the final scoreline of course. I loved his first half scoot down the right touchline on the last, a play similar to his pass for Bev’s last start try against the Storm. I suspect Mitch will now just cross tonight’s game (2 tackle breaks, 9 solid tackles with 2 misses) off the calendar and get back to business against the Broncs next week. For the record, 28 passes each for Mitch and Corey tonight, Corey kicking 5 to Mitch’s 7 – that’s a sweet halves balance we’ve got going there. Ps – For the Rugby League nerds: when you watch the highlights, check how perfect a pass Mitch sent to Corey for the FG attempt. Textbook spiral, superb to watch. |
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8- Siosaia VaveProp, Parramatta Eels It seemed that every time he touched the ball Tigers players went flying like skittles (the bowling pins, not the candy). A huge 11 metres per hit up (9 for 99), 3 tackle breaks and 20 tackles with only 1 miss. It certainly wasn’t our best collective performance, but I think tonight was Vave’s best as an individual. |
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9- Cameron KingHooker, Parramatta Eels Enjoyed his runs from dummy half at markers who were less than square. Once again he gave good service, but one of his (3) misses in particular was dreadful, and I think was pretty close to the time he was substituted for Will Smith. |
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10- Tim Mannah (c)Prop, Parramatta Eels Well the yardage rate (6 for 61m) wasn’t too shabby, but the penalties conceded (3) has gotta be a PB for the sport’s nicest bloke. On the other hand, the 16 tackles without a miss is very Mannah-esque. |
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11- Manu Ma’uBack Row, Parramatta Eels For those who attended the game, you would have seen a million girls storm the field for half time entertainment. The reason so many of them left the field crying? Only Manu knows.
The Monster lead our forwards with 140 metres, 3 tackle breaks and also found time to contribute a huge 36 tackles to our winning cause in his first game back from injury. If I’m honest he would have been my MVP if it weren’t for the 6 missed tackles (and 2 ineffective). Please don’t tell him I said that – I have two boys who don’t deserve to grow up without their father. |
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12- Tepai MoeroaBack Row, Parramatta Eels It’s a weird game when you only make 2 more running metres (38) than you make tackles (36). But as pointed out by @IbraHinkovic on Twitter, he made a momentum changing strip on Naiqama in the second half. Huge play. |
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13- Nathan BrownLock, Parramatta Eels Another player up against the club happy to let him move on; a call Tigers fans are probably more likely to admit they got wrong. His 14 runs for 136 metres is very Shut-It-Down of him, the 3 tackle breaks and team high 37 tackles is gravy. Let’s be honest, I could basically give this guy the MVP every week. Nathan Brown is my not-so-wild prediction for the Ken Thornett Medal this year. |
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Interchange
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14- Daniel AlvaroInterchange, Parramatta Eels Yes Danny Boy! The stats will show a solid 9 runs for 76 metres, 30 tackles and 2 tackle breaks; but the tape shows a man continuing to make better decisions on both sides of the ball, and in an increasingly aggressive manner out there. Can we get the tape around the head back though? I love that stuff. |
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15- Kenny EdwardsInterchange, Parramatta Eels Despite him long holding the mantle as my favourite player, I have been very critical of Kenny in recent grades. Not that this should matter in the slightest, but for what it’s worth, tonight, he did everything I would ask of him. He ran hard, he broke the line, he was energetic, he made his tackles and he did exactly zero stupid things. He is just so valuable when he does his job, and tonight he did that and then some. To Kenny! *raises glass |
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16- Suaia MatagiInterchange, Parramatta Eels I thought he was huge out there tonight. It’s a good day when one of your props churns out almost 100 metres (98) from the bench, and throws in 22 tackles for good measure. |
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17- William SmithInterchange, Parramatta Eels Once again very little complaints regarding Will’s play. Congrats on a well deserved contract extension; push that modelling career back another year. |
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At the end of the day, Gutho’s potentially catastrophic injury aside, a win is still a win, and we stay in the Top 8.
Go you Eels,
Mitch.
Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels. Stats courtesy of Champion Data.
Good assessment miatch, I’d have to agree with everything you’ve said for a change.
I did notice Mau having an injury issue maybe ribs, and didn’t notice him in the cup photo – anyone have any info ?
Also miatch, did it hurt when arnold shook the hand ?
Thanks mate – although I haven’t heard anything about a possible Manu injury.
Nice commentary Mitch. Its hard to mark up players at times, MJ has certainly helped that right side defence, but gee it was a mixed bag, with a couple of MJ’s fairyland passes to Bevan going PHHHFFFT, as Gus said in the box, MJ has a terrrible passing reputation at times as he doesn’t pass often and many are not look ones.. Methinks with at least one of the passes, the last one French could have run the distance to score,
BA’s talking of French to the 1 spot if Gutho’s out, against the tigs today, he made some bad takes and the tigs got the ball back, to me a new tactic for the opposition is to get to the player going for the air take and stand that close to the taker that he has no clear shot at getting the ball as the defence is in the way.
Anyway 1 point for a 2 point win is a win but looked ??????
yeah that Jenko pass was dreadful, I admittedly haven’t watched a reply yet. I still wanted that right side to get more ball, however. Jennings vs Naiqama? Please.
Agreed – I’ll take a bad win over a pretty loss any day.
Just enjoy it mate , theres always a flogging waiting around the corner for every team ,eg sea eagles , not very often do the gradings by us agree with coaching staff , first and foremost no one knows what role the player has been asked to do and thats the most important part of the assesment mate , we use to lose those types of games regularly but now manage to find a way out, the training is outstanding at the moment and considering the players that have missed multiple games ,edwards ,terepo smith etc at seasons start to losing kaysa ,scott hoffy etc and now gutho weve done pretty good mate ,thats not counting wicks and goissy not firing a shot , me im just enjoying the successes and the rest can take care of itself .
Mannahs output is still a concern really hope we can move him on at years end in a dignified way and not in wenty.
Solid win but the after half time slump is a real concern for mine
I was hoping we’d come out firing in the second half but it felt like it took us 20 minutes or so to get going. nonetheless, more to work on AND we got the win.
Havent won a one pointer since 23 june 2012 now 2 from 2 in last 3 games , ugly win beats a pretty loss anyday but polish needed badly, effort good execution poor but found a way to win , use to find a way to lose .
“ugly win beats a pretty loss anyday”
Ain’t that the honest truth, Chika? No doubting there is plenty we can work on coming out of today’s win but plenty of great teams first had to learn to grind out a victory.
If it comes down to it, even grinding our way out to the post-season will be a landmark achievement after a 7-year drought. Winning now is always nice but we are also taking the steps towards winning forever – just like the premier clubs do.
well said Chika. agree completely.
take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week, particularly in the back end of a season.
Today simply goes to show how important attitude is for a team. I don’t think they had a bad attitude, they certainly desperately wanted the win, I simply think they lacked the intensity they needed and thought they could beat the Tigers more easily then the other teams they have played in recent weeks. On paper both our 20’s and first grade should have won by plenty but that is the problem, they knew that, no matter what coaches etc say you can’t help but know it unless you live in a bubble. The early intensity for both our teams was poor and scoring early in both games exposed/ hurt that even more. Many fans probably thought they would win well and on paper they both should have and both games showed that many of our players had this in their mind as well. You could see at about the 20 minute mark they started to panic. They were snatching at passes, even Gutho and Bevan had bad hands today and were just off the pace. The more they tried to force it the worse it got. It looked like being for most of the game one of those all too familiar games for Parra fans , the ones we leave the ground saying how on earth did we loose that.
They are still learning how to be a good, ruthless team and finish off teams early. They are so use to getting into the fight but for our sake , the fans that is, and more importantly for them as a team to move forward, they need to learn to be more clinical. The Storm game showed us all they can be ruthless they just need more consistency. We let the Tigers into the game and with a big crowd/ atmosphere you could see they lifted. The Tigers had nothing to loose while we had all to loose. You could see the players knew this. We were not at all patient and wanted to score from every set. Our brilliant long and especially short kicking game from recent weeks disappeared because of the score easy/ quickly attitude.
I thought Taka was outstanding his best game by a mile this year. He ran hard and you could see at the game that he really got up some of the players when they were lazy and reckless with the ball. I remember him doing the same to get us back in the game in our last tigers game on Easter Monday. He seems to be an important leader in our team. Our marker defence was back to the start of the year level, non existent. I believe marker defence has much to do with attitude. Hence ours was poor today. It was good to see Kenny run hard and straight. Vave was invaluable today, I think without him we loose. Timmy, love our captain dearly and what a great clubman he is and was especially last year BUT I think we need Peni back in the team and Timmy is currently the worst prop in our pack, by quiet some way. He is playing slow both in attack and defence, hence the penalties in defence and even without a HIA today he had few minutes. Really hard for me to say but I think BA is going to have a really tough call to make regarding Timmy, I am glad it is him and not me.
I dearly hope Gutho’s knee is not too bad, not ACL. I want him back this year but far more importantly someone with such a great attitude really does not deserve that pain of rehab all over again. Let’s hope for him that it is on the lesser side, and he can be available for the semi- finals however as long as it is not another ACL for Gutho I consider that the most important thing and good news even if he is out for the year with something else. Another ACL will be cruel and set him back so much and will impact him and the team next year, when I think we will be a more genuine chance for the title. BA did not sound confident about Gutho in the press conference. I fear no good news will come tomorrow, but let’s hope BA is wrong for once.
We move up the ladder, a win is a win and by how quietly the boys sang the team song after the game I think they know that the two points is the only good thing from today’s game.
well said as usual Shelley, and as I’ve said below, am gutted about Gutho.
Vave and Taka were best on field for mine. huge games from each of them.
you’d think we’d learn from such performances, but we’ll see what comes this Friday vs the Broncs.
Being honest i thought tigers really turned up for the game , their not mugs , 2 soo players for a start who played a lot better than they did soo , actually i thought they really came with a lets spoil mitchys day attitude and played accordingly ,boofhead wood tried to screw his head off early not to mention a couple of cheapys by brooks one that should be looked at for shoulder charge but mitch didnt take the bait all day , tigers big four , we got the best one and they kept the worst one , board members youve gotta love their decisions over there .
it’s nice to be talking about a board making bad decisions and not looking at our front office.
the Tigers did come to play, but our completion rate alone indicates we weren’t up to scratch. I think it was a combination of factors, but IMO plenty of areas that kept the game close had more to do with us not being on our game.
still we found to way to win, and it’s the sort of game we would have lost in years gone by.
The Gutherson loss is gutting, however.
Nice work 40; you can get Brisbane will be utilising the John Peard bomb on Friday like the blitz in the 40’s….
I’ll be sure to pass on your sentiments Mitchy.
Ha; sorry mate; i was reading another blog too. But you can send some love his way
So sorry for Gutherson. I think we have the depth to cover him somewhat.
agreed, we can never replace the Guthbus, but having Auva’a back and Hoffman back soon will make life easier.
Actually think similar scenario to last year when went from wing to fullback last handfull of games and killed it ,his confidence back up again i hope chief .
I don’t know if it was disrespect for the opposition yesterday or over confidence, but as a group they just didn’t seem prepared to be patient and build any platform of play. That early poor pass from Guthuerson to French; that loose ball that Norman tried to scoop one handed instead of falling on it; then the poor executions from Jennings to French; Moses to Morea; Normans kick out on the full; French dropping the ball on the line…it was a mistakeathon the whole game.
Very happy to get the points and I’m told that a lot of practice went into field goal setups so at least they got that right.
Vave and Taka were very good and there were elements in Moses play yesterday that made me think he will be prove to a good acquisition.
On form I don’t know how Mannah can be picked. I think its an ideal opportunity this week to rest him against a hard working opposition pack as its not the game to have to carry a starting prop.
Just so disappointed for Gutherson. I didn’t even notice the injury at the ground yesterday and such a shame for his stellar season to come to end like that. Best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery.
It was very late in the game (77th minute), and easy to miss (the Tigers grabbed the ball and understandably played on almost immediately). Just awful news for the young buck.
It was great to have some other players really step up yesterday, Vave and Taka as you noted were outstanding.
Well said re our expectation, and our field goal work. As you said, just happy we escaped with a win.
Sunday afternoon was certainly one of the tougher games to watch as it felt like we were trying to find a way to loose. My recently acquired belief that we can grind out a win under adversity was tested as I found myself slipping back a couple of seasons to here we go again!
I hope BA has a good honesty session with them because we are going to have to be on our A game on Friday night, which is a truer reflection of what finals football is going to be about. Sunday afternoons effort simply won’t cut it!
PS- I was present on Sunday and although the crowd was fairly quiet in general it was great to have such a good crowd. The sad part being that even with 30K people the joint still feels bloody empty.
it was great to see such a terrific crowd, particularly for the Stay Kind Cup. it felt more like a regular game at Pirtek, and there was obviously more Eels fans than Tigers fans. still, it did look a little empty.
hopefully we can gain some crowd momentum in our final 6 games.
I’m sure BA had his press conference face on. I don’t know, but I suspect it could be a very different story in the sheds/at training this week.