Eels 17 Tigers 16

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So here at TCT, as we close off Round 20, we reflect on a game that, despite the important result, was more bitter than sweet.

Yes we won, but with the news still settling on the season ending injury to Clint Gutherson, some questions are coming from this game. The question is who will stand up to take over Gutherson’s role, and how will the team improve this week against premiership heavyweights the Brisbane Broncos?

Only the next few weeks will tell.

So let’s look at the stats that matter for Parramatta.

 

Score Flow

Parramatta Eels
H	Minute	Name	Event	Score
1	2	B.French	TRY	0 – 4
1	4	C.Gutherson	CONVERSION	0 – 6
1	11	J.Tedesco	TRY	4 – 6
1	12	T.Lolohea	CONVERSION	6 – 6
1	26	T.Lolohea	PENALTY GOAL	8 – 6
1	31	S.Radradra	TRY	8 – 10
1	33	C.Gutherson	CONVERSION MISS	8 – 10
2	52	T.Lolohea	PENALTY GOAL	10 – 10
2	55	T.Lolohea	PENALTY GOAL	12 – 10
2	60	C.Gutherson	TRY	12 – 14
2	62	C.Gutherson	CONVERSION	12 – 16
2	69	M.Watene-Zelezniak	TRY	16 – 16
2	70	T.Lolohea	CONVERSION MISS	16 – 16
2	76	C.Norman	FIELD GOAL	16 – 17
2	78	L.Brooks	FIELD GOAL MISS	16 – 17

 

Full Time Stats

	Team Stats
50	Possession (%)	50
28/36 (78)	Complete/Total Sets (%)	22/36 (61)
40:34	Time – Opposition Half	39:49
15:57	Time – Opposition 20	18:25
2079	Metres Gained	2080
10	Scrum Win	3
1	Goal Line Dropout	0
8	Penalty Conceded	7
0	Forty Twenty	0

This match was very even across the park. The stats indicate the tightness of the game and why the game was only separated by 1 point.

A poor completion rate from the Eels gave the Tigers every opportunity and only the fact that the Eels have a couple more classier players in the team saw the Eels secure the 2 points. A completion rate of around 60% will not win you many matches in the NRL, and it certainly won’t get the team home against the Broncos.

 

1^st Half Stats

	Team Stats
51	Possession (%)	49
16/18 (89)	Complete/Total Sets (%)	13/18 (72)
26:29	Time – Opposition Half	13:40
10:56	Time – Opposition 20	8:01
976	Metres Gained	1008
6	Scrum Win	2
1	Goal Line Dropout	0
4	Penalty Conceded	4
0	Forty Twenty	0

Tigers had some quality time in possession but some stoic defence from the Eels kept them out. Offloads were worrying the Eels with Tedesco backing up and supporting which saw the Tigers gain points. No doubt BA will be looking at his ineffective tacklers and wrapping the ball up preventing second phase play.

 

2^nd Half Stats

	Team Stats
50	Possession (%)	50
12/18 (67)	Complete/Total Sets (%)	9/18 (50)
14:05	Time – Opposition Half	26:09
5:01	Time – Opposition 20	10:24
1103	Metres Gained	1072
4	Scrum Win	1
0	Goal Line Dropout	0
4	Penalty Conceded	3
0	Forty Twenty	0

Just unacceptable. 50% completion rate just isn’t good enough in the NRL and by a Top 8 side. The Eels enjoyed an extra 12 minutes with the ball and double the Tigers time in the red zones but we just couldn’t hold onto the ball and capitalise. If this was the Broncos who knows what the score could’ve ended up.

 

Attack

 

Top 5 Runs
	Name	R
	D.Nofoaluma	21
	A.Woods	19
	M.Jennings	15
	M.Ma’u	14
	C.Gutherson	14
Top 5 Run Metres
	Name	RM
	D.Nofoaluma	212
	S.Radradra	207
	A.Woods	182
	J.Tedesco	173
	C.Gutherson	157

Solid performance with ball in hand across the board. (Ok when we could handle it.) Both backs and forwards shared the work load in attack making sure plenty of metres were made.

8 Eels players made 100 or more metres and two others just fell short.

Semi Radradra	207m
Clint Gutherson	157m
Manu Ma’u	140m
Brad Takairangi	136m
Nathan Brown	136m
Michael Jennings	125m
Corey Norman	122m
Kenny Edwards	113m

• Siosaia Vave – 99m
• Suaia Matagi – 98m

I have been very critical of Kenny Edwards attack this year, but it was so refreshing to watch him just run the ball hard. He is a much better player when not looking to get rid of a miracle pass or trying to put on any dumb plays and it was definitely his best game of the year. That’s the Kenny we want to see. Playing smart. Well done Kenny.

Line Breaks

Eels – 9

Tigers – 1

Run Metres

Eels – 1675m

Tigers – 1433m

 

Set Starts

 

Eels

The Eels were driven back and had to start majority of their sets deep in their own half. With only 5 set starts in the Tigers 20 metre area, the Tigers made us work hard to get out of our end.

Tigers

The Tigers had some better field position on set starts, mainly due to terrible handling in the second half. Luckily for the Eels they couldn’t capitalise on this.

 

Tries

 

French 2^’

Radradra 31’

Gutherson 60’

 

Hit Ups

 

Eels

Tigers

The Eels don’t just use their forwards to get us out of our own end. We utilise them in the oppositions red zone. Looking at maps over the year, this has been a play that the Eels have developed where other teams are using their backs only in the opposition 20 metre area.

 

Kicks

 

The Eels this week predominantly used the right side (Moses) for their kicking against the Tigers.

Eels Kicking Metres – 13 kicks for 406 metres

Tigers Kicking Metres – 19 kicks for 646 metres

Corey Norman

Corey kicked for 228 metres with 5 kicks. This was a big drop on his usual kicking game.

Mitchell Moses

Mitch kicked for 170 metres with 7 kicks.

 

Defence

 

Top 5 Tackles
	Name	TAK
	N.Brown	37
	M.Eisenhuth	37
	M.Ma’u	36
	T.Moeroa	36
	E.Taylor	35
Top 5 Missed Tackles
	Name	MT
	M.Ma’u	6
	E.Taylor	6
	L.Brooks	5
	M.McIlwrick	3
	C.King	3

Again Nathan Brown tops the Eels tackle count. Another mighty effort. Manu although missing 6 tackles still made an impressive 36 tackles after coming back from injury.

Seven Eels made 20 or more tackles against the Tigers.

	Tackles	Missed Tackles	Ineffective Tackles
Eels	311	29	23
Tigers	305	33	20

Discipline

Penalties Conceded

Parramatta conceded 7 penalties to the Tigers 8. Mark this down – the Eels won the tackle count against the least penalised team in the competition.

On a poor note, the error count read Eels 18 – Tigers 9.

With another win in the bank and it’s now time to really step up in class as we face a Broncos outfit who are looking to cement a spot in the Top 4.

It’s funny that I have more confidence facing the Broncos than I did facing the Tigers as the boys do seem to lift against quality sides. (Editor’s note: I am on the same page with Colmac here – Sixties)

Yes it will be a bit harder without King Gutho but I have no doubt that both Norman and Moses can and will step up. It will be a great halves battle with the Origin pair of Milford and Hunt up against Norman and Moses.

This should be a high quality game and for me, I cannot wait till Friday night. With some big bodies coming back with Peni Terepo and Frank Pritchard, that will give us much needed size up front. With Josh Hoffman becoming available and Kirisome Auva’a back, we do have quality depth to bring in for Gutherson. Strangely enough, it’s still a great headache for Brad Arthur to have this time of year.

 

STAT ATTACK PLAYER OF THE WEEK

 

 

COREY NORMAN

 

Corey played a quality game in what was a pretty poor game from the team as a whole.

Corey’s running was on song as he popped up all over the park instead of just sticking to his left side.

His touches were well timed and his defence was also on song with some nice reads and good timing. Let’s not forget his game winning field goal.

So here’s to Corey. Let’s hope he keeps continuing to ‘Blow Parks off the Team’ and dropping ‘F’ bombs on live TV.

Possessions	40
Runs	7
Run Metres	122m
Line Breaks	2
Line Break Assists	1
Try Assists	1
Kicks	5
Kick Metres	228m
Field Goals	1
Minutes Played	80

Corey’s runs

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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