Eels 22 Rabbitohs 16
Crowd: 21,533
Here’s a common perspective on this match – we didn’t play great but we got the win. The Eels once again played at a level just above their opponent – in this instance a severely depleted South Sydney outfit. Kudos to the Bunnies for giving us a tough game because a tough game was the tonic needed as we head into the finals.
Maybe this game will serve the Eels good as they needed to grind out the win against a Souths team with nothing to lose. Personally, I would rather a game like that than going into our next game with an easy win.
I prefer to see us being pushed and still winning especially at this time of season. That resolute mentality is essential when taking on the best teams in the comp. And ladies and gentlemen, we are now one of those upper echelon teams.
Score Flow
Parramatta Eels | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
H | Minute | Name | Event | Score |
1 | 8 | M.Jennings | TRY | 4 – 0 |
1 | 10 | M.Moses | CONVERSION | 6 – 0 |
1 | 14 | R.Jennings | TRY | 6 – 4 |
1 | 15 | B.Goodwin | CONVERSION MISS | 6 – 4 |
1 | 26 | K.Turner | TRY | 6 – 8 |
1 | 27 | B.Goodwin | CONVERSION | 6 – 10 |
1 | 39 | S.Radradra | TRY | 10 – 10 |
1 | 40 | M.Moses | CONVERSION | 12 – 10 |
2 | 49 | S.Radradra | TRY | 16 – 10 |
2 | 51 | M.Moses | CONVERSION | 18 – 10 |
2 | 54 | R.Jennings | TRY | 18 – 14 |
2 | 55 | B.Goodwin | CONVERSION | 18 – 16 |
2 | 74 | S.Radradra | TRY | 22 – 16 |
2 | 75 | M.Moses | CONVERSION MISS | 22 – 16 |
Full Time Stats
Team Stats | ||
---|---|---|
48 | Possession (%) | 52 |
25/34 (74) | Complete/Total Sets (%) | 26/37 (70) |
37:31 | Time – Opposition Half | 42:56 |
14:48 | Time – Opposition 20 | 14:14 |
2007 | Metres Gained | 1932 |
10 | Scrum Win | 5 |
0 | Goal Line Dropout | 2 |
9 | Penalty Conceded | 5 |
0 | Forty Twenty | 0 |
Souths competed well in this game with the cattle they put on the park. Leading in most of the major stats, they really put a lot of questions to the Eels and nearly caused an upset. But the class of the Eels saw them come away with a hard fought victory.
1st Half Stats
Team Stats | ||
---|---|---|
50 | Possession (%) | 50 |
14/18 (78) | Complete/Total Sets (%) | 15/19 (79) |
13:52 | Time – Opposition Half | 26:33 |
7:36 | Time – Opposition 20 | 6:15 |
1056 | Metres Gained | 951 |
5 | Scrum Win | 2 |
0 | Goal Line Dropout | 2 |
5 | Penalty Conceded | 4 |
0 | Forty Twenty | 0 |
The forty minutes was fairly even across the board. Souths had a lot of time in the Eels half but just couldn’t capitalise on that time. The Eels did well with utilising their time in the Souths half with more time in the Souths red zone.
2nd Half Stats
Team Stats | ||
---|---|---|
45 | Possession (%) | 55 |
11/16 (69) | Complete/Total Sets (%) | 11/18 (61) |
23:39 | Time – Opposition Half | 16:23 |
7:12 | Time – Opposition 20 | 7:59 |
951 | Metres Gained | 981 |
5 | Scrum Win | 3 |
0 | Goal Line Dropout | 0 |
4 | Penalty Conceded | 1 |
0 | Forty Twenty | 0 |
Once again our opposition got a bit of a helping hand from the officials and this shows in the Rabbitohs having greater possession in the second half. Both teams completion was pretty poor. Just like the Brisbane game, the Rabbitohs completed sets look better due the penalty count in the second half.
The concerning aspect is the penalties that the Eels are not receiving. It’s become commonplace for Parra to receive as few as 1 or even no penalties in a half. This would indicate that almost every opposition team in such matches are highly disciplined – a fact belied by an Eels victory in each game.
Attack
Top 5 Runs | ||
---|---|---|
Name | R | |
M.Ma’u | 19 | |
S.Radradra | 16 | |
T.Burgess | 15 | |
D.Alvaro | 14 | |
T.Fuimaono | 14 | |
Top 5 Run Metres | ||
Name | RM | |
M.Ma’u | 186 | |
S.Radradra | 154 | |
D.Cook | 141 | |
D.Alvaro | 139 | |
M.Jennings | 133 |
Manu had an awesome game in attack, running hard all night and topping the run metres and runs. It was another sensational effort from the edge back rower.
Five Eels made the 100 metres plus mark. Even though it wasn’t a great performance, we still were more mobile and showed our attacking potential. On a day that everything sticks, look out.
Manu Ma’u | 186m |
Semi Radradra | 154m |
Daniel Alvaro | 139m |
Michael Jennings | 133m |
Tepai Moeroa | 108m |
- Will Smith 97m
Line Breaks
Eels – 3
Rabbitohs – 4
Run Metres
Eels – 145 runs for 1398m
Rabbitohs – 149 runs for 1374m
Set Starts
(Running left to right >>>)
Eels
Had some relatively good field position to start some sets but just couldn’t get over the stripe more often than we did. Good field kicking from the Souths kickers made life difficult at times and had the Eels coming deep out of their own end.
Souths
Looking at this map gives you a good indication of how much pressure we put ourselves under. Penalties and errors gave Souths some prime real estate to attack and that they did especially after the first two tries to the Rabbits came from poor Eels errors. Resilient defence from the Eels held the Rabbitohs out.
Hit Ups
Eels
Souths made us work from deep in our own half, as evidenced in this heat map. Our hit ups were mainly in our own half from kick returns. The Souths defence made it hard for our forwards to get any ascendancy, especially in their half. It was mainly the edges and our backs doing the work in Souths territory.
Souths
On the other hand, Souths used their big men up the middle and right into Eels territory. Again our goal line defence worked well to keep them out. Combine this heat map with the set starts map and that will give you a better understanding of Souths field position. A few restarts in the Eels 20 metre area kept the Bunnies on the front foot.
Tries
Eels
Jennings (8’)
Radradra (39’)
Radradra (49’)
Radradra (74’)
Kicks
The kicking game was pretty sound from both kickers who found their mark and had the Souths back 3 turning around. Unfortunately, some poor kick chase at times undid the well placed kicks. Souths first try resulted from a hooker playing fullback burning Semi and making quality metres for Souths to open their account.
Kicking Metres
Eels – 17 kicks for 610 metres
Rabbitohs – 15 kicks for 558 metres
Corey Norman
9 kicks for 343 meters
Mitchell Moses
8 kicks for 266 metres
Defence
Top 5 Tackles | ||
---|---|---|
Name | TAK | |
C.King | 44 | |
C.Murray | 40 | |
D.Alvaro | 39 | |
N.Brown | 38 | |
T.Moeroa | 38 | |
Top 5 Missed Tackles | ||
Name | MT | |
C.King | 5 | |
B.Goodwin | 5 | |
T.Burgess | 4 | |
M.Jennings | 4 | |
M.Moses | 4 |
Again we were made to defend more than our opposition. It was only an extra 5 sets but still that does chew up a lot of stamina. In saying that, the boys held well to complete the match and end 2017 home and away season on a winning note.
Cameron King just keeps on keeping on with another great effort in defence to ensure another Eels victory.
Eight Eels made 20 or more tackles in this game.
Tackles | Missed Tackles | Ineffective Tackles | |
Eels | 340 | 35 | 5 |
Rabbitohs | 310 | 22 | 15 |
Discipline
(Penalties Conceded)
Eels – 9
Rabbitohs – 5
Errors
Eels – 10
Rabbitohs – 11
Even though it wasn’t a polished performance, the Eels still did enough for the win. The Rabbitohs made it tough work for the Eels, but, as emphasised earlier, a game like this is better preparation going into a big game than flogging an opponent.
I still thought Corey Norman’s game management was on track and Mitchell Moses’ wasn’t that bad either. A few errors really nullified both our attack and defence and no doubt the Eels coaching staff will be working hard on that this week before heading to Melbourne.
What a time for BA to start saying things in regard to our next opponent in a press conference. He has not said anything all year in a presser bar what happened in that game. It was calculated and I think said with respect. It certainly got to Bellamy who launched a broadside at BA about our ruck ‘infringements’. No doubt Brad would have been laughing after seeing Bellamy get fired up. Then if you saw Corey on Fox League last night, he was saying we need to take pillows with them as Bellamy says we lay in the ruck, even going to sleep there. Classic ‘Normy’.
It seemed to me that Bellamy’s feathers have been a bit ruffled already and the pressure is on the Storm more than the Eels.
All in all, I cannot wait for Saturday. It’s going to be a big assignment, a cracking game, but as we saw against the Broncos, the boys can fire up and go up a few notches, especially against quality sides like the Storm.
Stat Attack Player of the Week:
Manu Ma’u
Manu played a sensational game on Friday night.
His week off certainly refreshed his batteries and he was on song all night.
The Eels back rower has performed consistently this season, without picking up too many plaudits from the press. Nonetheless his workload would not go unnoticed by the coaching staff or the opposition, especially the brutality of his runs and his tackles.
Well done Manu. It’s been a greatt 2017 season for you after a superb 2016.
Possessions | 22 |
Runs | 19 |
Run Metres | 186m |
Offloads | 2 |
Tackle Breaks | 5 |
Tackles | 20 |
Minutes Played | 80 |
- 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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- mc.championdata.com/nrl/
another comprehensive review Colmac.
I always look forward to your stats reviews.
Interesting point of trivia on the top tackle count. Nathan Brown. What a motor this guy has on him. He was sick as a dog all week with a virus, wasn’t 100% well, still played and made 38 tackles.
Thank you again mate for your work to this site 🙂
Cheers DK. Thoroughly enjoy doing it.
I think the measure of Browns performance is how he has made people sit up and take notice, despite sharing the field with Manu Ma’u and his impressive stats.
Interesting stats Col. It makes it easier to assess a game that gave so much frustration to me live after reading your data and analysis of same.
I can actually see why on the one hand I saw some very encouraging performances from Tep, Manu and Alvaro along with real leadership from Mannah and Beau’s short stint which wasn’t reflected in the stats but actually changed up our commitment when it was needed.
I may even watch the reply tomorrow with less apprehension.
Thanks for the work you do champ.