Holden Cup Team List
Did you think I was done with TLT just because all our hearts were broken and dreams crushed on Saturday? Pfft, as if! A little shattered hope is nothing for a bicentennial baby like myself. I feed off it, grow strong from it. But you know what is better than shattered hope? Fresh, clean and untainted hope. I come bearing such a wondrous thing in the form of this week’s TLT – which exclusively features our Holden Cup team.
The youngest of our three senior grades earned last week off after a crushing 35-22 rout over the then unbackable premiership favourites, the Cronulla Sharks. The Sharks have since crashed out of the finals in spectacular fashion after capitulating to the Sea Eagles last week but our attention will be focused solely on the Penrith Panthers. The Panthers rebounded from a loss to the Dragons in Week 1 of the finals to knock over the Broncos and book their ticket to the Grand Final Qualifier.
Parramatta will likely enter the game as warm favourites but as we know with essentially all NYC games, that counts for little once the opening whistle blows. The Eels will be without the services of halfback Troy Dargan for the remainder of the final series after the senior play-maker broke his arm late in the victory over the Sharks. Rookie sensation Dylan Brown steps into the breach in the halves and will be looking to continue his impressive campaign in the 20s.
Casting my eye over the 23 listed players, the only real eye-catching selection that jumps off the page is that of Tui Afualo. Afualo has been close to a return from a long-term foot injury over the last few weeks and would be a huge in for coach Luke Burt. The problem though is that if he is healthy, who does he replace? Noel Aukafolau has been nothing but solid at left centre and did a stellar job shutting down Holden Cup Team of the Year centre Jesse Ramien two weeks ago. It would be a damn tough call to drop someone playing as well as Noel – even if it was for one of your best players.
I imagine that Tui could come onto the bench for one of the edge forwards and spell starting left edge backrower Dylan Clifford at some point. Afualo is a destructive presence on both sides of the ball and despite his proficiency at centre, rotating him at EDGE could mitigate his lack of match fitness while still finding a way to inject him into the game. Such a gambit could backfire spectacularly in the NRL where there is so little margin for error. The NYC however is a great deal more forgiving, especially when it comes to one of your most talented players.
Regardless of how the Eels do run out on Saturday, they have done tremendously well to even be in the Grand Final Qualifier. Despite missing eight, EIGHT front line players for the vast majority of 2017 (Injury: Tui Afualo, Steve Dresler, Michael Tupou, Filia Utoikamanu, Beni Valu ISP: Dane Aukafolau, Troy Dargan, Ray Stone), they still managed to finish in the Top 4.
In a team vying for a berth in the Grand Final, the Eels are fielding FOUR players that were part of their Under 18s National Championship side this year. That is bloody ridiculous. What makes it even crazier is that Dylan Brown is eligible for the SG Ball in 2018! To put the cherry on top of these madness-laden cake, Tui Afualo, Filia Utoikamanu and Haze Dunster were all key contributors to the NYC this year and they were also members of the same National Championship squad. SEVEN players aged eighteen or younger helped take this team this deep into the finals.
You want to talk about hope? I got it by the truckload right here. This team has done astoundingly well this year in the face of injury and selection limitations and they have damn well earned their chance at the big dance. Credit to Luke Burt and credit to each and every player to pull on the jersey throughout the season.
Kick off is at 5:00PM on Saturday and you can either attend the game itself at Allianz Stadium or watch it live on Fox Sports. For those that can do neither, I will be bringing you all the action, blow-by-blow, right here on TCT. I hope to see you guys in the comments!
Parramatta Eels NYC side
1. Anthony Layoun
2. Greg Leleisiuao
3. Dane Aukafolau
4. Noel Aukafolau
5. John Fonua
6. Dean Matterson (c)
7. Dylan Brown
8. Sean Keppie
9. Denzal Tonise (c)
10. Oregon Kaufusi
11. Dylan Clifford
12. Salesi Faingaa
13. Ray Stone
Interchange
14. Reed Mahoney
15. Mitch Butfield
16. Frank Salu
17. Dom Murphy
18. Tangi Hokai
19. Emosi Alamoti
20. Tuimavave Afualo
21. Nick Okladnikov
22. Kamren Cryer
23. Austin Dias
Would love to see the babies get a win here this week, especially after knocking over the Sharkies!
I hope Tui comes back in as he is my fave player, but the Auka brothers have been doing a fine job.
Go you good things!
Go Elvers!
I’m interested to see just where clubs will play their best 18 to 20 year olds from next year. Prior to the advent of the NYC most had spent a considerable amount of time in reserve grade. Now that the NYC will cease to exist will things return to how they once were, or will clubs continue to stock up on experienced, ‘journeymen’ types of players? Perhaps the current competitiveness in junior recruitment shown by all clubs will leave no choice but to promote players early on account of an inflated player market, and on the promise that they will be promoted to a higher grade of football if they sign with such-and-such a club.