We cap off a massive week of NYC blogging (seriously, check this, this, this and this out if you haven’t already!) with the third and final installment of the NYC Grand Final Insider. With the forward pack and back line already analysed and in the books that only leaves the four members of the spine to break down.
It has been an interesting year for the play-makers at Parramatta. Senior halfback and 2016 Holden Cup Halfback of the Year, Troy Dargan spent that vast majority of the season in the Intrust Super Premiership before succumbing to a broken arm sustained late in the victory over the Cronulla Sharks in Week 1 of the finals. Normally the loss of a player of Dargan’s calibre and seniority would be a crippling blow to the Grand Final aspirations of a team. For the Eels though, Dargan’s extended absence during the season due to ISP duties ultimately proved to be a boon. With just 8 NYC caps to his name this year, the Eels are very much used to life without Dargan.
To fill the void left by Dargan’s lengthy stint in the ISP the Eels utilised the likes of Kamren Cryer, Joseph Taipari and Dylan Brown throughout the season. Cryer proved to be a reliable foil to Dean Matterson early on before picking up a long term injury which then opened the path for the SG Ball halves pairing of Taipari and Brown to get their chances to step up. The 18-year-old Taipari flashed his considerable talent in his 5 games in the grade but it would be the 17-year-old Brown that sensationally stepped up without missing a beat.
Elsewhere in the spine the Eels enjoyed consistency from five-eighth Matterson and fullback Anthony Layoun but is was hooker Reed Mahoney that established himself as one of the rising stars across the entire Holden Cup in 2017.
Even with just four players to analyse there is a whole lot of talk about so let’s get into it!
#1 – Anthony Layoun
The very first word that jumps to my mind for Anthony Layoun is ‘tidy’. Whether it is his kick positioning, backing up or finishing, Layoun is just a damn tidy player. He knows where he is required to be and what his responsibilities are in a given part of the field.
While the Eels possess more explosive athletes in the back line in the likes of Greg Leleisiuao and Dane Aukafolau, Layoun has shown himself to be a genuine threat to opposition defences. A sneaky good kick returner when the kick chase is even marginally fragmented, Anthony is perfectly capable of beating the lead chaser with footwork and opening up the field from there.
He has also shown himself to be a highly proficient finisher on the edges for the Eels, crossing the try line 14 times this season.
Layoun, along with Matterson, is one of the two senior members of the Eels’ spine and his experience will be invaluable tomorrow. Emotions will be running high given the gravity of the game and it will fall upon the likes of Layoun, Matterson and Tonise to rally the team. Anthony’s coolness under pressure will also help Parramatta absorb any early pressure that will come their way via attacking kicks.
#6 – Dean Matterson
Dean Matterson, the younger brother of former-Eel and now Rooster Ryan Matterson, will partner with Dylan Brown in the halves for Parramatta on Sunday. In an interesting bit of trivia, by making the NYC Grand Final, Dean has managed to surpass the efforts of his brother Ryan who fell victim to the New Zealand Warriors in the 2014 NYC Grand Final qualifier!
Dean is a right-edge specialist half and has been deployed that way through the entirety of the 2017 season despite partnering Dargan, Cryer, Taipari and Brown at various stages.
Matterson is one of five Eels (along with Mahoney, Tonise, Keppie and Faingaa) to play all 26 games this season and has been a steady counterpart to the brilliance of Faingaa, Afualo, D.Aukafolau and Leleisiuao down the right edge.
A run first half with a nice short-kicking game, Dean has set up 20 tries to go with 21 line break assists while breaking the line himself 6 times and scoring 6 tries.
Just as with Layoun before, Matterson will need to leverage all of his experience in the NYC to provide a stablising influence for his team mates once that first whistle is blown tomorrow.
#7 – Dylan Brown
Even though he is one of the most exciting young talents to burst onto the scene in quite some time you would be hard pressed to know that Dylan Brown has barely turned 17! In fact, Brown might just be in a truly unique situation entering Sunday’s decider. After piloting Parramatta’s SG Ball team to the National Championship in 2017 he now has the opportunity to steer the Eels to a maiden NYC premiership. I would be fascinated to know if any half has ever done the SG Ball/NYC double in a single season!
As for the young man himself, Brown is one of the ‘easiest’ players you will ever witness. Everything he does is just so smooth. Run? Pass? Kick? You name it, for an exceedingly young play-maker he has all the tools he needs. Seriously, check out the finesse and touch below!
What about the hands?!#HoldenCup #NRLFinals pic.twitter.com/gNwy79ZXyp
— NRL (@NRL) September 23, 2017
Easily the most impressive aspect of his transition to the NYC has been his attitude and approach to defence. Halves, especially one as young as Brown, are almost expected to be liabilities in defence. Here is a stat for you all though. In 8 games Dylan has completed 144 tackles with just 5 missed. 5 freaking missed tackles! That makes for an astonishing tackle efficiency rate of 96.64%.
Brown hasn’t been overawed at any point this season, whether it be in the SG Ball or Holden Cup. Out of all the youthful components to this team, he is the one I expect to have the least issues with the big game atmosphere tomorrow!
#14 – Reed Mahoney
Finally we come to the 2017 Steve Ella NYC Player of the Year. This young man has galvanised this team with his ability to dissect the ruck. Reed Mahoney is the fourth and perhaps most crucial piece of the spine for the Eels.
While he wears the #14, make no mistake, Mahoney is the primary hooker for Luke Burt’s team. Early in the season he would be infected into games just prior to the 20min mark but more often than not a pre-game reshuffle featuring Mahoney, Sean Keppie and Denzal Tonise would see the livewire rake start games.
There are two distinct parts to Mahoney’s game – the tireless defender and the scheming mastermind. The former is what saw Mahoney lead the entire Holden Cup in completed tackles with a whopping 1064 (58 missed) at ~40 per game (~2 missed). The latter is why he piled on the offensive numbers with 12 tries, 20 line breaks, 14 try assists, 14 line break assists and 4 40/20s to his name!
Mahoney is a heads up player. I mean that literally! Mahoney always has his head up as he enters the ruck. He is constantly scheming and providing himself with vision of the markers and the broader defence so he can evaluate the best option at a given time. It is such a valuable trait for a young hooker to possess and I believe it is the primary reason why he has enjoyed such a stunning indiviudal season.
It then goes without saying that Mahoney looms as one of the key players for a Blue & Gold victory tomorrow. If our forwards can lay any sort of platform, just like they did against the Sharks and Panthers, look for Mahoney to terrorise the Sea Eagles.
Notable Contributors
- Kamren Cryer
- Troy Dargan
- Joseph Taipari
Great summary as always Mitch. Are any members of the spine contracted? What are the prospects of Mahoney playing NRL next year where both KP and King are only contracted until next year and if both go down with injury?
You seem to have me confused with Mitch/Miatch who does our fantastic post-game grades. Just quietly, between the two of us the mix up is VERY harsh on Mitch! 😛
The contract status of juniors is a bit of a private process these days. Matterson and Layoun are graduating from the 20s so if they are to stick with the club it will be as part of the ISP or RMC squads. I can’t imagine the club letting Mahoney or Dylan out of their grasp anytime soon.
Throwing Reed into the NRL might be a year too early perhaps. It is hard to tell how much of a jump physically he will take over the upcoming preseason thought. What will complicate the situation is the new Top 30 system, which pending some clarifications, might make it trickier to bring a young hooker in from outside the Top 30.
And don’t forget Mahoney hasn’t played a single ISP game. That should point to his readiness for senior footy. Obviously things can change very quickly for young players and a single full time off season can transform them.
Layoun is an interesting player. He may not have got a run had Barnes not been injured during pre season training and out for the year . I think he has played well all year. Positional play has been very good
While he may not reach the heights of Leleisiuao or Dane Aukafolau in a given game, you rarely get a poor game out of Layoun.
His positional play is a real strength and it is likely one of the reasons why we usually start our sets strongly.
This is Spinal Tap, Parramatta NYC style!
1) Anthony Layoun has been in the system for a long, long time. He was chosen at fullback for the Australian Schoolboys’ merit team in 2012 and may have turned down an offer to join the Storm (if memory serves me correct).
2) Dean Matterson was always behind Michael Doolan when coming through the system. In fact, he was behind several other prospective halves as well since he turned out for the Roosters when he was a Harold Matthews player.
3) Dylan Brown is not only an outstanding prospect, but he has already become somewhat of a talisman for the Parramatta club: in less than two years in Australia he has steered the Harold Matthews (2016) and SG Ball (2017) teams to national championships. Let’s hope it continues tomorrow.
4) Reed Mahoney came straight from Canterbury’s SG Ball team to Parramatta’s NYC team. He made the move over with a decorated Australian Schoolboy front-rower, Jye Challenor. I’m not sure what ever happened to Challenor, or why Canterbury released Mahoney to the Eels. I’m bloody glad that they did, though.
Good luck to all the young lads tomorrow!
Being an SG Ball player and with the season finished, Mahoney was probably uncontracted when we signed him.
As for Doolan, he was one of the top NYC playmakers this year, along with Matterson. One big difference between the two was Matterson’s superior defence. However it helps playing in a team where everyone works hard and doesn’t leave their mates isolated in defence.
In relation to Mahoney, that is a very likely scenario. Or, then again, Parramatta could have agreed to buy out his contract, seeing in him a greater likelihood for promotion to the higher grades in years to come. Essentially, the Bulldogs have ended up with our SG Ball dummy-half of two years ago in Joseph Tramontana, and we with theirs.
Doolan has always been a good junior player. Hence his numbers do not surprise me in the least. Who knows what happened during the pre-season that saw the club let him go. Maybe BA was prioritising knowing just whom he had waiting in the wings.
Looking at the NYC stats, Dargan and Brown played the same number of games and had similar stats. However Brown actually surpassed Dargan is a few categories: TAs, LBAs, total tackles and tackle effectiveness. He also made zero errors. Dargan’s stats are only superior in relation to his running game, plus he did more kicking.