The Cumberland Throw

Whisky Musings – Round 16: The nightmare disguised as a dream

Round 16 Drink Of Choice – Old St Andrews

 

My apologies for another beleaguered musings as I combat both a hectic work schedule and some behind the scenes maintenance at TCT!

 

Thursday night was…an interesting experience. For all the good that was on display, and for the first time in 2018 there was plenty of it, I came away from that heart-breaking loss with in a fit of near apoplectic rage for two differing reasons.

It will come as little surprise that the focus of my initial vigorous fist-shaking and foul-mouthed tirade was of course Will Smith. The earnest utility had a night to forget after chalking up several crucial errors including a forward pass in the lead up to a second-half try, a bizarre and spectacularly miscued 40/20 attempt and a shockingly errant pass on a critical clearing kick.

It was Paul Carige-esque. Almost beautiful in the way in which the self destructive ripples of his actions flowed throughout a rarely focused and committed Parramatta line-up. And yet come Friday morning I had forgiven Smith. Bad games, even ones of that magnitude happen. Drop Smith as punishment or give him a shot at redemption after the bye, so be it.

No, what still has me burning with a white-hot rage even in these terribly belated musings pertains to the 72-minutes of play that proceeded Smith’s meltdown. For lack of a more nuanced way to phrase it all – where the f**k has that been all year?

I don’t give two hoots about all the talk about St-George players backing up from Origin 2 or the Denver test. The Eels lost the man who had been playing head and shoulders above his cohorts this season in Manu Ma’u in the Tonga-Samoa test. The wash-up of the rep-round was moot to my mind.

For 72-glorious-minutes the Eels were back.

Aggressive and committed defence paved the way for an offensive showing that was equal parts industrious and expansive. Mitchell Moses and Corey Norman were both back at their scheming best. Norman finally straightened his probing attacking lines and reaped the dividends immediately as he sent Nathan Brown over untouched. Moses on the other hand rediscovered the lost art of kicking to the corners, pinning the vaunted St George pack deep within their own half for large swathes of the game.

It was the team that we all fell in love with over the course of the 2016 and 2017 seasons and then in an instant we were all dragged kicking and screaming back into 2018 as they unraveled like a cheap sweater. The battle-hardened team of the last two seasons is well and truly gone as much as it pains me to say it.

You could argue both ways as to the value of the bye at this juncture of the season. There is certainly plenty to build upon in the Round 16 loss but will the week off usurp any momentum the Eels might have had? Or is the chance to work from a clean slate after the late-game meltdown ideal? I honestly have no answers these days.

And now for a few scattered thoughts before we enter bye.

 

Hayne centres himself

 

After a torrid outing for Fiji in which the entirety of the Bati struggled for direction or impact, Hayne somewhat amusingly earned the ire of Michael Ennis. Ennis, who has adopted a crass and hard-nosed media persona in recent times, questioned Hayne’s passion for the game.

Jarryd has been a popular target for media criticism (and always has been) as critics practically fall over themselves to churn out opinion pieces on why the wheels fell off at Parramatta this season but the fact remains that when he has taken the field, Hayne has performed admirably at centre and wing.

I take no umbrage with those that question the value he has given us – even on his vastly reduced contract this year due to injuries piling up – but the iconic Eels is not short of talent or more importantly effort, even in the twilight years of his career.

While Euan Aitken certainly didn’t embarrass himself by any means, Hayne took the in-form centre to task with some bruising defence and deft attacking work. Just how Hayne and the Eels move forwards into 2019 remains one of the most interesting story-lines of this accursed season.

 

Simba begins his ascent

 

The Eels were never going to adequately fill the yawning hole left by the injured Manu Ma’u but rising backrower Marata Niukore did a hell of a job for the Eels on the left-edge. 10 toughs runs that yielded 84m (and to my eye I sincerely thought he made a few more!) to go with a handful of tackle breaks and a whopping 40 tackles with just the 1 missed made for a damn solid outing.

The young backrower kept himself busy all night, including an effort from the other side of the field to save a ridiculous first half try to the Dragons. Disney word-play (Hakuna Marata > Simba) has affectionately lead to me dubbing him Simba but with Manu out for the remainder of the season Marata now has a huge chance to carve out his place in this team. It is that very challenge that leads me to my final thought heading into the bye.

 

Time to plant the seeds for 2019

 

Marata is of course just one facet of this process. With the terminal struggles of Parramatta’s feeder club the Wentworthville Magpies in the Intrust Super Premiership, the Eels are likely better served promoting their blue-chip talent to the NRL this season. I understand that this approach comes with a ‘take your lumps’ caveat but I honestly feel like there is more to be gained this way both for players and club.

The June 30 deadline has come and past and all sixteen NRL clubs are obliged to have filled out their Top 30 rosters. Unfortunately the Eels made no public announcements about internal promotions to the at minimum two spots they have available. Thus we are left in the dark in this regard until we can piece together the clues from future team lists.

What needs to be a priority for the remainder of 2018 is finding a home for Reed Mahoney in the #9 or #14 moving forwards while Jaeman Salmon should be learning on the job at right centre. For that to happen it would require Michael Jennings to spend a stint in the ISP but I am completely comfortable with that proposition given the prolonged struggles of the senior most Jennings this year.

While Mahoney and Salmon loom as potential core pieces moving forwards, the Eels will also need to know what they have in Ray Stone and Greg Leleisiuao. They very well might not get the opportunities needed to give all four players a genuine run in the NRL this season but every bit of experience and piece of knowledge they gain on each of these four players is an important head-start on the 2019 season.

 

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4 thoughts on “Whisky Musings – Round 16: The nightmare disguised as a dream

  1. Rocket

    Hopefully we’ll find out who’s been promoted into the thirty.
    At least they can give us that.

  2. The Captain

    Great write up Forty.

    As one of those who reactively and pesimistically put our competitiveness down to a lacklustre Dragons moreso than a competitive Eels it’s helpful to read the other point of view. You’re right, we did show a lot of that form of the past few years for 70 odd minutes.

    I would love to see some of our upcoming and yet untested lads get a good go before the season is out. As Mahoney showed, some youthful exuberance can do wonders even if it does come with a few errors and lapses – it’s also exciting to watch as a fan.

    I’m assuming we’ll see Mahoney in the 14 after the bye, I wonder where our other top spot has gone…I’m hoping Stone.

    Would we not also get dispensation to promote others to the Top 30 in place of Edwards and Scott?

  3. Anonymous

    Really well stated and a summation with great knowledge of the game well done! I am most content with your findings of a game where Marata Niukore, I believe showed us all what he has had to offer for a couple of years. I think he should have been given an NRL shot early last year, as he was a standout for the ISP side right through 2017. I do understand that injury prolonged his debut for 2018, but he should have been used much earlier than he has been! With that said congratulations to him, he is a young man of outstanding character!
    I love the way Ray Stone plays in ISP, however I must say this, his early games in ISP, were simply outstanding, and I don’t believe he has risen to those heights in his game for 2018. I do worry for Ray that his frame maybe a bit light on for NRL, but his aggression may just get him though, another great young man.
    Further I think Jaeman Salmon has done well in ISP, but yet to really prove himself, albeit he has been thrown around in a number of positions, of which I am not center is his best, I believe he will play NRL, in my opinion, Id like to see him debut next year with a full year of ISP under his belt.
    In closing, can you do an interview with Nathan Cayless, to give us an insight to his time with Michael McGuire as the assistant for New Zealand, it would be interesting to see how much he felt he learned through the process.

    An outstanding review!

    MAX

  4. Colin Hussey

    Forty, a real pondering game of where were they in the past as the lights seemed to have finally been turned on, hope there is not another blackout the rest of the season.

    Looking to who comes up into the NRL squad for the top 30 spot is an interesting selection dilemma, looking at 2 you name in Stone and Greg L, I have to agree with you with Stone but after watching the ISP match against Newtown on Saturday, what I saw of Greg, except for his try, brought to the fore in my mind what many others have said about his defence, and whether he is capable of playing at the NRL level at this stage of his playing career.

    Outside of Pritchard, Miski, and the 6 & 7 it was a hard game to watch and only those players I thought were worth keeping. A very sad effort from a sad team I’m afraid.

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