Round 1 Drink Of Choice – Dimple 15YO
Well, bad National Soccer League jokes asides that was the game we were all probably expecting, even if it wasn’t what we were hoping for, as the Parramatta Eels grimly battled their way to a 8-2 victory on opening night of the 2020 season. Errors, impatience and ill-discipline marred Parramatta’s efforts to settle into any sort of groove throughout the night but a committed defensive performance across the park helped pave the way forwards.
The good news is that by the time September rolls around the two points secured tonight count all the same as any other win. These bad news is that the Eels could barely manage to get out of second gear against a team that realistically won’t be anywhere near premiership contention. The realistic take that sits between the two is that it is Round 1 and there were always going to be plenty of kinks to iron out. In light of that, let’s take the metaphorical steam iron to tonight’s game as we get into the laundry list of talking points, both good and bad, to come out of the 6-point win.
The Bulldogs are who we thought they were
To their credit the Canterbury Bulldogs managed to take the Eels down to the last minute of play and they gritted and ground their way through the entire game. That is a fair feat when their preparations for tonight were disrupted in nightmare fashion as stories began to break 48-hours before kickoff about the scandalous (and hugely reprehensible) behaviour of Corey Harawira-Naera and Jayden Okunbor during a preseason trip to Port Maquarie.
With that said, I am confident enough to say here and now that the 2020 iteration of the Bulldogs underwent neither evolution nor revolution throughout their preseason. They are still pure grinders. A gritty, defensive bunch of battlers that will aim up in defence, commendably so, but will rarely threaten teams who offer them the same stoney resilience in return. In that sense, even if it aesthetically it was one for the purist of purists, tonight’s victory was an important piece of redemption from late 2019 for Brad Arthur and his men. While the game followed a similar trajectory to the 12-6 loss in Round 23 of last year, Parramatta were rewarded for their improved efforts in the second half, chalking up a frustrating win of their own.
The Eels aren’t who we need them to be, yet.
I will wear any criticism about how disingenuous it may be to write the Bulldogs off after one game only to turn around and talk up the potential of the Eels in the very next breath. I think one team was very true to form established over roughly two seasons worth of evidence tonight while the other banked enough good grace in 2019 to suggest they were far from their best.
There is no denying that Parramatta were markedly ordinary just two weeks removed from a positive final hit-out against the Penrith Panthers in the Battle For Bega. The first half in particular was so brutal to bear witness to that I wouldn’t be shocked if the CIA makes inquiries about using footage as a potential tool for their interrogations.
It was putrid stuff as the Eels flailed throughout a large portion of the opening stanza completing at 50% or lower. They simply couldn’t get out of their own way with Nathan Brown and Reagan Campbell-Gillard chalking up costly early errors with the Eels in attacking field position. Indeed, the only real way the Bulldogs could find their way to Parramatta’s red-zone was on the back of an Eels’ error or penalty – and lawdy were the Eels happy to oblige.
It goes without saying that the Eels will need to improve, and vastly so, if they are to keep pace with the competition heavyweights over the coming weeks but we shouldn’t be completely dismissive of Parramatta grinding out the win tonight. It may have fallen short of the shut out but to keep any NRL team a clean sheet on the try-scorers list is a notable effort.
They aren’t who we need them be, yet…but then again it is only the second week of March.
Miscues and moderation from play-makers
It certainly wasn’t the spectacular season launch that the likes of Mitchell Moses, Clinton Gutherson and company would have envisaged heading into the Western Sydney derby. Dylan Brown was clutch in defence but was also guilty of fading out of the game to an extent.
Gutherson had a number of manic moments including an unforced error on a hit-up in the second half, a quick tap on his own goal line with his entire team offside in front of him and a play that turned a would-be 20m drop-out into a goal-line drop-out. There was also a huge try-saving effort on Adam Elliot in the second half along with buckets of tidy kick-return work but it wasn’t a clinical performance by any means.
Moses was the dominant option throughout the night but he was bottled up by the aggressive and willing Canterbury defence. Encouragingly though, there was no forced Hail Mary cutout pass or reckless chip and chase tonight. Mitch didn’t go looking for the desperation play and instead chose to back his team mates in defence and slowly build pressure on the Bulldogs in the second half. He was vindicated for that measured approach when the game came to flash point late in the 65th minute when Lachlan Lewis failing to field his grubber kick on his goal-line. By keeping the game in front of him, Moses gave Mr Hustle himself, Reed Mahoney, the opportunity to touch down the loose ball for the game winning try.
Andrew Johns has emphasised the importance of Moses remaining patient in these sort of grindy affairs and while there is no doubt that Parramatta’s #7 will have far better games throughout the season ahead, it was absolutely encouraging to see him that that lesson to heart tonight.
New recruits ease their way in
Reagan Campbell-Gillard (10 runs, 86m, 32 tackles [3 missed]) and Ryan Matterson (12 runs, 102m, 2 offloads, 39 tackles [2 missed, 2 ineffective]) were reflective of the team’s blunted edge in the first half. ‘RCG’ toiled away in the ruck in his opening stint but was met each time by aggressive defence by Canterbury’s middles while he also cost the Eels their Captain’s Challenge. In the same period Matterson found himself bereft of any real attacking opportunities and ultimately finished the first half with just five carries for 41m.
Both were much improved after oranges though with the Fully Loaded Man rattling off 51m from 5 carries while Matterson began to threaten with each carry down the right edge. Just as Shaun Lane showed the offloading potential of his long levers in 2019, so too will Matterson’s knack for second phase footy prove valuable for the Eels down the long stretch.
Both get pass marks for their efforts on opening night but the ‘BA’ will need all that and more in the coming weeks as the Eels gear up for a road trip across Queensland.
Silver fox looking golden
While I still have some misgivings about his right arm carry allowing opposition teams to work on a drop-off one-on-one strip, Michael Jennings looks to be in formidable shape. His trademark hesitation stutter step was working as well as it ever has tonight while Canterbury were barely able to contain him down their right edge during the few opportunities that Parramatta sent early ball his way.
Shaun Lane and ‘Jenko’ were but half a step out of sync on a number of potentially game-breaking chances tonight and as Dylan Brown finds his way back to full flight I expect Parramatta’s left-edge to return to its lethal best.
Parra’s rising star in middle management
Surprisingly, the numbers don’t jump off the page for the Mountain-That-Strides in Round 1 as much as I thought they would. 14 runs, 100m, 2 offloads, 3 tackle busts and 23 flawless tackles makes for fair reading admittedly but I felt that the impact of Parramatta’s premier bruiser went deeper than that.
Paulo was the tone-setter for the Eels across his two stints and the Bulldogs had to work hard to contain him at the point of attack. We didn’t get to see him feature any red-zone raids but it is absolutely something to keep an eye on because the Eels worked at least one play to Reagan Campbell-Gillard down their left edge when attacking the Canterbury goal line.
More than ever, Paulo looks to be the fulcrum for Parramatta’s forward pack and their fortunes will be tied in part to how high his own ascent can reach in 2020.
No time for Takairangi
The question as how Brad Arthur was going to work his bench utility into a stacked back-row had the most uneventful answer possible as Brad Takairangi rode the pine for the entire course of the game. Given that Shaun Lane and Ryan Matterson are known 80min commodities at the position it looks as if ‘Taka’ will simply provide injury cover only from the bench moving forwards.
It puts the Eels in an odd spot because while playing with 16-men is sub-optimal but I can see why the coach might struggle to fit any utility, let alone Takairangi, into the rotation. His forward pack features two props capable of extended minutes in Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard while Marata Niukore will monopolise any opportunities in the back-row from the bench. Reed Mahoney prides himself on his ability to power through entire games which leaves Ray Stone in a similar situation to Takairangi.
In that vein I guess the question becomes which positions are the most important to provide emergency cover for? Does Stone’s ability to cover dummy half trump Takairangi’s huge versatility across the backline? Both provide flexibility in the back-row, although for different reasons, with Stone’s proclivity to defence balanced against Takairangi’s offensive repertoire – particularly as a target for attacking kicks.
Of course, ‘BA’ might head in an entirely different direction and employ a ‘horses for courses’ approach with players like Oregon Kaufusi coming onto the bench when the Eels want to beef up their middle for certain match-ups.
The Final Word
I boldly tipped a 32-8 score line on The Parra Podcast earlier this week and if you squint really hard and swap the numbers around you can sort of make out that figure from tonight’s 8-2 final line. Parramatta played the game the Bulldogs wanted rather than the game they should have and even so they still won.It was the quintessential Round 1 game in many unfortunate ways and it should be treated that way. The Eels have plenty to improve on moving forwards but they remain at full strength and they banked the all important win.
On to the Queensland road trip now which features stops at the Gold Coast and Townsville. We will have a much better idea of how the Eels are travelling, are how they travel given their struggles in away games last year, once they return to Sydney.
Pictures courtesy of the Parramatta Eels. Statistics courtesy of Champion Data.
Some nice work Forty and agree they’re not the team we need them to be but it was a good gritty win nonetheless. I was happy with the tactics and result, we lost to the Bulldogs in a similar style of game going into the finals last year so we’re arguably a better team even at this early point in the season.
I thought the Eels defence was good, first contact was solid and we seemed to control the wrestle better.
No doubt there’s plenty of room for improvement with ball securirty, timing and more 2nd phase ball but there was enough on show last night to be confident the Eels will be a competitive this year.
Plenty of evidence of the dedication to defence in the preseason.
forty, I tipped the eels b 7, fairly close to the mark but had pondered on the amount being around 4 though.
I did not like the bench but at least the 16 players kept going to grabble a win. I did not expect a game from the dogs to be any different to what was on show, thing is they showed their mongrel attitude to a tee and kept going at around the same pace as the eels.
I said elsewhere what point of having 4 on the bench and only used 3, it actually shows disrespect for the particular player but also leaves team a man down. Its an exact repeat of what the coach showed last season with certain players, naming them on the bench, maybe a new term is needed, a player for the bench!.
The team as a whole were clunky without doubt, & for me had Stone been picked or Kafusi a set of fresh legs could have helped later in the game, I am still no Peni HH fan but at least he did not drop a ball last night, if that’s a positive we will have to wait and see his next game.
You should be the coach col
Arh! the sarcasmist returns.
Col, I thought it was a vote of confidence in the fitness of the players and also not disrupting the defensive combinations with changes. I look at it this way. Do you want the coach to make premeditated rotations, or do you want the changes to be made in relation to how the match is unfolding – be it creating momentum, or halting opposition momentum?
The player is ready to go if needed.
I also didn’t agree with the bench selections when the team was announced, but that was more a case of losing faith in Peni. But BA obviously had faith which Peni repaid last night.
Yep ,you get it sixties
Mate, what you say is more than a fair enough answer to what I posted, likewise the aspect of not disrupting the defensive combinations which for me worked well, and as I said it was a game I entirely expected from the dogs, as indicated by my low win tip, the dogs are a very hard team with some great players, and that’s not just with the seasoned ones either, their young’un’s went well.
Little doubt to me that the team learnt a fair bit from that match, and the next two games will likely be similar especially against the raiders, which will be a likely very different one to the dogs.
The dogs game for the eels showed a resilience in defence and how hard they went to shut down the opposition, the aspect of 16 players all doing pretty well was good, but I am still concerned in regard to Peni and the non use of the full bench.
There has been good discussion regarding Taka’s position on the bench, and this game shows he’s not likely being considered as a forward replacement but for the backs, My personal thought there is that if one of the backs goes down, then a likely option which many have spoken about would be for Matterson to drop back to cover that spot, perhaps even Marata who has centres experience.
Crikey Marata is a middle forward , they’d run every play at him thats why hes now in the middle ,Taka covers wing ,centre , 5/8 , why would you move matto and weaken your pack , also taka has had experience in back row , as sixties said when combos are settled in a game why would you change them just so an interchange gets a run , train harder and get yourself into the 13 first up , theres no rule saying you have to use all of them ,its ridiculous anyway four is more than enough then coaches would only use them for injurys , as for peni he got the job done but agree he needs consistency , kafusi has been terrible so far as has stefano and jury still out especially on stefano for mine , old man gowie would be in front both of them , the bench was well covered for mine but if there not needed for a specific reason they miss out its that simple , i hope we never have a coach who panics about using his interchange just because he has to ,anyway col your entitled to your thoughts and i enjoy reading them .
Why don’t you read what is said in the context of it??? which is where you fail.
My putting Marata at centre would be a last resort, but he did come to the eels as a centre from the warriors where he played a pretty solid service there. Whether the opposition will run at him at every case as he’s in the centres (possibly) does not dent his defensive abilities to repel the attack also he’s not going to be playing by himself with no support around him.
Do you lock down a bench by having a player there that will get minimal if any game time just because he covers x spot, but what happens when the y spot is needed to be covered?
Tks Forty. After the first half where we continually offered one-set shots with barely a repeat and low completions, I thought I would watch more closely in the second half…it was Groundhog Day…it took 25 minutes to get into their red zone, get a repeat and pressure them. Mahoney scores, we win, but can’t ice the game. You hit on a key point, Moses stayed composed, we placed enough pressure on ourselves, a scatty game form the playmaker would have handed it to the Dogs.Took some heart from our defensive effort, but crikey DWZ nearly killed off that thought.
He nearly did BDon, and I reckon last year we get scored on soon after due to a loss of composure. We kept our defensive nerve and intensity for 80 minutes.
The way we started, to me it looked as they we were trying to win the game in the first 5 minutes. I hope it was just a touch of nervous excitement about starting the season because NBrown was making me very anxious with some of the hits he was trying to make. I also think that there was a couple of hits by NBrown and RCG in that first 10-15 which could have raised the shoulder charge eye-brow from our beloved Mr Atkins.
There’s one thing I really don’t understand about what must have been part of the game plan. Why did we just keep hammering their left edge? Sivo saw very little ball last night and apart from kick returns on the 2nd play he hardly featured. 2019’s leading try scorer I would have thought should expect more chances than what he was allowed.
Clearly, defence was the order of the day and I was really impressed with our left side in Jennings and Sivo particularly, he made some really good decisions whether to rush in or sliding. In years gone by, we would have conceded 2 or 3 tries down that side last night so these two obviously have their communication working well.
I reckon it was the perfect start to the season. A real tough fought victory against a middle of the ladder prospect team. If we had blown the Dogs off the park and started listening to the completely exaggerated hype about themselves, it would IMO be damaging. Instead, we get pushed to the limit, win scrappy based on a solid defensive effort and maybe some of the noise dies down a bit. I’d much rather sail under the radar as Manly did last year and just keep improving and building throughout the year.
With the announcements about COVID-19 and crowds that have just been announced, its a perfect time to go to QLD and take the crowd out of the equation against Titans and Cowboys. Lets hope its all back to normal for Round 4 v The Red V.
I’m with you about taking the hype out via an ugly, defence orientated win. The players won’t get ahead of themselves with that one.
I just saw Kellyville is locked down to externals – what does that mean for TCT?
Unfortunately their attack doesn’t appear to have changed since trial although I was happy with the defence which has certainly improved. Now hopefully our attack will progressively improve over the next 2 weeks.