Alright. It is time for the Parramatta Eels to get right. They did well for week upon week to grind their way to a string of victories in spite of a team-wide form slump but the pluck and grit ran dry last week against the St George Illawarra Dragons. The 14-12 loss was punctuated by soft unforced errors and sloppy attacking shapes that did little to challenge the brittle edge defence of the Dragons.
Through pure effort and sheer will at times they kept themselves apace of the competition ladders as they tried to shake out the kinks and iron out the wrinkles. However, Friday’s loss to the Dragons means that the Parramatta Eels are no longer afforded the time to figure things out. They need to get right now or face the risk of losing touch with other contenders both literally on the ladder and mentally on the field.
Enter the Melbourne Storm. A Storm team sans Cameron Smith, Cameron Munster and Dale Finucane. Not to mention there is a huge question mark over the health of Jahrome Hughes. And yet there is not even a shred of space for the Eels to underestimate this line-up after they systematically dismantled the Sydney Roosters in Round 14.
Brad Arthur has countered with an unchanged First XVII. The Eels are at full strength. Heck, the only TLT-21 change this week is Will Smith slipping onto the shadow bench for Stefano Utoikamanu. Parramatta can not afford to trundle out with the same level of intensity this week as they have over the last month and change.
Don’t look away. Don’t blink. Don’t waste a single breath. The moment the Eels lapse into sloppiness and stray from the game-plan is the moment the Melbourne Storm will rip the game away from Parramatta’s grasp and put the contest beyond reach.
Mitchell Moses, Dylan Brown and Reed Mahoney have to be on point for the entire 80-minutes on Thursday night. If Reed is going to roll the dice on a grubber kick on the goal line then he has to be certain of a result. Dylan needs to get his house in order on the left-edge. His timings with Shaun Lane and Michael Jennings simply can not be as broken as what was displayed against the Dragons. Finally, Mitchell has to keep himself involved in the game up until his eyeballs. He is our general. Our game-plan runs through his hands and feet and as soon as he allows the game to flow away from his influence then we see the cracks emerge in our efforts.
I know that the Storm will be primed for this game. They will have done the video on our recent performances and will be confident that they can pull us apart this week – regardless of their injury toll. The Eels need to face this challenge head on come Thursday night and take the Storm, a team that absolutely has a psychological advantage on us, to task for the entire game.
| Parramatta Eels | Melbourne Storm | ||
| 1 | Clinton Gutherson | 1 | Ryan Papenhuyzen |
| 2 | Maika Sivo | 2 | Sandor Earl |
| 3 | Michael Jennings | 3 | Brenko Lee |
| 4 | Waqa Blake | 4 | Justin Olam |
| 5 | Blake Ferguson | 5 | Josh Addo-Carr |
| 6 | Dylan Brown | 6 | Ryley Jacks |
| 7 | Mitchell Moses | 7 | Jahrome Hughes |
| 8 | Reagan Campbell-Gillard | 8 | Jesse Bromwich |
| 9 | Reed Mahoney | 9 | Brandon Smith |
| 10 | Junior Paulo | 10 | Christian Welch |
| 11 | Shaun Lane | 11 | Felise Kaufusi |
| 12 | Ryan Matterson | 12 | Kenneath Bromwich |
| 13 | Nathan Brown | 13 | Tino Faasuamaleaui |
| 14 | Ray Stone | 14 | Nicho Hynes |
| 15 | Marata Niukore | 15 | Tom Eisenhuth |
| 16 | Kane Evans | 16 | Albert Vete |
| 17 | Oregon Kaufusi | 17 | Nelson Asofa-Solomona |
| 18 | Andrew Davey | 18 | Marion Seve |
| 19 | Haze Dunster | 19 | Chris Lewis |
| 20 | Will Smith | 20 | Cooper Johns |
| 21 | Brad Takairangi | 21 | Darryn Schonig |
Don’t be surprised if Dunster comes in for one of the wingers im told its close to happening with a certain Fijian who needs a rocket
Sixties can we delete this person from the other parasite.
Thats a dumb comment you cant drop two with no reserve grade form to pick from.
Sivo needs a rocket up him cause he’s not producing
I hope you’re right Offside.
Bromwich out. That will be interesting how they handle that
Just in Jesse Bromwich is out suspended at the judicial system.
All these player’s out for Melbourne give us a great chance of beating the Storm.
I’m glade Brad Arthur didn’t change the side we need to get them to play better as a unit.
Sadly rev aka, we tend to become a little complacent when our opposition is under-strength or not expected to give us a real test. Although Maika Sivo trained with a bit more enthusiasm last night he may still be relegated to the reserves bench (18 to 21). When selections went behind closed doors with senior team leaders and coaches after training yesterday I reflect on what I saw from Gutho screaming at Sivo in response to Sivo getting a pass that put him outside his man and again kicked infield instead of running hard when only about 20mtrs out. Needless… Read more »
If we can’t beat this side when we’re at full strength we’ll never beat them in the finals. Need a win to boost the team morale and hopefully start a revival for our run to the finals.
Obviously each individual game needs to be judged on its own merits in a given week but it is difficult to argue against this idea, Glenn. This is a massive game for our boys and perhaps the very challenge itself is what they need right now.
Melbourne scumbags won’t know what hit them on Thursday night. We finally get to play them in a club game in Parramatta. Come on eels Crush them like the scumbags that they are. 20 years of rule breaking trying to win comps.
Take me back to Spite night in 2010. Bellamy and that scumbag Kearney were lucky to get out of there alive that night.
We’ll turn up Luke. Of that I’m sure.
I’ve deleted a reply on here from an anonymous poster. I considered editing out the offending comments but decided it did not warrant my time.
TCT has no problems with critical comments of ourselves, the Eels Club or individuals. But childish name calling has no place here. I’m sure that you can find a place elsewhere that will probably welcome you.
Well done sixties.
What’s your thoughts on this Game sixties. Playing the Storm with out Smith , Munster , vanavuli , Bromwich, Finucane , Hughes that’s 6 player’s with a massive amount of experience.
Do you see us putting on a score if we somehow return to Form or do you see a Storm victory ?
There will be a slightly different build up for this which should emphasise to the players that this is a big clash, regardless of the players who are missing. We know that the Storm are a systems team – players know their role and execute well as a unit, which means they can perform like they did last week against the Roosters. I’m not predicting any scores, but I want and expect to see us play with intensity and focus, giving as close to an 80 minute performance as possible. That should deliver a win, and any sort of winning… Read more »
fair enough sixties i just hope the boys don’t take the storm lightly otherwise we will get our pant’s pulled down.
last weeks game vs dragons was such a big loss in terms of placing on the ladder. if we had won n then win this game n sharks win vs panther’s we go top but because of the point’s difference. we will stay in 3rd unless we win by 40+ which i don’t will happen.
Totally agree sixties, when one goes over the Storm team and watching them last week they have more than enough quality players in the team for them to win. Based on what I have seen, young Brandon Smith is able to play well enough to match his brother/cousin! They won’t lose anything in that dep’tment. Losing Jesse Bromwich helps us a bit but Nelson likely to start and they don’t lose anything there. A win is needed and will be the catalyst for where we head for the rest of the year, the thing not to forget is that they… Read more »
Colin, if we get on top of them, I hope we are ruthless in what we do. After all, that is what they’d do.
Mate I hope they take the ruthless attitude out onto the ground from first whistle to last.
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Great read Forty. If I could make one observation that really struck me about out training yesterday to support your hope that we are ready. Our ball movement was sharp and slick with early fast, flat passing that I could not help noticing. Sean ran some good outside in lines while Dylan and Reedy were very supportive of whatever Mitch called giving Matto, Waqa and Fergie plenty of time. Also, with Junior trying out a new walking boot that came halfway up his calf, Big Kane showed real enthusiasm as a starting middle from long, deep run-ups.
Parra at home at full strength, Storm away at half strength, surely a Parra win Sadly, lesser coaches than Bellamy have easily exposed our Bash and Bomb game plan. RUN REED RUN !!
And take Sivo with you rabbit.
There’s a lot of Sivos in China.
Rowdy are you going to the game? You were unsure earlier in the week.
I have got good seats for the first time since the lockdown. Really looking forward to the game and I believe we can get our mojo going tomorrow.
G’day John Eel, yeah mate I’m going with wife Jenny and two of our grandsons mate.
I spoke out of frustration earlier in the week and has since repented. I will support our team, win, lose or Sivo. And I wouldn’t bet against Parra with someone else’s money. This is an enormous challenge for our club. I’ve already back Parra 1-12. I hope we win by a cricket score and “I do me dough” mate.
🤙
Rowdy I’ve been telling ppl for a long time that sivo is no semi. If sivo was he would attack the ball in the air n run through holes n not over ppl.
Through holes with a fend…not seeing much if that
The bash and bomb stuff is more a function of our more grandiose attacking stratagems misfiring than anything else I think Prometheus. We started the fixtures against the Dogs, Dragons and even the Sharks considering the weather with bold, up-tempo attacking structures that were rewarded. As soon as we make a handful of errors though we seem to downshift gears to more conservative shot-calling. Obviously in a perfect world we don’t make those errors but footy is a fickle game and we need to overcome the mental hurdle we seem to have created. Reed could certainly afford to be more… Read more »
That’s scary to think we are that fragile mentally. Any Storm side will soon expose that. We need to resume more offloads and let our attacking players back themselves in open play. To me Reed running is crucial,other teams are aware he doesn’t and stifle his receivers breaking down our attack.
I’m glad that the Smithsonian is out of this game. I’d rather Parramatta be the last club that he ever has to play against – in this year’s Grand Final, no less!
Tough game ahead, one that is winnable but, more important must be won. Should Parra fall short then it puts them in the danger zone. The last few weeks from Canterbury on Parra has looked a tired team. Shaun Lane looks like he needs a rest. Last weeks game in the sea of water would have flattened them. That was one hard slog to get over. To play again in heavy conditions would have contributed to lead feet. There is an answer – the coach must make greater use of the bench. Giving some only 15 minutes play time is… Read more »
It is not all Sivo,s fault that he is not playing well ,how the inside players starving him of the ,lane gets the ball just tucks under his arm ,Jennings gets the ball just runs inside ,last year he was fed the ball ,is this a strategy,I would like to know what the heck is going on.
I think you may be watching a different game to the majority of us Colin. All of Sivo’s errors are coming after he receives the ball from the inside mate. the slowdown dawdle in space, the inside kick on early tackles rather go to ground for a quick play the ball etc. His errors in defense are numerous and are consistently from poor reads and execution, rufing to attack the high ball or to return the ball up hard and fast like his counterpart from Saints last week.
Completely agree Rowdy, last year and early matches this year saw Sivo progressively improve, but seems to me he has gone backwards for some time, especially in his power and ability to run over the top of defenders, last one I saw was the one with Tedesco, what since then? Its possible that he has a believe in his abilities that are not being shown on the paddock. He leaves his position open too many times especially when the opposition target his side, and he’s caught out by being too close to the middle and almost crowding MJ. He should… Read more »
If we bring our form from the previous month we will lose.
If we play to our potential we will win. I have no idea which Eels team will show up but I’m cautiously optimistic.