Parramatta Eels 26
Brisbane Broncos 12
Brisbane Broncos 12
The Good: |
We did what we had to do and got the two points, and are now only one win away from securing that all important Top 4 spot.
Although it would have allayed fears the Parramatta Eels were primed to disappoint not only the Blue & Gold Army, but everyone else in the Not-Broncos fanbase, tonight’s game also won’t be considered any sort of cure to our attacking ills. What it was, however, was a step in the right direction. It was good to see Parra pushing up in support through the middle of the park, and after a very intense 80 minutes last week, I thought our boys showed plenty of effort to grind out a win. With the worst attacking record in the top-eight, being held to 10 tries in our last six games, and tryless in two of their past three outings, the five (well, six) tries tonight were also a sight for sore eyes. Finally, tonight’s result means that any criticisms of fans from teams outside the Top 8 are about as relevant Peter FitzSimons’ opinions on Rugby League. |
The Bad: |
In what was an improved performance (and more importantly a win), the Eels failed to blow anyone out the water ahead of the looming Finals series. At the end of the day, I guess all that matters now is the 2 points next week and whatever we manage to pull together come Finals time. The Eels have shown they are capable, it’s just a matter of whether or not they will be able to bring their best when it matters.
The Eels had outscored the Broncos 92-6 in their past two clashes (and 96-10 the last two at Bankwest), but the wet conditions and some early impatience in attack meant this trend didn’t continue in as dramatic a fashion.
I was also very disappointed we didn’t manage to score any tries in the second half (once you consider runaway intercept tries are gravy). In regards to our opposition, coming off 9 straight losses and staring at their first wooden spoon, the Brisbane Broncos were actually pretty inept against an Eels team which gave them plenty of ball and opportunity (Parra made six errors in the first ten sets), particularly inside a scrappy first quarter of the game. Also, do you think we could we please fire Greg Alexander and Braith Anasta’s commentary into the sun? The former clearly despises Parra, the latter commentating like he’s just discovered Rugby League and is still learning how it all works. In all seriousness, I also hope Tyson Gamble is ok; huge contact for the young bloke. For his sake, hopefully he’s right to go again soon. |
The X-Factor: |
Coming into tonight’s clash, Parramatta were ranked third in the NRL for team run metres, while Brisbane are dead last; that trend continued tonight with the the Eels running 2503m to the Broncs 1901m. Although Parra were a little bit shaky in that opening 20 minutes, they only made two errors in the second half for an impressive 36 completed sets from 44 (82%), compared to the Broncos 26/35 (76%).
The Eels only missed half as many tackles as their opposition (20 to 39), but conceded twice as many penalties (6 to 3). Finally, on one hand we were unlucky not to get an extra four pointer or two (Fergo’s “knock on tap on” try and Moses’ kick to Waqa), but the Broncos could have scored a couple of more themselves (two knock ons which would have led to tries). Call it even? |
The MVP: |
I don’t want to sound too harsh, but f you don’t think Clint Gutherson is this week’s MVP, I do not agree with you. |
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1- Clinton Gutherson (c)Fullback, Parramatta Eels |
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| I feel like a broken record, but once again Clint Gutherson was our best on ground. His stat line is both so impressive and comprehensive (18 runs, 192 metres, 2 tries, 1 try assist, 5 tackle breaks, 1 linebreak, 2 linebreak assists, 2 offloads, 3 tackles and an error) it just won a Pulitzer for best non-Fiction writing.
It’s been great to see him continue to develop his leadership capacities, and is now our Captain, leader, Mr Fix It and Mr Reliable all rolled into one. It was also pretty great to see Gutho score a couple of first half tries for his legion of fans, great and small.
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2- Maika SivoLeft Wing, Parramatta Eels |
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| Outside of a few incredible moments (his first hit up, a pretty amazing catch and put down) I thought Maika Sivo was still pretty quiet out there in attack tonight (10 runs for 96m, 1 tackle break). Still, he was at least error free through 80 minutes.
However, I’ve no complaints on the other side of the ball, particularly as the The Baron of Bankwest did make a great cover tackle to save a certain try. In short, the big fella still seems a bit off to me; I hope he goes absolutely ballistic in the Finals. |
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3- Michael JenningsLeft Centre, Parramatta Eels |
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| Michael Jennings played a game of rugby league tonight (9 runs, 85m, 3 tackle breaks, 12 tackles, conceded 2 penalties) and I think he’s still pretty good at it. | ||
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4- Waqa BlakeRight Centre, Parramatta Eels |
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| Waqa Blake’s involvement was better this week (8 runs for 81 metres, 14 tackles) and I thought he was unlucky not to get a better bounce for the kick off the scrum from Moses.
I’m also enjoying the occasions where the two Blakes swap roles, seeing Waqa move out wider to the wing, and Fergo receive some early ball. Still, it feels like this Blake is a weapon we’ve only fired a couple of times this year, and like Maik(a), I’m hoping he too is saving some fireworks for the Finals. |
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5- Blake FergusonRight Wing, Parramatta Eels |
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| As a man who should have had two more tries tonight, Blake Ferguson was due even more ample rewards for his 18 runs (194m), 2 offloads and 4 tackle breaks. After a couple of pretty foul weeks in the Blue & Gold, season veteran Fergo might very well be timing his peak performance to perfection. | ||
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6- Jai FieldFive Eighth, Parramatta Eels |
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| Although he is as fast as a whippet and was the scorer of a nice little intercept try tonight, Jai Field’s lack of passing and kick ability makes his contribution in the halves pretty one dimensional. With that in mind, I dare suggest Jai would be best served from getting a little deeper in attack, giving him a bit more time and space to use his pace and allusiveness to his advantage; he tends to be rounded up pretty quickly when playing flat. While I’m at it, I suspect his best position is actually fullback, but nonetheless, good on him for securing that likely contract in the Super League for 2021; he continues to be a pretty handy fill in. | ||
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7- Mitchell MosesHalfback, Parramatta Eels |
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| Mitchell Moses had a game like mixed bag of lollies. After weathering a barrage of criticism on his behalf last week, I was pretty filthy about the first 20 minutes from my namesake; where he showed less patience than an abandoned hospital, passed the ball over Fergo’s head, before straight up dropping the ball cold. We need to return to a team willing to build pressure, turning the screws on its opposition defensive line; and fair or not, that starts with the number 7. Throw in a couple of other mistakes throughout the remainder of the game (missing Fifita for the Broncos’ first try, and a very poor kick for a seven tackle set) and this wasn’t exactly the Mitchell Moses coming out party we were all hoping for.
With that all said, the last 20 minutes of the first half was outstanding for the Eels, and Mitch was able to convert some of gifted possession into pressure and points, nabbing himself a linebreak, 2 linebreak assists and 2 try assists in the process. Mitch mentioned post game that he has only really felt good about his calf again in the last couple of weeks, so here’s hoping that leads to a rich vein of form for our enigmatic half back. |
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8- Reg Campbell GillardProp, Parramatta Eels |
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| Tonight Reagan Campbell-Gillard helped himself to 13 runs for 108m, 3 tackle breaks and 31 tackles, going about his work with complete disregard for the misery he was inflicting on the city of Brisbane. | ||
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9- Reed MahoneyHooker, Parramatta Eels |
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| I must say, it was good to have him back. Reaping 39 running metres from the 2 darts he sowed, Reed Mahoney also made 30 tackles in his 51 minute stint; once again applying a pretty great kicking game to the now well known and worn corners of Bankwest Stadium.
The Little Terrier also sparked the Eels attack in the 22nd minute, splitting the Broncos defence before finding Gutho in a ‘draw and pass me like one of your French girls’ moment. Although our captain was subsequently tackled by some pretty great Xavier Coates cover defence, the Eels managed to score through Maika one tackle later; finishing a try effectively created by the work of our returning rake one ruck earlier. *kisses fingers like a chef* |
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16- Kane EvansProp, Parramatta Eels |
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| After an absolutely horrid showing last week against the Panthers, Kane Evans somehow found himself in the starting side and wasn’t at all terrible (15 runs, 161m, 1 offload and 23 tackles). Nonetheless, let the word go forth from this time and place that I am still well off him. | ||
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15- Andrew DaveySecond Row, Parramatta Eels |
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| Promoted to the starting 13 for the first time in his career, Farmer Wants a Wife star Andrew Davey was pretty effective (9 runs, 82 metres, 4 tackle breaks, 32 tackles). AD is just incredibly consistent. Here’s hoping those rumours that he’s defecting to Manly aren’t true. | ||
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12- Ryan MattersonSecond Row, Parramatta Eels |
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| Outside my love for goofy Clint Gutherson because, well, he’s our Gutho, I think this beautiful idiot might be my favourite player in the NRL (not least because of how mad he makes Tigers fans). Playing his 100th game tonight, Ryan Matterson was incisive through the middle (10 runs for 94m, 1 offload), and terribly effective in defence (45 tackles, 1 miss). He also decided to whip out an outstanding kicking game. A week or so ago, someone on NRL Twitter likened Matto’s potential as an edge half in the mould of Wade Graham. This is not only how he was used tonight, but how he surely should be utilised here on out. | ||
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13- Nathan BrownLock, Parramatta Eels |
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| In a pretty great performance, Cyborg had 16 runs (131 metres), 2 tackle breaks and 36 tackles tonight. He has a sort of magic terror about him, his stature belying his aggression and fierce footballing demeanour. All I’m saying is that last week Nathan Brown winked at me and now my wife has the flu; you do the math. | ||
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10- Junior PauloInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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| Although BA said it was in an effort to give the big man less minutes, I absolutely loved that we split our two more potent forwards; with RCG, Kane and Davey effectively coming off only for Junior, Oregon and Lane to replace them; allowing the Eels to maintain the forward rage. The reduced minutes (41) still saw Paulo churn out 16 runs, 120 metres, 2 offloads, 2 tackle breaks and 20 tackles. Speaking of those offloads, the big man has certainly has got a pretty great passing game on him, particularly when you consider I’ve purchased real estate smaller than Junior Paulo.
Finally, if the big man deserves to get suspended for David Fifita’s injury, I’m a deadset astronaut. |
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11- Shaun LaneInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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| Just as it did for big Junez, Shaun Lane’s role turned over a new leaf tonight, finding itself coming off the pine. In the stat department it worked an absolute treat with 9 runs for 103m, 2 tackle breaks and 15 tackles in just 27 minutes. I must say I do miss the rampaging, offloading attacking threat of Rounds gone by, but out of this prior context it was a nice performance from the skyscraper. For what it’s worth, I believe the limited minutes are less about Lane being demoted and more about BA trying to give his troops a bit of a rest. | ||
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14 – Will SmithInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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| I don’t want to sound dramatic, but tonight Will Smith’s pretty eyes pierced my soul and broke through the cold shell which had once enveloped my blackened heart for him. Coming into a team desperate for a reliable back up 14, Mr Smith has played two pretty impressive games from the bench, not overplaying his hand (4 runs, 37m), providing relatively reliable service and solid defence (16 tackles, 1 miss). Right now, that’s just the thing we need. | ||
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17- Oregon KaufusiInterchange, Parramatta Eels |
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| Your boy Oregon dished out a HUGE 123m from his 10 hit ups, adding 2 tackle breaks and 20 tackles. Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with Oregon Kaufusi. | ||
Although my own expectations for the coming weeks have been admittedly tempered by our recent form, maybe it’s ex Eels assistant and current interim Broncos coach Pete Gentle who can speak some sense into any fans who have completely thrown in the towel for 2020:
“Don’t put a line through them. They’ve still got plenty of footy in them. They’ll be pretty healthy and hopefully get a few players back. They’ll definitely give it a shake.”
Consider me both curious and optimistic for at least the next (surely) three weeks of football.
Needing a win to secure a Top 4 birth, it’s Round 20 and the last game of the regular season next week for the Eels, back here at Bankwest Stadium.
As the countdown to Finals ticks a little closer, for now our focus needs to remain on ensuring we first secure those two competition points next week.
Whatever happens, I’ll see you then, sports fans.
Go you Eels,
Mitch
Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels. Stats courtesy of the legends over at Champion Data.
Davey brought a new toughness and direction to the left edge, good off loads as well. He should own that spot now. What drug does H. Perenara snort ?
Definitely should be a starter, at no point does he look flustered and unnerved. Exactly what we need
Too bad he’s signed with Manly 🙁
Absolutely spot on with your ratings in my opinion Mitch.After the game I mentioned to a fellow Eels supporter it was a good win but how out of form was Moses, but he saw it differently🙄.Its good to see that I wasn’t the only one who thought our highest paid player was poor by giving a C grading.For us to be a contender we need Moses to be at his best he still has a few friends though And perhaps they need to take a leaf out of Gutho and Brownys book.Davey was great on the edge and lane was strong up the middle,a good switch by BA.
Thanks for the grades, been waiting for the read. Mitch’s performance, whilst not great was certainly a notch up on recent times. He just needs to get out of his own head. I’m happy that he seemed to be trying a few things. I covered my eyes each time Evans had the ball, also noticed that no one seemed to be close about to him to try the offload. New game plan BA. Now that Ferguson has scored maybe the white line fever the whole team has can subside. Its still concerning to watch the wingers with their hands up asking for the ball but we’ve been watching that for years. Overall if nothing else, hopefully it instilled a bit of confidence moving forward into finals land.
I’d switch Jennings grade with Blake’s for his defence alone. There was 3 occasions where I thought if they had been attacking the left rather than the right it would’ve been a certain try. Jennings reads the game better than most other centres.
Done.
Generous to Waqa me thinks Mitch. Yes he played a little better and he’ll he even passed the ball to his right once BUT…
Re Fifita’s try…yes it was Moses who fell off him but he ran through a hole the size of Sydney Heads created by Waqa charging out of the line just to stand all by himself grasping at nothing. If he holds he should have covered and helped.
In fairness I do think though that Moses is still predominantly running sideways which means by the time the ball predictably goes behind a block runner to Gutho or Waqa, the ball ends up too close to the sideline, meaning if Waqa does pass to Fergo he going over the touch line anyway. He is kinda stuck with a decision to be tackled or step left back to the middle.
I think we were way too predictable last night and any of the top 6 probably shuts down most of our attack last night.
I agree. Thought Waqa was poor defensively yet again. If not for poor execution the Broncos should have had a couple more tries down that edge. The number of times he rushes out of the line and comes up empty is astounding. Is an enormous liability heading into the finals in my view. Thought Moses was better this week with his running and actually took the line on and was prepared to cop a hit on a couple of occasions. Now he just a needs some consistency in his game
Yeah fair enough, dropped him to B-
Get your act together Mitch.😂
As for your final question and plea Mitch? I did and do!
You’re actually a bit of a paradox mate. Stating the obvious, “this is just my opinion” and “it’s meant to be a bit of fun” has certainly been overshadowed occasionally and more so recently by some astute observations Mitch.
You may have to relabel the name of your “article”. “Astute observations of lifelong sufferer”
Keep up the good work Mitch.
I sunk in the chair with 6 errors in first 15 minutes. The bloke up the back of me has put in a DA with weird stuff, I’ve been talking nicely to him, at that point I wanted Nathan Brown to smash him to make me feel better. My wife went and did something in another room and only came out when we finally settled down( ie .. I stopped yelling at the screen). I liked the Nathan Brown/Junior Paulo ball work to try a few shifts, we just need to engage the line a bit better outside them to stop defenders sliding to maintain numbers. Waqa rarely gets the ball with space AND disrupted numbers. I liked Will Smith and Andrew Davey, hope that’s not the mock on them, I don’t think so, they looked composed and competent, good sign for depth.
Pros: Was pleased to see Moses run the ball a lot more. If he wasn’t breaking the line he was generating a quick play the ball off the back of it.
Cons: It’s no surprise that a team will reflect their halfback to a large extent and for large chunks we lacked polish on the end of our sets and played frantic instead of building pressure. Some really poor kick choices left me scratching my head. I don’t fully blame Mitchell for his miss tackle on Fifita, but he’s got to put in a better effort to hold him up until help arrives.
If Reed is okay to play 80 next week I would like to see Smith play 6. Field is a fantastic broken field runner but he can’t create for others which leaves a lot of pressure on Moses. If Reed can’t play 80 then id prefer Salmon or Taka go to 6. Taka can’t kick but he has nice hands and a bigger frame may offer him the ability to offload and generate second phase play.
I’d go as far to say that Moses is the biggest confidence player in the NRL. If you notice it even shows up in his goal kicking. If he’s involved in a play that lead to a try and has a kick from the sideline more times than not he’ll kick it between the black dot. Let’s hope he can take this and gain some confidence from it and take it into the next game and the finals. Be nice if Raiders drop their game this weekend so we can rest some boys. Thanks for the grades, Mitch!
Good to see the grades Mitch – game is incomplete until your dissection. Agree Kaufusi, Fergo & Gutho were As. Solid game from the Eels taking care of business, not much else to say about it. On to the tigers next.
Put $20 on the Eels to win the comp yesterday at 23:1 – ridiculous odds for a top 4 team
Maybe we, and the “experts”expect too much and can’t take any satisfaction out of just winning.
Penrith beat the Warriors by 6 and the Broncos by 13 it’s a good gutsy efforts consolidating their position.
We beat the Warriors by 6 and the Broncos by 14 and we are out of sorts, lost our rhythm and all the other cliches thrown around.
Yes, but those scores are misleading. In both of their games the Panthers were in full control of their game, whereas at no stage we were.
We were never going to lose last nights game, but we were never in control of it either.
And again our attention to detail is extremely poor.
To be honest we never looked like we were going to lose either game also. Apart from 15 minutes for the Warriors we were always most likely
That’s true, but again we were never in control of the game because we are never in control of our game.
Even when we do produce inspired periods of play, there is always the feeling that it is a happy accident rather than through developing the game.
Enjoying reading this every week! Funny, informative and accurate!
Loved that BA mixed it up. I think that could be the way to continue for the finals – impact off the bench. I am regaining some optimism out of last night. I know it was the Broncos, but Moses in form combined with Brown and Gutho, we could return to early season form. I agree. At least 3 more weeks of the blue and gold 🙂
Sivo got a big boil on his leg .thats why the strap was there
I liked Shaun Lane in the middle as opposed to the left edge, it simplifies his game somewhat and he’s actually better when he’s not a perceived offload threat.
I liked Mitch actually intentionally running the ball, but his 5th tackle execution was awful.
I actually thought Kane Evans was pretty good last week apart from a few errors, but he was our best middle last night.
As for the commentary, aside from the fact that they have a job to do, if you’re questioning the knowledge base of Brandy, that’ll do me. As for Anasta, after the debacle that was 2018, who’s counsel did Brad Arthur seek out about what the team needed to do better ?
None other than Braith Anastasakis.
Fair enough Brett, I think Mitch was implying Brandy is not an eels fan; it shows up like male dogs genitalia but I live with it.
Anasta? He is an avg commentator, enough said.
Lane was good I also thought, and Junior had good impact.
The MRC is proceeding with Paulo charge. We all watch the same replay tape, Fifita’s legs/ankles are never in a position for Junior to get his body behind Fifita’s knees and drop onto the lower legs. When he drops around Fifita’s hips, Fifita’s legs are still upright and there is space between them and Junior. The contact happens when Fifita’s foot just seems to swing under Juniors hip at the very last second as they hit the deck together. No intent, not avoidable, but how does this play out….??
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/nrl-2020-junior-paulo-charged-over-david-fifita-tackle-parramatta-eels-v-brisbane-broncos-news-video/news-story/03c226178aed7a782f6ff7cedf8ca16a
I am seriously considering giving the game up as it getting to be a bigger joke as each game – week goes by. Puss in golosha’s stuff.
Joey’s advised to Moses last night was to “get a bruise”. He said Moses needs to run the line and take the tackle instead of giving those passes that results usually results in error. Hopefully, Moses will do trun the line now as he did before his calves issues. Go PARRA!
Good win last night; yes it was messy at times but I thought we looked a better in attack and defended some sets v well.
Errors again may come back to haunt us in a week or two.We have to learn to be better in attack in terms of planning where we wish to end up; and while I cannot hear players talk on tv our defence communication at times seems lost. But we did play a team that does like some ad lib like wests will do next week, which will be a v tough hit out, knowing they have some guys playing their last game. Do not underestimate this, as Parra I am sure we beat Balmain in Wayne Pearce’ last game all those years ago at Leichardt….I am sure it was his last game and we won, or maybe another Balmain golden boy.
Need to play more than 20 minutes to be a force in the finals. On NAS running thru Moses, Waqa jumped out of the line tackling no one (as usual) so unable to help Mitch.
That’s much better. I’ve always said Mahoney needs to run more from dummy half to bring the defense in. It showed on Friday night how good we are if mahoney is running from dummy half the players are also running better lines n pushing up in attack running with numbers. not this silly 1 out stuff.
But in saying that it was only the bronco’s still a wins a win right.
i loved Paulo coming off the bench with Lane was good to see. davey didn’t over play his hand but was solid n i’m hoping he doesn’t go to womanly either.
Moses omg this long looping ball to Ferguson his not 10 feet tall if you see space behind the defense kick in behind them n have the wingers turn them around. not throw a pass 2 metre’s above their head’s.
on The ref omg he cost fergo a fair try because he said knock on yet the ball didn’t touch the ground. he also said will smith knocked on yet was wrong again hope his stood down during the semi’s
I’d be surprised if Henry gets a semi gig Rev. He and Ashley are honest men but they just make too many mistakes. That said, the Will Smith call was understandable. It took a few looks to confirm he held the ball.