Sunday June 6th, 2021
McDonald Jones Stadium
EELS 40 defeat KNIGHTS 4
Half time: Eels 22 – 0
Attendance: 23,015
Eels Scorers:
Tries: M. Sivo x 2, R. Matterson, H. Dunster, C. Gutherson, B. Cartwright, T. Opacic, W. Blake
Goals: Conversions: M. Moses 2 from 6, C. Gutherson 2 from 2
This was a decent way to return to form.
After a few weeks of well below par footy, the Eels hit their stride again in meticulous fashion against a pretty poor Knights team.
The return of Dylan Brown saw the Eels put the Knights to the sword, with the Eels pivot looking revitalised after his time out due to suspension.
Dylan’s attack and defence was on song against Newcastle which, I dare say, was his way of ‘apologising’ to his team mates for his indiscretion in the Roosters game.
What stood out most about his game is that he shored up that Eels right side defence, proving he is one of the top defending halves in the competition.
The Eels absolutely dominated all game statistics against Newcastle.
The 55% possession rate was slightly wasted with a not so great 77% completion rate (33 from 43 sets). Time wise the Eels held the ball for 47 minutes and 40 seconds in the Newcastle half with 23 and a quarter minutes camped in Newcastle’s 20 metre zone.
To put the Eels territorial dominance into perspective, the Knights had less than 10 minutes inside the Eels 20 metre zone.
Attack
Finally we can use the word attack this week. We finally saw the Eels put their opponent to the sword rather than easing off after getting a decent lead. A rare off day with the boot from Mitchell Moses kept the final score down a bit.
In total the Eels made 2456 metres against the Knights 1810, including 1714 running metres from 202 carries.
Finally someone beat Clint Gutherson for top metre eater this week. Dylan Brown topped the Eels running metres this week with 168 metres, closely followed by Shaun Lane with 159 running metres (not bad from a bench forward), and Waqa Blake with 154 running metres.
Numbers 1 to 6 for the Eels all ran over the 100 metre mark with four forwards doing the same. Three others were not far off, indicative of a tremendous team effort with everyone sharing the work load in attack.
The attack stats round out with 637 Post Contact Metres, 8 Line breaks, 33 tackle busts and an impressive 22 offloads.
Hit Up Map
This hit up map is a bit deceptive as it has been shaped by the large number of kick offs Parra received after tries. In reality the Eels went through the Knights middle with ease to set up the outside backs to score.
Set Starts
This was also a bit skewed due to the amount of kick offs, but plenty of set starts in the Knights half saw the Eels lay on 8 tries.
Defence
The Eels made 321 tackles with 20 missed tackles and only 3 ineffective tackles. A high tackle efficiency of 93% would have pleased coach Brad Arthur.
I think the stat that shines the most is just 3 ineffective tackles. This limited the Knights second phase play as they only offloaded 3 times all game.
Reed Mahoney was the Eels top tackler with 37 tackles, before a shoulder complaint saw him finish early. He was ably assisted by Nathan Brown (32 tackles) Ryan Matterson (29) and RCG (27).
Discipline
Parramatta conceded 3 penalties and 3 set restarts. Two players were placed on report – Papali’i and Opacic. Altogether there were 14 errors from the team.
Final Thoughts
If the Eels were in a minor form slump, then this game was a solid step in the right direction.
Critics will always highlight the missing players, but you can only play against who the opposition puts on the field. If those players aren’t of first grade quality then those sides need to look at their roster.
Speaking of such comments, the Eels now face a Tigers side who finally ended the Panthers winning streak.
No doubt the Tigers will be riding high and would love to add another high profile scalp to their winning list, so the Eels will need to be on song this coming Sunday.
With Dylan Brown back, the return of Junior Paulo will only bolster the Eels.
The big test will come from how the Eels attack will function without the quality service of Reed Mahoney from dummy half.
Stats That Matta Player of the Week
It’s an easy choice this week with Dylan Brown standing out.
His numbers speak volumes of how he played last week.
Dylan’s Tale of the Tape:
- 17 runs
- 168 running metres
- 66 possessions
- 51 post contact metres
- 294 kick metres
- 3 tackle busts
- 23 tackles
- 0 missed tackles
Yours in Blue and Gold
Colmac
