Did Parra turn the corner?

Is it a false dawn?

These are the debates we could easily be having. There’s a fair chance they’ve already been had in many Parra households around the country.

But there was one indisputable fact – winning a game, let alone still being in the game at halftime, was certainly welcomed by my family.

Though I could easily highlight what I didn’t like, and things we need to do moving forward, I would prefer to focus on two areas that are very much within our control no matter the quality of the opposition. 

The first was the obvious increase in line speed of the Eels defence. You could see there was a collective effort to get off the line. The team moved up together and took time away from the opposition.

The Cowboys are not a top team but that line speed was critical in defeating them, as was a greater conviction with the defensive reads. For the most part when we went up, in or slid, the players on each side of the ruck moved together.

Marata Niukore

They say defence is all about attitude and from the outset you could see that Marata, Moses, Penisini and Dunster communicated well and defended as a unit.

However, from the stands, the most pleasing aspect was the running game and combination of Moses and Brown.

In 2019, these two looked like developing into a top flight halves pairing. I remember our finals victory over the Broncos. The way both players took on the line and worked together to pull apart the Broncos was pleasing and demonstrated so much promise.

To be clear, it’s not that they haven’t played as well since then. Rather, it seems to me that instead of building upon what was already there, they were almost trying to fix problems that had not yet manifested. In some ways, it seemed like Moses and Brown and Brown weren’t playing to their natural strengths.

Over the past two seasons, it has been a little disappointing to see Dylan and Mitch almost revert to playing exclusively on one side of the field, thereby underutilising that running combination.

Dylan Brown

This past weekend, it was interesting that Dylan looked more engaged, decisive and confident in his attacking game and this also resulted in him being involved in some great defensive reads. Indeed, his try came from pure defensive desire and effort.

I hope to see our halves continuing to develop their combination, not by trying to be like other pairings, but rather by being themselves. Moses and Brown are arguably amongst the fastest halves in the competition, and having them combine and run next to each other more frequently in games can only put some hesitancy into the opposition.

And my main take from last weekend?

We need to be the best version of ourselves.

In the past couple of months I think we have turned our focus onto what we cannot do. This past weekend we got a reminder of just what we can do.

Against Melbourne I want us to play our game.

We need to play through the middle and to play with patience. We need Gutho and others to push up in support through the middle and we need our halves to be decisive and use their speed.

Being the best version of ourselves is the only way for this team to build and become better. It is our identity, and we need to remember and embrace it.

Shelley

If you liked this article, you might consider supporting The Cumberland Throw.