Parramatta Eels 22
Melbourne Storm 10
First things first:
Tonight’s Post Game Grades has been outsourced to some of the incredible talent (who were quick enough to nab a player) on Twitter. All 17 player comments and the MVP are written by one of my wife’s favourite people, ‘Not-Mitch’.
How good!
Nonetheless I’m still writing The Good, The Bad and the X-Factor tonight, so I’ll get stuck in.
It’s always an ominous feeling when the talk about your side pre-game revolves around phrases like “anything is possible“, but tonight the glass slipper fit and the regular season fairytale came true for the Blue & Gold.
Where do I even begin? The two points is nice, the win felt incredible, but better than all of this is what a win like tonight might mean. The beauty of season long sport, particularly last man standing sport like the NRL, is that momentum could mean anything.
And tonight’s win kickstarts everything for the Eels in 2021, and with an incredible victory against the 19 straight undisputed favourites of the competition only a week out from Finals? That means the Eels could be in the sort of form you would want them in at the business end of the season for once.
What was your favourite play of the game?
Do you like tries? How about Fergo’s double? Or Lussick’s killer? Haze Dunster sliding over in the shadows of halftime?
Or do you like the defensive side of the ball? Dylan’s try savers? Junior Paulo running with Addo-Carr? Penisini on Olam?
Save the tape, burn the DVD, get all 80 minutes of this game tattooed across your back. Whatever it takes, in darker times in future seasons (or future weeks, for that matter), remember this game.
Hope Gutho’s knee/leg is ok. That’s it, that’s the whole section.
There’s a bit of “hold your head and see what happens” creeping into the game (and I can’t blame the players if I’m honest), and there feels like a million players on report after tonight’s game. Hopefully no issues for any guy who wears Blue & Gold. I actually thought the refereeing was fine tonight, but I guess that’s pretty easy to see when you get the win.
In other news:
- Storm 47% possession, Eels 53%
- Storm 30/40 completions (75%), Eels 32/40 (80%)
- Storm and Eels both with 10 errors (thought the Storm would have been well ahead there)
- Storm 7 linebreaks, Eels 4
- Storm 2195 running metres, Eels 2448
- Storm 420 post contact metres, Eels 487
- Storm 38 missed tackles, Eels 33
I also note a season low (4) in offloads tonight. Maybe our forward dominance had something to do with the fact that our middle three just tucked it under their respective arms are sprinted at the Melbourne defence? Whatever it was, it worked.
Tonight’s MVP was written by the only non-Eels fan contributor and all round great guy, AdamHux2:
As someone who isn’t a Parra fan (I still have a soft spot for them, don’t worry) I feel a bit dirty awarding MVP for what was, contextually, the most significant win for the Eels in the past decade.
That being said, I thought Isaiah Papali’i was outstanding and Joey Lussick did well and truly enough to generate some hope that Parra can go far without Reed, but the most valuable player for the Eels tonight was Mitchell Moses.
He set the tone early with a try assist to Fergo, while also controlling the game superbly with his kicking (17 for 563m). He picked his moments to run (5 for 43m) and filled in at fullback like a seasoned veteran at fullback while the King was off. This kind of performance against a historically great Storm team has those who insist he’s only a flat track bully in tatters, here’s to many more in the future (just not against the Roosters).
Clint Gutherson
1 – Fullback
Finding fault with Clint Gutherson’s effort tonight is like booking a Pfizer jab in a non-hotspot LGA – you’d be looking for a long time and with no guarantees of success.
The King’s 66 minutes on field included a superb try-save on Josh Addo-Carr, a beautifully defused 40/20 attempt from Jahrome Hughes and a pair of slick try assists to Dunster and Fergo. There was one forced error on the attack but The King was safe as houses at the back.
Worryingly though, the skipper limped off with 14 minutes to play but fingers crossed it was more a precaution. The man himself declared post-game that “a couple of beers should fix it“. Never change, Gutho.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by NRL.com’s very own Chris Kennedy.
Haze Dunster
2 – Left Wing
There once was a boy named Haze,
He played like he was lost in a maze.
But when the clock hit forty,
He found his way out,
And ended up having a pretty good game.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by Twitter legend, ParraEelsFacts.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
Whilst 2021 might not be the year that breaks our premiership drought, it may be the year that we remember fondly as “Wild” Will Penisini made his debut in an Eels jersey.
For mine, this kid has an enormous future. Solid in defence and direct in attack. My heart was in my mouth when The Munster stripped him one-on-one but let’s assume he’ll learn from that. I think he’s earned his spot in the starting side for the rest of the season, which I assume means the Grand Final…
This grade and comment has brought to you by boxing manager and Eels fan Matt Clark.
Waqa Blake
4 – Left Centre
With 14 runs for 102 metres and 5 tackle breaks, Waqa Blake was good in a team full of great performances tonight. His performance was summed up when he, Dylan Brown and Dunster pushed Lumelume out to save a crucial try while smiling with 7 minutes left.
Waqa loves this team and he puts effort in every week and I am jubilant at his recent change of form.
This grade and comment has brought to you by Twitter man of mystery, Rob.
Blake Ferguson
5 – Right Wing
The highlights are easy to point to for Fergo. The tries (2), the twinkletoes, the linebreaks (2) and the silky put downs that would put a scorned Tigers fan to shame. But it was ugly stuff that was most pleasing (and I dont mean his face).
The effort runs out of his own end and the relatively quick play the balls were inglorious but vital to the final scoreline. Fergo scrambled well and the defensive line meant he needed to at times. If only the defence had the same stiffness as the strapping of his upper body or my dong.
Would have been A plus if he was a bit better defensively but that’s searching for perfection to be honest.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by everyone’s favourite Twitter troll, Budu.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
Probably the game of the year from Dylbags. I thought his first twenty was average, refused to dig into the line. Far too often he turned into inside to a mundane hit up or an outside ball far too far from the line. Seemingly refused to go to the line and play.
Defensively it’s always the same with Dylan, he makes insane tackles 1 on 1, plays with ridiculous effort and covers so much ground. He’s the standout defensive half in the competition, throwing his 85 kilo frame around with far more force than seems possible. His work against Leumuele was the highlight but his tackle of Paps just after was also outstanding, there were many many more defensive moments but I don’t want to drag this on. I don’t know what happened but after about a quarter of the game, the player every Parra fan hopes Dylan can be showed up. He dug deep into the line in attack, engaged defenders and played the ball out the back. Typically to Gutho and was a huge part in the 2 Ferguson tries and the Dunster try.
As far as the number crunchers go, Dylan made 21 tackles for 1 miss (he is human defensively) and 13 runs for 100 metres
This grade and comment has been brought to you by Jarrad, founder of the Reed Mahoney Appreciation Society.
Mitch Moses
7 – Halfback
The Prince of Egypt is well and truly recovered from his broken back and with his own spine finally corrected, so was the Eels’.
Moses orchestrated an ambush tonight.
Melbourne’s first loss on Queensland soil in 30 matches, and how sweet it was to spoil their winning streak party with our 2nd win over them this season. The Lebanese international was switched on from the opening whistle, setting up our first points with a beautiful left-to-right double-cutout ball; closely followed with an accurate golf swing from the touchline, on his non-preferred side to boot.
And speaking of his boot, when he wasn’t setting up tries with a pass, he was creating opportunities with challenging bombs or deft grubbers. As expected, Mitch’s right boot copped a workout with 17 kicks for 563 metres to control the match and get us out of trouble when required. It’s no secret that he’s primarily in the side to control our attack, but he continued to stand up in defence. It was impressive to see him become a purple people eater with 17 tackles completed and only 1 missed.
Mitch kept our right edge defence tight. No easy feat considering our new combinations. And even in the unfamiliar custodian role to finish the match, he produced a Gutho-inspired try saver to defend his line. Going into this match, there was a big question mark over whether our “flat track bully” could stand up in a big game, and make no mistake, the Storm wanted this one. Despite a minor hiccup to start the second stanza which had spectators wondering whether they were about to witness a tale of two halves, Mitch regained his composure and stood tall.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by the self appointed Eloquent Eel.
Isaiah Papali’i
8 – Front Row
During the week, the media had the fans questioning who the buy of the season was and after tonight’s performance there is no way Isaiah Papali’i can not be your answer.
He came to Parra to play in the middle and, after a very lengthy stint in the second row, he’s found himself back there for the past few weeks. Tonight was easily his strongest performance with the 8 on his back. The big man was just shy of a full 80 minute performance with 179 all run meters under his belt, the most of the Blue & Gold. While a very solid defender (35 tackles) Papi was arguably one of the most threatening men with the ball tallying 6 tackle breaks, which is quite the feat against the men from Melbourne, if you ask me.
I like to consider myself quite a rugby league expert on Twitter having been very vocal about my disdain with the decision to not slot Papali’i right into Ryan Matterson’s spot. But after tonight’s performance, maybe I’ll cut BA and the coaching staff some slack…just a little.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by the zombie of Victoria’s last Twitter account.
Joey Lussick
9 – Hooker
Great defensive effort as always, leading the tackle count with 38 tackles and only 3 misses in an 80 minute performance. Crisp service from dummy half and picked up a well deserved try to break the backs of the Storm at a time when the game was really in the balance.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by better than me, not as good as Moses, Mitchell Lloyd.
Junior Paulo
10 – Front Row
Junior Paulo ran for 136 from 14 hit ups, 67 meters post contact. 2 freaking tackle breaks. The guy was machine, real war horse type for tonight’s ambush.
(By the way I’m sorry this isn’t longer, I’m about 15 drinks deep at the local Irish Pub)
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Shaun Lane
11 – Second Row
Only a brief 38 minutes for Laney tonight. He was solid enough, though prone to drifting too central in defence, leaving our left side backline outnumbered.
This grade and comment has been cooked up by resident chef, Scott Luther.
Marata Niukore
12 – Second Row
Since returning to the right hand edge, Marata Niukore has shored up the defence and given direction to the attack. Gave the right edge of Penisini and Ferguson some solid direction in attack and defence. Strong bodied, holding position. Was strong until going off after a dog shot from some Storm grub* in the second half and didn’t return. Snuffed out some promising Melbourne raids on the Eels right edge/Storm left edge.
* May or may not have been a dog shot and may or may not be looking through one blue lens and one gold lens.
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Nathan Brown
13 – Lock
While still not quite back to his threatening best, his effort (22 runs for 176 metres, 3 offloads and 28 tackles) was still outstanding. As a certain ex-Eels coach who featured a bit in the pre-game promos once said: “Played tough. Done good.“
This grade and comment has been brought to you by the anti-fascist Shaun C.
Ray Stone
14 – Interchange
Delighted to see the Moss Vale chippy finally get some game time. Whilst he didn’t have a direct impact, it was a solid performance by Stoney coming off the bench in his 22 minutes with 15 post contact metres, 5 hit ups, and 14 tackles with 100% efficiency and no errors. Knew his job and got it done. And sometimes, that’s all we need.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by maybe the nicest woman you’ll ever meet, Caron Lefever.
Bryce Cartwright
15 – Interchange
I’m not one for hyperbole, but Bryce Cartwright’s performance tonight changed the course of rugby league history. His 11 hitups for 108 metres and 21 tackles with 2 misses don’t tell the story, he drew defenders like a magnet then confused them like Henry Perenara reviewing a bunker decision. I’d say there is something about his ad-lib play that just works against the Storm defensive structure, but Braith Anasta said something similar on commentary and while this win might have turned the world upside down, even in bizarro land I am not agreeing with Braith.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by he who makes the most sense, Stu Gollan.
Maka Makatoa
16 – Interchange
Makehesi Makatoa continued his solid (late) start in first grade, playing 32 minutes and being thrust into the game early, coming on in the 13th minute. His high work rate continued, with 11 runs for 79 metres, one tackle break and 20 tackles during his two stints on field.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by the creator of Rugby League Eye Test, Carlos.
Keegan Hipgrave
17 – Interchange
Keegan Hipgrave came on for a few minutes to help Parramatta put Melbourne in the (hip)grave. A couple of silly penalties but if the team remain undefeated when he plays, he can be on the bench any day.
He also gets extra points for an outstanding mo.
This grade and comment has been brought to you by the Queen herself, Ladies Who League’s own, Mary K.
If you’re not currently watching a replay of the greatest Eels win since the 2019 dismantling of the Brisbane Broncos, do you even Eels?
Next week is our final regular season game for 2021 as we finish the season with half a team against our Western Sydney rivals, the Penrith Panthers.
Then, anything can happen in the Finals.
Whatever happens, I’ll see you then, sports fans.
Go you Eels,
Mitch
Photos courtesy of the Parramatta Eels. Stats usually courtesy of Champion Data, but for tonight only, NRL.com.
Give them all A’s! How good was that!
Wow it seemed a performance like that was beyond them for the rest of year!
That’s my rating too. What a win!
Great effort tonite, I tipped them and they came good. Hopefully we aere now recharged with self belief
Good on you Jonno. We all knew they had so much more in them, but that performance exceeded expectations
I couldn’t believe what I was watching (other than the first half’s left edge defence….. that didn’t surprise me). What a cracker of a game. It’s almost like they went into the week agreeing to put all the silly ‘trick shot’ stuff in the bin, and focus all their energy on high impact and speed footy. And did that work a treat.
Paulo running straight and hard – tick
Brown running straight and hard – tick
Ice – well he’s been good all season
Pivot pass at the line, gone – tick
Dropped balls, gone – tick
Niukore on the edge – tick
Lane in my view was good, regularly pushes past the advantage line and provides good momentum – with no silly passes this week.
I thought Waqa was fairly quiet. But in addition to the Hipgrave-effect, if that’s what it takes to win, then so be it.
Hopefully they can take that sort of form into the finals.
Well done on all the write ups too.
That is Parra footy. Forwards laying the platform. Play with aggression. Play some footy on that foundation.
You’re probably going to say it was easy to bring that together but my tech skills are D- , so well done Mitch.
Marata and Penisini make a big difference to the starting side, please let’s not change it. If Haze could just slide a little more, our defensive woes may be over. What was going on with our kick tap backs?? Storm grabbing them and launching attack from their own end. On the 6th one, my wife’s decibels damaged my ear drum.
Only blight was those tap backs. Fine if they are on the line and you are hitting back to your team but bombing from half way they would have been better catching the ball and falling over the line or handing over with our line set. It was obviously premeditated….. They will need to tweak…..I can not bath in this high for the week. Bravo boys
All kinda of emotions watching that. Today is a bright day despite the cloud cover!
The last one I swear Waqa could have caught it and surged toward the line, for some reason the Storm were metres away ball watching. I think they were cooked by then.
I was losing the plot too. The ball can bounce anywhere from that and it was one of those games where the bounce was kind to them. It was the Storms major momentum source.
Totally agree with this. You have to think they are generally going to be 50/50. Whereas it ended up being entirely 1 way. While there are probably a few execution issues for us to address (eg Waqa should have caught the last one) I thought Melb was lucky on balance. They didn’t contest the ball, and probably deserved a few more points being put on them.
Loved the tip sheet pod cast. Always do, but a win was just that much better.
The bounce of the ball. We do probably get 50/50 overall but sometimes a team gets all of the luck. I guess that’s footy Mick. Thanks for your support too.
Paulo chasing down Addo Carr was the highlight for me. Not only does he think he’s a half-back, but he thinks he has the pace too 🤣. Great effort from the boys. Just need to pull that out again for the finals.
So good the Fox had to go off in disgrace. Run down by Fergo and then a prop, shameful!
What a sight!
That moment summed up all of the other little moments that they won
Paulo was my man of the match. The stuff he did of the ball was amazing. But his non stop punching was brilliant to watch.
Oh if we could only fix our defence out wide …
Dedicate ALL training drills to focus on defence on our wings, fix this and we may even be a chance.
I don’t like our defensive system either Fathead. We need that slide element. But last night, in spite of a couple of issues, was an example of most players completing their role and the Storm, yes the Storm, is restricted to ten points.
I think they all should get A’s. What a awesome win no one gave us a chance in hell. Wish I had money on the Eels at $9 for the win. But let’s enjoy the win n see how we go vs the panther’s next weekend.
$101 picking exact margin of 12……
it was announced that players will be rested, so it’s now setting up for week one of the finals.
An ambush it was. Well played all. Well done BA. I think this shows how much players own the results. The coaches prepare the players but BA isn’t involved in the execution. That’s the domain of player performance.
I was worried seeing Junior and Gutho limping…but Hopefully nothing bad.. a weeks rest will help. It’s a good chance for the bench players to get decent minutes next week.
The dog shot on Marata hasn’t received much attention. He was intentionally punched in the face. Ask this question; if Nathan Brown did the same swinging arm motion to Bromwich? What would have been the outcome?? N Brown would have been sent off and be missing most the final series. It was a deliberate head shot!!
Go Eels!!
We must remember… We lost Gutho and Matata during the game and did not miss a beat. We did not have Cash. Sivvvvvvooooooo. RCG…. And Matto….. All of a sudden we seem to have rorters depth….. Don’t know where it came from. But BA got it right….. Our bloody spirits were lifted
I think we lost Laneo as well…. What a performance. 5 more games applying that effort we win the comp
I agree just 5 more game’s that’s all they have to give. If they do that we can party like it’s 86.
Just wanted to give another shout out to all those who contributed to Grades last night – what a win and a terrific edition of Post Game Grades!
How good!
Sure was a awesome win. A lot better this week doing grades then the weeks before i bet mitch.
“Ain’t no horse can’t be rode; ain’t no cowboy can’t be throwed.”
Cartwright was great – well balanced game. If he can keep that up he should start/get more minutes.
Nuikore also is great on the edge. Can we fit Cartwright, Nuikore and Matterson in the same team? Maybe Nuikore can play centre.
Having just watched the game again, I have to say Dylan Brown gets my vote for MoM. He normally has a good defensive game, but he was so awesome in attack last night. I absolutely love when half passes to half and they did it all night last night playing both sides, but particularly on the right and it just adds sooo much spice. Add Gutho into the mix and the three main ball players all touching the ball in the one play just creates option on option. Keep that shit up!
Cartwright also played great while he was on. Ran hard and his “D” has mostly been faultless from what I can recall, such improvement from the arm grabs he became famous for at the Titans.
I loved seeing Stoney chop a few in half too. Imagine how much better he would be with regular footy under his belt.
I feel so sorry for all these boys that aren’t playing Reggies week in week out that get a call up. Hipgrave, who maintains his unbeaten record looked gassed within 5 – 10 minutes but put in a big effort too.
I’m a bit unsure about the idea of resting for the Riff game?
We dont want to loose momentum but I reckon the likes of NBrown and Ice would enjoy a weeks rest after that game. NBrown for that matter, might not have a choice about a rest, even though it was a nothing tackle. He cant help it if the bloke he is tackling is taller than he is and the attackers chin lands on his shoulder???
Such a great Sunday compared to the previous few.
Go Eels.
Given the effort of Dunster, and his try in the first half and held his own + more, I think the rating is poor and does not reflect the effort he put in, and win contribution.
Just when I thought I was out they drag me back in.
That glimmer of hope is back and it’s a dangerous thing
top performance – what I enjoyed most what we were in control of what we were doing in attack and picking the times to push the attack. The stats showed that. Defence was great ( a few lapses in defence but that will happen in every game) but the scramble and cover ( especially Dylan Brown …and Junior….was awesome)
A real team effort – but a few things stood out –
Cartwright – best I have seen him play and the more minutes seemed to suit and gave him time to pick his moments rather than trying to fit all his tricks into 5 minutes
Penisini – the kid looks the goods
Marata – just a rock in the middle
Junior – Back to what he does best
Dylan Brown – incredible cover defence
Should be a big confidence booster going into the finals, and will create a real belief that we can do it.
Go Parra
Superb win.
For me the telling factor was our 1, 6,7 and 9 playing strongly and running well. I liked the way Lussick played, and his short play down the blindside was great. A Running dummy half when needed was v good to watch.
Our 3 middles of Brown, Junior and Papa also added the starch we needed. Think Cronk or Setsquare Ennis also said this, that these guys were the key, all playing well and all leading.
Excellent result, and we can now bounce into Penriff and send them back to the Red Cow pub…..at Penriff.
I think ppl should stop saying Waqa Blake to the wing like really his a centre.
What i don’t understand is why the hate towards Waqa Blake.
His been playing great doing all the dirty work making the hard yards making metre’s.
What I’d like to say is pensini should never see reserve grade again. This boy is great to watch. Great attacking player n defense.