Round 1 Drink Of Choice – Johnny Walker Red
Games in the NRL don’t always go to script and that was very much the case on Sunday as the Gold Coast Titans rose to the challenge of opening day in Round 1. On paper the Parramatta Eels were primed to explode out of the blocks and the first quarter of play leaned heavily into that thought but a slew of errors and mental lapses opened the door for the Titans to fight back. Thankfully for Brad Arthur and his Parramatta Eels, the Blue & Gold managed to navigate a number of plot twists through the course of the game to eke out a valuable two competition points.
Wins are all worth the same at the end of the season which is why the ugly ones are prized as highly as any other. For the Eels though this will almost certainly be a low-tide mark for their defence given they will be spurned to far greater heights as they rectify a number of basic system issues and individual blemishes. Sadly, there was an added layer of tragedy in this game with outstanding young winger Sean Russell rushed to the hospital following a horrific tackle attempt by Jayden Campbell. I will cover that in time but let’s start with all the other big blows to come out of the Round 1 action at CommBank Stadium.
Eels Take Newton’s Third Law Far Too Literally
Inertia and motion are a hell of a pair concepts and heck we see it in action in rugby league all the time. Force equalling mass multiplied by acceleration is practically the sub-title of the NRL but for the Eels the idea that for every action there needs to be an equal and an opposite needs to be limited to big hits and clutch kicks – not continually making errors after points.
Junior Paulo (incorrect play-the-ball), Clinton Gutherson (dropped kickoff) and Reed Mahoney (ill-advised charge down) all made mistakes that directly cost the Eels points in the following possession. Paulo and Gutherson in particular were costly given they came immediately after Parramatta had scored and gifted the Titans a way back into the contest.
The Gold Coast are a plucky bunch of upstarts and while they were able to extract points on the field from the errors, thankfully they weren’t able to extract any competition points from Parramatta. That won’t be the case against more fancied opposition though and tidying up those sort of lapses will be one of the priorities for Round 2 and onwards.
Eels Do Be On That Grind Though
Look, I freely acknowledge that the second half ended up a dour affair that left plenty feeling restless as they couldn’t close out the game in emphatic fashion. The other way to look at it though was as a yardstick of how far the team has grown. In years gone by there is no way that they have the poise and presence of mind to back themselves to win an ugly arm wrestle. Mitchell Moses would have gambled on a high-risk cut-off pass or any one of our ball-playing forwards would have forced an unnecessary offload.
Instead we settled in for the grind and wore the Titans down as Moses drilled penalty goal after penalty goal after penalty goal. Was it an aesthetically pleasing brand of footy? Hell no. Was it results orientated given the context of this particular? Damn right. Parramatta turned an alarming 60% completion rate deep into the first half into a respectable rate of 77% by the sounding of the full-time siren. More importantly, they drowned the Titans out of the game with a torrent of possession built on repeat sets and some incredibly astute Captain’s Challenges.
The Eels will clearly need to apply several layers of polish to the product they put on the park this week but it is nice to be able to step back and see the mental growth of the club at times.
Pack tactics
Going hand in hand with that grind first mindset was the shining performances of several forwards. Leading the way was Reagan Campbell-Gillard who helped take control of the second half with a dominant return from the bench. Isaiah Papali’i and Shaun Lane were pivotal as well with the former powering through a mountain of work in the tough conditions and the latter crashing over for a gutsy try and proving to be a constant menace down the left.
Junior Paulo posted great numbers as well but his costly error in possession (ditto for Clinton Gutherson) earns him an extremely rare stern look of disapproval from me. I am sure that the very thought it it has both men positively distraught (he said with oodles for self-deprecation) but truth be told it was a bizarre game in which both our co-captains were below par. The good news comes in the fact that they are not the sort of players to put two bad games back-to-back.
The Titans have plenty of fancied forwards themselves with Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Moeaki Fotuaika and David Fifita the envy of many a team but the Eels took them to task in the second half. We have seen plenty of teams aim up against Parramatta, armed with the knowledge that they are taking on one of the premier packs in the NRL, and time and time again our boys prevail.,Yesterday was another notch in that belt.
The Sean Russell Incident
This one cuts deep to write about if I am going to be honest. First we saw Haze Dunster have his shot at a breakout season robbed care of an ugly hip-drop tackle. Now we have Sean Russell consigned to a long rehabilitation stint as he recovers from two broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Russell started the season like a supernova with a first-half hat-trick against the Titans that featured savvy, guts and power. He paid a heavy toll for the completion of his hat-trick though with Jayden Campbell sliding into contact with his knees and making heavy contact. Staggeringly, the talented young Titan wasn’t put on report. There was no sin-bin or 8-point try. Play merely resumed as if there wasn’t a young man that could barely breath collapsed on the sideline.
This isn’t a one-sided condemnation of Campbell. I don’t think he he had intent to hurt with his attempt to save the try. It is a technical matter purely and simple but it is also something that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Russell wasn’t the only player that Campbell slid into with his knees. Waqa Blake was lucky to escape a similar fate when he scored in the 28th minute.
Eels fan are intimately aware of the ramifications that can and should come when you lead with your knees. Nathan Brown copped a deserved 2-week suspension in 2020 against the Titans funnily enough while Dylan Brown had an extremely high profile incident last year involving Drew Hutchinson which led to a 3-week suspension with an early guilty plea. I think that Dylan’s indiscretion lies at the more extreme end of the scale compared to Campbell but even in the solitary game we have a pattern of behaviour and a 1 or 2-week suspension would have been a reasonable response.
The fact that the match review committee deemed the incident to be clean and legal should be highly concerning for all fans. They have failed in a fundamental duty of care to all players in overlooking this and set an awful precedent for the remainder of the year. Naturally, I expect zero consistency from either the MRC or the judiciary and the next incident involving sliding knees is just as likely to catch a month long ban as it is to be hand waved away.
For Parramatta, they are now left to scramble to fill a hole on the left wing once again. Russell is listed as out indefinitely with credible specialists and tipsters listing his return window from anywhere between 6-12 weeks. It looms as the biggest question for fans in tomorrow’s Team List Tuesday.
The Fallout From The Sean Russell Incident
Much has been said and written about the reshuffle following Russell’s injury as Jake Arthur slotted into the halves, resulting in Dylan Brown pushing to left centre and Waqa Blake going one wide to wing. Above everything else I think it is fair to say that Jake had a subpar game. Playing in the halves can often be a game of rhythm and finding the right beat from the bench can be difficult. Yesterday young Arthur was playing at what Fletcher (of Whiplash fame) would succinctly describe as – not quite my tempo.
No need to throw chairs though (again, a Whiplash thing), the reality of Sunday was that replacing a winger was always going to be an ugly proposition. Bryce Cartwright still leads to an awkward backline reshuffle and even Tom Opacic and Hayze Perham bring extremely modest wing experience to the table.
Jake Arthur was both a preseason and trial standout and won a place on the Round 1 bench amidst injuries and suspensions to other core players. What made the selection seem to unpalatable to some fans post-game was the fact that he simply had a bad game. A bad game is okay. Clinton Gutherson also had a bad game. It happens. He, Jake and the team will move on and so should fans.
The Final Word
Losing Sean Russell is a hammerblow to a team already desperately low on wing talent. How Brad Arthur and Mark O’Neill cover this gaping wound will be equally impressive and fascinating. Do they pitch Waqa Blake to the wing and bring in Tom Opacic? Do they roll the dice on another young prospect in Samuel Loizou? Jamayne Isaako rebuffed them once, do they try again or do they find another external recruit? It will be the burning question that defines the Blue & Gold over the coming weeks and perhaps until either Maika Sivo or Russell can make a return.
In terms of the immediate future the Eels head to PointsBet Stadium to take on the Cronulla Sharks in Round 2. The Sharks fell short of the Raiders in a see-sawing match on the weekend but showed promising signs and Parramatta can ill-afford to repeat the same mistakes in their own quarter for a second game.
I trust that the Eels will take the lessons from the tape this week to heart and look forward to seeing how they fight through this testing period.
Thank you very much for this level headed analysis. Borrowing from your review process I have the Titans as my bolter team and as such was watching them more so than the issues the Eels had during the game. Thank you for providing me insight into what was happening with our players. This provides me with a more balanced perspective. cheers Martin
The biggest question remains the incompetence of the match review panel, at best the tackle on Russell was careless grade 2. Overall it feels as though the ongoing media comments that Preston Campbell’s son wouldn’t do it deliberately, while completely ignoring the fact that he did a pretty similar tackle on Blake which fortunately didn’t lead to injury , had some impact on the decision.
Feels like Dylan Brown’s suspension was somewhat related to the Politis/Robinson factor given their actions during and after that game.
A tragedy for the player and a poor look for the game, and frustrating for the fans as the media carry on as if it isn’t worth mentioning. Then again, imagine if it happened to Munster/Keary/Tommy Turbo and how they would react to a media darling getting hurt that way.
On to the next game , with yet another lack of confidence in the administration of our game.
Derek I have had a rant already but well said.
Couldn’t agree more Derek; isn’t it amazing? It’s round one and the nrl incompetence show rolls on. What makes me laugh is when they talk about player welfare for issues such as mental health which is a political point at times, yet we see these injuries to players with no penalty, and another young guy is sidelined for 6 weeks or so. Nothing from the MRC. Pathetic imo
Apparently the new judiciary system has video examples of the various gradings to assist the MRC, it would be interesting to compare Campbell’s effort to whatever they feel a grade one dangerous contact is!
Maybe we get a suspension if there was a stink kicked up about it, but it shouldn’t require that. Hopefully somebody at least has a chat with Campbell about his technique because he was coming in late with the knees a few times this game.
With the loss of Russel it means that we will likely/hopefully either take a punt on another rookie or with Marata back next game he can fill that spot as it was where he played with the eels at first, he will certainly provide a vg replacement.
I don’t believe that JA was that bad in the game and it was a real test for him, but I would like to see him take more time in reggies. Simmonson was something of a dissapointment for me, but being his first hit out, he should get another run. The worst thing that I picked up was that with him on the right side and Waqa on his inside it really showed as if we had gone back to the old too many slides leaving the outside unprotected, thought that had gone with the ta tah of Fergs and the cheers on the arrival of Dunster, who could give them some coaching in that department.
The attack did seem clunky with the reshuffle but I’ll second Martin’s thank you for the level headed analysis. I’d like to see Hayze on the wing. Though Blake moving to the wing with Opacic has its merits. A touch call for the coaching staff. Though if you are going to have injury crisis the wing is not as bad as say, hooker.
Thanks forty, great musings.
Definitely a change of gear into grind mode in the 2nd half. And happy to see we can change tactics mid game and also maintain composure to win a tight game.
Once the game got tight I felt confident the Eels would win – we’ve come a long way in the past 2 years. Equally the titans are lacking in this space as per their loss to the roosters the 21 finals.
The defensive lapses in the 1st half are disappointing, the numbering up wasn’t there. I’m sure this will be addressed quickly.
Reg, Lane, Ice and Paulo were immense when it was needed. As mentioned the Titans have a great pack so all the more impressive.
Yes the Eels don’t have the Politis factor so Russell cops it with no ramifications for Campbell… there’s a pungent lack of consistency in this.
You would think that Opacic would come in with waqa to the wing – proven Eels 1st grader who knows the defensive structures.
Onto the sharkies.
Good point about Parra being able to grind out wins. The attack was clunky in the second half but the completion rate went up, maintained field position and did not do anything really stupid.
Musings is back. Normality returns to the world.
Tks Forty, packed a lot in there. Making errors happens, the good teams defend them. The Gutho one cost us 10 points in 3 minutes
(not a knock, just a fact). As you say all a bit bizarre,and a one-off we hope. I just read that Annesley didn’t like the look of Moses winding down the clock but he was OK with the Campbell knees technique…now that is bizarre.
Thanks forty, a great read.
Issue for me is the defence out wide; the coaching staff need to sort this asap. We cant have such tries scored so quickly….from my 2mins watching, from the ruck before the tries, it was too quick and we allowed a quick play the ball, let alone hearing any communications from the players, and spacing etc. from A to B defenders etc. We just need to be on the game each game for me if we want to be a top 4 team.
Well said Milo, I get a bit lazy on the keyboard. The way we managed the ruck with Titans coming off their line was the polar opposite of any open field we ceded via errors, a couple of lucky bounces for the Titans, and 2 or 3 critical missed tackles. I must say the Titans really milked opportunity, good luck to them. A conclusion I was dicing with was that our mental approach was great with the structured grind stuff but loose when things didn’t go to script ( your point about reaction time and on the game).
An afterthought, I’d be surprised if it happened to that degree with Niukore and NBrown on the park. Both stay on the game, only injury slows them.
As I watched the second half I thought it was a bit 2021. Given how the first half unfolded and being Rd 1 for 2022 I was comfortable watching it.
They needed to get control back. It was not pretty but the patience of the grind worked for them. I was very happy to get the win.
A number refereeing decisions puzzle me.
That first try to Titans was off a forward pass.Sexton was behind the line – the winger collected in front of the line. I wonder if the sun blurs the linesman. That’s not the first time on that side looking into the sun where a try is awarded from a clear forward pass.
The other incident is Sami’s try from that bomb. There was a brief replay (only once) and Sami was off side. I watched the Bulldogs/ Cowboy game and Hammer ‘s try was disallowed because one foot was in front. Smith was on the 40 line and Sami was in front of it.
That’s 12 points the Titans got for free.
The third incident is Russell. That should have a careless tackle charge at the least and a penalty.
The last one is when Gutherson dribble the ball behind the goal line which resulted in a penalty. But, any other time that’s a professional foul and ten minutes. Holbrook complained about not getting 50 /50 calls. There is four for him.
Simmenson was caught out but so where the others. It was the fast long balls that stranded them. Otherwise his efforts were okay.
I like the way Parra settled down in the second and ground it out. Apart from that freak try the Titans never really looked like scoring.
Parra finished in front and that is two points
JA is not quite ready for top grade but, he is a learner and it’s only a matter of time.
Couple of things that have been let go in this commentary and seemingly missed.
Our right hand defence was atrocious and for all the bullshit about being better next week……what will be done? Papa is still on the edge and Kaufusi is lock?…..who’s coming across to protect that edge?
Nobody seems to understand that Papa on the edge is not going across or providing any cover…..this means Papa is not an edge. Penrith would have swamped the Titans winger in getting across to him. Penisini and Simmo had no chance, usually 4 against 2.
Finally the Elephant in the room JA is not a 5/8, he is only a 7 at this stage of his career with Parra, you cannot have a slow lumberer working off Mitchell Moses service, his kicks are not up to First grade standard and he effectively weakened us by taking kicks that MM would have made. Probably the best kicker in the game being shadowed by the worst. Yes JA shows promise and had a wonderful preseason. 40/20 says he just had a poor game…..sorry he is the person that made our 2nd Half clunky, because he was not suited to the position he was playing. My understanding and I stand to be corrected in the preseason match ups, he was the opposing half and not MM’s 5/8…..he simply cannot be allowed to play 5/8 if Brown is injured or repositioned.
Why haven’t you addressed any of this in your summaries 40/20?