Round 11 concludes for the Parramatta Eels with the Jersey Flegg clash against the Sea Eagles out at a favourite haunt of TCT in Ringrose Park. The Eels have struggled for consistency in this grade as the catastrophic injury toll in the NRL and NSW Cup caused cascading issues for the Under 21s when coupled with their own nicks and bruises but perhaps Round 11 marks a turning point.
It all starts with the season debuts of Toni Mataele and Jontay-Junior Betham-Misa with the powerful pair of forwards finally making their returns from serious injuries sustained in the NRL preseason. Both young men will start from the bench this week with the Parramatta forward further bolstered by the returns of Jack Colovatti and David Hollis. In another massive boost for the Blue & Gold, Kruz Niutilli-Schmidt finally returns from the injury that has sidelined him for a good six or so weeks and gives the Eels a much stronger rotation at dummy half.
We will be posting live updates from Ringrose Park, courtesy of Parrathruandthru as the Eels look to sweep the Sea Eagles across all three grades this week.
Jersey Flegg Team List
1. Dantoray Lui
2. Turoa Williams
3. Corey Fenning (c)
4. Josh Tuipulotu
5. Matthew Komolafe
6. Jabriel Kalache
7. Ethan Sanders
8. Jack Colovatti
9. David Tui
10. David Hollis
11. Peter Taateo
12. Lachlan Blackburn
13. Brock Parker
14. Kruz Niutili-Schmidt
15. Jontay-Junior Betham-Misa
16. Nikau Wrathall
17. Toni Mataele
First Half
Four minutes gone and Manly hoist a bomb. They regather the ball and score out wide.
Manly 6 Eels nil.
Sea Eagles are back on the attack and shift right. It pays dividends with their right winger scoring in the corner. Conversion from out wide is successful.
Manly 12 nil. 10 minutes gone.
Corey Fenning forced off with a HIA. Toni Mataele is on, making his return from a pre-season injury.
It’s all Manly at the moment. They put in a kick and regather, scoring under the posts.
Manly 18 nil – 16 minutes till half time.
Manly’s centre breaks the Eels defence through the middle. They go back to their right and the winger scores again.
Manly 24 nil. 11 minutes till half time
The tide has finally been stemmed. In his comeback game Mataele scores off a cross field bomb.
Manly lead 24-6. 3 minutes till half time.
The Eels finally have some momentum and score back to back tries. This time Turoa Williams gets over in the left corner. Ethan Sanders unsuccessful with the conversion.
Manly lead 24 to 10. Half time
Second Half
Repeat possession for the Eels brings a reward as David Tui gets over from dummy half, ten metres in from the right touch line. Unfortunately the conversion is again unsuccessful, with Parra chasing the score in fours not sixes.
Manly lead 24 to 14. 27 minutes to go.
The Eels run a wide short side play on the last tackle, and Williams scores again in the corner. The conversion is again missed. It’s four tries apiece but the Eels still trail by six.
Manly 24 lead Eels 18. 18 minutes remaining
Theres been a nasty spear tackle on a Parra player – looks like Mataele. The Manly winger has been put in the bin. Might have been lucky to avoid a full send off.
An opportunity is lost as Sanders puts Lachlan Blackburn into the clear but he can’t link with a support.
Manly look to be home now as they kick a field goal to go 7 up.
Manly 25 lead Parra 18. Two minutes to go.
Full time Manly 25 defeat Eels 18.
Our thanks again to Parrathruandthru for the updates from Ringrose Park.
I assume Manly have a decent side or are we playing poor?
Poor start. Our correspondent Parrathruandthru praised the performances of Toni Mataele, Turoa Williams and Matt Komolafe
who are our external recruiters, since Dylan Brown, it’s difficult to name 1 player that came to the club as a junior recruit that has made any dent in the NRL.
when we look at other teams, sure Penrith get solid support from the Bathurst and Port Macquarie areas, Canberra do well from Qld (Xavier Savage etc), Roosters and Storm scour NZ from 15/16 years and get good results.
This is an area which should come under scrutiny as we have had no value at all in the past decade really, sure we sign promising players from other clubs, but don’t seem to be able to identify younger players from country, Qld and NZ as well as other clubs.
This could be an interesting and valid point where the clubs resources haven’t provided value.
Agreed. We seem to have our best juniors pinched (stefano, reed) and largely produced mediocrity (Oregon). Surely there are good young outside backs and second rowers/props from qld and nz we are recruiting.
Reed was from Qld and recruited by the Dogs, we swapped him for next to nothing and gave them Joey Tramontana, so basically not one of our recruits at a junior age.
Exactly who is in charge of recruitment in junior ranks now every year I used to hear who was coming through to watch out for from Nolan or fieldsy now there’s no one.Manly have Schuster and olikolatu who apparently are parra juniors so what is going on.Stefano was talked up Oregon Hollis and Hughes 3 will be gone and the other god knows.We have a huge nursery someone has to be accountable.I will be approaching head of football next time I’m at game to find some answers
Derek in a sense I feel that there is a lack of confidence within the recruitment group as to who to throw the cash at.
As an example we need to be securing Moses, D Brown and Matterson like yesterday.
This may mean losing other players on a lower tier that can’t be accommodated with an upgrade. However this also means recruiting cheap young quality players and have the confidence in those recruitment decisions to give more than a one year train and trial.
They need to give players such as the three above longer term contracts without player options so that we are not going through the circus every year when a player may or not RE-sign.
I don’t believe in 10 year contracts but I believe that we must sign our top echelon of players on 3 to 5 year deals. As I understand we now have Gotho for the rest of his career.
John
My comments were directed at the lack of decent outside recruitment at lower levels, apart from the local class that is coming through currently there has not been a shot fired in players coming from outside the junior area.
Who is responsible for that, do we have a region that we prioritise , do we employ scouts outside our own patch. It’s a bit sparse if we look internally, all the rhetoric about how we have so many kids in two squads, hasn’t meant much so far.
As i said, Dylan Brown I think is the last young player brought into the junior reps that moved into NRL, so the question remains why.
Add to that the loss of so many NRL players for next season and little news of incomings, both are concerns that need to be addressed.
I agree with all of your points Anon. I may not have mentioned recruitment of juniors specifically but I meant to infer that.
There is a couple there now that may or may not amount to something. Dantoray Lui and Derek Hand. However they should be on the hunt to recruit more. Also once it is obvious they are not going to make it, move them on.
I think Storm do it better than anyone and they only keep the best.
If you are going to be a development club you have to be able to scout the talent and back your judgment.
The more immediate problem is getting those 3 signed or we are in a rebuilding process and we don’t want that.
Agree , but the point is that Lui was recruited from St George and Hand from Penrith, there seems to be a lack of scouting in country, Qld and NZ currently. It may be there is a fair bit going on, but our HOF is no fan of the media so not much speculation even regarding NRL
The discussion point is we need to step up in those areas and who and how will it be achieved. Penrith have been bolstering their ranks for a while from areas mentioned,and they have pushed players up in ages and are still ultra competitive, why aren’t the Eels.
Simple question , perhaps not a simple answer.
Watched Ball and Matthews this year a few times with grandson playing junior reps elsewhere, nothing there to excite.
That is fair enough. I agree. I thought Lui was from Queensland?
Bit difficult for me to comment from Qld, but why is the deliberations of the NRL side an aspect with the juniors i.e. they don’t come under the cap at all.
Derek has previously explained it is the selective poaching of our juniors (Manly) (Westmead High) etc that causes concern and now the id outside of our own areas is falling short on this discussion.
I would assume that a dedicated process is in place for this under an appropriate person, obviously Head of Football is where the bucks stops, but someone must own it under him?
Question for Derek is…..has the process improved since we lost Anderson and the shortfalls that existed under his regime?
I ask that question of Derek because I know he has seen the whole gambit!
Personally I have had a lot to do with junior sport development and have always found there is a process to follow and then the luck of finding the right talent scouts i.e. identifying and recruiting them…….talent scouts that is.
We should be using guys like el zakeem and Moretti now see if they can step up not wait till next year and throw them in and find they can’t cut it and haven’t signed anyone this is why we lose young players.
Had to wait till allowed , outside top 30 , think then talk !
Junior recruitment is at its lowest in 10 seasons , its a chaotic mess , just lost another one to dogs apparently !
Which player?
Mikey gabriel
If that’s true then we are in shambles – fmd Ray Charles would’ve been able to see the potential in that kid!!
Shame about the loss; it does seem we have been struggling in these grades for a while, and i know our work goes into the main roster but surely there needs some stability in the lower ranks? I can recall some decent names coming through the club from 4-5 yrs ago and it seems we lose so many. I know we wont pay overs for players but there have been some decent players lost and it seems junior coaches are changed quite often. I may be wrong…
Where are we running now last. I remember when parramatta was always first in third and reserve grade with great juniors, now this is unacceptable. Pathways need to be changed
Checked back , 2019 ball squad to top 30, penisini , russell , arthur , louizio , hughes , hollis , since then ,20220 nil , 2021, nil ,2022, nil , 2023 will be nil , 4 seasons not producing a top 30 player , complete disgrace , worst run juniors in nrl , not even a current elite squad !!!!
Thats very disappointing. Jobs for the boys without kpi’s
This is not a smart comment. Some of the Ball kids from 2020 are still teenagers. Throw in the fact they basically didn’t get to play for two years, and it’s an even more unrealistic expectation.
Rubbish comment billy !! Head in sand , didnt affect other clubs development !!!!!
🙄
Extreme, black and white statements like yours tend to be agenda-driven drivel that can safely be ignored.
It’s far more complex than you’re pretending, and every club will tell you junior development has affected. You’re seeing what backs up the opinion you’d already formed, before you went looking for “evidence”.
Hows the unicorns billy ??
Yep, you just keep attempting to belittle me, rather than challenging what I said. That’ll show everyone how right you are!
I simply put up a factual statement to start with and you ridiculed it ,check your first reply about not a smart statement , anyway you win not worth my time ,,finished !!
If you look at all of the top teams in the NRL, Panthers, Storm and Eels they all have good halves.
To keep them you have to spend big, further if you are looking there is no quality available.
There is nothing available that is better or cheaper than what we have.
Heres some facts , there are no players in the flegg or ball that show enough to be considered definite nrl prospects , our junior recruitment is in shambles and thats a fact !!!!!!!! Its a the lowest ebb its been in the last 10 years and dont use covid as the excuse , everyone else has handled it going by the FACT there well in front of us in all junior grades , heads need to roll , whose our scouts ray charles and stevie wonder , even when we do find someone we cant keep them .