The Cumberland Throw

Post Game Grades – Round 23 vs Bulldogs

 

Parramatta Eels 42

Canterbury Bulldogs 6

There’s a reason rugby league was played in the afternoon for one hundred years before TV deals drove us to Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and it isn’t just the lack of grandstand lighting for most of that time. The sun was shining, the crowd was buzzing and the Parramatta Eels were electrifying, daytime footy is the best.

From old boys day to Masked Wolf to the hiding the Eels dished out to their biggest rival, even my forgetting just how bad the sun gets in the Cronin Stand couldn’t dampen what was a sensational afternoon at CommBank Stadium. Seriously, somebody remind me about hats and sunglasses next time we have a day game, please.

From the moment the Bulldogs showed a complete lack of confidence in themselves by going for a penalty goal to make it 2-0, it was always going to be the Eels day. They chance their arm and score early this is a completely different game, but instead Parramatta marched down the field straight afterwards and the rest was history. By the first try in the second half their spirit was broken and the party was on.



I’m sure you could nitpick a few things about the performance today, but after putting 40 on the Bulldogs I’m not about that life. There were probably too many Bulldogs fans at the ground, but by the 60th minute that wasn’t really a problem anymore as they got an early start on the Parramatta Road traffic jam.

It’s a bit crazy that winning by 36 is only the fourth biggest hiding of the round (so far), but that’s late season footy for you. It was a Saturday afternoon statistical dominance, so for the numbers inclined:

Possession: Eels 54%, Bulldogs 46%
Completions: Eels 30/41 (73%), Bulldogs 24/36 (66%)
Run metres: Eels 1,744, Bulldogs 1,395
Line breaks: Eels 10, Bulldogs 4
Tackle breaks: Eels 30, Bulldogs 13
Offloads: Eels 16, Bulldogs 16
Tackles: Eels 279, Bulldogs 345
Missed tackles: Eels 13, Bulldogs 30


It was another good day for something wishy washy like “the team is the MVP” but in an excellent performance Dylan Brown was otherworldly. He started by putting the tries on then finished by scoring them, even showing soccer skills that will have Buzz Rothfield writing up “Wanderers to poach Eels star” articles ready for the Monday press. He must have really wanted to impress Masked Wolf, but whatever the inspiration you da MVP, Dylbags.



 

 

 

 

Clint Gutherson

1 – Fullback

Effective day for the King, who contributed a pair of try assists including a clever fakeout and long ball for the first. He nearly matched Mitch Moses for touches and passes, easing the pressure on the wounded halfback. He’s rounding into form at the right time of the year.


 

Maika Sivo

2 – Left Wing

Watching Maika Sivo do a modern interpretation of the Gorden Tallis ragdoll was one of the more violent moments I’ve seen from an Eels player this year, while the head slide following his try was one of the funniest. Bula iced his chance, was good in the return game and I am completely here for his walking down Kiraz after throwing him over the sideline like a garbage bag full of soiled nappies. 


 

Will Penisini

3 – Right Centre

It was an unselfish day from Will Penisini, who gifted Waqa Blake a try after stealing his wing spot to score the first. He was on the spot when Mitchell Moses explored down the short side and that combination is one of Parramatta’s more effective avenues to points right now. Let’s hope the rumours of his interest in rugby union as are shaky as the Leichhardt Oval fencing.


 

Tom Opacic

4 – Left Centre

I did not know Tom Opacic had a beast mode in him, but you could hear the Opamonster chewing and grinding Bulldog carcasses all the way to Belmore. His try was an effort of great strength, he was brutal defensively and broke an impressive seven tackles in his running. The highlight for me was his chasing Josh Addo-Carr out of dummy half, running the fastest man on the planet sideways and grassing him for no gain and negative momentum. Even that silly tap-on doesn’t diminish his effort, though don’t do it again please.


 

Waqa Blake

5 – Right Wing

This was another textbook Waqa Blake game, creating the first try with a great aerial effort and causing all sorts of problems under attacking kicks, then getting scored on off another scrum despite Parramatta having the numbers to cover the move. Offloading in your own half isn’t great either, especially when it dribbles straight to an opponent. Whoever said you have to love their worst to deserve their best was clearly a fan of the Eels winger.


 

Dylan Brown

6 – Five Eighth

Dylan Brown had the kind of game that makes you want to break the grades scale to fully reward how dominant it was. He was pinpoint in his kicking game and active in support to score a brace, but I needed to excuse myself for a moment after those passes. The ball to put Matterson over had it all; deception, accuracy and timing, while the cutout to Sivo was perfect execution of an incredibly difficult play. The breakout Dylan year was worth the wait.


 

Mitchell Moses

7 – Halfback

For a guy doing his best Mankind impression with a mandible claw, Mitchell Moses had a pretty solid day. He created an important try early with yet another successful short side exploration, then settled in to putting Isaiah Papali’i into space before icing the game with a masterful display of short kicking for Dylan Brown. He took a backseat to Dylan in touches, passes and spectacular moments, but played an important part in an impressive win.


 

RCG

8 – Front Row

Look at my boy Reg throwing a pass! On a day where the middle rolled freely it was a typically tough performance from RCG. He didn’t need to deliver superhuman numbers, he just rolled through the Bulldogs middle with nearly half of his 128 metres coming post contact. Others may have shined brighter, but Reg still put down the tough grind.


 

Reed Mahoney

9 – Hooker

With middle dominance like this a hooker should look good, and Reed Mahoney had a solid day against his future club without being a standout. The ineffective tackle numbers in defence are becoming a concern, but it was nice to see him darting from dummy half rather than just standing and delivering. I’d prefer he just run away from kicks rather than try and clean them up at this point, as he fumbled yet another one today.


 

Junior Paulo

10 – Front Row

Junior Paulo didn’t put up big numbers, but even with only 86 metres off 10 runs his 46 post contact metres makes up an impressive percentage of his total. That generally indicates some tough going, and he got away a few offloads and distributed well. There’ll be times we need bigger efforts from the co-captain, but today was not one of those days.


 

Shaun Lane

11 – Second Row

This week Shaun Lane was a Ferrari towing a rolling plough, a guy who has made a living creating something nearly every touch instead grinding out the hard yards. He made for an effective machine in farming tough metres, plus still managed a few killer offloads and made a tough tackle on a rampaging Luke Thompson. His missed tackle numbers crept a little higher than I’d like, but today’s game from Good Shaun Lane was a thank you card to his front row, giving them an easy afternoon while he ground out the Bulldogs middle.


 

Isaiah Papali’i

12 – Second Row

Ice mixing with Mitchell Moses created another delicious concoction of breaks, free arms and hard running, as Isaiah Papali’i tore the Bulldogs apart in the late stages of the first half. Maybe all of that time with Mitch convinced him he has a kicking game, but maybe next time just go through the hands to the fast guys either side of you. I’m hoping he spent his Saturday night with his teammates watching his interim future club get 70 put on them and finally decided “I’ve led them on long enough, time to up this quit campaign”.


 

Ryan Matterson

13 – Interchange

Ryan Matterson has been denied tries so many times he can’t even celebrate them properly, fearing they’ll be called back, but today his actuals equaled his denials as he ran a brilliant line off of Dylan Brown. He was tough in the middle, breaking plenty of tackles and distributing well, and my only knock on his game today is his choice of post try music. What the heck is that, Matto?


 

Ofahiki Ogden

14 – Interchange

The man I haven’t had time to give a nickname yet once again only found himself on the field for the late stages of a thrashing, but at least his team was dishing it out this week. He was busy and reasonably effective in a situation where it is hard to gauge much from his performance, plus he didn’t miss any tackles. I’d have taken the opportunity to give him good minutes in a hiding personally, but Brad is nothing if not a stickler to his plans for blooding new forwards in first grade.


 

Bryce Cartwright

15 – Interchange

It was nice to see a new way of using Bryce Cartwright, who really took to his role as a middle metre maker and putting ball playing as his second priority. This created his best attacking game in some time, and while game situation won’t work out this nicely for him every week, this is a much better use of his skills.


 

Oregon Kaufusi

16 – Interchange

Time to crack out the A stamp for Oggy, who played big minutes and broke the hundred metres while not missing a single tackle. He held the line in a way the bench has failed to do plenty of times this year, albeit on a good, downhill track. More of this please.


 

Marata Niukore

17 – Lock

Simba starting the game was a masterstroke, getting the best out of the hard running Marata Niukore and putting the Eels on the front foot. While there will undoubtedly be more complaints about Brad Arthur’s use of the bench, I’m all for Ryan Matterson coming on after 20 while Niukore carves through the opening stages.


Any time we can put 40 on the Bulldogs is a good time. I basked in the misery of Bulldogs fans as they trudged down the CommBank stairs with 15 to go. That’s what you get for coming to our house full of confidence. Everybody in a Blue and Gold jersey was Maika Sivo standing over Jacob Kiraz on the way home, and it was a beautiful feeling. 

Officially earning our 2022 postseason position was icing on a delicious cake. Now we fight for where in the finals we finish. One win in the next two should secure a home semi and two wins with a result going our way means a top four spot. The “other” scenario is not worth thinking about right now.

Most importantly, that was a huge confidence booster at just the right time. Now we travel up to Brisbane to play a Broncos team that has just had 60 put on them and hasn’t played a good game since they last beat us back in round 19. It won’t be easy, but if the Eels have really clicked into finals mode then it should be a cracker of a game.

Until next time, stay slippery Eels fans.

Gol

Stats and images provided by NRL

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31 thoughts on “Post Game Grades – Round 23 vs Bulldogs

  1. MickB

    I thought bench use was pretty good this week, at least from an eye test perspective. It seemed more dynamic and had more purpose than the usual predictable rotation. I agree Ogden could have come on earlier given the score line.

    I really thought the X factor at the beginning was Marata clearly going out to try and ‘hurt’ TPJ. After a few good beltings, we didn’t see much of TPJ. It was great.

    The only negatives in my mind were (1) Waqa needs to sort out his defence. That effort in the corner was amateur. (2) The stint in the first half where we started to self implode a bit was frustrating to watch.

    1. sixties

      I guess the good thing was that we were far from perfect but for the most part we defended our errors.

  2. Shelley

    While not best on field I was most pleased with Marata. For the first time all year Marata looked like he was going to hurt ( legally) the dogs in defence and run through them in attack. If he can repeat that for 25-30 minutes each game going into the finals, like he has done in the previous years, it strengthens us and our bench considerably. He did everything with speed and high intensity.

  3. Brett Allen

    I’m going to be called a curmudgeon or worse, but I think some of those A’s should be B’s. The Dogs were insipid, we were patchy with periods of dominance. A truly dominant, ruthless performance should’ve seen us put 60 on them, or at least raise the bat. Still too many lapses in attention to detail, more in ball security than defence this time

    1. BDon

      I’m not Catholic, but in a moment of confession, I had similar thoughts (or do you say ‘very bad thoughts’). Giving Gol some slack however, I decided to look at the grades as a comparison across players, and generally the levels look consistent with what I saw, but that period of bumbling in the first half, I just wish it didn’t happen.

  4. Zach

    Just to clarify, I agree that the team played great, but I just don’t agree with the particular grades. Shaun Lane, Papali’i and Moses for me had just as good a game as Brown. Those 4 are a lethal combo.

    1. Zach

      I love how I get a -1 for saying that I think that Moses, Papali’i and Lane played as well as Brown. Someone can’t handle an opinion.

      1. John Eel

        I agree with you Zach. I thought MM was one of the best for the Eels.

        To be rated an A- behind both Lane and Papali’i, no offence to those two forwards who played well, has Mitch underrated.

      2. BDon

        Another angle, out of those 4 you mentioned I reckon only Moses had no ‘oh s..t’ moments, but they all spent time in the silk department.

  5. Chris K

    I might be wrong, but could that be the first time we have played a team (Melbourne or Bulldogs) with The Fox in it, with him not scoring a try against us?

    Couple of near misses with Gutho ‘playing at the ball’ after his first line break ended in a point blank kick into the king who was looking to pick him off; and Dylan Brown doing the same desperation running back to try line we saw him employ against Manly on JAC’s second go. Great stuff!

    Hope we are preparing the War Chest to ensure we can pay and secure Moses and Brown on fair market value.

    Those three Moses to Brown kicks for tries (okay one was disallowed, and was offside) were purely sublime.

    I want in ten to fifteen years time Eels fans speaking of Moses and Brown with a similar reverence as they do about Sterling and Kenny – because in my opinion and on this year’s form, they are the two best individual and paired halves combination we have seen since those 80s Blue and Gold Gods.

    1. Gol Post author

      Dylan certainly had the kind of game in this one that makes you think he could be anything, he was amazing.

      As for Addo-Carr, before that hatty in the first game he didn’t actually have that great a record against us, I think 5 tries in 8 games?

  6. greg okladnikov

    A solid win with many high quality moments and one “sleepy” moment in defence which led to an easy try. Although not as emphatic as the Roosters or Sharks victory – when they all hammer a non top 8 team and make a statement, we also needed to as well – which I think we did. Marata starting seemed to change the power game at the start . And our general attack seemed to me everyone running more direct ( eg the Opacic try). All in all , a good performance and secures a top 8 spot

  7. ParaStew

    Enjoyed the game thoroughly with The only real complaint I have is just because everybody else is doing short drop outs doesn’t mean we have to, especially if we aren’t going to contest them!!

    1. Gol Post author

      Our short dropout strategy hasn’t progressed beyond “all our guys get blocked and Mitch throws his arms up for a penalty while the opposition catch the ball uncontested”.

    2. Wilhelmina

      You must’ve been sitting near me Stew – I was shouting at them for failing to contest the short dropout, utterly pointless! But at least we were managing to defend our line this game, albeit with plenty of help from the ineptness of the opposition.

  8. Mr controversy aka rev

    Yet again. Lane stands tall. But ffs how does he only get an A not A+ 🤦‍♂️ look i get it i really do.

    No one has ever rated lane n even wanted him gone from the club. I’d like to know where tbey are know.

    Still think we will lose in the semi’s. N another yr gone to waste.

    Brad Arthur has no idea about getting a team to a grand final.

    In 10 yrs at the eels we have either lost the 1st game n season over or if we made the top 4 we go out in str8 sets.

    Imo i think the player’s have had enough of hearing the same voice over n over again n that’s the real reason they are up n going.

    This yr we have a side that can beat anyone. Penrith n storm on their home ground are prime examples.

    Yet we also have a team that is lije a roller coaster it’s up n down season lose to teams we should beat i mean flogg not just win.

    Number 14 brad’s got a hatred on that number. The bench should be just 3 player’s. If jrs numbers are down why didn’t he put fresh legs on like Ogden’s. No excuses from brad. None whatsoever

    1. Wilhelmina

      Man, you really know how to kill a mood don’t you? Instead of doom-and-gloom predictions of future failure, could you, just maybe, give your “I hate BA” drum a rest and acknowledge that the strategy of starting Niukore, or of running lots of traffic at JAC, were highly effective? Heard of credit where credit is due?

      1. Brett Allen

        I’m not a BA hater, but he does have a point re our middle rotation. That game was a perfect opportunity to put extended minutes into Ogden and give Junior & RCG an early mark. He lacks foresight

        1. John Eel

          Brett it was an opportunity granted. It would have been a good opportunity for Ogden. At least Cartwright got some minutes

          1. Brett Allen

            Yeah, BA unfortunately never sets the trend. He’s always 10 minutes, a month, 3 years behind the curve.

        2. Spark

          I would have liked Ogden to have had more exposure but Junior just looks flat out unfit, I reckon he’s put some kilos on.

      2. Mr controversy aka rev

        Im happy for giving credit were due.

        But look at Paulo his numbers have been down 2 weeks straight he hasn’t cracked 100 running metre’s.

        Bring ogden on to give jr a rest. Instead brad leaves him jr out there. Brad surley know’s its a 4 men bench.

        His excuse the other week about jr n RCG play longer because of how much they get paid.

        What a joke weather they earn $10 or $1million should never determine the minutes you play.

        If they are tired bring them off simple really.

  9. Milo

    Thanks Gol – well done. I think Moses was superb tbh. I think a few too many A’s but hey won’t complain. We did well and won and thats key and yes there was some ups and downs but we did it well defensively.
    I would be happier if we see as many A’s after beating Brisbane. That is where the proof will be and then Melb. I think the next two games could be season defining for confidence.

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