Who would have thunk it? The Sydney Roosters are really good. It turns out winning it all and then bringing back most of that team sets you up to hit the ground running. They handled our Parramatta Eels comfortably in the season opener for the 2022 NRLW enroute to a 38-16 win and gave our girls a glimpse at where the summit lies if they are to climb their way to the top.
Just as there were some tough lessons to take from this loss, so too were there were there positives for a team featuring plenty of new faces in important spots. Given the rapid nature of the NRLW season though, the challenge for Parramatta lies in how quickly they can meaningfully apply the knowledge and experience gained from yesterday.
So shall we take a little look-see at where the Eels fell short of the benchmark in the premiership and what else they might have cooking in their favour?
Line speed & initial contact costs Eels dearly
The men of the NRL squad were rightfully lambasted last week for their passive play and poor physicality against the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Unfortunately, our ladies followed their lead this week as they sat back set-after-set against an opponent that will plunder everything you give them and more.
Not only did it allow the formidable trio of Sarah Togatuki, Mya Hill-Moana and Keilee Joseph to gouge out tremendous gain through ruck, it also set the stage for the dynamic outside backs of the Tricolours to shine. Fullback Samantha Bremner and centres Jessica Sergis and Isabelle Kelly eviscerated the Eels out wide with our right edge in particular copping a hiding. The speed and confidence the Roosters exhibited in their attack was far too much for the Eels to contain before you even consider some of the overload wrinkles the Chooks threw in yesterday with Kelly popping up on the opposite side of the field.
The big question is – how much improvement can the Eels make defensively? Across the 25 rounds of the NRL we can see teams make legitimate changes and adjustments. For the NRLW however not only do they only have a month until the finals, they need to see results immediately in order to win enough games in order to make the postseason.
While fitness is obviously a critical component, so much about defence comes down to attitude – especially line speed. Our girls now have a week to get that right before they host the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Eels land plenty of jabs but never fire the cross
The Jab-Cross is one of the bread-and-butter combinations in boxing and the rugby league equivalent would almost certainly be the interchange of plays between halves, backrowers and fullbacks. Halfbacks and five-eighths will use their edge forwards to tear into the defensive line through consecutive sequences of play in order to open up the option behind to the fullback.
Parramatta actually did a quality job of the first half of this combo. Losana Lutu and Brooke-Morgan Walker made good use of Christian Pio and Vanessa Foliaki. Both backrowers ran into the defence without fear and Lutu and Foliaki even combined for a silky try in the second half. It was legitimate foundation work for the big shift to expose a defence selling out for the short ball…problem was that shift never came.
For whatever reason the Eels never really used Gayle Broughton as a sweeper to attack the widest channels on either side of the ruck. I would even take it a further and push that Parramatta just did a poor job in general of spotlighting their fullback. You need to lean on your difference makers – especially when playing the best in the competition – and we never allowed our dynamo fullback to post up out wide or isolate fatiguing forwards back in behind the ruck.
Fortunately, this is much simpler to rectify than the defensive issues seeing as the Blue & Gold have literally shown they can do the difficult part of the combination. All that is left is to throw a few crosses after the jabs against the Dragons next week.
The grit & the grub
Simaima Taufa aka the grit and Kennedy Cherrington aka the grub were easily the pick of the forwards for the Eels but they desperately need more support from their cohorts. Taufa was far from flawless given she accrued 7 missed tackles but her workload was gargantuan. 133m from 14 carries (with 4 tackle breaks) went alongside a whopping 51 tackles, 22 more than anyone else on the field. While her tireless work rate is incredibly commendable, the fact that she is essentially running herself into the ground leads to a higher rate of missed tackles. Sometimes more is less, even for a workhorse like Simaima but that means that others need to pick up the load.
Kennedy Cherrington was impressive coming off the bench but more than her numbers (122m from 12 carries and 21 tackles with only 2 missed) it was the fiery attitude and even outright grubbiness that caught the eye. Kennedy got under the skin of several Roosters and even got them off balance at times. The intensity of her play lends a certain gravity to her presence on the field. Things happen around her. She is a lightning rod and the kind of player you love to play with but not against.
As dynamic a duo as they two can be they need their other middles to step up from Round 2 and beyond. And that really is the theme for the first installment of Gin & Logic for this season. There is clearly talent in this team, they have shown a willingness to do the tough set up work in possession – they need to find their hunger and aggression in defence and load up through the middle in attack
The Final Word
Round 2 of the NRLW sees the Eels play their second and final home game as they host the St George Illawarra Dragons. It is another tough assignment for the Blue & Gold given that the Dragons enter this game red hot coming off a comprehensive 26-12 victory over the Titans. Emma Tonegato and Teagan Berry are electric threats from the backfield and will be playing behind a quality pack.
In a way it is the ideal follow-up for the Blue & Gold even considering the challenge. They will do their film review on their loss to the Roosters and then they will do their film preview on the Dragons. The Venn Diagram of key points between the two sessions will have plenty of overlap and hopefully add extra focus to their preparation for the upcoming week.
The Roosters, they of no juniors, manage to be competitive , retain even their rep players ( NRLW and NRL] , don’t exceed the cap, don’t lose players and sign basically the premium players available and evade scrutiny.
So good to see the odd billionaire strolling around their dressing sheds, as they retained Chrichton despite the reliable Rothfield suggesting they had issues keeping under the cap.
That’s such good a management when they are based in the most expensive real estate area in NSW and their players receive a pie and coffee compared to what they could get elsewhere.
That was a hard game to judge The Eels NRLW team when they were facing last years premiers , strengthened by signing the Titans best player in Brill. As you stared their 1,3 and 4 were able to outclass the girls out wide after punching thought the middle, their 11 very impressive. Lessons learned early in the comp may well assist as they move through games, but this appears to be a very competitive competition with basically no asy games. A very enjoyable game played in a way we have all enjoyed . On to the Dragons.
without question the Roosters 1, 3 & 4 outclassed the Eels. The game really flowed with possession and the Roosters were allowed to get back to back tries through a couple of runs of uninterrupted possessions. A shame that Parra couldn’t find strong enough defence to halt such momentum.
A really enjoyable game to watch (despite the result) and good to see the crowd build during the match. Also good to see the players from both sides engage with the crowd after the match, plenty of photos etc.Agree with the match report. Too slow off the line and allowed the Chooks to dictate terms. Plenty to work on in defense. Several poor kicking options at the end of sets showed inexperience (which is to be expected) and allowed the Chooks to start sets in good position and keep the Eels pinned in their own half for most of the 2nd period.
What happened to Maddie Studdon? Missed her at half back, especially the kicking game. Given the quality on display in other matches, this will be a building and learning year for the women in Blue & Gold.
They decided to go for new combinations around the halves.
Nothing like changing combinations regularly to ensure a lack of continuity!
I actually think letting Studdon go was a good idea. I felt she stifled our attack and she can’t kick a ball far enough to get us out of trouble.
On the evidence of the game against the chooks, the replacement’s kicking game left a lot to be desired (plenty of room for improvement) both in option taken & distance, which rarely got the team out of trouble & often increased the amount of pressure by gifting the opponent strong field position to start their set, especially in the 2nd half.
But that is only 1 game. Given the short season, improvements need to be made quickly.
I will still support the team no matter what.