The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
The bye arrives for the Parramatta Eels with five straight wins at their back following their 48-20 victory over the Dolphins. A damn near perfect first half of action was following by a far scrappier second half performance but the Eels continued their offensive blitz in 2023.
Sixties and Forty20 jump into the post-match breakdown to discuss what went awry in the second half for the Blue & Gold as well as reinforce just how impressive their opening stanza was. The boys posit that the ugly second half might be just the things the coaches need to keep the team sharp through the looming bye period.
Jersey Flegg snapped their losing streak – coinciding with the returns of Ethan Sanders and Matt Arthur. Arthur bagged an early brace in Parra’s upset 22-12 win over the Sharks. It was tougher sledding for the NSW Cup though as they fell to the talented Newtown Jets 40-22 in what the scoreboard suggests was a far more competitive showing compared to recent weeks.
Think the way the 2nd half started with Dolphin knock-ons, that the team thought points would just flow their way and they didn’t step up the effort. Hands’ forward pass showed they got a bit complacent in this area.
Fair play to the Dolphins though in the 2nd 40. Whatever wisdom Bennett imparted at half-time really prepped them to dig in after a shakey start, where some excellent defence on their part saved what looked like a few likely 4 pointers.
For mine, wasn’t necessarily us being awful in the 2nd forty (we certainly were not good though), but the Dolphins being markedly improved to finish out the game.
Looking at the NRL ladder ‘form’ section for past 5 matches and seeing us exclusivly at 5-0 makes me incredibly happy. Great win and great run of form by the Eels whichever way you cut it.
Yeah, the second half needn’t stress anyone except the coaches who have plenty of reminders to keep the team from getting ahead of themselves.
Fantastic win I can’t really recall a 1st half like that surely a top 4 is not out of contention
That’s what we postulated Tanky.
Can what ever BA said to the team at half time……. Not be said again. I will book the win.
They just didn’t play Parra footy in the second half.
Swings and roundabouts
How good is carty and he’s loved by the boyz
Carty is on fire and the party loves being an Eel!
Putting the five wins in context Parra have scored 176 to 64 against. The second half was not great but the first half was one of rare beauty. Happy to bank the win and looking forward Parra is in a good position for the run to the finals.
Looking forward to a full house at CommBank Stadium vs Warriors
Gonna be a big game. Warriors have been really good this year.
And the Eels will have to do it without Origin stars
Unless Freddie outsmarts himself and picks other players…which, being selfish, I hope he does.
Nothing surprises with Freddy
In the presser…. BA mentioned that it’s the first time in his tenure that he has won 5 in a row. This stat surprised me. Perhaps Barrett has been a better fit for Parra and complementary to BA than I realised
The coaching team look to have a great rapport. Last year, as soon as Baz signed, he visited Eels training to check out the squad and meet everyone
The Eels are on a roll, winning momentum is now on their side.
Interesting contrast here. Dolphins are playing with plenty of injuries which has disrupted their season. Eels have better depth and senior playmakers but, also better systems so next man up knows his job. This systems mentality has been a signature of successful Storm and Roosters campaigns in recent years.
The Eels are building nicely into the season.
Went to Hensen Park, reserve grade are well off the mark. Eels looked good in patches; Moretti, Murchie and Rodwell looked good. Defense from the backline is fragile…
That probably sums up the roster depth – good in the forwards
And good forward depth is key to the style BA has the team playing.
How much of this is by design from Mark O’Neill or just the way the cards have fallen?
The Eels recruitment seems designed around finding value recruits that BA and his staff can develop. We don’t recruit marquee players – We spend that money on key retention
That second half is real ‘student of the game ‘ stuff, the Dolphins lifted their energy no doubt but my aging head has been beaten into submission by the task of analysing it, so I’ll just retain the pictures of blue and gold (and white) pouring downfield earlier on.
I think we made 1 or 2 errors in the first half but 8 in the second, so if I write up a summary,I’ll record that somewhere, and I don’t think ‘feeding the Hammer’ is even in the count.BUT…we’re back!
sixties, I swear I wrote the above before reading Gol’s commentary. I check error counts for every NRL game. It rarely falls out of pattern that errors determine losses and when it doesn’t, there’s usually a closeness in all other stats or one other standout that says why. A couple of things about errors…there’s different quality errors, and to say ‘stop making errors’ is like saying to Tim Tszyu ‘stop getting hit’.Also Gol has the same vibe on feeding the Hammer.
The eye test tells us that we made errors at the beginning of the second half when the Dolphins were still turning the ball over to us. Had we scored during that period, I’d suggest the landslide would have continued.
Yep, I thought the same,we just had to see their cards and raise the ante.
I’m more confident in our chances than I was at anytime last year. It’s gonna happen.
I’ve maintained all through this year that we are playing more consistent footy in 2023 than last year.