Parramatta Eels 28
Manly Sea Eagles 24
What a ripper of a game of football that was. The Eels faced early adversity, adjusted and came home strong, then held off a late surge to take the biscuits. Manly attacked exactly as we thought they would, and despite a first 12 minutes that could be generously described as “shaky”, the makeshift Parramatta left side held together well enough to ensure the good work of Junior Paulo, Mitchell Moses and Blaize Talagi would not go to waste.
It’s a shame the discourse following the game was all referees and bunker instead of how good of a game of footy it was, but that’s football fans. Those complaining that an obvious obstruction was called because it wouldn’t have impacted the play were probably the same people complaining when the video referee would make different calls in near identical circumstances because they are not very good at deciding what is a defensive decision. The rule is black or white for a reason.
Maybe if this was framed as “does the rule work” instead of a partisan “were Manly screwed?” we’d have a more constructive conversation. Anthony Seibold complaining about how the game was “managed” doesn’t help matters. Maybe he wanted the referee to manage his side’s poor handling and discipline once they didn’t have a 4:1 share of possession?
Parramatta are proving a massive problem for opposing teams around the ruck, scoring tries that look simple but come from setting up patterns and tendencies set after set, then supporting and being in the right place when those are changed up to exploit the defence. Kelma Tuilagi scored an easy one off the shoulder of Mitchell Moses, while Moses himself backed up Junior Paulo on a freakish offload. Last week it was Lane and Hopgood, the week before Carty and Matto. These repeatable actions will eventually draw defences in and create space on the edges, and it is play like that which gives me hope for this next stretch that we’ve got a better system in place than years gone by, hopefully one that whoever our backup halfback is can slot right into.
For the numbers inclined:
Possession: Eels 53%, Sea Eagles 47%
Completions: Eels 34/41 (82%), Sea Eagles 24/33 (72%)
Running metres: Eels 1,437, Sea Eagles 1,307
Post-contact metres: Eels 427, Sea Eagles 399
Offloads: Eels 16, Sea Eagles 5
Tackles: Eels 267, Sea Eagles 286
Effective Tackle %: Eels 88.4%, Sea Eagles 83.9%
Errors: Eels 9, Sea Eagles 13
Penalties Conceded: Eels 5, Sea Eagles 9
Six Agains Conceded: Eels 2, Sea Eagles 3
Sooky Sin Bins: Sea Eagles 1, Eels 0
We barely got to enjoy this win for 24 hours before disaster struck, with Mitchell Moses ruled out for anywhere from 1-3 months depending on which medical expert on Twitter you listen to. Lucky for us, our last memory of him for a little while is an MVP performance, putting three tries on and being on the spot to score another, but really securing the award for his constant chirping at his good mate and long time punching bag, Luke Brooks. The greatest chirp of all is that he did it on one leg. You da MVP, Mitch.
Clint Gutherson
1 – Fullback
A solid outing from the King against the club that let him leave. He was strong under the high ball and did his best to ruin Supercoach seasons everywhere when he laid out Tom Trbojevic on the play that was eventually called back for obstruction. He quietly led the Eels in metres too, but it was a game of hard work and little flash for Gutho.
Morgan Harper
2 – Left Wing
Morgan Harper being stood up by Reuben Garrick had me thinking “Molasses” would be a good nickname for him, but in the end Harper did enough of a job in an incredibly difficult circumstance. He’s very clearly not a winger, and a first game rookie may have just overtaken him as first-drop centre for the Eels going forward, but his effort was there and he got himself in the right spot for a crucial second half try. He doesn’t deserve to be judged for playing two thirds of his time in Blue and Gold so far hopelessly out of position.
Will Penisini
3 – Right Centre
Over on the “quiet side” Will Penisini made some quietly impressive defensive reads and shut down a couple of key attacking chances from the Sea Eagles. His effort to be on the spot for a kick that should never have got to him reminded me of Ray Price staring at the goal posts waiting for that rebound, and rarely is being compared to Pricey a bad thing for a man in Blue and Gold.
Blaize Talagi
4 – Left Centre
Most men can only dream of having the stones that Blaize Talagi showed in looking at Tom Trbojevic and deciding to go full Mack truck to score his try. There was plenty of room to the corner, but our boy Blaize decided the path of most resistance was the path to take, and left a Turbo shaped divot in the CommBank turf. He ran hard, tackled well and sure, his edge combination with Harper was exploited a few times, but he looked right at home in the top grade, not something you can say about too many 19 year old debutants. He’ll be something special.
Sean Russell
5 – Right Wing
Sean Russell is getting good at doing the hard yards, and that is just as well because it was about all that was asked of him in this one.
Dylan Brown
6 – Five Eighth
Dylan Brown’s scramble defence once again saved the Eels, while his vision to put the peach of a pass on for Harper’s try is the kind of attacking play that shows his growth as a ballplayer. He nearly got through on a couple of runs where not much was doing, and while Moses was the star in this one, Brown was strong in the last supporting role he’ll be playing for a couple of months.
Mitchell Moses
7 – Halfback
Mitch Moses took this one on his back and carried the team so hard he broke his foot. After a couple of quieter weeks, Moses was at his best as both a support player and with his deft passing game. There isn’t much to say about his injury other than it really sucks.
RCG
8 – Front Row
The fates have not been kind to the Campbell-Gillard family off the field, but out in the middle RCG was taking things out on any man unfortunate enough to be wearing maroon and white. He’s hitting hard, running hard and relishing the role of sole enforcer as Junior Paulo adjusts to life coming off the bench.
Joey Lussick
9 – Hooker
80 minutes, solid defence and a few too many wombat burrows, Joey Lussick looked fine in his solo-hooker role but we’re going to need to see a bit more from him in the coming weeks. At the least, a few of those ripping 40/20s from dummy half would be nice.
Joe Ofahengaue
16 – Prop
He’s tough and he’s doing a job, but it’s clear his brief is to get out there and hold the line. When your first stint is mostly spent on the back foot you can probably get away with only six runs, but Joe O might just earn himself the nickname Dave Gleeson, because he’s a great warm-up man for the main act.
Shaun Lane
11 – Second Row
Shaun Lane made 2 errors, missed 5 tackles and didn’t do much with the ball to stop me going straight to his stats to figure out if he had a sneaky good game or not. He did not.
Bryce Cartwright
12 – Second Row
Like Lane, Carty was quiet in this one, but unlike Lane he at least made some offloads and didn’t miss any tackles. 11 runs for 60 metres isn’t much of a return though.
J’maine Hopgood
13 – Interchange
Hopgood was another that struggled to make much of a dent in the Manly pack, but he broke some tackles, made some offloads and, like Carty, put a couple of shots on. Not much wrong here, but he’s had better games.
Luca Moretti
14 – Interchange
In 20 minutes Moretti showed some real mongrel, running hard and hitting hard while showing off a bit more size than I remembered from him. He’ll draw comparisons to former Eel and current unimpressive Sea Eagles Nathan Brown, minus the brain snaps and occasionally shooting out of the line at nobody.
Ryan Matterson
15 – Interchange
I feel like these grades are being a bit harsh on the forwards, after all they did claw the Eels back into the game after a rough start and really manhandled the Manly middle. The numbers don’t look impressive, and beyond Junior nobody really stood out as having an enormous game, but as a collective it was a strong performance. For Ryan Matterson’s part he also offloaded, did some hard sledding and at one point put in an audition for a halves berth in place of Mitchell Moses, dancing across the field and wondering why he didn’t have any runners coming off his shoulders.
Junior Paulo
10 – Interchange
How about that offload for Moses? Junior off the bench remains a cheat code, and while it might be slightly damaging to his ego, the fact that he goes out there and treats the opposition like a father throwing his toddler around a lounge room surely makes up for any potential pain he might feel from starting the match on the warm-up bike. 31 minutes was all it took this week to lead all Eels forwards in runs, metres, offloads and emasculations of men in Manly jerseys.
Kelma Tuilagi
17 – Interchange
Great run and line for his try, capping some hard charges in limited time on the field. He certainly looks a lot better as an edge runner than a wide defender.
Some quick hits:
- Whoever decided that we should cut off the victory song after one verse to play dance music, stop it. Give us the full song!
- How good was it watching former Eel Nathan Brown and former “contracted Parramatta player” Josh Aloiai fall to pieces? Brown was totally ineffective, Aloiai’s biggest contribution was his epic sook at the end of the game. Or maybe it was that dropped ball. Nah, probably the sook.
That was a very enjoyable afternoon all things told, a game where Manly threw plenty at the glaring weakness in our side, but still couldn’t score enough points to overcome the onslaught of the Parramatta forwards and the talents of Mitchell Moses and Junior Paulo. It was a game that shaped up and then played out as a real “squeaky bum” contest, and it could prove to be a crucial win come the business end of the year.
Things are going to get tough from here, but what the Eels look like without Mitchell Moses is something to ponder another day, say post 4PM on team list Tuesday. For now I’m going to bask in another great win over a long time rival, and enjoy their fans whinging about how biased referees are toward us instead of what is usually the other way around.
The reborn Tigers will be looking to roll the boulder aside on Easter Sunday and emerge victorious over the Eels in the traditional Easter Monday clash. Even without Moses, it’ll be a tough ask, but the Tigers play plucky against Parramatta and have proven notoriously difficult to put away in this game, at least since we christened the stadium with a half century against them in 2019. Here’s hoping next week is closer to that, but I’m anticipating another game where the edge of my stadium seat does more than its share of load bearing.
Until then, stay slippery Eels fans.
Gol
Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media
Had to wait for this report , but as usual it was worth it , thx Gol.
Sean Lane needs to get serious , he’s been talking big in the lead up to the season about attitude. It , for me comes down to body language. He needs to get psyched up , his face expression is passive , get some mojo , rip and tear and know more mr nice guy. Waiting around for that hard and flat pass from Dylan can be hard to catch , opposition are expecting it and it’s low percentage for success. Some of his efforts in defence were piss poor and he is sulking. We have moretti , and kelma ready to step in. Hopgood gave away two early penalties but I think he really worked into the game and had more of an impact than you report Gol. Simmo should come back onto a wing if russell doesn’t work out how to get more involved. Simmo played wing in a Canberra grand final and was solid in our gf appearance against riff, he’s fast and a biggish pocket dynamo. Sivo comes in naturally but my oath he needs to get real. Our new centre is very interesting, he is only slightly built but bulldozed TT in scoring his try , as Gol mentioned there was probably a more circuitous route to the line and the safer bet but he backed himself. Sometimes a young rookie can get a sudden sense of this game is easy and try to do it all themselves, for me this was evidenced in his run in space where he decided to put the foot down and get between defenders instead of draw and pass to the winger if only to then have the winger pass back to him in a better try scoring position. I’ve not seen much of him so maybe someone who has can comment re does he have genuine speed. Don’t get me wrong he seems level headed and I’m excited to have him onboard. Thx again Gol
I liked what I saw from Blaize but not a A- he was impressive.
I’m going easy on Harper I never rated him as signing now he’s playing out of postion we all knew our outside back depth was shite and this is what we got I’m hoping Simonsson comes back to the wing and sivo spends tine in Reggie’s but I’m sure he won’t.
In the 1st half I was ready to kill Hopgood 2 piggy back penalties but he got better.
Loosing Mitch means this is Dylan’s time to step up
I understand he is a Rookie and he scored a nice try but was watching a different game if Blaize was an A-. He looked pretty lost pretty regularly.
Lane is doesn’t have his head in the game.
Kelma needs to stop getting caught laying in the ruck.
Loved Morettis energy. Lifted the team.
Ryan Matterson also stepped up.
Everyone will need to step up now we are sans Moses.
Absolutely agree there is no way Blaize was an A-. Scored a nice try but made some bad reads defensively and was lucky the dropped ball in the second half didn’t cost us.
Top reply Woody. Saved me typing. A+…please.
This was the youngster first full NRL game and yes he did get lost a couple of times in defence but, he gets an A for giving his best on debut. It was not an easy game and Harper was out of sorts in defence most of the game.
I wonder who is slower Harper or Mark Hughes 5/8 Bulldogs era. Hughes could beat a man walking but Harper seems to have very little acceleration and speed. That pass from Brown over the sideline Sivo would have burst onto it.
Give Sivo a start with a warning. Manly backs are quick but not as quick as the Tigers backline. They are fast.
It hasnt come out yet but Carty broke his ribs in the first run he had and you could tell he was hurting
Very brave effort. What a great start to the season from him
Yeah I seen him grabbing at it early at was in some discomfort every time after he was tackled
Thanks Gol. Always enjoy the read. I think you are selling Russell short. He not only had some great runs out of the red zone but he combined beautifully with Penesini in defence. I thought he was more a A- and I concur with others who have said Blaze was not a A-. But in saying that his was a gutsy performance indicative of a bright future.
It’s going to be very interesting to see the selections today. I am inclined to Gutho to 5/8 or and Blaze to fullback.
Nah, Blaize dropped, good solid game from a rookie – a few mistakes but didn’t let it bother him and looked for the most part comfortable there. A ‘B’ rating from me. Asi in for Moses and Dyl to half. Probably Kelma for Cartwright.
I doubt gutho moves from fb , that’s where he can best read the plays and orchestrate the team
Very brave effort. What a great start to the season from him
Tks Gol, some great insights, especially that thought field created by the forwards didn’t rate over-highly but played strong. I get it. Hopgood didn’t help by cruelling a strong start, in fact gifting that to Manly, with split seconds of ill discipline. He did it also in another game. He’s a footballer to his bootstraps, and I’m banking he’ll adjust, probably without BA’s ‘encouragement’ who may have slightly raised an eyebrow at him just in case.
Junior and Moses stood out.
Run hard, tackle hard – RCG and Moretti, the stereotypes.
Lussick is tradesmanlike and will expand selectively over time.
Turbo’s non-forward pass was exactly the same as Lane’s v Penrith pulled up.
Jake stopped precisely in the line, if he wasn’t there Moretti wouldn’t have stopped and been 2or 3 metres more across.
Agree with your point on Jake Turbo. His stop was point perfect to block Moretti. The Chanel 9 Manly centric commentary team were not so vocal when Simmonson was smashed by Luis the previous week.
Agree on moretti nd Jake stopped in the line so moretti lost his momentum and looked like he wasn’t going to contest but all that aside he ended up being pretty close to getting over if not 4 Jake.
As Manly scored the second try I thought Simmonsen was on the field, but Blaize did something that Penisini’s last three partners didn’t and learned how to defend inside the always shaky Harper, making 20 tackles in the process.
I think a bit more time in the big league and he might just shut down the left hand side freeway to the tryline that has cost us so much over the last few years.
I agree that the forwards didn’t have glamour games but they got on top of Manly and that was their job.
The trend of mistake free football started against the bulldogs admitted the more Parra like offload play that shows how good this team really is.
Plenty of pundits have been calling top 4 for Manly if TT stays fit. On this performance the Eels can finish ahead of them – if we can keep a team on the park.
Moses absence will be the test. If he can make it back after the bye it’s Brisbane then Melbourne to test him out. If not then we run the risk of being out of the 8 half way through the season.
I think the team has more mongrel in them than last year and will tough it out.
It’s going to be exciting times.
Now Bryce is out , really hope these injuries do not add up . Kelma to start Greig on to bench
Personally I think an “A” is the perfect reward for a 19 year old making his first grade debut.
What an achievement!
That’s a participation award.
No mention of Ethan Sanders as a replacement for Moses. Any thoughts from those who know more than me? Sixties? Forty? Gol?
I enjoyed the read. Thanks, Gol. Moses was great and deserves the MVP. The forwards did their thing and rolled the Manly pack. I thought Penisini was outstanding: terrific defence and great hot ups. Russell was very solid. Brown was dangerous running and threw some excellent passes. Talagi was excellent on debut and grew into the game, despite some potentially costly errors. The whole bench was great and clearly outplayed the Manly bench. Some of Moretti’s charges were awesome. And then there is the man called Junior….
I thought Penisini was great particularly defence and should have got an A. The forwards did their part and kept their best second rower quiet.
A great game and I think Sanders can do it. Asi is too slow – Sanders is quick and Tigers halves are not world beaters.
Simple not nrl ready , actually severly over rated , cant organise just plays , gives no direction and dosent talk and cant lead , sus in defence , in short he may only ever be a backup , a media beatup !
Regarding the no try for obstruction:
1. It’s subjective whether Moretti could have got to Turbo, or whether he deliberately manipulated the rules
2. It’s objective that a player in the line who impedes another player in any way has broken a rule and a penalty should be the result.
3. Gus Gould believes he is a God of RL and therefore above the rules and entitled to pronounce his subjective analysis as if it is a divine proclamation. That is a seriously huge ego.
McFersie that was sound and very deliberate logic. Jake T is a hero to many. However he is subject to the same rules as all the other NRL players and teams.
A little too personal about Gould. He is entitled to his opinion but it is just that- an opinion. Rules are rules.
Who cares its done , try and enjoy it !
I noticed the length of the victory song too, I actually emailed after the game and I received a response today.
“I can confirm I have passed this feedback onto the appropriate team, and they have reassured that this will revert back to the old length that was previously played at the game!”
Hope to be singing the full song on Monday night,
love reading every week mate keep it up! Go Parra!
Well done Connor
two things
1) That Eels completion rate despite the high number of offloads is very impressive
2) Moving Dylan Brown to 7 will expose our defence