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You got a halfback, you got a fullback and suddenly we’re putting the band back together. The Blues (& Gold) brothers made all the difference for the Parramatta Eels in Round 13 as they emerged victorious from a high scoring shoot out against the Cronulla Sharks with a 34-22 win to their names.
Sixties and Forty20 look at the immense efforts of Mitchell Moses and Clinton Gutherson as Parra snapped a 5-game losing streak. There were plenty of other tremendous efforts across the park as the Eels finally overcame a series of second half fades against the competition leaders of all teams.
The boys were also joined by the wonderful Steve Ella for the Pre-Game Show live from the Bistro. Steve is a favourite of the show for good reason and he shares some great insight on the current attacking emphasis in the code, stories from State of Origin and how the Eels could engineer an upset against the Sharks.
When the Sharks narrowed the gap to 6 in the second half, I was thinking that even if we lose this it will be the first time I have felt pride in supporting the team since Round 3.
Sharks still have serious firepower across the field, where even without Hynes, their broken play attack can punish teams (we copped a couple last night). Their completion rate was also on point. To come away with the win was pretty special.
It is clearly evident that Gutherson and Moses keep the team honest in respect to effort with their leadership on the field.
Whatever coach we get, I hope he can motivate, and instill this want and enthusisam across the team, so they don’t clock off so much when the our two 5 Star Generals aren’t on the field.
Sharks are deadly in open field of play.
I thought our kick chase efforts were good for the most part.
Sharks would of torn a lot of teams apart last night with the high completion rate they had and very strong team even without hynes.
60’s said before the game his good we looked with Moses & gutho back in training.
They made every player lift immensely!
The kick chase from the 30 minute mark onwards was horrible. Makatoa was the culprit for the long range try prior to half time. He was 20m behind his teammates which forced Carty, Penisini & Simonsen to have cover more territory than they should’ve.
Carty was HIA and off. Bailey was injured
Regardless, Makatoa hung his teammates out to dry on that chase.
agreed – our kick chase has been one of, if not the worst in comp for many years – we use to get by with the downtown rule not in force yet but now we have the downtown rule our forwards are too lazy to chase and fill gaps in line. Makatoa too lazy in first half when Kennedy scored. Tualagi too lazy in second half for another Kennedy line break on kick return.
Obviously Clint and Mitchel were keys to the turn around. It should also be noyed that the nine gave an improved service all game from which all team membrrs benefitted , Lane embraced a new, simplified role and the rotation was used in a far more thoughtful fashion.
Almost Everyone has mentioned the difference Hands service is making – let’s hope Brendan can stay healthy, and can handle 80 mins of NRL week in week out.
Or better yet – Boods X hands as our hookers.
Let’s hope Matt Arthur gets his NRL debut soon sometime this year, what a brilliant player he is for our cup team.
Very happy with the win. Certainly not perfect but I’ll take that anytime over some of their recent games.
A question for anyone on the Simonsson no try. The bunker said the ball was dropped short of the try line but Cronulla got a 20m / 7 set tackle set because the ball ended up going dead. I don’t understand that, is that the rule?
Yeah I would have thought it’s just a turn over for a knock on in the field of play too. Then again, it was Atkins in the bunker and he also seemed to turn a blind eye to the fact Bailey was in a choke hold for 5-10 metres before he lost it – should have clearly been a penalty.
Agree on Klein but he’s usually worse.
Glad you have used my line about getting the band back together. It was the way the team should have started 23.
Hands was the standout for me. Great service and 55 tackles. Game over in the search for a number 9.
It would have been tempting to put Talagi on for Simmonsen when he started limping but he’s made of solid stuff. He’s worked his way out of being my least favourite player. After Gutho’s performance it might be a while before Blaize gets a regular run. On form you can’t replace anyone.
Only one issue with the left hand side defence last night where Russell left Sivo stranded and a try resulted.
Too easy to be hard on Sivo but he’s now the leading tryscorer after such a bad start to the year by him and the team.
With good ball I can see him racking up a few hat-tricks in the rest of the season.
Moses just has the skill to get the most out of the players.
The Roosters game in 2 weeks will be the test.
Get your tickets now!
Tks guys, winning makes better podcasts. No secrets there, the Sharks brought on their big lads to try and catch us out as the first half wore on, but with a real focus on that first 15 minutes of the second half, you could see them dial it up and they started to get 50/60 mtr sets…but we didn’t fall right away this time, and Ashley Klein actually chimed in with a circuit breaker, plus we scored, chewed up a bit of time and re-balanced. The Sharks put together a quality foundation for that game and we still outplayed them overall, perhaps a better effort than it rightly seemed.
Just ran into Nicho Hynes in Woolworths up in mountains. He was walking around (not limping)with McInnes, Young and Suuali. Was tempting to request that he not get injured and make sure NSW win.
Imo BA would still have a job if
a) picked Hands over Lussick
b) started Paulo with Ofenghue at lock
I liked BA don’t get me wrong, but his stubbornness got the better of him. Also semi unrelated but the sooner Matterson leaves the club and joins a Tennis tournament the better.
Good points and many people I’ve spoken to also tend to side with this perspective. His stubbornness on lussick & lane may of contributed to losing his job. People will deny this – but how many other top coaches would of kept playing them and not changing it up
Was a fun watch – some great moments and some terrible ones. More good than bad thanks to Moses and gutho.
That 10 period after half time and before we got the 6 agains for junior to crash over was stuff of nightmares and de ja vu. We came out of half slow and lacking intensity – kept getting rolled at ru k by sharks who looked to have picked up speed of game and we flat out barely hung on until that run of 6 agains. For me, lane and makatoa should not be in middle – especially not together. Lane was very ordinary in middle in my opinion and maka – well I don’t see what he offers that a younger, more mobile body such as moretti doesn’t. Anyway, a wins a win. Be sure needed it and hopefully we can get incrementally better I’ve over next few weeks cause the games are very winnable.
Ron,after half time I was sitting there thinking ‘Klein’s only got to hit us with a nit picking call or two and the Sharks will convert effort to points’, bugger me if he doesn’t hit the Sharks ( from memory a penalty and 2 six agains), we re not usually that lucky. I thought in the first couple of sets in the game, Jesse Ramien could have been pinged twice for obvious second efforts in the tackle, and when Rudolph came on he was laying in the tackle like a slug, so our luck was just the gods squaring up.
Ron, on our preview I spoke about the threat from the Sharks interchange. Forty and I then spoke about the surge that their bench delivered in that period that you mentioned. Sometimes you just have to give credit to the opposition for doing something well. And what about their completion rate!
Yep I’m definitely nit picking as it was semi expected given the disparity in bench quality between the teams but it’s frustrating seeing how makatoa, tualagi and lane especially choose to lay in ruck and not get back to marker in that 10-15 min period after half time. Tualagi and lane especially (at times) choose to still be getting back onside after opposition play the ball so they get that tackle off.
It seems that when speed off game goes up there are certain Middles/players for parra who go looking for an easy option instead of making the tackle and making an effort to get back to marker.
I suppose it feeds into why I get frustrated with the weak kick chase and weak kick pressure aswell. These are efforts that some players consistently shy away from when they are tired.
But a wins and win and winning might help us build better habits around these effort areas
Kudos to Barrett and the team. That was a very spirited win. Well done lads.
I was especially pleased to see Brown back as a wide running 5/8. IMO he should never had been moved and it was plainly obvious after the first game or two that it wasn’t going to work.
I was disappointed that Barrett didn’t move him last week but understand the motives.
Hopefully if we lose Moses to SOO that that experiment is well and truly over. Asi or Sanders can fill in at half.
Wasn’t there a reference in ‘Field of Dreams’ about going the distance ?
Trent ….”Go the distance ” – bring some more kids into the team.
Matt Arthur is a special as a bench player and I would like to see Guymer rotated through.
Plenty more work to be done but pleasing signs.
Spark, blooding Guymer and Arthur has to be a goal in the next month or so. Dylan will benefit from his time as the dominant half. As the most experienced player he had to learn to be a better talker. But trust me when I say this, no option brings the talk, the guidance, the demands that Moses brings.
What a nice change in fortunes. Definitely not perfect but great to see what had changed.
Apart from the majesty of Moses and the gusto of Gutho I liked Kelma’s running out wide and Lane’s running up the middle. Even Sivo seemed to lift and him monstering Kennedy on his way to a double was vintage. And Hands is very handy.
I obviously have no idea what was happening before re changes to the team but I like what Barret has brought so far. And I liked his comment re Blaize during the presser.
Not much chance for change so far Shaun. Longer turn arounds from here so we’ll see what happens. That alliteration was spot on, but I was looking for more from you as you named the other players.
Yes. I’ll be very interested to see how the team changes over the few months. Better lift my alliteration game for next week!
I’ll be watching mate
Loved the game and many played well. One sour note: Makatoa was really lazy in that long range Sharks try just before half time. Made no effort to keep the line straight and that was exploited. Makatoa is a toiler, a straight up and down toiler. I think he fell off a tackle v Storm that was the beginning of the end in that shame. Surely there are others more worthy of a place in the 17.
As Gutho said – ” we just had to win”. Footy can be complicated – but sometimes it is just running hard, minimal errors, good basic skills, good kick chase and an attitude to compete on every play. Our dummy half work was better with crisp passing and giving width to the attack, , our forwards ran harder and straighter, our defence scrambled and chased, and Gutho and Mitch drove the competitiveness and just seemed to lift the standards and effort of every player.
The win was important, but the fight and commitment and the attitude to compete was great to see. Go Parra!!
Spot on Greg. We just need to see that every week. They’ve shown that they can still produce – no excuses if there’s less than that.