The final match of the NRLW regular season features the Parramatta Eels and the Sydney Roosters, and there is a lot at stake as both sides have finals goals that they are yet to achieve.
The Eels need to win to be a chance of qualifying for next week’s semi-finals.. Unfortunately it’s also contingent on the Cowboys beating the Knights on Saturday for the Eels to overtake Newcastle on the ladder.
Meanwhile, a Roosters win would help them claim the minor premiership.
Game Info
Date: Sunday, September 22, 2024
Kick-off: 3:15 PM AEST
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
Referee: Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski
Broadcast: Foxtel and Nine Gem
Live Stream: Kayo & Nine Now
Team Lists
Parramatta Eels
1. Abbi Church 2. Zali Fay 3. Rory Owen 4. Rosie Kelly 5. Monique Donovan 6. Cassey Tohi-Hiku 7. Rachael Pearson 8. Elsie Albert 9. Taneka Todhunter 10. Madeline Jones 11. Chloe Jackson 12. Mahalia Murphy 13. Breanna Eales 14. Rosemarie Beckett 15. Tyla Amiatu 16. Jade Fonua 17. Lindsay Tui
18. Mia Middleton 19. Pihuka Berryman-Duff 20. Ruby-Jean Kennard 21. Kate Fallon 23. Tafao Asaua
After narrowly defeating the Raiders last round, the Eels have named an unchanged side for this must-win clash.
Back to back wins would have instilled confidence in the side and coach Georgallis would be unwilling to disrupt the team dynamic.
Sydney Roosters
1. Sam Bremner 2. Jayme Fressard 3. Jasmin Strange 4. Isabelle Kelly 5. Mia Wood 6. Brydie Parker 7. Jocelyn Keller 8. Mille Elliott 9. Keeley Davis 10. Otesa Pule 11. Amber Hall 12. Olivia Kernick 13. Tiana Davidson 14. Tavarna Papalii15. Pani Hopoate 16. Taina Naividi 17. Mya Hill-Moana
18. Samantha Economos 19. Tarryn Aiken 20. Kayla Jackson 21. Shannon Rose
Due to Eliza Lopamaua’s suspension, Amber Hall moves into the starting second row, and Millie Elliott starts after returning from the bench last week.
Pani Hopoate has been named on the interchange, while Mya Hill-Moana returns to the squad after a concussion.
Captain Isabelle Kelly has also been named despite an ankle injury last week, and Tarryn Aiken remains in the extended reserves as she recovers from a shoulder injury.
The Game
Rachael Pearson is in fine form after enjoying one of her best NRLW seasons. Her game management has been instrumental in guiding the Eels to five victories from eight starts.
Last week, Pearson’s precision kicking, including two crucial 40/30s, helped set the tone early. If she fires again, Parramatta could pull off an upset.
Aggression and intensity will be key at the start of the game, with Elsie Albert and Breanna Eales needing to lead the way.
Last week, Eales led the forward pack in running metres, cracking the 100 metre mark. Meanwhile, Albert had four tackle breaks and 42 post contact metres. Their direct running game and control of the middle lays the foundation for Parra’s attack.
Speaking of that attack, Rory Owen has become the find of the season. The likely rookie of the year wasn’t on the radar for supporters, let alone NRLW commentators, at the start of the season. However, along with fellow new-comer Chloe Jackson, the Eels have unearthed young players that the future can be built around. Look for both of these players to make their mark in this game on the edges and out wide.
The Roosters have peaked perfectly this season. The tricolours defence is the best in the competition and the talent they have across the board has clicked, which means the points have flowed in attack.
Isabelle Kelly has been in phenomenal form.. After tallying 350 metres against the Cowboys, and back-to-back efforts of over 260 metres in previous rounds, she is the readily identifiable player that the Eels need to contain to stand a chance of winning.
As far as the forward battle is concerned, Millie Boyle is enemy number one in the Eels quest for field position. Shutting her down would be a priority on Steve Georgallis’ tip sheet, and go a long way towards limiting the Roosters potential dominance through the middle.
Starting well and finding consistent line speed in defence will be another major goal on the Eels game plan. They need to apply the pressure to stop the Roosters from getting on the front foot. If the Roosters ball carriers are gifted too much latitude, they can run rampant against any team.
If the results of the earlier games fall the Eels way, the motivation for the Blue and Golds will be at a season high. They’ll need to channel every bit of that against the premiership favourites.
Prediction: Roosters by 8
Player of the Game: Isabelle Kelly
Kye
I’m hoping Tarryn Aiken doesn’t take the field. If it stays that way I reckon Parra are a genuine chance
Enjoyed the game, whilst a loss, no disgrace, the Roosters are a strong, fast team.One glaring difference was how the Roosters defence line pretty well always moved up and defended at the advantage line, the Eels usually were organised but allowing the opposition to run beyond the advantage line, they were effectively defending 3-5 metres into their own ground. The Roosters were usually doing easy 40-50 mtr sets and when this was combined with a penalty we were under big pressure from momentum. In fact they got away from us off the back of a soft penalty and big yardage set, when we were showing great fight.
The penalty was one of those annoying ones where the ball runner keeps hustling forward over the mark after the ‘held’ call, the tackler can’t disengage and gets pinged.
BDon, I reckon the team is a work in progress as a whole, but especially in defence. In the past they had zero line speed. They have come a long way in one season and I’ll be keen to see the advances they make in the next 12 months.
What impressed me sixties is the way they kept nosing back into the game, which indicates some confidence, grit and ability. But they made it hard on themselves by ceding too much ground in defence, not from lack of energy or tackling technique, simply from application of line speed. Gun Rooster centre Isabelle Kelly played like a middle forward because she saw the ground available and is strong and fast. Their No 1 always had too much ground to apply her pace, whereas our No 1 was just as skilled and busy but rarely had ground to work in. Loved Rachel Pearson’s kick off variation that won the ball back. I don’t know why the NRL guys don’t try more variations, they have the power of an Eric Cantona to hit the ball hard in different heights and directions, I ve seen DCE and Adam Reynolds try it, but to me they look like it’s a pot luck shot, not skilled and practiced.
What a great season !
The girls did the club and colours proud.
A couple of takeaways –
1. Abbi Church, wonderful but the coach just has to work on one aspect and that is – the dummy is the exception not the rule !
Too many times, Abbi chimed into the left side and had both Rory Owen and Zali Fay on her outside and she dummied and cut inside. In fact she does it all the time and as such, whilst being unsuccessful it wasted two fast attacking options.
Opposition players were aware of this and picked her up all the time.
Poor Zali never got a ball in the clear all season.
Other than that she is our Clint Gutherson.
Terrific player.
Talking about emulating others, I saw our female equivalent to Ray Price this year and that’s rookie Chloe Jackson.
Like Pricey, she is very light but tough.
She just never stops. Will be a wonderful player.
Still not completely sold on Mahalia Murphy as Captain. I think she is still struggling with her fitness, I would like to see Abbi Church take over but I’m sure Mahalia brings a lot that we don’t see.
Tanika Todhunter really stepped up and was wonderful.
Rory Owen – you star !
Next year we just have to try and get some ball out to our flanks.
Monique Donovan and Zali Fay are real flyers but never got clean ball.
Really enjoyed watching the girls and wish them all the best.
Spark, as I said to BDon above, the team is a work in progress. Steve and his staff will review where they have got to and the intricacies of what needs to improve. He’s taken them quite a few steps forward in just one season.
Steve has done a wonderful job and I’m sure that he’s all over it.
To anyone who is undecided, come down and watch a game.
I actually find it’s a hell of a lot of fun and I have a better time than going to the men’s game.
The girls are real professionals and just great people and will always be up for a chat and a photo .
A great opportunity so bring the kids down !
I’ve got a great photo of myself and Rory Owen… I look about 100 and she looks about 15 😂😂.
Just a great day out.
Classic Spark and agree about checking it out.
Long time lurker, first time commenter. Firstly, thanks to everyone in the TCT team for all the NRLW coverage this year! I’ve loved reading and listening along. It helped push me to attend my first game. A few assorted thoughts:
– Interesting what Kennedy said at halftime about Steve bringing a standard back to the club (and speaking of coaches, it was good seeing Ryles in the crowd too). I think it was in the Cowboys presser he said Abbi is firm at training about setting standards amongst the team, and you could see that with her spray at Mahalia for not getting onside for the 7 tackle set. It’s so good to see fire like that in the team.
– Abbi’s definitely captain material IMO, but I wonder if the co-captain role is similar to Kennedy being de-captained: able to set the tone on field, but her main focus is just playing hard without the pressures of captaincy. Kudos to Steve for switching the captains while we’re at it. I do think KC’s the heart of the team in many ways, but I’m not sure the captaincy role was right (at least, not yet!)
– Beckett is such a weapon. Really quick thinker. Have all of her tries this year come from dummy half? I also had some doubts about Todhunter early this season (mostly because she always seemed to go for a crash play that never worked out haha), but I’ve been really impressed in the last few weeks, especially defensively. Maybe it’s just me, but she looks stronger?
– Like everyone else, I hope we sign Rory Owen for life. If she’s not ROTY, we riot (genuinely, is anyone else likely to get it? I don’t follow every team as closely.) I’ve also been impressed with how well Rosie Kelly’s adapted from union. Looking forward to how she goes with a year of league experience under her belt. Same with Lindsay Tui – lots of speed and confidence off the bench. Chloe Jackson’s a star, always looks like she’s on the cusp of breaking through and scoring. A lot of the simple errors they make will be cleaned up in time. I’m glad we’re investing in the future. Excited to see who else debuts next year.
– Boss + Rueben’s early injuries definitely hurt, though Eales hasn’t been too bad of a backup. I think she’s gotten better each week. A short season is such a curse, in many ways.
– Seeing Cassey in open space was so good, though I wish we’d seen it more this game. She can be a game-changer.
– Who’s our goal kicker after Pearson / if she’s injured? Is it Cassey? I go back and forth on whether we should re-sign Pearson when her contract’s up. I’m not sure whether she’ll lead us to a GF, but I think she’s been good for this transitional period under a new coach, his structures, a bunch of juniors and newbies to the club etc. She’s reasonably solid, has a few tricks up her sleeves, her kick metres are good, as are most of her conversions; so I’m glad, if nothing else, that we’ve got her experience on hand while we keep building.
– While being so close to finals and missing out hurts, I do think 5th is probably ‘right’. We were outclassed by the Knights and Roosters (no comment on the reffing in this match though, which did us no favours). Should’ve probably won against the Sharks. Definitely shouldn’t have let the Dragons flog us to that degree. Still, absolutely shining with pride and excitement for next season!
– Speaking of, I know when the Warriors/Bulldogs expansion was announced, there were concerns about it being too quick, lack of depth in the talent pool, etc. I remember Parra’s 2023 season being pointed to on Reddit as an example of the dangers of rapid expansion and not letting the game grow naturally. And obviously, we’re not world beaters yet. But the turnaround in 12 months…it’s looking less like a talent pool problem for us, and more a coaching, recruiting, aging squad, confidence, and culture one (plus bad luck with injuries and suspensions). Tigers will probably be pointed at next if they keep losing, though I’ve been impressed with their grit too. Some close losses there. Anyways, hoping Wahs/Dogs means a longer season, stronger competition, more experience, and a better shot at finals! Fingers crossed it’s changed to the top 5/6 getting through next year, because the possibility of not making finals even with a 6-3 record feels cruel haha.
Here’s to a Parra premiership, hopefully coming soon!
(Also, highly recommend anyone who hasn’t been to a game yet, to go for it. So glad I went. Great atmosphere. Got to meet a few of the team afterwards, and you can tell how much they love the game and club.)
“Like everyone else, I hope we sign Rory Owen for life. If she’s not ROTY, we riot” – love this
Let’s riot!!
She doesn’t seem like the sort of person who will complain but I do feel a bit sorry for the kid.
Thanks for the kind words J. We want the Eels to be “one club” so our content has always followed that mantra of all things Blue and Gold. Glad you got to an NRLW match. The women are passionate about their footy and the club and are quite accessible for the fans.
Reading through your outstanding comments, I reckon I’d sum things up by saying that Steve Georgallis has started to unlock the potential in the team and the individuals. He will no doubt reflect on where to from here, collectively and individually.
A couple of notes. Beckett was a half and probably still could be though she has added to her frame and has the physicality for that 14 role. Is she still the heir apparent to Pearson or does that fall to another emerging player? Not sure.
Next kicker? Tohi-Hiku has a boot on her, but whether she covets that role is another question. The best kicker in the club is Alysha Bell. She’s just starting to consolidate a wing spot in the HNWP team so we’ll see how she progresses.