All three grades returned to the winner’s column on the weekend – localised entirely to Friday actually. A welcome outcome to be certain after the frustrations of the week before where the NRL, Cup and Flegg either blew opportunities to win or produced their worst form of the season. Jason Ryles continues to gradually build his first-grade charges up as their month of largely ascending form was rewarded the team’s 3rd victory of the year. Nathan Cayless and Jordan Rankin produced important bounce-back wins in their respective grades to reclaim berths inside the Top 4 in what was a rather good weekend for the Eels.
Let’s explore what went right for the Blue & Gold in a fairly chill edition of The Weekend Wrap.
NRL
Parramatta Eels 28 defeat the Newcastle Knights 6
It was as close to a must-win scenario as you will generally find in a Round 11 contest but the Parramatta Eels simply eased past the Newcastle Knights on Friday night. With both rosters struggling this season it was originally expected, understandably so, that this would be a dour scrap between spoon contenders and while I wouldn’t badge the win as an extravagant display of skill – the fact is that the Eels puts the clamps on the Knights.
Mitchell Moses and Zac Lomax were finally united under the banner of the Blue & Gold are both proved to be instrumental in the victory. Moses pinned the Knights deep in the own half with a withering salvo of clearing kicks while the halfback took to the air himself to score the opening try of the game as well as set up Lomax’s second try of the game. Zac slipped straight back into prime form with an outstanding – and successful – audition for State of Origin. It was video game numbers again for the right flanker with 271m from 30 carries with 2 line breaks, 1 line break assists and 4 tackle breaks alongside his 2 tries.
Funnily enough, there were few instances of the two players combining together but the sheer force of their unified wills and skill sets provided a massive impact to the team.
Speaking of massive impacts – hello Jack Williams. Operating down the right edge in the opening exchanges of the game, Williams looked like he stolen the essence of Brad Fittler as he decimated the left edge of the Novocastrians with an explosive right-foot step on multiple occasions. The official statistics have him down for a solitary line break but it felt like he split the front line on at least 3 separate runs. Williams slid inside to the ruck later in the game to facilitate Jordan Samrani (congratulations on the first try, by the by!) entering the game but his success on the edge does create some interesting questions about where he could feature moving forwards.
Surprisingly, there has been a fair bit of negative energy from the fan base coming out of the 22-point win. A lot of it has focused on Will Penisini and to a lesser extent J’maine Hopgood with both struggling with handling errors against Newcastle. I do think there are legitimate criticisms to lay at the feet of both players (and others too) and I know I have certainly called out both of them throughout this year but I am talking about the immediate reaction of fans lapsing into aggressive criticism of the individual rather than celebration of a good win. I am going to be frank, that feels ass-backwards – especially in the context of our season – and while I absolutely believe there is merit to discussions about player form…guys, just take a minute and enjoy the win!
Elsewhere the Eels were well served by the continuing strong form of Josh Addo-Carr and Junior Paulo while Gideon Kautoga notched up another encouraging performance with healthy production in offence (14 runs, 121m, 1 tackle break, 3 offloads) matched by terrific defensive efficiency (36 tackles, 1 missed, 97.3% tackle efficiency). Kautoga is clearly still very raw but he is starting to leverage his physical prowess and impose himself somewhat on the opposition.
This match did leave me even more scrambled about what constitutes a knock-on (although not as bad as the Dolphins-Warriors game, sheesh) with the Knights losing the ball in contact several times without reprimand while Hopgood had the dubious honour of been penalised for two Knights taking each other out. Officiating standards continue to slide and if you watched any of the neutral match-ups on the weekend it isn’t just the Eels suffering for it. It is a real problem for the code.
In any event, the Eels lifted themselves off the bottom of the ladder on the back of this win combined with the Raiders doing just enough against the Titans to bump the Gold Coast below Parramatta by a sole point of for-and-against. It is a minor but welcome boost for the team and naturally any journey up the ladder starts with these little steps.
Next up are the Sea Eagles on Friday night with both Parramatta and Manly impacted by Origin. It will be a tough task to knock over our sister-franchise but with a real rivalry run looming (Sea Eagles, Panthers and Bulldogs) ahead of the Round 15 bye – the Eels really want to kick start some momentum here.
NSW Cup
Parramatta Eels 30 defeat the Newcastle Knights 10
Parramatta successfully navigated a tricky game in Round 11 with a comprehensive 30-10 victory over the lowly seeded but surprisingly talented Knights. The returns of a number of key players proved to be too much of a boost in this contest with Joash Papalii locking in 2 line break assists and 2 try assists while Charlie Guymer starred on the edges with a rugged all around performance. Guymer ran well (15 runs, 123m) and powered through the defensive work (30 tackles, 3 missed, 1 ineffective) but it was his eye-catching promoting the football that stood out. Guymer produced 3 offloads and was clearly looking to attack the Knights through the second phase in an aspect of play that we haven’t really seen from Charlie this year.
There were solid efforts across the park for the Blue & Gold in a positive return to form for the team after dropping the game against Canterbury the week prior. The standout scoring effort had to be Papalii’s try where Bryce Cartwright ripped off a brilliant offload that was followed up by a deft grubber kick on the run by Richard Penisini. The win lifts the Eels back into 3rd on the ladder and well positioned heading towards the mid-point of the season.
Jersey Flegg Cup
Parramatta Eels 24 defeat the Manly Sea Eagles 16
The Eels and Sea Eagles met on Friday night in a catch-up game dating all the way back to Round 4. Parramatta entered this game on the back of their worst performance of the season and there worrying signs of a continuance against Manly as they raced out to a 10-0 lead.
Parramatta struck back thankfully with Dom De Stradis claiming what has become close to a customary try with some sharp line running. That sent the teams into the sheds at half-time with Manly leading 10-6 and again the home team struck first in the second stanza to claim a 16-6 lead. Lorenzo Talataina lead the counter-attack for the Blue & Gold playing out of the unfamiliar role of dummy-half. He made a real fist of it mind you with the pound-for-pound monster using his strength to score from close range. Josh Lynn then leapt into action as he scored a try and then set Tyrese Lokeni up for the match sealing score.
It wasn’t a performance anywhere near their best but securing the win was crucial here. Back-to-back losses would have had the potential to destablise their mid-season run and with their 7th victory lodged, Parramatta clawed their way back into the Top 4. The SG Ball graduates will now really start to augment the squad and it should position the Eels for a big tilt at the title from here on.
Totally agree about the fan negativity. I was euphoric after a good win only to find unnecessarily personal negative comments on various sites. It was definitely a time for celebration. Hell it was our third win let’s bloody well enjoy the achievement. I really hope our players ignore social media.
Onto next week and a real chance of another win.
Loving Lorenzo playing hooker!
Could be a game changer for him and the eels if he embraces it.
He looked sharp with his speed and has the vision of a half.
Galvin to five eight and Lorenzo maybe our 14 and playing some hooker off the bench next year or the year after!
I’m surprised they have not looked at this with Joash but not sure his defence is as strong as Lorenzo.
If Lorenzo Talataina is such an outstanding prospect why do we have to look outside our club for a 5/8. Invest in our local juniors I reckon. We won 4 titles doing that.
He is very young and very small in height, hooker might end up his position.
There is no way he would be ready for a five eight position in first grade next year in my opinion.
We don’t have to look elsewhere but if the opportunity arises to sign Galvin then it needs to be done. At Talataina’s age Galvin was not only playing first grade but was playing at a very high standard
What’s the go with Dunster? He has been great when he plays but he cannot string more than 2 games together this year. And nothing on the injury list other than that 1 hamstring injury. Not to mention his trial absence.
Tks Forty. Keen to see Joash Papali’i in NRL, he seems to get the thumbs up every week , so I guess my curiosity is building.
I commented elsewhere on that bizarre Hopgood penalty, the bloke whose scone Hopgood accidentally glanced even looked in front of the ball carrier who Hopgood tackled legally and well. A total cock up by the Knights draws a penalty which the ref seemed to have no idea what actually happened. I liked the way Moses diplomatically withdrew when he realised the ref was in trouble. He knows you’ve got no hope when they know what happened, absolutely beyond any hope when they don’t.
I feel like with all the negativity people are forgetting that for the first time in literal years, the team kept their opposition to single digit points. Nearly got a duck egg with the knights only scoring in the last 5 minutes.
Yeah the knights are horrendous but this is a team that last year almost lost to the dragons in the last 11 minutes scoring 5 unanswered tries. I think people need to start looking at the positives abit more because even though we’re in a bad spot I am seeing a lot of positives in this new look, extremely young team.