NRL bad. Very bad, even. Juniors good. Very good, even.

I have no idea if that is enough to stymie the pain or shoo away the funk of apathy from Sunday’s disastrous loss to the Gold Coast Titans for everyone but it is something.

As bad as Sunday was, outside of the Jersey Flegg who surged to the top of the ladder, it was a banner day in the Junior Representatives with all four teams advancing to the second (and third week in the case of the girls) of the finals.

Anyway, the Weekend Wrap is back after Round 6 with ugly losses, dominant victories and a weirdly high percentage of come back wins on the docket.

 

NRL Round 6

Gold Coast Titans 52 defeat the Parramatta Eels 10

 

I won’t waste too many words here since between the podcast last night and the dozens of replies I made to the blog there has been plenty said. It is a rugged conversation so be sure to check it out if you are willing to wade into the carcass of the ugly loss.

Suffice to say, yesterday was unacceptable.

Even with the unbearable toll of injuries presently inflicted on our Eels there is a baseline level of performance and respect for the jersey that is expected. Against the Titans they failed themselves and the fans. When presented with numerous opportunities to grit their teeth, roll up their sleeves and grind their way back into the contest they chose to lazily gamble on the shortcut.

Each and every single time.

It left coach Jason Ryles distraught in the post-match press conference. For the first time in his tenure at the Eels he was left without a positive to take from a loss. Ryles was also pressed about potential roster changes and the viability of bringing in young prospects and he offered a blunt response that he isn’t interested in rushing anyone into first grade. That leaves a very small pool of fit but under performing players and their desperate coaches to figure it all out.

And figure it out they must because the Bulldogs now loom large and fans justifiably will not tolerate a repeat of yesterday’s capitulation.

 

NSW Cup Round 6

South Sydney Rabbitohs 38 defeat the Parramatta Eels 16

 

I caught glimpses of this loss as a backdrop to our instant reaction podcast and it felt like a game littered with tempo-halting errors and a general inability to contain Souths’ fullback Matt Dufty. With 10+ players injured or unavailable in the NRL squad, the Cup is obviously feeling the pinch at the moment.

Keen to hear thoughts from the readers on who, if anyone, impressed.

Young play-maker Lorenzo Talataina looked like he was pressing too hard and produced his most inconsistent game at the most untimely moment of the season. Again, based on the fractured slices I saw, Teancum Brown and Tyrese Lokeni had some reasonable charges.

Brown might find himself in legitimate NRL consideration this week, even if Ryles is reticent to throw young bodies at the various problems in first grade.

All that there is left to do for the NSW Cup is to persevere. Hopefully at some point they too can benefit from a gradual trickle of first graders eventually returning to the NRL.

 

Jersey Flegg Cup Round 6

Parramatta Eels 30 defeat the South Sydney Rabbitohs 4

 

One team that is presently thriving amidst the apocalyptic injury toll in other grades is the Jersey Flegg. Just one week after dispatching the Wests Tigers by the order of 30-4, they have invoked some serious deja vu with a 30-4 hammering of the Rabbitohs. Hell, both the Tigers (74th min) and Rabbitohs (73rd min) scored their lone tries at almost the exact same moment. Freaky stuff.

There is no trace of black magic to their game though. These Eels are building these wins on some steely defence and industrious efforts with the ball in hand.

With Ioane Lui in NSW Cup last week and seemingly injured this week, Harley Walker has been given an opportunity in this grade and he has quickly formed a good combination with Kade Moujalli in the halves. Walker scored a neat solo try on Saturday but it was a ridiculous first half run where he carried defenders for what must have been 20m that wowed onlookers. Pure effort from the five-eighth there.

Parramatta’s starting pack continue to be an incredibly stable presence for the team. Big Beau Lucien and the even bigger Jordan Miller have a balanced partnership in the front-row. Neither is shirking workload or impact efforts but both are playing nicely to their respective strengths with Miller the fairly obvious impact player. Meanwhile in the backrow Trace Beattie, Callum McMenemy and Zack Visconti are piling on relentless pressure on both sides of the ball.

The whole of team mentality is frankly such a refreshing contrast to the struggles of the NRL on the weekend and their share of first place in the competition (with best points differential no less) is a deserved reward after six weeks.

 

SG Ball Cup Finals Week 1

Parramatta Eels 34 defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs 20

 

Outside of the Tarsha Gale Cup, there was a bit of a comeback theme for the Eels in the first week of finals in the Junior Representatives. It all started in the SG Ball where Parramatta were ambushed by the Bulldogs in a furious opening salvo. The Dogs furiously laid siege to the ruck and the Eels got exposed repeatedly as Steven Nunn, Jireh-Trey Stewart, Ryda Talagi and Jackson Koina honestly got outplayed in the early exchanges.

Canterbury raced out to a 14-0 lead before Nathan Howlett engineered a try for Talen Risati with a rugged line break on a 5th tackle running play to get the Eels on the board. Even so, the Dogs would swiftly strike back and carry a 20-6 lead into the break.

It is for good reason that we don’t just call games over at half time because the Blue & Gold emerged from the period of respite on a mission.

Those four starting middles (well three and a dummy half!) that got over-run in the first half? They took it personally. The Eels took an immediate and violent stranglehold on the ruck which  proceeded a 35-minute symphony of destruction as the home team rapidly erased the 14-point deficit en-route to an unanswered 28-point shutout of their opposition.

Above all the other quality efforts across the park was the star turn of winger Cyrus Bloomfield. Parra’s left winger bagged a second half hat-trick that included a 90m effort against the run of play in a thrilling display of finishing capability. Flashy tries are one thing but Bloomfield’s work under the high ball was immaculate with the young flanker consistently high-pointing the ball throughout the game. Tack on the excellent work around the ruck and you have an outstanding all-round game.

The win sets up a revenge clash for the Eels against the Rabbitohs – the team that humbled them back in Round 6 in their lone loss of the season. South Sydney were the top seed coming into the finals but were upset by the Sea Eagles in a high scoring encounter as they fell 30-36.

 

 

Tarsha Gale Cup Finals Week 1

Parramatta Eels 30 defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs 14

 

Back-to-back games against the same opponents are pretty rare given they require the combination of the final regular season round and perfect finals seedings to align but it happened in both the SG Ball and Tarsha Gale Cups. For the Tarsha Gale it also resulted in a fascinating series of reverse splits over the two contests.

Last week in Round 9, the Bulldogs roared out of the gates and blitzed their way to a 22-6 lead at half time. Parramatta were a mess amidst all the chaos and could barely do a thing right. However, the second half saw a stunning reversal as the Eels routed their rivals to claim a 24-22 win in a damn near instant classic finish.

Fast forward to this game and it was the Eels who left the Bulldogs stunned and with jaws agape as they peeled off a mind-blowing six tries in the first half to assume a commanding 26-0 lead at the break. Obviously, just the one conversion means the scoreline didn’t blow out as far it could but Parramatta almost beat the clock going up in 4s!

There was a bit of everything from our girls as well.

Sharp work down the short side. Fontayne Tufuga, Billie Va’a and Freedom Crichton Ropati have you covered.

Clever, incisive running around the ruck, look no further than Ava Jones.

Expansive ball-playing from edge-to-edge to attack unexpected gaps. Aaliyah Soufan conducted a masterful game that had the Dogs reeling from set-to-set.

Tactical and pinpoint kicking for the flying weapons out wide. Zyon Ligaliga is right there with the exclamation mark and alley-oop from Soufan on the stroke of half time.

It was a charcuterie board of champagne footy and a reminder that these are indeed the reigning champions.

As with the SG Ball game I covered above and with the big comeback victory last week just mentioned – this game was very much not over. Canterbury were going to attempt to mount a comeback but did they have it in them to outgun our girls?

Thankfully, no.

The Bulldogs emerged from the sheds with more focus but still conceded a long range try to the wily work of Bailey Ma-Chong as she put Billie Va’a over for her second of the game. While Canterbury were able to strike back three times, the result was never in doubt and the Eels win a well earned week off as their reward.

 

Harold Matthews Cup Finals Week 1

Parramatta Eels 30 defeat the Canberra Raiders 28

 

Fans got a psychotic finish to the 4-game docket at Ringrose Park as the Parramatta Eels and the Canberra Raiders played out a game that was most certainly not for the faint of heart.

The Raiders got off to the closest thing to a perfect start possible when their core trio of backrower Sonny Lauvao, five-eighth Bailey Logue and left centre Atlas Atilua all scored within the first 14-minutes. In fact, it was 10-0 after just 4-minutes with Lauvao and Logue both scoring in alarming fashion – untouched from scrums – before the Eels managed to strike back through the combination of Salatielu Tamati and Elijah Alhazim as the five-eighth and winger found a dead zone in the Canberra defence off Tamati’s boot.

Oddly enough, the inverse pairing of Caleb Leiataua and William Memea Epe provided the next flash point for the Eels in similar fashion. Caleb deserves plenty of credit for salvaging a difficult pass and then somehow fending off a Raider to get the bomb away but so too does Memea Epe get his flowers for a cracking run and catch at the high ball.

Kicking again was the catalyst for points after half time for our boys as Alhazim’s tap back to Leonard Salter helped the Eels finally draw level. Well at least momentarily. Unfortunately, an error from Alhazim under the high ball offset his try-assist as the Raiders converted the opportunity into a burrow over try.

Things only got worse when Logue made a brilliant hustle play to charge down Tamati’s clearing kick 8-minutes later. Logue was rewarded with a room service bounce that allowed him to score what felt like a dagger against the Eels. There was left than 15-minutes left on the clock and the Raiders had usurped every iota of momentum in the contest.

The funny thing about usurping momentum though is that it cuts both way.

Enter William Mema Epe.

With the Raiders poised to score a third try in the second half, Parramatta’s left winger married good luck with a great play as his jam against a potential try-scoring scenario saw the flyer intercept a fumbled pass and scorch 90m downfield in a match defining moment. They aren’t exactly the same tries but you could almost overlay the Bloomfield and Memea Epe tries over each other in an uncanny series of events at Ringrose.

Let me channel my inner Matt Nable here as well. And how about Liam Martin? With the Eels down by 12-points before Memea Epe’s heroics, they needed every single point to count. That meant every conversion needed to be made, no matter how difficult. With ice in his veins, the young fullback calmly slotted the extras from the left sideline before putting Tyler Lama over 4-minutes later and then drilling the conversion again to lock the scores up at 28-all and set up a grandstand finish.

Given how much of a weakness goal kicking was for this team early in the season, this deserves some serious praise.

Still, the job wasn’t done and with under 2-minutes remaining it stood to reason that there would one Eel who be called on to finish the game every bit as strong as he started…the indefatigable Hayden Bell. Like the T1000 of Terminator 2 fame, it might as well take liquid nitrogen or molten steel to slow him down and it was his tireless footwork and carry into the teeth of the wilting Canberra defence that drew out a lazy arm and the penalty that would thrust the Eels into the second week of the finals.

That meant one last job for Liam Martin with the penalty goal required to secure the stunning victory. With the attempt lined up from 22m out and directly in front he had no qualms sending it straight through the posts and into the Wenty clubhouse.

This was a singularly bizarre game to cover. The Raiders cut swathes through the Eels at times but Parramatta just wouldn’t go away. The extended second half sequence of the Alhazim error into the Logue charge down could have and probably should have broken them but someone must have been playing the Rocky theme at Ringrose Park because they just kept hauling themselves off the canvas.

Like their senior brothers in the SG Ball, the Eels now find themselves faced with the minor premiers in Week 2 of the finals. As with the Rabbitohs in the SG Ball, the Newcastle Knights were upset in their game on the weekend – albeit by the Illawarra Steelers – and now travel to Eric Tweedale on Saturday to face the Eels.

 

Lisa Fiaola Cup Finals Week 1

Parramatta Eels 28 defeat the Canberra Raiders 18

 

So I heard you like come back victories? I am desperately trying not to have a Millennial Moment and go full Xzibit here but at times on Saturday it felt like someone was reckless inserting comebacks everywhere at Wentworthville. Try a fresh angle scriptwriters!

As with the SG Ball and Harold Matthews, the Lisa Fiaola found themselves quickly on the backfoot on Saturday. The Central Coast Roosters, whom the Eels had met two weeks prior, blended power and guile early on to keep Parramatta off balance and race out to a 12-0 lead.

An explosive break from Hine Rikiti following a gorgeous ball from Rylee Cash saw the Eels hit back before half time but it was a thunderous second half salvo that won this match.

Cash caught the Roosters asleep at the wheel early in the second stanza with a dummy and run on the last just 1-minute into the half and that set the tone henceforth.

Tegan Nicholas put Ruby Enosi Tuipulotu over with a trade mark Harbour Bridge pass before Sarah Alameddine saw the work of Cash earlier and thought to herself ‘I reckon I could do that too’ as the lock forward bamboozled the goal line defence of the visitors with a dummy and run of her own.

Hot potato hands from the whole team and some hot feet from Rikiti and Enosi Tuipulotu saw Ruby cross for her second shortly afterwards. Her hat-trick was completed in a try that mirrored her first as Tegan and Ruby combined beautifully to put a stamp on the game.

A week off awaits them now as they continue their bid for a perfect season.