Where to begin? There was almost too much to take in this morning, so much so that I almost considered not writing a report. To be honest, I’m not sure that any write up would do it justice. Action aplenty,…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 23: The Heat Is On!
Toughest pre-season ever? Every league fan is used to that hackneyed phrase. The reality is that every NRL coach would be looking for their season preparations to be a step up on the year before. A more accurate terminology would…
Parramatta District Representative Trials – Loving The Grassroots Footy
What a day! What a venue! What a crowd! St Pats College at Blacktown was the host for Saturday’s junior rugby league representative trials between the Parramatta Eels and the Penrith Panthers. This was grassroots footy at its finest. With…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 20: The Ole Switcheroo!
The end of another week of the pre-season is upon us, and the players were probably glad to see the back of this one. No doubt the squad were feeling the strain of the physically demanding conditioning and the relentless…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 19: Blood Brothers
Under much cooler grey skies the Parramatta squad took to the Saleyards fields for today’s skills/conditioning session. The spectators in attendance were duly treated to some impressive team and individual performances as the players continued their build up for the…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 16: Manu Monday
It was an early start at Saleyards today and those of us lucky enough to attend were treated to the return of Manu Ma’u to the training field. Manu has enjoyed some well deserved time off after the Four Nations…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 13: “Fry”Day Footy
Another scorcher for Eels training at Saleyards today. If you cracked an egg onto that running track, I reckon it would have cooked up in quick time. These blokes really earn their money during the pre-season. It was a mix…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 12: Skill or Be Skilled
Much kinder conditions greeted the players, and your correspondent, for today’s field session. With no opposed work slated in, there was a heavy focus on ball skills on the agenda. I’m convinced that Parramatta have up-skilled the entire squad –…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 11 – The Joe Show
I’ll make no apologies for the brevity of today’s report. Even at 8:30am the heat at Saleyards had me seriously questioning my sanity as I stood watching the backs work through a skills session. With Joey Grima running the blokes…
Eels Pre-Season Training – January 10 – Don’t Hold Back!
A new day and a shift to the south-eastern Salesyard field this morning as the squad completed another conditioning/skills session. The surface on the two fields is second to none – there’d be quite a few clubs who’d be envious…