Parramatta head into the Auckland Nines as part of the Rangitoto group. That will seem face up to the Sea Eagles, Knights and Dragons in a bid to progress through to the quarter finals. According to bookmakers guides, the Eels and Knights are favoured to progress.
Make no mistake, Parramatta has a very strong side. This is a format that was just made for Chris Sandow and with him pulling the strings, it should create plenty of opportunities for the rest of the side. Kaysa Pritchard will also be suited and he’ll provide a lot of zip out of dummy half and you can put me down for him burying over for a try at some point. We have both pace and size in the outside backs but I think our real advantage is in the forwards. Parramatta’s forward pack is characterised by its mobility, power and skill - occasionally they get outmuscled in NRL matches, but this format really does suit them down to the ground and opposition teams are going to have nightmares trying to deal with the likes of Moeroa, Ma’u, Pauli and Edwards hitting the half gaps that tend to present themselves in nines.
Game 1: Eels vs Sea Eagles @ 12:30pm Saturday
On face-value, Manly have a strong side with both Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran named, as well as talented outside backs Peter Hiku and Clinton Gutherson. In Tom Symonds and Feleti Mateo they have a couple of mobile and skillful backrowers. However, Manly were lackluster in this tournament last year and going by Geoff Toovey’s comments, the club is more concerned of copping injuries than winning any trophies.
VERDICT: Eels to win
Game 2: Eels vs Knights @ 4:25pm Saturday
The Knights definitely look well-suited to the Nines. They have creative and zippy halves, very fast outside backs in the Mata’utia brothers, Dane Gagai and Jake Mamo and a pretty mobile forward pack. This one could go either way. I think our forward pack might give us the edge but I am worried about the speed that the Knights possess.
VERDICT: May go down to the bounce of the ball
GAME 3: Eels vs Dragons @ 11:10am Sunday
Without Gareth Widdop who pretty much carried the Dragons last year, I don’t think Saints have the firepower to score enough points in this competition. Five years ago, Benji Marshall may have been able to produce enough off his own accord to make the Dragons a danger but that yard of pace he’s missing these days really blunts his attacking ability. Josh Dugan will pose a danger but I think the Dragons can be contained enough to get over.
VERDICT: I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get to the Quarter Finals - the draw is reasonable, we’ve got a strong side and I think we’ll give it a red-hot go. We all think very highly of our youngsters and this is an opportunity for them to show why we’re so bullish on our next generation of stars.
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If you want to watch these games live EST...subtract 2 hours on the above times....
beat manly and the knights, playing the dragons sunday morning..hould win there group match or run 2nd.
the sharks look great too.
rooster won but not that great in my view.
we can win it, but the sharks are very fast...
His two runs through the line were nice. Hopefully his knee is recovered for the regular season though and we can see his running game come into play.