DING DONG, the witch is dead.
Legendary coach Jack Gibson used that line to mark Parramatta’s maiden premiership in 1981 but for long suffering Eels fans the relief of their first win for 2018 must have felt just as good.
Almost.
Two clubs under immense pressure during the week arrived at ANZ Stadium on Sunday afternoon desperate for the opportunity to start Round 8 on a positive note.start it was an energetic Eels who got in front and grew in confidence the longer the game progressed.
After a nervous start it was an energetic Eels who got in front and grew in confidence the longer the game progressed.
A frantic interchange of passing on the last tackle produced their first try and having scored just nine in the six weeks prior punished a sloppy Sea Eagles side with six more four-pointers in a stunning 44-10 win.
Hayne hurt as Eels cross over
After being embarrassed 54-0 by Manly in Round 2 the Eels produced an extraordinary 88-point turnaround to break their duck,
It was well short of the 106-point record turnaround the Dragons achieved against the Storm in 2000 but impressive nonetheless.
On an afternoon of long-awaited celebrations for Parramatta players and fans there was a significant sour note, Jarryd Hayne suffering an apparent recurrence of the hip flexor injury that had kept him out since Round 3.
The Sea Eagles also suffered an injury blow late in the game with winger Brad Parker forced off with a knee injury he incurred in innocuous fashion while standing to play the ball 11 minutes from full-time.
Eels coach Brad Arthur made significant changes to the makeup of his starting side, dropping Kane Evans and relegating Tim Mannah to the bench, and it had the desired effect.
Front-rowers Suaia Matagi and Daniel Alvaro ripped in from the outset and although the Eels had only two points to show for their dominance through 25 minutes the flood of points eventually came.
The Sea Eagles completed just seven of 13 sets in the first half and being asked to make 60 more tackles than their opposition eventually took its toll.
Only two minutes after Manly were denied a try to Brian Kelly due to an obstruction call by the Bunker, the Eels chanced their hand on the last tackle with an exciting interchange of passing that led to Manu Ma’u crossing in the corner.
Playing on the wing for the Eels for the first time in a decade, Hayne provided the final pass for Ma’u but was left lying on the ground in pain, his hip flexor flaring up and forcing him from the field shortly thereafter.
It did little to slow the Eels’ momentum however, hooker Kaysa Pritchard returning to the field after passing his head injury assessment to spark two tries in the final five minutes of the first half.
A sublime floating cutout pass from Mitchell Moses gave George Jennings an unimpeded run to the corner and then Pritchard exposed an off-side Jake Trbojevic at marker, the Manly players stopping and waiting for the penalty to be blown as the Eels No.9 simply dived over the tryline for a 20-0 lead at the break.
Five-eighth Corey Norman added to the Sea Eagles’ woes by slicing past Jack Gosiewski to score his side’s fourth try of the afternoon and an audacious chip kick by Moses on tackle three gave Michael Jennings all the time in the world to make it five.
Manly’s first joy came in the 58th minute then soft hands from Dylan Walker gave winger Brad Parker enough space to crash over but the Eels hit back almost immediately, Moses and Norman combining to put Kenny Edwards across and restore their 30-point advantage.
Akuila Uate got another back for the Sea Eagles before the biggest roar of the afternoon came when newly promoted co-captain Clint Gutherson forced his way over under the posts.
PARRAMATTA EELS 44 (Manu Ma’u, George Jennings, Kaysa Pritchard, Corey Norman, Michael Jennings, Kenny Edwards, Clint Gutherson tries; Mitchell Moses 8 goals) def. MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 10 (Brad Parker, Akuila Uate tries; Daly Cherry-Evans goal) at ANZ Stadium. Halftime: Eels 20-0.
Replies
Losing Hayne a good thing
I do not follow how losing Hayne is good; on the wing he would be strong.
he was actually playing well up until the injury, he almost sored 2 or 3 tries and im sure if he played a full 80 minutes he would of had a hatrick... in the first 30 mins we actually kept throwing the ball towards his side and we looked promising. id bring in josh hoffman in until hayne is fit. id leave french in wenty until he actually starts having a go or else he can leave. im sick of people hyping up players when there still young. i dont care how talented you are, if you dont show consistency in all areas then talent wont be good enough to be considered a great.
i am sure Frenchy didn't play for Wenty on the weekend. He is injured
Yep vince didnt play
i agree mate :) hopefully he comes back from injury and gets back to his best !
You could feel that once we got 1 try more would follow it just didn’t look like we would get one initially. I think we were very lucky that Manlys try was disallowed or it could have been a very different game. The play that impressed me was when we got a repeat set, jenko had a chat to Moses and the very next set moses did the chip for Jennings. Finally players backing themselves with something different and actually playing what they see as opposed to robotic out the back plays. We need to take that aggression and confidence and back it up against the Tigers and you never know..
True I thought Matagi and trex looked strong but the last couple of weeks I think our forwards have done the job especially the Penrith game and we definitely didn’t capitalise in particular when they were a man down. Let’s hope we have turned the corner on all fronts, if so this could be fun
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