1Eyed View

For months, 1Eyed Eel’s Season Countdown has gradually ticked down.Today that clock finally drops below seven days. The footy is back, baby.

This pre-season has been something of a roller-coaster. I don’t think I’ve felt much lower about the club during the midst of the Jarryd Hayne controversy. At that point, there didn’t seem to be much to be optimistic about. Our best player from 2018 and a club legend had been disgraced, leaving a pretty sizable void in our roster and in many of our hearts. I was skeptical of the impact of the football review and Mark O’Neill’s appointment as football director and when Corey Norman’s departure was finalised it was hard to see where the Eels were going to find the necessary improvement that was just going to be needed to avoid consecutive wooden spoons.

But then as pre-season training rolled on, the club’s young guns began to put their hands up. We started to get excited about the progress being made by the club’s next generation, and of course, Dylan Brown became the talk of the off-season, despite not having yet even made his NRL debut. Two positive trial performances provided further cause for hope and now I think most Eels fans go into the 2019 season cautiously optimistic that the team will be far more competitive than they were last year.

If you just can’t get last year’s diabolical season out of your head, here’s 1Eyed Eels Top Ten Reasons for Unicorn Dreaming.

1. Clint Gutherson has been outstanding in the pre-season and I think is ready to establish himself as one of the game’s elite players. I’ve never been sold on him as our fullback for two reasons. 1) I think he’s our leader and needs to be closer to the ball and 2) I’ve doubted whether he has the acceleration that a fullback needs to turn half-breaks into point scoring opportunities. However, based on what I’ve seen in the off-season I’m sold, because I think he’s found a way to play fullback that suits his strengths. He really prowls around the ruck, jumping into dummy half constantly and tracking every forward hit up. Certainly Gutherson’s strength in that regard would be a significant factor as to why Arthur is now pushing his forwards to offload. His time in the halves means his ball-playing game appears to have stepped up a notch and he’s been effective throwing that last pass as well. I think King Gutho is ready to step up into that leadership void that I truly believe was one of the most significant underlying weaknesses behind last year’s inability to convert games into wins.
   
   
2. Junior Paulo has always potentially been one of the game’s elite front rower. His early signs for the Eels have been enormous. He’s played big minutes, made tough metres and off-loaded at will. Having a prop that can turn around momentum, to my mind, will be the biggest change between this season’s team and last years.
   
   
3. Sean Lane racked up a handful of try assists in the trial games and I think he is also going to prove to be an outstanding buy. Parramatta’s block plays have been much maligned by supporters over the last 12 months, but there’s nothing wrong with a block play - unless your edge runners aren’t threatening enough to pull in defenders. Lane’s size and ability to offload means you simply have to get multiple bodies onto him and that is going to give Parramatta’s outside backs the space they didn’t have last year.
   
   
4. Ball control has been outstanding in trials to date, and that’s despite the fact that the Eels have been far more willing to push a pass. Clearly, Arthur is giving his forwards more freedom to offload but at this point, that hasn’t had an impact on ball security. If the Eels can continue to strike that right chord between expressing themselves, without coughing up an unacceptable level of possession it’s going to be a strong platform for the rest of their game. Importantly, good ball control is sign of confidence and that’s as important as anything else going into a new season.
   
   
5. Home again. It's easy to underestimate what a difference returning to Parramatta Stadium is going to make. After two years of playing out of the souless dump that is ANZ Stadium, the Eels are going to benefit from the energy and passion that will come from its incredible new stadium and the atmosphere that will meet the boys every time they run out at home.
   
   
6. Ball returns have already been measurably improved over last year, and Blake Ferguson’s influence has already been noticeable. It will not surprise me if the Eels go from having the worst ball returns in the NRL to the best. George Jennings has looked even stronger and then there is…
   
   
7. Maika Sivo. As good as the Penrith trial was, there was one moment that got me giddy with excitement. New Eels winger Maika Sivo received the ball with half-a-yard of space. Boom. A fend that left his opposition winger sprawled on the floor and Sivo had put on his first four-pointer for the Eels just like that. George Jennings doesn’t deserve to lose his position and Sivo might have to bide his time, but I can’t help but think Sivo is ready and waiting to step into the void left by Semi Radradra’s departure and that as soon as he gets his opportunity he is going to quickly become a cult hero.
   
   
8. Reed Mahoney has looked particularly sharp and his game already looks to have gone up a notch on last year’s promising performances. Since being made to sacrifice Nathan Peats the Eels have just not been able to find a player to consistently give them both direction and an attacking threat from nine but Mahoney looks to be the long-term solution.
   
   
9. Dylan Brown is impossible not to rate a mention here. I think he’s going to be very, very good this year and will be up there in rookie of the year calculations, but that said, I think it’s important for Eels fans to not have impossible expectations for a kid, who is still learning the game. If all of the above click, and Brown gets to work off a pack that is going forward and can use his running game, he’s got every chance of having one of those dazzling debut seasons
   
   
10. The next generation of Eels young guns are just waiting for their opportunity. As well as Mahoney and Brown, the likes of Niukore, Kaufusi, Utoikamanu, Fainga’a are at varying levels of maturity but make no mistake all are going to be putting pressure on their more established team mates. Competition for spots means everyone competes harder and I think that was really missing last year with Brad Arthur’s ability to make changes to a losing team relatively limited.

What is noticeable when you go through this list is that there is a lot that is new to this 2019 version of the Eels. While there hasn’t been a huge level of player turnover and the core that was good enough to take the Eels to the top four in 2017 is pretty much intact, that base has been infused with fresh faces that will give Parramatta entirely new perspectives to their game. It’s fair to say, opposition clubs had us worked out in 2018 and the team didn’t have what was needed to dig itself out of the hole that our predictability dropped us into. This year, we get the opportunity to fly beneath the radar and if the club can start well, get some confidence and build on its foundations… well, who knows where this season goes!