Now that the dust has settled following the Eels 20-12 triumph over western Sydney rivals, the Penrith Panthers, it's time to take a closer look at where things went right for the Blue and Golds.
1 Eyed's match summary is available here.
1. Debutants shine
Every player new to the blue and gold jersey did it proud on Sunday afternoon. Blake Ferguson was immense on the right edge carrying the ball out of trouble as well as being very good defensively, Dylan Brown showed maturity beyond his years, Maika Sivo almost had a try on debut and looked up for the fight meanwhile Shaun Lane did everything right on his side of the field and his carries late in the set took a lot of pressure off our middle.
2. Middle holds its ground
Most Eels supporters were nervous coming into the game due to the lack of the injured Junior Paulo and suspended Peni Terepo. Parramatta went into the match with a very similar looking forward pack to last season. But a five and a half month long off season seems to have rejuvenated the Eels middle forwards with every one of them putting in big shifts due to the early injury to Nathan Brown. Against a Penrith pack boasting the likes of James Tamou and Regan Campbell-Gillard, the Eels held their ground and displayed the tenacity that got them into the top four in 2017.
3. Defence has improved
The Eels will come up against sterner tests than what they faced on Sunday afternoon. Penrith were their own worst enemies and constantly let the Eels off the hook. However, it's a testament to the Blue and Gold's defence that their line was only breached when Michael Jennings was off the field. Nothing demonstrated this better than Mitchell Moses' consecutive try-savers in the second half to first stop RCG and then Waqa Blake.
4. The offload is back
If there was one thing fans desperately wanted to see this season it was the return of the offload. Parramatta offloaded the ball 14 times on Sunday. The major positive here was the constant support of the ball carrier. Nearly every time the ball was offered there was someone there to take it and continue the attack. Although it seemed at times the Eels got a little too excited looking to force the ball, they were able to defend those mistakes.
5. Dylan Brown
I know I mentioned at the start but he deserves a special mention. He is 18 years old and will surely come under more pressure this season but he stood up when his team needed him. He was cool, calm and collected throughout the match and his kick late on that allowed Michael Jennings to push Dallin Watene-Zelezniak into touch was Cooper Cronk-like. His ball playing led to two Eels tries and he stood up in defence. I don't want to put a label on him yet but so long as he continues to have performances like that he will be in the Blue and Gold for years to come.
Comments
Have not see the game yet, listened on radio. Seems our defence was better, good signs on game management improving. Good start, but sounds like we need more cohesion and "game smarts". Early days tho
How good did that feel at full time. Really sad about Nathan Brown, The look on his face was devistating as he seemed to know straight away that it was bad & he was absolutly killing it while he was on the field. There certainly looks to be something we can build on this season & I can't wait to see more Eels juniors making their way into the NRL. SO happy today.
Im very happy with young Dylan Brown and Marata Niukore and Blake Ferguson went good to
Some really good positives yesterday, feguson off the bsllwas constantly talking and pumping up the boys. Him and lane are massibm buys for us and going to add so much going forward. We had the spirit and soul back with everyone playing for one another. Juniors were so good to watch and not one of them let the team down. I'm most in impressed we didn't cave in and lose the game like we would of done next year. Got the Bulldogs next so hopefully we come out with the same attitude and not expecting a easy win. Good to see them play well last year, keep it up boys. Go Parra.
Panthers Would not kick to Sivo Hmmmm, Wonder why, seeming pentrith knew all about him as he played their last season. Can’t wait till next week. Go Sivo.
No, they were kicking to fergo to take him out of the hit ups, it's an old tactic that has been used since the 80's, the dogs use to do it to grothe Snr
Pretty sure Johns and Sterling explained that throughout the game as well. The positive of having three big players at the back is we can still have decent punch out of our backs on tackles two and three. Even Jennings and Taka get in there for strong carries to take pressure off our forwards.
The standout for me was the patience and commitment by all players.
They played to the plan, defended well and had a good game manager in MM. Dylan Brown was good and I look forward to see what this combination can produce in the future.
Thing I notice most about Brown is how straight he plays stops the defense from drifting off of him actually attracts them to him.
Plays with alot of maturity slows down and isn’t frantic in the attacking zone love that.
The older players calming down and supporting the younger guys, no/little one up plays were the positives for me.
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