Dylan Brown may have extra motivation in Round 13. And it won’t be anything about the Eels Seven-Year Wood on the Knights that culminated in last year's final round 66-10 loss while undermanned. He’ll have a chance to show the Eels why they were wrong not to compete with Newcastle’s historic $13 million deal, the biggest contract in NRL history.
The Eels head to McDonald Jones Stadium after the bye with most bookies and pundits expecting the Knights to account for them. Probably, easily.
On form, it’s easy to see why. 6th v 15th. 7-4. 4-7.
They've lost 6 of their last 8. The Knights, after losing 3-straight, have hit back to win three on the trot to consolidate their position in the eight.
The Knights have fewer injuries this year, as opposed to last year when they won the spoon. And a mature Kalyn Ponga is leading the hard-working pack and team as confidently as ever, Dylan and Sandon in support, and a firing left edge, the Knights are travelling better and far more connected under Holbrook.
Sitting 6th after Round 11 is their best position at this stage of a season since 2020.
Parramatta, meanwhile, are only travelling slightly better than they were at the same stage last year despite suffering what is arguably the worst injury toll in the competition. The shoe is on the other foot this time.
And yet, despite all of that, one thing hangs over this match.
The Seven-Year Hoodoo. History says don’t be too certain it’s a fait accompli.
Since 2019, Parramatta have won 10 of their last 11 against Newcastle, including 5 of their last 6 in Newcastle.
Dogs-like at the ruck
Last week against the Storm, the Eels fought hard, but fell down on the fundamentals. Errors, poor completions, weak yardage and a fading kicking game in the second half proved costly, much like in most of their losses.
Unlike their performance in the Cowboys win, there was little momentum generated through the ruck.
Against the Cowboys, Talyn Da Silva ran for over 70 metres, produced two linebreaks and a try in the first half. Against the Storm he had 0 runs for 0m in the first half. 1 run for 11m in the second half. We tried to spread it wide to our first receivers. In contrast, Harry Grant controlled the ruck. dominated the middle which created mayhem and chaos in the Eels’ defensive line.
The Eels lack of punch in the ruck is a similar pattern to what happened to the Dogs this year: if you’re not generating punch in the ruck, your halves aren’t going to have limited impact. When you lose control the speed of the game – thus momentum, death zone periods where tries are scored and fatigue management – both attack and defence unravel.
Is improvement on the horizon?
Some fans laughed at Ryles claim the Eels are tracking the right direction.
However, there has been small baby steps forward for the Eels not many have discerned, except for the likes of Gus Gould who had been impressed with the Eels fight for five-straight weeks.
There has been a net 9 point average improvement on the Eels over the last five weeks over the first six when we had almost 3 blowout scores (52,52,48).
The first six weeks were: Blowout-fight-fight-blowout-fight-blowout.
The last five weeks: Fight-fight-fight-fight-fight.
It’s meant blowout losses have reduced.
We’re scoring slightly more and conceding less.
We were conceding around 38 points a game back then, now 30.6 per game.
That’s almost two tries less per game.
We’re still leaking too much, but with some troops back in round 13, will we see continued improvement? Or regression?
One thing is certain: the Eels will again need to fight for the sixth consecutive week, improve on the fundamentals, keep the kicking game constant throughout the game, and generate far more punch through the ruck or a very familiar fate awaits them to last week or worse.
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