Eels Blogs

1Eyed Eel commences his in-depth season preview going through the strengths and weaknesses of the fullback squad, starting with the fullback position.

At NRL level, the most precious commodity on a football field is space. With space, you have the opportunity to score points - the currency that wins you football games. Without space, even the most brilliant individuals can be shutdown and teams will find it almost possible to breach today’s fortress-style defences.

Parramatta has been a case study for this theorum, the past couple of years. Jarryd Hayne - unstoppable in 2009 has been pretty effectively shut down because for the most part, he’s been forced to work in very limited space. Working mostly without a threatening second point of attack, opposition defences have known that if they shut down Hayne they shut down Parramatta.

It was true and Hayne’s effectiveness was blunted somewhat over the past couple of seasons. Indeed, the fact that Hayne had so many games where he was still able to excel in these conditions demonstrates just how talented this footballer is.

The obvious observation for 2012 is that Hayne should have more space to work with. Chris Sandow will provide an ever-present threat at number seven and Willie Tonga must be closely marked outside.

However, from my point of view, the trick for Parramatta succeeding in early in the season, will not be so much about what Jarryd Hayne is able to do with the space he is given, but how much space Hayne will be able to open up for his team mates.

You can take it as given that Hayne will be closely marked and almost certainly over-marked. Oppositions will, at least in the early part of the season, treat the Eels as they have during the past two years until they see the form and patterns that the likes of Sandow, Roberts and Tonga bring to the club. That should create significant space and opportunities for others in the Parramatta side. We’ve had these opportunities before, we’ve just not had any players good enough to capitalise (although I’d say we got a glimpse of that when Reni Maitua joined the squad).

Quite frankly, I’d be quite happy if Hayne barely touches the ball in the early stages of the season. He will open up space all over the park running as a decoy if Parramatta is good enough to take advantage of it.

I expect to see a pretty stacked Parramatta left-side this year, with Hayne receiving the ball wide from Roberts with Tonga on his outside. Both our halves, but Roberts in particular, has to be prepared to back himself and run to stop teams from sliding quickly as they have done on us in recent years.

You only have to look at how few tries, Parramatta scored with everyone’s favourite play where the fullback loops around the back of a second-rower hitting the short ball, to see how little space we were afforded last year. The teams that executed this best - St George, Melbourne and Manly - did so because they had brilliant speedster fullbacks who sucked in defences and then were able to throw the cut-out pass to the unmarked winger. Nobody is better at this than Jarryd Hayne, yet it was a move that we pulled off comparatively little compared to those other teams.

We have the opportunity to execute those structured plays this year, but we’ll do so if teams are made to defend against us like we’re not a one-man team. If Roberts holds the defence, Tonga routinely sucks in the winger, then you’re suddenly going to make a whole lot better use of one of the best fullbacks in the game.

I believe that the conditions that Hayne have operated in under the past two years, have truly sharpened his skills and that if the rest of the team pulls its weight, we can see a return to that 2009 kind of form as he gets afforded the same kind of space as most other fullbacks in the competition.

I was also heartened to hear in an interview with the official site this year, that Hayne has done a lot of work in getting the strength and endurance into his legs this year. It’s undoubtedly an area of his game where he has been a step below the likes of Slater, and he doesn’t always pose that ever-present threat that the Melbourne fullback does - which you can only put down to

I also believe, Hayne lost a yard of pace last year. There wasn’t that trademark explosion off the mark, or the ‘put down your glasses’ sustained speed that he’d shown in previous years. His chances of playing rep football this year will almost certainly come down to whether he is able to recapture that speed and improve his endurance.

Despite the loss of Tom Humble, Parramatta has good depth in the fullback position. Luke Burt is always able to move back into this role at any time and we also have strong depth on the flank to cover that move.

Additionally, we have Marmin Barba and Jake Mullaney who will emerge as options if both those players are unavailable. Based on last week’s trial it appears that Barba is going to play in the halves for reggies, with Mullaney the likely reserve custodian. Both lack size but have electric pace, although it will be a case of both players needing to prove themselves in the State competition.

Don’t rule out Ken Sio as a possible third elect fullback, either. Sio has really developed into an ideal fullback’s physique and he played the position successfully at NYC level. Indeed, if you found yourself with early injuries and were wanting to invest invest in a player that might be capable of taking over the role on a longer-term basis, Sio could be the best option.

Verdict: Certainly fullback is not a position Parramatta has to worry about. With a genuine star as first elect, a proven NRL custodian as first-drop and then three talented youngsters for depth we have the role well-covered. However, Parramatta needs to fix other areas of the park before we see the best of Jarryd Hayne. If we achieve that, I believe Hayne is set for a monster year.