A controlled Mateo

Another reason to be excited by tonight's game was the control showed by Feleti Mateo. As we all know, he's a player with limitless potential but he just hasn't been able to harness that talent to truly realise his potential.

It looks like he's really listening to DA now and he's really played his last couple of matches with a lot of control. He's running onto the ball, rather than catching it flat footed and then trying to slip a miracle pass as he gets knocked backward. It's much easier to throw an offload when you're halfway through a gap, which is exactly what he did when he put Tahu away. 

And of course he's just about impossible to stop close to the line and I can see him and Jarryd combining for a stack of tries like they came up with against Manly.

I believe that deep down Feleti has always wanted to be a five-eighth - and he's struggled with not being the main man since Jarryd's emergence. With the Warriors deal, he will have settled his future financially and he doesn't have to prove anything to anyone at the Eels as to what he's capable of. So he can focus on fitting in with the team structure and I think by the end of this season, he'll be back in line for rep honours as predominantly a running back rower.


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  • yes he needs more match time and be allowed to play that style game , with all players like tonight backing him up .

    Phil i want to note that tonights side was the best we have fielded( only i would have grothe not inu ) But with humble comes yet another play maker , and even though its his first match he played well in a tough assignment( brooky ). I hope they give him a few more weeks in the side - he will setle in and he could be an x-factor. He looked great at times , looking to offload , support play and defence . With morts showing a much improved game . All good news for the eels , that game will get us to the top 8 , it was a very controlled effort and every player did their job .

    I put that up with some of our great wins . a real confidence booster for sure . Ansd when the eels fire watch out .

    2010 will be our year - i cant see any team stopping us on our day . The eels know they can get to the Grandfinal , But knowing storm is gone , they also know that they can beat every other team .

    My top 4 is Dragons- eels - manly -souths and penrith in 5th titans 6th . Saying that i see only a good old sydney rival Grandfinal coming . That excites me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • I'm going to keep a close eye on Souths. They're probably the side who could beat anyone on their day - it will be interesting to see if they can string some wins together especially given they won't be too roughly treated with Origin players.
  • Souths are GOOD but not GREAT in my honest opinion and don't scare me at all. Parra will take care of Souths if we line up against them somwhere in the semis.

    You just seen the 2 best teams of the comp grind it out last night and if all lines up that SHOULD be the GF. However, who knows in what position teams end up and who gets knocked out along the way................IT WONT BE US.

    That win last night is the most impressive win i have seen in a very long time. To be honest, i think it was better than our run last year in 2009. To tough it out against the best in form team in the comp on their home turf where we haven't won in 6 years is INCREDIBLE.

    Stand up and applaud everybody we are in for a ride that is going to take us all the way this year. I have said it before round 1 and i won't deviate from my belief.

    THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE EEL.
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