I've made a big deal of Parramatta's 2014 attacking structure, which I've praised as a way to get around, what I see, as the limitations of our halves. The structure has used Joseph Paulo as an additional playmaker with the Eels lock racking up significant number of touches and Jarryd Hayne returning to a primarily running role.
Against the North Queensland Cowboys Brad Arthur shelved what to date has been a very successful system. Where as Paulo had 35 touches against the Cowboys, he was down to just 13 against the Cowboys, of which 8 were runs. Basically, he played no hand in the side's ball distribution.
Instead, Corey Norman and particularly Chris Sandow stepped up. Sandow's involvement has steadily increased each week since he came back into the side. Last week's match against the Tigers was the first in which he had more receives than Corey Norman and against the Cowboys he was the games most dominant half with 62 touches. That compares with Corey Norman's 48 receives, and is even greater than that of dummy half Nathan Peats (56) and also topped the 57 touches that Johnathan Thurston racked up in his masterly display of football.
There were some nice moments from both Sandow and Norman. Norman's flip to the blindside and pass to Hopoate which created the first try was a visionary piece of halves play and Sandow's flat pass to Pauli Pauli for his try was perfectly timed.
However, given the final result you have to say that the changes weren't positive and I maintain my position that if we try and play a traditional halves game, we will again struggle.
Corey Norman is clearly still learning his trade in the halves - he lacks composure and when asked to do too much comes up with errors or bad decisions. Neither is Chris Sandow a dominant half for much the same reasons - when he is tasked with running the show, the rest of his game tends to suffer. Parramatta made countless errors and I don't think it's coincidental that with Sandow and Norman, fully in control, the rest of the team's composure went out the window as well.
And quite frankly, Joseph Paulo has no place in the side unless he's played in the quasi-playmaker he had been used in previously. Lussick is a far more effective third-prop variety of lock, and that move would allow Junior Paulo to come into the side, which I believe would have helped us in combating the North Queensland size. David Gower also showed some playmaking ability and may represent a compromise between the very different Paulo and Lussick styles of lock. (Indeed, if I had to hypothesize I think Gower's form may have been a key impetus for the change).
The other very significant consequence that I believe the change in structure resulted in, was Jarryd Hayne falling back into the structure as the third playmaker. I don't have stats to demonstrate this, but I believe the number of instances that Hayne passed the ball as he ran out of space was clearly up on recent games and was a fallback to the unsuccessful attacking shapes of recent seasons. In this game, it looked like as soon as he got the ball out wide Hayne was looking to pass rather than run and North Queensland did a magnificent job of maintaining him.
So what do we make of all this. The stats demonstrate starkly that we played a very different structure to what we used as we built up a winning run of games. I find it a peculiar decision that we tried to play quite a fundamental change in structure in a short week that involved significant travel and disruption.
Now, you can approach this from two different point of views. You might say that those couple of nice touches from our halves indicate they have the ability to play a more traditional halves game, and that with a better preparation we'll do better. You might argue that's the best course of action because the Paulo workaround is not a sustainable structure.
Or you can take it as another piece of evidence that we have two halves who do not complement each other, and that the pairing is not capable of providing the stability and composure that the rest of the team needs to play at their peak performance.
My feel is I don't think we have the luxury of giving our halves the time I believe they need to get it together. In such a cramped competition, every game we play is like a grand final. Any losing run could see us lose touch with the eight, because some of the better teams are starting to get their houses in order and a more familiar top tier is starting to establish itself. I've been outspoken that I like the role Joseph Paulo has been playing and I think it has been demonstrated that it works and that it helps the rest of the team play to their strengths. When I've debated Paulo's vocal critics, I've repeatedly asked them what does our side look like without him. Well, it looks pretty much like what we got on Saturday night and that doesn't look a lot like a finals outfit to me.
Replies
It's a good point 1Eyed however I'll throw a 3rd possibility in there:
1) The team didn't play to orders on Saturday.It will be interesting to see which Parra team come out in a fortnight's time. The structure we saw in the first 6 rounds or the one we played with against the Cowboys.
I agree wholeheartedly that our back line play was poor for the most part. In most games this season whenever Hayne got the ball he naturally created a 3 on 2 with his speed and ability to easily get outside his man. This week, as you say he constantly ran out of room.
Was it the missing Paulo link or was it because our go forward was poor too. maybe both?
Well, it's not so much the side that's key - it's how you play them. I'd be going back to what was working for us. The side that beat the Roosters is perfect by me.
Junior Paulo is regarded as Fui's replacement by the staff and they are giving him time to mature, but expect to see him start in NRL soon
Re: halves - if they dont get it together, what are our options???
who else do we have that can step up?
I have heard the same as Derek regarding an option in our favour for Matterson.
I believe he is regarded as the best internal front-row talent at the club.
Derek might know something otherwise but I am left scratching my head at his continuing non-selection in the NRL. He could comfortably play from the bench and give our pack some much needed go-forward in the ruck.
I don't get it either. I get that Lasalo has played a few big games for Wenty as well, but from what I've been reading from yourself and others, Junior has been consistently excellent. I think it could be possible that they realise if they bring him into the side too early, he could be burnt out by the end of the year and he could be a weapon for us come finals - I'm thinking similar attitude may be being used in relation to Kelepi
Guys, I can't accept that Paulo dropping from 26 non-run receives to 5 is anything but a deliberate change in structure. We're talking a 500 per cent game-on-game difference. No-one gets that far off gameplan.
I also don't accept any of the "what ifs?" that have floated around this week. North Queensland could have/should have scored two more. Just as easily as we could have gotten back into we could also have gotten beaten by nearly 60. We were shit - short and simple.
I would also argue strongly that Paulo's contributions helps our forwards, as the opposition is more wary of a short-ball so you have to temper your linespeed.
Site says Paulo had 13 receives. Otherwise, I agree with Phil.
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