Eels Blogs

Parramatta's win over Penrith in their final match of the season was both heartwarming and frustrating. Had the side performed like that for  the last 3 weeks they would be finals bound.

Instead they are in the dreaded "mathematical" chances window, relying on 3 results and a big for and against swing to scrape in by the skin of their teeth. For all intents and purposes their season is done.

This win was notable for the personnel changes Brad made on game day. Promoting Wiremu Greig to starting alongside Joe Ofahengaue and dropping J'maine Hopgood and Junior Paulo back to the bench.

While he made a similar change last week, having Ryan Matterson starting in the backrow rather than Hopgood seemed to deliver a more balanced side.

I did write at the start of August that with a fully fit forward pack, having Junior play off the bench may be the best use of his skillset.

While this Penrith match is only a small sample size, Junior had one of his most impactful games of the season, all completed in 46 minutes of game time. Seven minutes less than he has averaged this year, and much closer to his 43 minute average across his career.

All stats are from NRL.com

Paulo churned out 20 total runs for 175 metres, 67 post contact metres, one offload, 19 tackles with two missed and two kick defusals. 

His total metres and post contact metres were the most for Parramatta.

Credit must also go to Joe Ofahengaue who had perhaps his best match for his new club, managing 12 runs for 129 metres, 38 post contact metres, six tackle breaks (most of any Eel), one offload and 20 tackles in 40 minutes of game time.

One of the positives to come out of this season has been the emergence of Wiremu Greig. His aggressive nature seems to perfectly compliment Reagan Campbell-Gillard in the opening exchanges and he has genuinely put his hand up to be Parramatta's third prop.

He does need to continue to improve his fitness, but his 21 minutes of game time was effective, and as stated above, Paulo is comfortable playing between 40-50 minutes even if he comes off the bench.

Greig bashed his way through seven runs, 84 metres and 28 post contact metres to go with three tackle breaks and 15 tackles. He also had a lightning fast play the ball speed of 2.3 seconds.

It seemed that with the composition of the starting middles and bench rotation, Arthur was looking to go very direct early, shelving expansive play and going hard at Penrith's middles.

Then, with Penrith tiring and beginning to call on their bench, Arthur was able to roll on the energetic Hopgood and a fresh Junior Paulo. It also somewhat offset the injection of Spencer Leniu for Penrith.

The flow of the game very much seemed to match that rotation.

Two tries were scored in the opening 12 minutes, but with Parramatta's more skillful bench players entering the fray, the Eels were better able to attack Penrith's edges. From the 19th to the 42nd minute Parramatta piled on four tries while keeping Penrith scoreless.

The Eels seemed happy to go blow for blow with Penrith early, take the sting out of their early play and then use their more skillful forward pack to put the foot down.

They laid the platform and then played off the back of that rather than trying to force it early.

It also seemed to have a positive effect on their defensive organisation. How much is attitude and how much is having an aggressive middle is hard to tell. But the outside backs were aggressive yet well organised in their defence. Sliding when they had to, and coming up to close down Penrith's early shifts.

For mine a real positive was Parramatta hanging around in the ruck and daring Ben Cummins to penalise them. Too often our defenders jump off as soon as the referee tells them to.

In today's age of "let the game flow" refereeing, if you push the envelope you'll likely win that battle. They did it and prevented Penrith from getting their quick play the balls that Cleary likes to play off.

There is no doubt concerns remain over the future of this side, especially with the lack of depth in key backline positions.

Questions also need to be asked about the mentality of the side given their Jekyll and Hyde persona. But with a fully fit forward pack in 2024, Parramatta could surprise more than a few.