Eels Blogs

As the skies cleared and the blue and gold army yet again descended upon Parramatta Stadium it was apparent that the footy had returned. 2012's wooden spooners were eager to impress their new coach but they were up against a team in a similar situation. The Warriors had lost 8 in a row at the end of 2012 and had fallen from Top 8 contenders in Round 18 to narrowly avoiding the spoon.

Then came the moment we had all been waiting for. The Blue and Gold legion assembled in the tunnel and were led out by inspirational club captain, Tim Mannah. And then, the crowd waited, with baited breath for the Eels to kick off their 2013 campaign. With the signal from the men in pink, Hayne booted the ball 55 metres and so began the 2013 march to the Premiership.

The Warriors had the early field position and it looked like 2012 all over again when the Warriors' pivot, Thomas Leuluai crashed over. However he was called back by the video referee when it became apparent that former Eel, Todd Lowrie had interfered with the Parramatta defenders.

After some mistakes and ill-discipline from the Warriors, Parramatta piled on the pressure but seemed unable to cross the line. Then, when it seemed there was a wall of white jerseys in front of him, Sandow stepped and scurried his way over the line and posted the first points of 2013. 6-0 to the Eels and the Blue and Gold Army sung their praises.

Then it was clever work from Luke Kelly and Reni Maitua who launched the Hayne Plane out of the hanger. Kelly ran an angle to the line and passed to Reni who managed to get a one handed offload back to Kelly. Hayne loomed up in support and took the final pass to plant the ball under the posts. 12-0 Parramatta and the Stadium was pumping.

The Eels then continued the pressure on the Warriors line with Matt Ryan crossing after clever lead up work from Jarryd Hayne and Ryan Morgan. The Eels led 18-0 at half time. The only blight on the Eels first half performance was an injury to Luke Kelly who limped off with a hamstring injury after 30 minutes.

The Warriors finally got on the board in the second half through Jacob Lillyman but Shaun Johnson missed the conversion. 18-4. It looked like Sandow would touch down for his second after he scurried through from 40m out and embarrassed the fullback. But it was called back by the video referee, sighting a supposed obstruction from Fuifui Moimoi.

From the following penalty it seemed as though the Eels' grip was slipping when Dane Nielsen crossed in the corner and the score stood at 18-10. 

However it was Ken Sio who got the ball rolling yet again for the Eels after a great pass from Ben Roberts let him cross in the corner. Sandow stepped up from the sideline and nailed the conversion. 24-10. The Eels were at it again, this time Hayne pushed down the throttle and flew through in support of Chris Sandow who duelly obliged and passed him the ball. 30-10 and the Eels looked like world beaters.

But they weren't done yet. Jacob Loko turned his opposite inside out before unloading to Maitua. Reni positioned Hayne and the Hayne Plane crossed for his third of the afternoon. Eels up 36-10. With under 10 minutes remaining Ken Sio crossed for his second when Ben Roberts delivered a perfect grubber which gave Sio the kindest of bounces. Sandow was unable to land the conversion but by then the Eels had it all wrapped up. Parramatta Eels 40 New Zealand Warriors 10.

Standout Performances:

Jarryd Hayne: It goes without saying that the Hayne Plane starred, his 3 tries and overall involvement in the game showed why he is the Eels lynch-pin.

Chris Sandow: Controlled the game beautifully with his kicking game and was willing to kick early in the count to release the pressure on his team mates. Was confident throughout the match and showed he was worth his price-tag.

Jacob Loko: Struggled in the first 10 minutes but then found his groove. Hasn't played a first grade game since 2011 but terrorised his opposite, Konrad Hurrell. Was willing to do the hard yards and work the ball off his own line.

Reni Maitua: Despite copping a lot of flack for his perceived inability to play first grade, he impressed in the number 11. Had a hand in a number of tries and looked threatening when he received the ball in space.

Noteworthy mentions go to Tim Mannah who didn't stop working and topped the hitups, Cheyse Blair who did well in defence and also saved a goal-line dropout with a good run, and just about the rest of the team. It was a good team performance with well structured plays, rather than flukey second phase play getting us across the stripe 7 times.

Only real area of concern was the dropped ball but hopefully that will improve as the season goes on. I apologise for the length of the match report but I tried to mention every try with some detail.

Eels in First Place for the first time since 2005.