Prelim pressure mounts on Parra as Cowboys legend turns up the heat
With heat and humidity predicted for the game, could the Eels regret staying in Sydney?
With four teams remaining in the 2022 season, former Dally M and Clive Churchill medal winner Johnathan Thurston claims the Parramatta Eels are under the most scrutiny heading into the preliminary finals, with a closing premiership window ramping up the pressure on Brad Arthur’s men.
The Eels have made it to the penultimate week of the season for the first time since 2009, but with the club’s decision to prepare for the contest in Sydney instead of travelling to Townsville early to acclimate to anticipated temperatures nearing 30 degrees, Thurston thinks the home side can use the conditions to their advantage.
“It’s extremely hot right now. You start to sweat walking from your house to your car first thing in the morning,” Thurston told Channel 9 of the oppressive Townsville conditions.
“The humidity is a lot harder, the ball is a lot slipperier as well, that’s where a lot of the errors could come from.
“The Eels are arriving on Thursday, they’re clearly here for a hit-and-run mission. I would have been bringing them up (early) to try and acclimatise.
“The days are hot but it’s a humid night as well. I think they’ll struggle.”
“The Cowboys are a fit side. So are Parramatta, but with the heat it’s important to move the Eels around.”
Much has been made of Parramatta’s decision to remain in Sydney, contrary to the advice of former players that they could be better served by heading to Townsville early – especially with the Sydney forecast projective temperatures below 20 degrees and wet conditions.
But Thurston also said a closing premiership window would serve to amplify the pressure on the western Sydney club ahead of their most important game in over a decade.
“The pressure is on Parra because their premiership window is closing,” Thurston said.
“Reed Mahoney is moving on, Isaiah Papali’i is moving on, and Mitchell Moses has held off contract negotiations until the end of the year.
“This is their best chance at winning a premiership in 36 years.
“Their spine was outstanding against Canberra, but the Raiders also saved their worst game for last. It will be a different beast in Townsville. Nobody tipped the Cowboys to be in the eight.
“The Cowboys’ premiership window has only just opened. The Cowboys can go out and play their normal game.”
The Cowboys and Eels have met once this year in a game that was played in similar conditions in Darwin, where the Eels wilted in a 35-4 win for North Queensland.
Replies
It is something i am fearing, however nothing we can do about it. NQ are going to spread and spread early, just hope BA uses his bench better, get Cartwright on earlier. Even name Nathan Brown on the bench instead of JA just to have cover for forwards to give them rests.
Thurston is full of shit. He knows we are doing it correctly. As he said , just walking around makes you sweat. Why would we want to walk around all week sweating when we can fly in , , hydrate the shit outta ourselves for a short period , preserve energy and play at night.
He's worried if he's talking about the weather .
Spot on!! Parra spent the entire week in Darwin and look at what that did for them
Yeah he seems to be trying to shift the pressure off the cowboys on to the eels but I think it could be doing the opposite.
Yes he is full of shit.
The Cowboys are worried shitless about the Eels and are trying all the tricks in the book, including getting Thurston to step in, to gain the psychological edge...
At home, havent had a prelim in Townsville before, havent been in the finals since 2017, finished top 4, had a week off and beat us in our only meeting for 2022. I agree Brissy pressure is on them, even though the heat i think could be a factor, NQ have all the pressure on them, they are favourites.
Pressure is on the cowboys not to choke. Cant choke if your not the favorite the bookies agree.
Of course Reverse Cowgirl Thurston is gonna talk crap.
Remember how climatised we were in Manly early 2018, we did our warmup and everything in the heat while Manly sat in the cool air conditioning pre game. We all know what happened.
Tempreture is more likely according to the BOM to be around 22-24 degrees.
ALSO: Junior, RCG, Gutho, Moses, Brown, Matto, Lane, Cartwright, Waqa, Penisini possibly Papali'i are all still going to be there in 23 and there will be new blokes to take up the spots. We are gonna be just fine in 23 sick of this dumb narrative.
I hope we get this done.
Enter Hindy stage left.
Well it's a different side pretty much to the one that lost. Very different in our backs definitely
It wouldn't have mattered what we chose to do, there would have been critics regardless.
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