Last season was one to forget for the Eels and there will be plenty of work to be done over the off-season with a roster that, while it features a few welcome additions, does have a very familiar look to the 2018 version.
The good news for the 2018 wooden spooners is that arguably their two biggest weaknesses – a lack of a high-impact winger to start sets and a powerful big-man to start matches – have been alleviated by the recruitment of Blake Ferguson and Junior Paulo. Shaun Lane provides another big body in the pack. Reed Mahoney could well start at hooker over the re-signed Kaysa Pritchard.
Resident NRL.com expert Jamie Soward says:
"If Norman [stayed] then nothing [would have] changed, they still won't know who's the boss. They lacked direction last year and that's why they finished last.
"Salmon, Brown; certainly there's opportunities there outside Mitchell Moses.
"To start the year it will probably be Salmon because he's played; they can't really afford to lose the first three or four games experimenting with a young bloke. If your job's on the line you go with your best player and you sort that out during trials.
"Dylan Brown, the little bit I have seen of him, he's a good player but whether you can transfer that to NRL on a weekly basis is another question. It will be a big decision for Brad Arthur.
"Their recruitment was a bit off centre, they needed some more big forwards. Junior Paulo is an addition but last year they rolled over and conceded metres pretty easily through the middle. I think it will be another long season for Parramatta."
NRL.com's predicted Round 1 team:
- Clint Gutherson
- Blake Ferguson
- Brad Takairangi
- Michael Jennings
- George Jennings
- Jaeman Salmon
- Mitch Moses
- Daniel Alvaro
- Reed Mahoney
- Junior Paulo
- Shaun Lane
- Manu Ma'u
- Nathan Brown
- Will Smith
- Tepai Moeroa
- Marata Niukore
- Tim Mannah
Other squad members: Andrew Davey, Kane Evans, Bevan French, David Gower, Josh Hoffman, Oregon Kaufusi, Greg Leleisiuao, Kaysa Pritchard, Maika Sivo, Ray Stone, Peni Terepo
Replies
BA has showed in the past to play it safe. So. I think this team may be close.
I think it's time to change it up but time will tell
The "experts" say a lot. A lot of the so called "experts" had us finishing in the top 4 this year except maybe 1-2 of them from what I could see like.
They have next to nowt of an idea.
I hope we don’t see Takairangi in the centres. He’s not a week in week out NRL centre. If there is a big speed mismatch he really struggles. I like him off the bench. Whilst I think that Gutherson is more of a fullback for the sake of getting the best players in the team I think he may play centre with French at fullback depending on whether Arthur considers French deserves to have another shot after a poor second year. If that’s the case I’d be very tempted to fast track Sivo onto the wing with Ferguson because those two big wingers will take a lot of pressure off French in terms of ball returns. In the forwards I think Terepo deserves a spot and I think we may see Evans given an early chance to redeem himself.
Yep ... Terepo needs to be in the 17. It will be good having junior do a shorter high impact start to the game and Terepo replacing him off the bench. Its a much better balance with the workhorse props like Alvaro and Mannah partnering up with these guys.
Jaemon Salmon will be suspended for the first few weeks... It'll be Brown in there
Moeroa played both middle and edge last year. I'm not sure if you have seen Moeroa recently but he is now our second heaviest player in the top 30 at 112kg only behind Paulo and has been doing a lot of work in the gym, ie., very big upper body. Smith gets his position because we will most likley have two very inexperienced spine players for round 1 and a fullback in French who struggled all year. Therefore, Smith ends up wining this position out of necessity as opposed to straight ability. If fit Ma'u deserves to be in the top 17 for game one but if he doesn't perform in the first month I would be replacing him with Terepo.
Correct.
Smith never let the team down in 2017 Doc???? He was the worst player on the field in the Semi choke against the Cows. 2 mistakes that directly lead to tries.
1. Bevan French 2. Blake Ferguson 3. Clint Gutherson 4. Michael Jennings 5. Maika Sivo 6. Jaeman Salmon 7. Mitch Moses 8 .Daniel Alvaro 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Manu Ma'u 13. Nathan Brown 14. Peni Terepo 15. Tepai Moeroa 16. Marata Niukore 17. Tim Mannah.
This is my team, not necessarily what will run out in round 1.
That's the team I would go for as well with the exception of swapping Salmon for Brown. I'd also have Tepai start instead of Manu but I'm OK either way.
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