Not even a bout of gastro was keeping this Eels supporter from watching the game on Sunday. With my phone perched on pillows, among water bottles and me barely cogniscent enough to switch Kayo on, I still somehow found the strength to cheer on the Blue and Gold from bed.
While there was far less cheering than usual, no beer and a halftime nap, the Eels provided an otherwise horrendous Sunday with two hours of entertainment.
From the opening whistle there was plenty of intent in this Eels side. While against lesser lights this season Parramatta has grown into games, using their powerful running game to ram home their field position and then overpower them in the final quarter, this time they came out all guns blazing.
Think more Rambo with an M60 than a carefully laid booby trap.
Mitchell Moses led the way with his running game quickly causing problems, alongside a couple of probing runs from Jake Arthur who, on reflection, was giving a preview of what was to come.
Normally when Moses slices through it's due to fatigue in the defensive line, or broken play. This time however, it was his footwork catching lazy Warriors edge defenders napping, followed by a neat flick pass to a barnstorming Nathan Brown.
A first half double to Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who really has found his try scoring boots for Parramatta, and the Blue and Gold were in front of the clock. Maika Sivo was also in on the act, trucking straight through Rocco Berry who was left in the unenviable position of being one-on-one with the Fijian tank.
But following the open quarter blitz the Eels seemed to settle down, taking their foot off the gas and allowing the Warriors back into the contest with the Kiwis managing to get on the board just before half time.
This match actually followed a similar routine to that as the one against the Bulldogs and Tigers, with Parramatta giving opportunities to their opponents through poor ball control and at times, porous middle defence.
The Eels were on the board early in the second half through Ryan Matterson who was a beneficiary of another Moses cross field bomb that was cleaned up by Arthur and shoveled onto the backrower.
Parramatta seem to have once again made their kicking game a serious weapon, scoring their third try in two weeks from a cross field bomb close to the line that lands on the opposition half.
From here it seemed Parramatta would kick on, but poor finishing from both Matterson and Ferguson, which would have pushed the lead outside 30 points, kept the Warriors in with a sniff.
And the New Zealanders did more than that, roaring back to within 10 points.
The game was finally killed off by young Arthur who drifted across field, found a gap and cut through to use his height to ground the ball on the goal line.
Brad Arthur indicated he wasn't happy with the second half and what should have been a fairly tame game by the final 20 minutes.
It seems against lesser sides, the Eels jump out to a comfortable lead before sitting in cruise control and turning up only when the game starts to get close. They should be finding a way to prevent this from happening before they embarrass themselves.
Moving onto next weekend and they face traditional rivals Manly on Sunday afternoon.
The Sea Eagles have been riding high since the return of Tom Trbojevic, but they have been playing sides outside of the top eight or at the bottom of the eight. Blitzing the Broncos isn't exactly unheard of these days.
Against their one top four opponent since Turbo returned, they were taught a lesson by Penrith.
Parramatta have actually done a good job recently on silencing Tom as well as other high class fullbacks. Ryan Papenhuyzen spent most of the round two clash with Melbourne pinned to his own goal line, while James Tedesco managed a meagre 88 metres in their clash two weeks ago. Those are Bevan French numbers.
I'll leave the full preview to HoE and Daz. However, suffice to say Parramatta's performance against the Raiders, Storm and Roosters instils in me a confidence I haven't had in the Eels since the days of Brian Smith.
I have faith they will stick to the game plan, grind Manly down, show the Sea Eagles there's only one king and his name is Gutherson, and also demonstrate that the hinges at Bankwest are a lot stronger than those at the old stadium.
F*ck Manly, and Go the Eels.
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Nothing like a good session of the runs, last lot I had was years ago thanks to the local Chinese.. both ends like a scene from the exorcist...
I was thinking after the weekends game, the wins have been solid but patchy. Couldn’t put my finger on why I wasn’t over the moon with what was a pretty convincing win without key players. I hope your right that it’s just the team in cruise control. Lots of errors and ruck infringements still in our game, hopefully sort it out as Nikiore and Brown come back. For now, I’ll take the wins.
Quite a few have likened us to Penrith last year - a slick machine but still missing that ruthlessness to put teams away and never let them back in. Penrith have evolved and have become an 80 minute shutout machine and I think there are some real lessons we can learn.
If we keep the foot down we will hold teams to 0 or 1 try, and that will allow us to open up the flood gates more often. This is what will take us from Top Tier (sitting at the top of this tier with the Rabbitohs and the Roosters close behind) to God Tier (up with Penrith and the Storm).
This game against a red-hot attacking outfit who are sky high in confidence will be a great test of our resolve. If we keep the pressure on for 80 minutes we will win comfortably. But if we clock off, even for 15 or 20 minutes, we'll be staring at a loss. If we clock off for longer Manly have the strike power to put on a pile of points very quickly.
Every week is a challenge, but this week is one where we can take the next step in our evolution. Shut those Manly threats down. Keep them pinned in their half. Grind them down, exhaust them, win the arm wrestle...and then keep the foot on their throat and run up a score.
Apart from everything else, I really REALLY hate the thought of losing to Manly. Urgh.
Go the Eels!
Good write up Super..... BUT... I am beginning to worry about your language and lack of sporting recognition of the opposition.
Of course you know what this means....... you are getting older and starting to mature.....letting that political correctness go, starting to understand the myth of climate change and generally preparing your self to ultimate entry into the nursing home!
We will continue to watch you closely young man!
Everyone is going on about the Panthers being a shoe in for the title but they have zero injuries - that's right.. none.
If they suddenly lose Cleary and JFH or Burton they will start to find it tough.
Injuries will come and those injuries for the Panthers may just hit them at finals time.
Also 2001 should tell us that you can be the best side all year and fold in the finals.
Yes, we are not smashing teams and the observations are definitely warranted but we are winnning tough. Hanging in there when blowtorches are applied whereas the Panthers haven't been under any pressure and are playing schoolyard footy.
I reckon I'd rather be us when we are all in the trenches.
I agree. I still reckon the storm are the team to beat, wait until Grant and Papenhousenmathing play a few games together, they are going to terrorise teams around the ruck.
With Panthers, if you stop Cleary and Luai you can win the game. However, with Storm you need to stop Papi, Munster, Hughes and Grant. Their hole spine is lethal.
Agreed - IMO it's Storm ahead of the pack, disregard the ladder, they've got the best balanced side in the comp and ooze class and absolute firepower all over the park.
Fathead, as usual, an insightful post.
In the big games, I'd back the Storm over the Panthers unless they're decimated by injuries - missing key spine players.
Even the Roosters - if get more troops back and in better health, might also surprise the Panthers.
We have found ways to win - despite sometimes being our own worst enemy.
However, there are some vulnerabilities and bad habits we have (detailed quite a few times) that pose question marks on how far we will go.
We're better than we 2019-20 and have more potential but still need to step up some more. Imo.
Eels better not stop for a short breather in this game - if they do it will be the hammer falling on them.
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