By PHIL GOULDI think one has to go back nearly 50 years to find another instance in which a winger was a club's most valuable player.I'm suggesting that time would be the 13 seasons when Ken Irvine played for North Sydney, and he was the Bears' most important contributor.Even though the Parramatta Eels boast players on their roster with profiles like Kieran Foran, Corey Norman, Michael Jennings, Beau Scott and Anthony Watmough, there is no more important player to Parramatta than their Fijian left winger, Semi Radradra.While his record of 50 tries in 52 games is quite phenomenal on its own – including a number of tries no other winger in the competition could have possibly scored – so many other attacking plays by the 23-year-old have led to tries by his teammates, and his work from inside the Eels' own half in getting many of their sets started is as good in that department as any winger in the competition.His defence, and particularly his positional play without the ball, has improved considerably and there is little doubt in my mind that assessing Parramatta's fortunes in any game centres more on this player than any other Eel now, and that is quite remarkable given the position he plays.http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/parramatta-eels-star-semi-radradra-climbs-into-rarified-nrl-air-20160322-gnovag.html

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  • Lol@ Gus. I'm Semi's biggest fan and I gave him 3 points in the win against the Dogs but he ain't our best player.

    Me thinks Gus is downplaying the great team effort of the Parramatta Eels where our prodigious D has been at the forefront of our efforts so far in 2016.

    Gus has waxed lyrical about Semi's contribution and he is right on that front.

    His career reminds me of another rugby convert Noa Nadruku from the Canberra Raiders team in the 90's. It's a bit like saying Noa was the best player in the team that included Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley. Brad Clyde and - heaven forbid - Pricky.
    • I disagree. Semi has far more to offer than Noa Nadruku did. His playing ability is already greater. Last year - Semi was our best player. Sure Mannah got the Ken Thornett medal and Corey Norman gave us considerably more than he previously had but Semi was our MVP in my humble opinion.
      Is he our most important player in 2016? I feel this year he has greater support and the eels are a stronger team thus he is one of our most important players.
      Gus does have one valid point though - very few wingers have (and have had) the influence that Semi brings.
  • I think this yarn sums up what I'm saying about how our D has been at the forefront of our efforts thus far;

    Parramatta Eels forward Beau Scott says “defence wins games” mentality is paying dividends

    March 23, 2016 12:00am
    Warren Thomson
    Parramatta Advertiser

    A STRONG emphasis on defence has Parramatta on track to concede fewer than 20 points a game for the first time since the club reached the NRL grand final in 2009.

    Parramatta’s stingy defence has let in only 25 points in their last 200 minutes of game time.

    The Eels have conceded 13 points a game in their three games so far this season, which is a great improvement on 24 per game in 2014 and 2015, and 30 a game in 2013.

    “Defence wins games. It’s as simple as that,” Eels forward Beau Scott said.

    “We worked really hard in the off-season on our defence and our attack and I guess giving ourselves the opportunity to go out there and play our footy.

    “I was pretty impressed by everyone that we managed to keep the Dogs to nil until late in the game and unfortunately we let a pretty soft try in.”

    Eels captain Kieran Foran said the win over the Dogs was a massive confidence boost.

    “Defence two weeks in a row now has been the most pleasing part,” he said.

    Parramatta’s defence will be put to the test against the young and talented arsenal of attacking options in the Wests Tigers on Easter Monday.

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/parramatta/sport/parrama...
  • I think the defensive effort from the forwards was great last year

    But we had two problems
    1. We had holes in our defence and we were only as strong as our weakest link
    2. The halves did not capitalise on our forwards work

    So given there blood and sweat was not rewarded and no use as opposition just strolled through our weak links the forwards eventually got demoralised towards the end
    • But I agree Beau has taken it up a notch this year
  • I just want to gloat and say I said this in another blog well before Gus wrote this story. :)

  • I saw Ken Irvine play. I was bloody young back then, but this article reminds me of another winger. I'm a huge Semi fan and it's pretty hard to gauge just who would fit the bill of the best player. This is one for sixties and DK, but one bloke who will always stick in my mind is Peter Dimond. I think his running style would have had him up on report each week because of the way he raised his knees when running, but he rightly deserves his place as one of the games greats. 

  • I wonder if Semi by the end of his career could challenge Eric Grothe snr for the wing spot in Parra's best ever team.  

    • Interesting thought Slip. I'd love to see a team with both of them on the wings. I can't think of another winger that might surpass either of them at the moment.

  • Gould has his own agenda here maybe. See if he uses his media influence to drive up Semi's market value, so eels will have pay more for him, means we lose others. Its strategy

    Semi is a major contributor, but not worthy of being the highest paid.

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