Really words can do Hayne no justice tonight. He started the match producing one of his trademark individual tries at the first set of six, bumping off a Bulldog defender then applying the after-burners to sprint through a gap that was not there a moment earlier. The Hayne plane was back in action and an easy Luke Burt conversion made it quickfire six to nil.
That was soon 12 to nil on the back of another Hayne plane. It was Hayne scoring the points, but Timana Tahu created the try, getting rid of his opposite number then putting Luke Burt away. Burt drew the fullback and passed inside to Hayne who sprinted away to the line.
Hayne then dropped into playmaker mode. He jumped into first receiver and fired a rocket cut-out pass to an unmarked Krisnan Inu, who strolled over out wide. Luke Burt couldn't convert but the Eels were out to a 16 nil lead with less than a dozen minutes gone.
The Bulldogs got one back through a relatively soft try that came from a couple of offloads with Brett Kimmorley on the end of the play for a four-pointer. However, that was just a brief interruption as the Hayne juggernaut kept rolling.
In the 25th minute, Inu was in again. This time Hayne fed an understated ball to Joel Reddy, who did brilliantly to suck in two players and then feed the ball out to his winger. Burty converted this one to make it 22 to four.
The Eels got one more before half-time with Ben Smith running hard onto a sweet Daniel Mortimer pass. Mortimer was excellent tonight. He finally has his confidence back and the Eels are playing the kind of football that the suits the young half.
It was an incredible first half of football and it screamed Premiership contenders. However, the Eels went into their shells in the second half and the Dogs came up with two tries to put them back into contention. Indeed, it could have been more were it not for two unbelievable Jarryd Hayne saves, getting himself underneath the ball to stop four pointers. His effort to stop David Stagg going over in the corner, defied belief.
In the end, the Eels got home on the back of two questionable penalty goals that stretched the lead out to 16 and snuffed out any hope of a Bulldog comeback.
I'm sure Daniel Anderson will be unhappy with the second half of football. Our structures fell apart and their was none of the energy displayed in the first 40 minutes. But that first stanza was brilliant. Not only was Hayne untouchable, but Tahu was running riot, Mateo was dangerous and both halves played straight and with purpose. Matt Keating provided nice service out of dummy half and our forwards were strong. The Eels only failed to complete one set and it truly was a quality period of football.
If the Eels can put that together for eighty minutes, is there a team in the competition can touch them?
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BRILLIANT GAME BY HAYNE
Any Parra doubters reading this can bite me!!!!!
That first 40min was the best footy I've seen......few things to work on but what a game what a team BLUE AND GOLD!!!!!!!
Lightening doesn't strike twice????
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
LIGHTENING was last year......it got us TO the grand final.....
THUNDER always comes after lightening.....
THIS YEAR WE BRING THE THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!
We were in Top 8 for 10minutes too! Haha
Next week is just as important though. Can't get ahead of ourselves
I'm Ken Crapper
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