How the pieces came together for Parramatta

For a number of weeks now the media have been breathless about the turn-around in the Eels game and questioning how we could go from being in contention for the wooden spoon to being the form team in the competition. And while no doubt, there is a massive difference in the quality of the performance being dished up now compared to earlier in the season, I will argue that many of the building blocks for the team's current success have been there all along. It was just a matter of all the pieces of the puzzle coming together.PUZZLE PIECE 1 : THE EVERY WEEK MENDespite our dud result in 2008, I went into this season believing we had a very capable roster. The side wasn't much different to the team that went so close in 2007 and contained a number of players who have never let the club down and whom a side could be moulded around. Top of that list of course is Nathan Hindmarsh and his tireless workrate but not far behind I would rank Fuifui Moimoi, who has consistently provided great go-forward for the past couple of years. In Joel Reddy and Luke Burt we had a couple of very dependable backs and Feleti Mateo was a shining light in a dark year.PUZZLE PIECE 2 : FITNESSSo much of the pre-season news, focused on the fact that Daniel Anderson had taken steps to increase the side's fitness and throughout the year, that has not been an issue. The reality is that unless you're players are fit enough, they will not produce what they are capable of at NRL level. Last year, we weren't fit enough. Anderson made sure that wasn't the case this year.PUZZLE PIECE 3 : DEFENCEIn Round 2 we faced South Sydney, a team that the previous week had racked up 50 against the Roosters. In recording our first win of the season, we managed to hold them to just eight after repelling countless raids on our line. It was the kind of defence we didn't produce at all in 2008 and was the first indication that this side could go places in 2009. If you defend well, you will be competitive in any match you play. We produced more solid defensive performances against the Dragons, who had the week prior knocked off the high-flying Broncos letting in just three tries, two of which came from kicks and one which was scored on the buzzer.PUZZLE PIECE 4 : FINCHAny 1Eyed reader knows I have never been a fan of Finch as our halfback and key playmaker. His decision making is poor under pressure and he doesn't handle the role of go-to man. In my view, Finch leaving the club was the most important event to happen to the club in 2009. In 2008, Hagan persisted with an underperforming Finch and with his main playmaker struggling for form, the Eels did to. Anderson realised their had to be a better answer. Without Finch, he was forced to go looking for answers and Finch's absence has resulted in players like Jarryd Hayne, Daniel Mortimer, Kris Keaing and Jeff Robson all getting more opportunities and stepping up.PUZZLE PIECE 5 : ALL WE NEED IS HALVESIn Round 8 when we beat the Cowboys - at that time one of the competition favourites - we showed that if we got the halves right, we had enough talent in the rest of the team to beat the top sides. With Kris Keating and Feleti Mateo taking over six and seven, we easily accounted for North Queensland and I was convinced at that stage it would be the first of a run of wins. Unfortunately, Keating and Mateo both got injured in the next game against Manly and it set our halves combination back to square one. But you can go back as far as this match to see that once we got our halves right, we would be a force to be reckoned with.PUZZLE PIECE 6 : A SUPERSTAR IS BORNDaniel Anderson knew he wanted Jarryd Hayne more involved which was why he moved him to five-eighth. However, with Finch flailing inside of him, there was just too much pressure on Hayne and he wasn't up to it. There was a noticable improvement as soon as he shifted away for six, initially to centre for the Brisbane game. Hayne almost scored three tries in the first half. However, his form improved again when moved to fullback, however it wasn't until Round 11 against Souths that Hayne took his form to another level. In that match, he took it upon himself to create something for the Eels and he did with two individual tries that nearly stole us an upset win. Hayne then went into State of Origin and was the best NSW player. He has been brilliant ever since and Anderson almost immediately thrust him into the role of our go-to player.It is worth noting that since Round 11 we have only lost two games with Hayne in the side. The first was to the Tigers when Hayne was ill and probably shouldn't have played and the second was the Penrith match where we lost the un-losable match to Penrith after scoring 34 points.Every top club has at least one superstar. With Hayne, we finally had our superstar.PUZZLE PIECE 7: GOING FORWARDIn 2008, we seldom won a forwards battle. Fuifui Moimoi was our prop that regularly got over the advantage line. Daniel Anderson made a number of changes to rectify this. One, he made sure Moimoi got more carries. Two, he sacked Josh Cordoba and brought Tim Mannah into the side. Three, he didn't use lightweight backrowers like Weller Huaraki and Brendan Oake as prop forwards. And with less responsibility on his shoulders, Nathan Cayless was able to play a role more in keeping with his talents. Over the second half of this competition we've seldom lost the battle of the go-forward and it cannot be emphasised how important that has been to the side.PUZZLE PIECE 8: MORTIMER/ROBSONIt took Daniel Anderson, slightly more than a month to find a new solution to his halves upon losing Keating and Mateo. Jeff Robson had been in the mix since Finch left but his limitations left most Eels fans calling for his immediate rejection. And although his weaknesses were pretty apparent, he had shown himself to be an excellent defender. The decision to bring in Mortimer was out of necessity more than anything, and Anderson wisely eased him into the top grade, initially having him defend in the centres. However, Mortimer quickly showed his defence wasn't going to be too much of a liability and earned his right to play as a proper six.However, the most important thing that Anderson did was not ask too much of either player. Instead, he handed more of the playmaking responsibilities to Jarryd Hayne, used Robson as primarily a link man, and let Mortimer settle into six where he would be able to influence the game without having to run it. This is the genius of Anderson, he allows players to play their strengths, not asking them to perform roles they are not capable of. This has allowed players like Robson and Mortimer to grow in confidence and excel.PUZZLE PIECE 9: SECOND-PHASE PLAYSince the Warriors went to the grand final on the back of razzle-dazzle offloads, Anderson has been known for his side's short passing game but with the Eels failing to complete enough sets early in the season, we just didn't see any of that style of play for the entire first half of the season. However, I think there was a change in team attitude following the Tigers loss. We just never looked like scoring points in that game. So the next game against Brisbane, the Eels produced a massive 37 offloads and didn't make a heap of errors in doing so. They caused a massive upset in that match and suddenly discovered that without a pair of dominant halves but with so many talented broken play runners, this was going to be our most effective form of offence. In attack, we really haven't looked back since.PUZZLE PIECE 10: PHYSICALITYThe Penrith game showed we were now able to score points. However, it also showed a weakness in mental strength when it came to our defence. The match opened with the softest of tries when a Panthers prop barged through two our forwards defending on their goal-line. We fell off any number of tackles in that match and just weren't physical enough in the collisions. However, that was the last time you could say that about the Eels. Since then we have been the tougher team in every match we've played. Players like Krisnan Inu have discovered form resurgences on the back of playing tough, physical games. Whether it be goal-line defence or winning the battle of the hard-yards, the Eels now play tough and gritty. When they won against the Storm on a Monday night, it was proof of this and then it was backed up the following week against a full-strength Bulldogs outfit. I decided we could still win the comp during the first-half of the Bulldogs game and I have the betting stub to prove it. For the most part, all of the pieces of the puzzle had finally dropped into place and I've not been the least bit surprised that we've not lost a game since.PUZZLE PIECE 11: NO SLACKNESSI will qualify that statement, by saying, I have had concerns that we would drop back into old habits and take teams lightly that we would be expected to beat. The Eels don't do that any more. Instead of playing down to their weaker opposition they now pummel them into the ground. This ruthlessness will see us be minor premiership contenders in 2010.PUZZLE PIECE 12: FELETI MATEO (To be played out)For as good as we've been, I've remained concerned that we play too much off the back of Jarryd Hayne. No team yet has worked out how to shut him down, but it will happen. Billy Slater was unstoppable last year - now teams know how to limit his effectiveness. As each week passes, rival coaches will learn more about stopping Hayne and his impact must be lessened. However, if Parramatta have another point of attack it will either open opportunities to exploit the opposition's over-attentiveness on Hayne or it will suck attention back away from Hayne. Feleti Mateo is that player. We've already seen a hint of what is to come with a couple of magic Mateo moments in his first two games back from injury. Expect him to come further into his own into the final series and that final piece of the puzzle to Premiership glory will be put into place.

Awesome 1 eye.
Your commitment and dedication to your web page is breathless.
What an overview.
Just reading this brings out the emotions within me. Emotions that I never knew I had.
Gee I luv this club & I luv your web page for all of the informative stuff that I need to survive on during those long periods of no footy Tues - Thurs each week.

I could not agree further with your informative articulated assessments - Especially Mateo. As people would know I was very keen to get Mateo back into our side.

You are one very committed supporter.
Gee I hope to meet you one day whilst in & around the games or at the club, just to let you know how much I am & I am also sure many thousands of other Parra supporters appreciate your commitment. I would luv to shout you a beer one day.

All the best
Go Parra

"Yea I like Samrani as a 17 rather than a starting backrower. Tuilagi will probably be selected this week with Guymer back on the bench or cup. Latu needs a couple more games in Cup before being a chance of NRL selection I would think."

"Yep thats the thing. I dont think anyone expected some players to be so much on the outer and JR blood so many younger players. Its why we are suffering this short term pain. Hopefully its better for the long run."

Replies

Daneel September 2, 2009 at 9:15am

You truly are a student of the game Mr. Sim! :)
Active September 2, 2009 at 9:19am

Awesome 1 eye.
Your commitment and dedication to your web page is breathless.
What an overview.
Just reading this brings out the emotions within me. Emotions that I never knew I had.
Gee I luv this club & I luv your web page for all of the informative stuff that I need to survive on during those long periods of no footy Tues - Thurs each week.

I could not agree further with your informative articulated assessments - Especially Mateo. As people would know I was very keen to get Mateo back into our side.

You are one very committed supporter.
Gee I hope to meet you one day whilst in & around the games or at the club, just to let you know how much I am & I am also sure many thousands of other Parra supporters appreciate your commitment. I would luv to shout you a beer one day.

All the best
Go Parra
Dan September 2, 2009 at 9:19am

Great analysis mate, thoroughly enjoyed reading that.
Bourbon Man September 2, 2009 at 9:25am

Great article Phil! I particularly agree with your points re Anderson and his ability to identify his own players' weaknesses and to restructure our play to avoid those weaknesses. I was filthy when DA left Parra to coach the Warriors as I felt that, at the time, he was the ideal candidate to succeed an under performing Brian Smith. Of course the 2001 season proved Smith was still the man for the job but DA showed his credentials almost immediately taking the hapless Warriors from the throws of mediocrity to the finals in that 2001 season.

One thing I will say though is that if you have a betting stub for us to win the GF based on the evidence of the 1st half against the Dogs, I would suggest you regularly take a bath when on the punt :-) Our odds were over 100:1 at that stage!!
- Phil Sim > Bourbon Man September 2, 2009 at 10:24am
  
  Bourbon, I'll have you know I paid my way through university on the punt! As a quasi-professional punter back then, you soon learn punting is not so much about backing winners as it is backing value. When we scored those two tries against the Bulldogs not only did it make me believe we had a chance of winning the comp, but from a pure punting perspective I thought it would only take a couple of wins to bring in that 160-1 dramatically and then if you were so inclined you can lay off for a guaranteed profit. You can actually do pretty well on betfair by backing and laying off as teams come in and out of form.
  - Bourbon Man > Phil Sim September 2, 2009 at 10:45am
    
    I should have invited you down to the Bluegum Hotel in Waitara during all those unprofitable Saturday afternoons I was chasing the 'big trifecta' :-)
    - 1Eyed Eel > Bourbon Man September 2, 2009 at 11:10am
      
      The trifecta was my primary tool of trade!
    - Daneel > Bourbon Man September 2, 2009 at 11:34pm
      
      Love the Bluegum!
waldo September 2, 2009 at 10:50am

Now if they can just get Groethe to stop coming in off his wing....!
Thanks for the great read.
- poida97 > waldo September 2, 2009 at 2:46pm
  
  Good point - I'd like to see what DA does about that well-documented weakness. I hope a move to the 2nd row next year. Not that being infield is any easier to defend physically, but it surely has less decision making than what being on the wing does.