It could have been a blue letter day for the Eel’s Junior squads with both Harold Matthews (U16s) and SG Ball (U18s) winning their way through to the Grand Finals where they would face Penrith and the Sydney Roosters, respectively.
Of the two sides, the Harold Matthews team was most favoured, having gone through the year undefeated. However, it’s worth noting that after some early season cake-walks they had been more tested in recent games winning their semi-final 30 to 20 over Newcastle as well as having close calls against Wests (28 - 26) and the Tigers (26 - 20). Meanwhile, they’re opponents Penrith had finished the season well and had won well in their semi-final 22 to 8. The sides had not met prior to this game.
With the match held at St Mary’s Stadium it was a virtual home game for the Panthers and from the opening tackle it was a fiercely contested match. Penrith had much of the early ball and the Eel’s defence did well to match up. We then scored from a kick to the corner and the early signs were good. However, Penrith’s captain Bryce Cartwright, who is a very talented young player got Penrith back level before they again scored right on the siren to go up 12 to six, having taken advantage of a turnover.
We got ourselves back in the match by being first to score in the second half. For me, the standout for the Eels was backrower Kelepi Tanginoa. Keep your eye out for this bloke. He made a number of breaks and the Panther’s at time just found him impossible to pull to ground. Indeed it was his break that gave us some space out wide, and our five-eighth Robbie Kamoto, who looked dangerous throughout the match did some nice work to set up centre Carlos Lopa.
It’s probably fair to say that the Eels won the forward battle. Another player to watch out for is the captain and prop forward Fraser Masinamua. He’s a big boy who steps like a centre and he has definite potential while another big lump of a kid, Pauli Pauli caused trouble on every hit-up. However, eventually it was the Penrith backs who won the game. They continually troubled our right-side defence and laid on two tries down that side that sealed the Premiership with our unbroken run crueled at the final hurdle.
Where the forwards are the strength of the Harold Matthews outfit, for the SG Ball side it’s the backline and there are a number of players in this side who will go onto Under 20s over the next two seasons and who are NRL prospects.
Another strong prospect is big prop Junior Pauo. He would go on to be awarded with Player of the Tournament and he opened the scoring when he crashed over from a short pass from five-eighth Jason Wehbe. Wehbe is quite talented with a nice kicking game and probably impressed me most of all the Eel’s halves.
For the second try our talented backline swung into action. Chris Ulugia was brilliant and threatened every time he touched and he sent the final pass out to winger Vai Tutai who went over for try number two.
Both Eels wingers - Tutai and Jacob Gagan - are exciting players, although they will be better next year as they are only Under 17 this year. Tutai looked a beast playing Harold Matthews last year but doesn’t look as imposing at Harold Matthews level, still he produced a number of dynamic attacking plays although he was tested in defence.
The player the Roosters should have tested more was the exciting Gagan. He injured his ankle and hobbled around the field for all of the second half. His preferred position is fullback but wing might be the right place for him if he is to break into NRL.
However, as the match wore on, the Roosters started to war down the Eels. Two Roosters forwards in particular Daniel Arona and Tai Tuivasa caused all sorts of trouble for the Eels and suddenly space started to open up down the Eels left side. The Roosters quickly put on three tries the last of which was stunning effort involving a grubber behind the line and then another kick and regather from the Roosters winger.
The Roosters scored again with Arona causing more trouble with an offload before the Eels regathered themselves and started a comeback. Tutai made an eighty metre run to the tryline and busy hooker Dean Blackman bullocked over from dummy half.
Eventually the Roosters would win it 28 to 24, with the Eels scoring on the siren to make the score look respectable but having beaten the number one and two teams in the week’s leading up to this match Sydney were deserved winners.
My player of the match for the Eels was another of their talented backline, centre Jacob Loko. He made numerous tackle busts and looked threatening all day and he’s another who is a definite hope of going on to play in the big league.
Neither side will be happy with their loss - both sides failed to put their best foot forward when the pressure was on - but Eels fans will take some comfort that there is some promising players coming through the ranks.
Harold Matthews Players to Watch
Fraser Masinamua: Big prop, strong leader with good forward
Kelepi Tanginoa: Tank-like second rower
Robbie Kamoto: Five-eighth with a very impressive passing game
SG Ball Players to Watch
Jacob Loko: Big, strong running centre with nice footwork
Chris Ulugia: Talented fullback who can chime into the backline
Junior Paulo: Rugged prop who is a handful for opposition defences
Replies
Parramatta is not the only club who loses Juniors to the salary cap. It is a sad situation which must be addressed, but to suggest that all that is ahead is doom and gloom because we are in the same situation as all the other clubs is nonsense!
I'm very disappointed to see these guys go as they're two of my more favored players but I do find it striking that when Caylo announced that he wouldn't be playing on next season, nobody seemed the slightest bit perturbed, yet Cayless has captained his club and country with distinction for over a decade and always plays his arse off!
I agree with Bourbon Man's suggestion in that other blog that there should be some compensation paid to clubs such as Parra in an instance such as when Mateo and Inu are enticed elsewhere because of the bigger dollars. If rival clubs had to pay not only the inflated wages but also some sort of transfer fee, they may think twice about pillaging year after year...
I suggest you overreact because as sad as it is to see these players go - its is not the end of our club and we do have an exciting future ahead.
I do agree however that something needs to be done in respect of the salary cap.
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