The Parramatta Eels have begun the long climb back towards the top eight after a horrendous 0-6 start.
With two wins on the trot the Eels have changed their attacking formation to make best use of their small, tough and mobile forward pack.
In the opening six weeks, the Eels dropped a lot of ball and this led to one-out running, little incisiveness from dummy-half and this forced our halves to drift sideways.
In their second match of the season against Penrith, they dominated field position but were unable to crack the defensive line.
A big issue was the one-out running from their forwards and the continual use of settler tackles where they'd reach the middle of the field in order to set up for a big sweeping play.
These settlers allowed the defending side to get ordered and be able to nullify the play. Without a player like Semi Radradra on the edge, defensive sides didn't have a big problem to worry about and could simply number up.
In the past two weeks there has been a tactical shift in our attacking formations. Our forwards have begun arrowing in behind the ruck, targeting the markers and A defenders. This has led to either penalties for holding down as defensive sides struggle to get organised or easy metres down the field.
With a small forward pack, the Eels can't look to a rampaging prop to get them on the front foot so it becomes important for their forwards to poke their heads through the line and have defenders back-peddling.
If you're going a couple of passes off the ruck, defenders can easily adjust, get numbers in tackles and slow down the ruck. When you're arrowing in behind the ruck, defenders aren't set and are often being forced to make multiple tackles per set.
This was clear in both wins this season. As the game wore on both Manly and the Tigers forwards looked exhausted and Parramatta were making easy metres right through the guts.
This had a flow-on effect to our backline. Both Mitchell Moses and Corey Norman have been able to run this week and that's led to a try for Norman as well as multiple try-assists for both of them.
We've also seen Manu Ma'u become more damaging as the retreating defensive line means the back-rower is able to force the half into first contact.
Nowhere was this more apparent than in Manu's try against the Tigers. Moses had acres of space, he straightened at the line and the disorganised Tigers defence meant Benji Marshall was left on his own and trying to use his inside shoulder to bring down Ma'u which was completely ineffective.
Kaysa Pritchard is a key cog in this style of play and it's a style which the North Queensland Cowboys have previously used to great effect with Jake Granville darting from dummy-half.
The whole tactic allows us to get on the front foot, reduce the number of defenders in tackles, allows for offloads and support, gives halves time and space and gas the opposition pack, all while playing with good ball security.
We face Cronulla next week, who love a good dog fight but don't like it when you come at them through the middle. Their defensive structure is predicated on their outside backs rushing up and in.
If you take their middle away then their backs aren't primed to come out of the line and their big men like Fifita won't have the gas in the tank they need.
It will be interesting to see how this tactic is used in the coming weeks, especially with Nathan Brown and Tepai Moeroa coming back.
Tepai especially could very much benefit from playing on the edge against a retreating defensive line.
Replies
So it took Parra 6 weeks to wake to what the top sides were doing from round 1.
In saying that Mutt this style of play is different to the way previous top teams have played. We didn't play like this last season. We were more one-out last year with some interchange of passing in the forwards whereas now we're arrowing in behind the ruck and looking for offloads.
Previously, many of the top teams have worked with sweeping plays, hitups through the middle of the field etc. It's clear the game is shifting once more. The sweeping and block plays aren't as effective as they once were. See the Roosters and Bulldogs for example.
I think one of the main issue was that the opposition had to have a minimum of 2 players and even 3 sometimes "minding" Semi. No one can take him full or even half pelt one-on-one. That created extra space for us. I can't remember Semi being tackled by a single player all season last year. Broken tackles and bodies everywhere when he ran the ball. What he did to Broncos in Brisbane last year is the stuff of legend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84FOoc9J1io
you have it right muttman, yes it took 6 weeks.
brad arthur wanted to run the ball in the forwards one out for at least the first 3 tackles in each 6.
a forward power game, he for got our forwards are smaller then most packs, also he wanted brown and alvaro to run one out and not to pass..
we we now know it failed mate.
now mannah on the bench and coming on when the forwards are tied, and hes lot better, our team now back off loading , and our halfs are better, we are deeper and playing faster, the team looks better..
king cutho as captain , he has passion to win.
and tim mannah to the bench , has worked wonders.
it has took years for parra to work out ,tim mannah just could not take the big hits when starting games.
The game is now adopting Touch footy strategies.
Engage markers, test A defenders, get in behind the ruck, inside balls, dummy half running.
The 10m is being policed much tougher. Dummy half running and quick play the bells are more effective than ever. It’s also the safest way to play hence why sides rebuilding adopted it. Established sides got caught out.
It was obvious after round 2. It shouldn’t have taken 6 weeks to work it out.
Spot on Muttman, even a hack like me was saying this after the first two rounds, we should have been playing this style from round 3 at worst.
Link us a post of you saying it
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