Match Preview: Is Anderson sitting on his ace?

For all of the analysis you can do about playing strategies, structures, strengths and weaknesses, there aren't too many games that simply don't go down to the team that wants to win more. Last week, when the Dragons thumped the Eels, they were the team that showed more desire and commitment. With the pressure released, once they realised they had made it to the finals, the Eels weren't the team that had been over the previous seven weeks. Meanwhile, the Dragons were desperate to turn around their form and also had the extra carrot of a minor premiership dangling in front of them. This week is an altogether different story. The Dragons will want to win, of course. This is finals footy after all. However, if they don't, they get another chance next week. Indeed some would suggest its actually better for them to lose so they don't have the week off, which often proves more of a curse than a blessing. They will also find it tough not to be cocky. Just as the Eels would have gone into last week's match thinking they couldn't be beaten, the Dragons will find it hard to believe that the Eels are going to be able to turn-around the thrashing they copped last week. You'll go along way in tipping competitions, picking purely on motivation. Last week, that factor didn't point anywhere at the Dragons, this week it points squarely at the Eels. That said, I don't think Wayne Bennett will let the Dragons get too over the top of themselves and with a big home crowd they'll still be very pumped up. So we're not going to win this game on enthusiasm alone. We will need to be a very different team to the side that played last week and I think we will be. There's been a lot of talk about whether the Eels were foxing or not last week, and while I do believe the Eels wanted to win I also believe that they went into the game with the most basic of game-plans and really did not reveal much at all about what they're capable of. Here's what I think I will be different this week. Matt Keating has a nice long passing game from dummy half which wasn't used at all last week. Our forwards ran right into the teeth of the Dragons. There were no decoys, nor was there any passing before the line. Now, it's no secret we don't have the biggest pack in the competition, but we do have one of the most skillful and it's one with a lot of experience. So I think you're going to see us play a totally different game in the forwards this week. Where there was no variety last week, this week I can see us producing a veritable buffet aimed at moving the Dragons forwards around as much as possible. Forwards running wider off the ruck behind decoy runners. Cayless, Hindmarsh and Moimoi all passing before the line. Balls being turned back inside. You can't work over the Dragons based on strength but you can play on the fact that they're all big boofheads who don't have the greatest lateral movement. Once you do that, it will make it much easier to offload the ball and I think we'll obviously be relying on that to spark a lot of our attack. Meanwhile, I think Daniel Anderson will be highly encouraged by the inroads Krisnan Inu made down the Dragons right side where Jamie Soward defends. I think we'll see most of our ball sent in that direction with Jarryd Hayne wrapping around the back. It's also the side that Wendell Sailor defends on, where he will mark Luke Burt, who will have a marked advantage in terms of pace and more importantly acceleration. Look for both Hayne and Mortimer to be looking for every opportunity to kick behind the line to Luke Burt. The remarkable thing about the Dragons success this year, is their gameplan has varied so little. They have use the same structures they have been using over and over again but it just continues to work so well - indeed, they scored four tries last week just using the one basic movement. It works to their favoured flank, which is their left where they have the brilliant Morris ready to finish. The first option is to have Ben Creagh steam onto the ball aiming for the half, which in our case is Robson. This resulted in the Dragons first try last week, but it also kept Robson very focused on Creagh for the rest of the game and subsequently he never quite slid in time to cover up the overlap which the Dragons are so expert in producing when they run the ball behind Creagh with Darius Boyd becoming the link man. Last week, Joel Reddy's strategy was to rush up to try and shut down the play before it got to the outside, but unfortunately Jonathan Wright tended to neither commit to coming in or staying with his man and we subsequently opened up like The Gap every time the ball went left. While Eric Grothe's defence is sometimes criticised, he and Reddy have developed a pretty good combination defensively recently and I think you'll see those two working in tandem much better. If Parramatta is going to push up it needs to start earlier on the inside with Ben Smith pressuring Soward and Robson hitting Creagh much earlier. This will leave us very vulnerable to a kick behind the line so Jarryd Hayne will need to be wary of that at the back. As I mentioned before this week, I will also not be surprised if Bennett doesn't try and test Feleti Mateo's goal-line defence. What I'm hoping is that with Nathan Hindmarsh back in the side, the boys will generally have more confidence in each other as they just tended to leave their man too early last week. The other big defensive change we need is better line speed. The Eels seemed to come out firing on the kick off but after a set they were back to standing on their heels. Ben Smith and Todd Lowrie really need to lead the way on this front. For all of the plaudits they Daniel Anderson has received so far from us Eels fans this is his true test. He must not only ensure his players enter this game with the right attitude, he needs to fix a number of glaring issues that the Eels showcased last week, not the least of which is the ability to score points. It will test his abilities as a motivator, technician and strategist. On the other hand, he has been given a situation that is a coaches dream. The opportunity to play his cards close to his chest, force his opponent to play their cards early and then react accordingly. Let's hope he has that ace up his sleeve. 1Eyed Tip: Eels by 8, Burt first try scorer

"Paulo is a shadow of what he once was and is getting worse each year. He looks like he hates the collision these days. Sadly that is what he would display if kept around as a leader for our pack for others to follow. Sam T already seems to follow in…"

"Did you watch him play in this years final for Souths? He was owned by old man Gagai. Laurel went missing all game although he did pass the ball from dummy half a lot to the other outside backs to work it out of their end. Massive NO."

Replies

Ace Eel September 11, 2009 at 6:31pm

No doubt DA WILL HAVE THE BOYS PRIMED & READY...but Parra will still need a few of things to go our way ...if we are to win....1. We must at least get a fair go in 50/50 calls from ALL refs...2.Tactical kicking is a key.... we need good field position...and we need to put soward under constant pressure.....3.NO basic errors..with ball control & dumb options...our points will flow on from these......& VICTORY !!!!....PARRA...PARRA...PARRA....
DazDingo September 11, 2009 at 7:09pm

Yeah they'll be ready all right. As soon as their done with Laserforce, Musical Trivia and Maccas....
- 1Eyed Eel > DazDingo September 11, 2009 at 8:53pm
  
  It could have an impact actualy. If we can move their forwards around and it's hot they could struggle even more
  - EelMan > 1Eyed Eel September 11, 2009 at 9:54pm
    
    Those weather conditions suit our game...
    And will have the big dragon’s forwards sucking in the big ones earlier... Here is hoping anyway.
    - jamesy > EelMan September 12, 2009 at 3:46am
      
      we better wear the yellow jersey if its hot, dark colours attract more heat.
- EelMan > DazDingo September 11, 2009 at 9:52pm
  
  LOL I seen that in the tele today... GuJu wont eat maccas...
- RealEel > DazDingo September 12, 2009 at 7:10pm
  
  suits our second phase game
Eeldarado September 12, 2009 at 12:20am

Agree to most of it !!!

Without going in depth you say aside of the strategies and plans and so on the desire to win is Paramount !!

Well of course it is this is the basics !!!!! this goes without saying!!!! this is the vital ingredient ino any side , you need to have the desire to win first ..............before executing any game plan or strategy!!!! these guys are first graders some of them with 10 years experience!!!

To me there are no excuses any more this is do or die ,,,,the side has to have the desire to win!!!! the key now is to execute the game plans and strategies!!!
jamesy September 13, 2009 at 7:53pm

DA HAD 4 ACES!