Paramatta has opened their 2010 NRL account with a miraculous comeback, fighting back from a 20 point deficit to run in four consecutive second half tries and win the day as 24 to 20 winners.
It was a game that looked for all intent and purposes like the NRL script-writers had run out of ideas, so had simply taken two halves of football from last week and slapped them together for this week's game.
For the first half they turned to last week's St George vs Parramatta match. As the Dragons did last week, Manly played mistake-free football and were able to build on Parramatta mistakes and penalties to score early points.
Former Eels junior Trent Hodkinson made a dream start to his NRL career when a simply decoy play opened up enough of a hole for him to slice through the Eels defence and score the first try with just minutes gone. More pressure saw another ex-Eel Tony Williams unmarked and he strolled over for another soft try.
Many racked up their third try and it again was scored by yet another former Parramatta player when Jamie Lyon benefitted from a Glenn Stewart offload to go over again and Manly were up 14 to nil.
Fuifui Moimoi looked to have reduced the deficit just before half-time but was disallowed having adjudged to have made a double movement.
The Eels needed a strong start to the second half, but instead got the worst possible start when Manly interchange forward Matt Cross dived onto a kick into the in-goal and Manly were now up 20 to nil.
However, this was where the NRL scriptwriters opted to change-up the story. And this time for inspiration they turned to last week's Manly vs Wests game, which saw the Tigers string together a rush of late tries to overhaul the Manly advantage.
The try-spree started when Moimoi again crashed through Manly defenders, and although there was again a hint of a double movement, this time the cards fell Parramatta's way and we had our first try on the board but with just 28 minutes to go.
Jarryd Hayne was really starting to assert himself in the game now and he took a long-pass from Luke Burt in his own in-goal before galloping down the field. He passed to Daniel Mortimer, who was angle-tapped by the cover defence but he was able to get a pass away to Tahu who proved to fast for any of the Manly defenders. A sensational try and the Eels now looked some hope as Manly was showing obvious sign of fatigue on this hot Sunday afternoon.
Hayne was again at the centre of the action when he chipped over the top. Kris Keating picked up a ball which didn't bounce kindly for anyone, and fired a pass out to Joel Reddy who was able to run round and touch down under the posts.
The Eels needed just one try but the minutes were ticking down. Kris Keating put up a high bomb and Hayne contested the ball only for Manly to knock it on. From the ensuing scrum, the ball was sent wide to an unmarked Eric Grothe who cross over out wide for the matchwinning try.
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That length of the field try will have to go down as one of the best of all time!
What if we lost we would be all over the boys for how crap they are....
Players who can hold their heads high - Hayne, Reddy (outstanding player), Grothe, Robson (his defence in both rounds this year has saved us) & Moi Moi. The rest of the players are around the 5 or 6 out of 10 mark
It we lose this weekend we have played one good half of footy in 3 weeks - I will reserve my judgement on the overall team until after Tigers game.
I believe the heat was a major factor on us running over the top of the larger forward pack late in the game.
Haha... Ando...
Out of 160min of football now, we have managed only a good 20min against an exhausted Manly team missing many players??? And got aided by a dodgy forward pass..
Our forwards really need to have a look in the mirror.. And Mortimer, whats with his kicking game, i see toyota cup half's with better kicking games than Mortimer.
We better lift by 200% for this Friday night, otherwise Tigers will run rampant on us.
This is the type of content I want to see when I come on here. Constructive and honest assessments of our teams performance.
Agree pretty much 100% with your summary.
Eels are just warming up.
It'll be a simple matter of getting the forwards to hold the ball when coming out of our own end. We should romp it in I think.
Farrah tends to run through us up the middle pretty easily. If we come out at the start of this game, like we have in our first two games we will be chasing 40, not 20. At this stage of the season we don't have the cohesion in our attack to chase that many.
It is definetly more than just the forwards holding their own. The trouble we've had has been across the park. It hasn't been wholly the forwards fault, MK's fault (contrary to popular/or not belief) or the backs' fault. We have to get good kicks away, hold onto the ball, get faster line speed and not give away stupid penalties.
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