Coach Stephen Kearney finally made the call that so many of us Parramatta fans had been hoping for - shifting Hayne to the pivot position after Jeff Robson failed to overcome his hamstring injury. Even if Robson is fit next week, surely Hayne must stay at six, with Luke Burt in sensational form at the back and Hayne giving the Eel’s a much superior kicking game and a more threatening attack from the five-eighth position.
Not everything Hayne did was perfect, but he was finally a dominant figure out there on the ground tonight, and his talk was as impressive as anything else he offered tonight. He set up the first try when he managed to flick a ball out the back having taken on the line and sucked in a number of Tiger’s defenders. When Jordan Atkins finally picked up the ball, he couldn’t believe the space in front of him and he strode through untouched for the opening four pointer.
There were near misses from both sides as the rest of the half played out, punctuated by any number of handling errors but the Tigers went closest when a Benji Marshall kick was diverted away from an oncoming Wayne McKinnon by the Parramatta Stadium upright. It was a terrific piece of play from the post, which should have earned itself a fresh coat of paint in the upcoming days.
After surviving that close call, the Eel’s went into half-time at six to nil up, and the Tigers looked likely to square up when Benji Marshall was sent downfield but Ben Smith valiantly chased the Tiger’s five-eighth and dragged him into touch within a metre of the corner post. It was probably the play of the match from Smith because it changed the momentum of the game and the Eels responded with quick points via a Luke Burt penality and then a Reni Maitua barge-over from dummy half. Having gone close last week, Maitua would not be denied this time and his try and the subsequent conversion made it 14 to nil.
Parramatta stretched that lead to 20 when Ryan Morgan scored off a Luke Burt grubber. Burt had a sensational match, including two one-on-one strips both of which were massive plays. He is thriving back at fullback and his positional play was also excellent.
The Tigers got a consolation try before Luke Burt put a fitting fullstop on the match with a penalty goal after the buzzer. Stephen Kearney now has something to work with in coming weeks, as it should be remembered that Parramatta would have had almost no preparation time to work on structures around Hayne’s positional switch with the State-of-Origin utility only comign back into camp yesterday. With Maitua also giving the Eel’s additional thrust around the ruck, together with Burt’s great form at the back, it will be exciting to see what kind of improvement Parramatta can make in their forthcoming matches against Penrith next week, then the Bulldogs before returning home to take on Melbourne.
Do we dare to dream, Eels fans? Damn straight we do.
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