Parramatta crowned the opening of their new stadium with an absolute 51-6 thrashing of the Balmain-Wests Tigers on Easter Monday.
Before a crowd of 29,047, the largest Parramatta-based home crowd for the Eels in history, the Blue and Gold ran in nine tries to one, with halfback Mitchell Moses collecting 19 points himself consisting of a try, seven goals and one field goal. The number seven was also the first player to score a try, kick a goal and kick a field goal on the new ground.
There was some apprehension for Parramatta with star recruit Blake Ferguson ruled out due to rib soreness, replaced by Josh Hoffman. The Eels were down to 16 men just after kickoff when prop Daniel Alvaro received a concussion in the first set of the match.
The Eels had two early tries struck off due to forward passes despite replays showing the ball was passed backwards out of the hand. The Tigers pressured early but a grubber kick that took one roll too many saw Clint Gutherson set off for the quick tap where he found Mitchell Moses who set sail for the right corner and setting the stadium alight.
Despite a relatively poor first half completion rate for the Eels, they absolutely dominated the Tigers through the middle, regularly punching holes in the defensive line while Shaun Lane proved himself a real threat on the left edge.
By half time the Eels led 30-6 and there was a thought the Blue and Gold may take the foot off the gas in the second half. That was put to bed soon after half time as Parramatta's young guns Reed Mahoney and Oregon Kaufusi crossed with back-to-back tries.
It was one of the most dominant Eels performances in recent memory. The side was ruthless and exploited the Tiger's poor marker and A defence.
The back five for the Eels all passed 100 running metres, with Mitchell Moses, Junior Paulo, Shaun Lane, Tepai Moeroa and Tim Mannah all joining the 100 metres club as well.
The win moves the Eels into fifth position on the ladder, giving them a +52 points differential.
In the next two weeks they take on the struggling Newcastle Knights before returning home to face traditional rivals the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Those two games could have a big impact on the Eels season. Two wins will likely land the Eels in the top four and see a new contract handed to coach Brad Arthur, while also setting them up for a run deep through the Origin period. It would also equal the side's win total from last season.
A mauling like they gave the Tigers is really only useful if it is backed up the following week. Newcastle are struggling and actually look a lot like the Eels when Jarryd Hayne was the focal point of their attack from 2011-2013. The Knights' game plan consists of giving the ball to Ponga and hoping he comes up with something.
So while Newcastle were manhandled by a struggling Titans side, they will likely be a tougher prospect in the Hunter and look to restore some pride. The Eels will need to be up for this game.
The Dragons present a curious case. While currently equal on points with Parramatta, they have had a few tougher victories and were lucky to escape against Manly over the weekend.
They've only just defeated Newcastle and Brisbane, whilst dispatching the Bulldogs and getting beaten by Souths and the Cowboys. They face the Roosters this week in their traditional ANZAC Day clash and as a result have a 10 day turnaround.
Parramatta will also be expecting back Blake Ferguson and Manu Ma'u in the next week or two.
Replies
We come with that attitude like yesterday we can beat any team. The problem is doing it weekly, hopefully that was the start we needed. The boys would be feeling pretty confident now but need the right attitude to keep doing it all year.
Hi Super, well written article. Remember we talked about legacy's; and the almight All Blacks? Well despite the surreal and incredible christening of our new home, we're not quite ready to open the champagne corks on that one.
I agree it was a great performance from us. Dominant. Courageous. Confident. I think it was a win for attacking footy and we took most of our opportunities with open hands. Kicks were accurate, catches and passes stuck at the right time. It was almost as if the stars aligned. We were meant to win an win well. We deserve to be sitting 5th.
Yet, there were some worrying trends emerging. Though we sliced the Tigers open seemingly at will, with 10 times as many linebreaks, 10-1, and almost 60% of possession, as well as winning the penalty count 6-2, we also:
That shows we have room for improvement. And the Tigers weren't as poor as we imagined. We were just too dominant in taking our opportunities and building momentum. And we must get better to be able to win ugly, when we're on the road, when the stars don't align and attacking footy is second place to tough defensive footy. Defence wins premierships. Traditionally, we relied on attacking genius to get us home. In the last 20 years in good finals campaigns say in 2001, 05, 09. 2017 was a bit different in that there was more grit. Maybe attacking genius is enough, or maybe we still need to evolve more. Time will tell.
A week to celebrate. Let's hope it's a year to remember. And we're building a legacy.
Great post Hell On Eels
A lot of those stats were thrown out of kilter in the first half. We only completed around 60% in the first half, so to finish with 75% means we were near perfect in the second half.
I'm not overly concerned about error rates and completions to an extent. I've posted multiple times that there is a swing more to how teams use the ball than how well they complete. The Roosters and Storm had two of the worst completion rates last season and the Dogs had the best. What that tells me is a couple of things:
1. When good teams make a mistake they can defend it. We did that yesterday. The Tigers one try came from a flukish kick, we never dropped off in the middle, worked hard from marker and back each other up well.
2. Good teams tend to make a mistake when using the football in a positive manner. Keep in mind we had two forward passes (that actually went back), counted as errors which were the final pass and would've resulted in tries. Against the Tigers we weren't dropping the ball on our own line. We were trying to open them up.
With the change in rule interpretations this season, the teams that move the football are winning games because it tires out the opposition.
Play the ball speed is hard to impact given it's up to the referees' interpretation and they were horrendous yesterday.
Yes, we made less tackle breaks, but we that means we had men in position to tackle, unlike the Tigers who at times were so poor, didn't have anyone in cooee of our players. See Shaun Lane's linebreak and try and Oregon Kaufusi's try.
I agree we have a lot of improvement and we still have to get tighter defensively.
However, we've shown we can grind a game out like we did against Penrith and Cronulla.