Parramatta went down tonight to Brisbane 18 to six in our season opener at a soggy Parramatta Stadium.
The Eels actually led six to nil at half-time after a brave defensive performance in the opening 40 minutes. Chris Sandow couldn’t have started his Blue and Gold career better in better fashion scoring after just five minutes when Brisbane failed to clear up his grubber kick, and the chirpy half was first to the dregs. Luke Burt converted from wide and the Eels had an early six to nil advantage which had the relatively sizable Eels home crowd in raptures.
Brisbane were doing their best to make life easier for the Eels with sloppy handling but they were looking dangerous out wide with Justin Hodges threatening with every touch. Esi Tonga, maligned for his defence during the pre-season pulled off a miraculous tackle, when a Brisbane try seemed certain. However, the Eels held for for the full forty minutes and the defence that was the strongest facet of their 2011 season was again proving the side’s strength. Sandow and Roberts were controlling the tempo well in the halves with strong kicking games and Mitchell Allgood and Tim Mannah were making big metres up the middle.
What the Eels of 2011 failed to do and what they needed tonight was to play the full eighty minutes with the same kind of intensity displayed in the first forty minutes. That didn’t happen.
Indeed, Parramatta Stadium was eerily quiet as the second stanza kicked off and the side muddled its way through the first ten minutes of the half. When they needed to come out swinging, they instead came out with air swings making four handling errors in that opening period. Brisbane, handed a gold-embossed invitation back into the game, gleefully accepted when Esi Tonga and Cheyse Blair both rushed in to take the same man, presenting Brisbane with acres of spaces and Jharal Yow Yeh scored in the corner. Parker converted from touch to even the scores up, but the momentum had now clearly shifted to Brisbane who were playing with much more confidence in the drying conditions.
Meanwhile, Parramatta were imploding. Our kicking game - a highlight of the side’s first half - went to pot, with consecutive clearing attempts charged down and suddenly the Broncos were on the attack again before Peter Wallace took advantage of a bobbling grubber to re-gather and score and give Brisbane the lead. Worse still, Ben Roberts left with a reported quad-strain.
With Roberts off the field, Parramatta’s attacking structures broke down completely. Sandow failed to marshall his troops under pressure and provide necessary direction and replacement Casey McGuire was not much more than a passenger. As they were though much of 2011, there was a void of creativity or attacking spark and to be honest the boys never looked like they were going to pull those six points back.
Instead, Brisbane nailed home the sucker punch when Ben Hannant punched through some messy Eels defence and sealed the match.
To be fair, this was always going to be a tough match for the Eels given their injury problems. They were missing a lot of strike-power in Hayne, Tonga and Loko and another of their primary attacking players Reni Maitua came into this match on a very limited preparation. They will look a much more formidable attacking unit with Hayne, Tonga and Maitua back in the starting line-ups.
However, the Eels have come into the season short in spark in several key conditions and they’re going to have to deal with injuries throughout the season. To do that, they need Chris Sandow to assert his authority for the full eighty minutes. It’s unforgivable to have multiple kicks charged down when you’re deep into a grinding contest, and that’s where you do look for your primary playmaker to take control. A lack of leadership has plagued Parramatta for years and they need Sandow to grow into that role, and they need him to do it quickly. I’m happy with the way Roberts is going - he’s playing a role nicely and is complementing Sandow nicely - but when he limped off the field, our structures completely fell apart. That’s not good enough.
On the plus side, Mitchell Allgood and Tim Mannah were bullocks out there tonight both averaging better than 10 metres per hitup and racking up about 130 metres each. Nathan Hindmarsh also produced a particularly strong running game with his 51 tackles complemented by 127 metres gained. They’re phenomenal stats. We’ll more than match-up in the forwards again this year.
What we need is out best players on the park because there is a sizable class-drop down to our second tier players and we just don’t match up well enough, when we have more than a couple of our class players on the sidelines. That was what happened tonight - but this side can be much improved when it gets that bit of class back at its disposal.
Replies
eels failed miserably in this match!
chris sandow was too casual and had too many kicks rebounded
The first 40 minutes looked good. I've been pretty sceptical of Roberts taking over the six but they work nicely together. I think Sandow appreciates having someone to share the responsibilities with - I was watching him pretty carefully in the last 20 though, and when things go wrong that's when you need your number seven (or main playmaker) to really step in and start barking orders and taking control. It didn't happen. Sandow has said that talking hasn't really been the strongest aspect of his game, and he's really got to keep working at that because he is the senior half.
we looked very ordinary trying to score a try when we had chances, broncos always looked dangerous when they were close to our line. *sigh*
I already knew the score so watched the game with an open mind for once.
Some of my random thoughts:
Forwards look good enough but rotation not quite right. Logic suggests Fui should play well off the bench but it does not work. Matua needs to start too.
Hayne and Sandow will complement each other. This team is nothing like last years. Signs if some short interchange passing. We need some long passing.... Hayne will bring it.
Roberts need to sort out his long kick which is a gem and leave short kicking to hayne & Sandow.
Can the we afford to play Burt on the wing? I thought the Zbroncis had much better ruck speed. We need our backs to help out with early meters
I think if Fuifui is playing prop he has to start. He doesn't get nearly as heavily involved when he comes in off the bench. Personally, I think Mannah is the best bench prop in the competition. It's a very under-rated ability to come in from a cold start when the match is flowing and get straight into combat but Mannah is incredible at it. I also think Poore is much better as a starting prop. I think he is the type of player who runs better with the adrenalin flowing and he seems far more tentative of the bench. All four are of pretty much equal ability so I think you've got with where each of them performs better.
Agree on your thoughts with our halves, and how Hayne will further complement though - I'm really liking how our 1,6,7 is going to come together.
I see where you're coming from with the last point - in those conditions tonight it would have made things even tougher. Blair had a few nice hitups that relieved a bit of pressure. Although, arguably with Hayne at 1 it balances things out a little bit as his hitups are obviously stronger than Burts.
The main point was ladies and Gents was we were going along nice and Steady. Brisbane Had No Idea and were Held Nicely by some very Impressive Defense.
Until Early in the second Half After Fui's and then Hindy's Dropped Ball. I Believed we had periods of Defense that will hold us in good stead throughout 2012.
It all went Pear Shape Sadly when Roberts Was replaced and McGuire was his replacement.
The attack Became stifled and Sandow was Stuck then on Right Hitting Morgs over and over, Very Readable.
From that point..with the amount of ball Brisbane had, our Mistakes and McGuire Shit Box efforts the result was Inevitable.
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