Eels Blogs

For ten minutes tonight, all of those pre-season fantasies that kept many Parramatta supporters champing at the bit through the off-season looked like being realised.

But then crash, bang, reality hit and the Eels suffered defeat yet again - albeit with a much improved performance against last year’s Grand Finalists, going down 36 to 20 against the Warriors.

But let’s go back to that first 10 minutes, because there was real hope in those opening salvos. Ben Roberts pouncing on the ball on the short side and then firing a smart cut-out pass to our impressive young winger Kenny Sio. Nice. But how about the open side? Sure thing, you’ll find Jarryd Hayne lurking out there and bam - another cutout pass and another impressive young outside back in Cheyse Blair goes over in the corner. Probably our pre-season fantasies would have had Luke Burt slotting both the goals from touch, but he wasn’t there tonight and Chris Sandow couldn’t add the extras but hey, at eight nil up who was going to start complaining.

If there is a complaint to be made about this Eel’s side, it’s that they lack a ruthless streak. They get up and inevitably they find a way to let the opposition back into the contest. Elijah Taylor wasn’t snuffed out quite as aggressively as he could have and a trailing Feleti Mateo pounced on his offload to score under the posts. One couldn’t help but feel that Nathan Hindmarsh defending in the middle there, would either have prevented the off-load or picked up the trailing runner. Alas, a lurgy put paid to Hindmarsh’s game before kick-off and eight to six and at you could feel Parramatta Stadium take a collective reality check. We’ve watched this play out too many times before in recent years.

That reality check, became a deafening silence when Jarryd Hayne pounced on a loose ball and started galloping down the field, only to fall to the turf shot by an invisible sniper. In that moment, Eels fans held their heads, seeing their season come crashing down, before it had even had a chance to get started. Those fantasies, exposed as being just that.

Fortunately, reports suggest Hayne has simply popped scar tissue related to his most recent knee injury and may even be able to play next week. Don’t give up on those fantasies just yet, then. One can’t help but feel that once Parramatta do get their full contingent on the park, and those combinations are given a little more time to play this side may be capable of causing some damage as the season wears on.

For tonight, though, the reality that the Warriors are a better team that we are right now, proved to be an unavoidable truth. The Warriors scored again just before the twenty minute mark when Bill Tupou went over in the corner, from a try not too dis-similar to our first brace of tries. Eels fans hissed and booed James Maloney as he lined up the kick near the fence, but I think the former Eel enjoys the attention - I don’t think I’ve ever seen him miss a goal playing the Eels at Parra Stadium. Then giant centre Konrad Hurrell brushed passed Ben Roberts, who tried to go low against what may be the biggest pair of thighs in the NRL. It was a mis-match and a try and presented Maloney with the opportunity to make it three from three and an 18 to eight lead.

In lingering on that fantasy, in the opening paragraphs, I neglected too mention Chris Sandow. The little number seven, who would take control of this side, solve our kicking game and when needed, step in with the inspirational plays that are capable of lifting you back into a game. Well, tonight he probably only delivered on the latter. He still doesn’t quite seem at home in tacking charge and his last-tackle kicks fell too far short of the perfection demanded in the NRL. But when it comes to the big play - Sandow is proving a king hit. His shoulder teamed up with Justin Poore to pull off a huge ball-dislodging tackle on Hurrell, with Sandow picking up the loose ball and putting down for a try which he then converted to make it 18 to 14 going into half-time.

Close enough if good enough, but unfortunately we just weren’t. Good enough, that is. The Warriors scored first through James Maloney who finished off a thrilling passage of play that saw the Warriors offloading almost at will. There are none better at that than the Warriors, but there were probably opportunities, had we been a little more urgent and a little more aggressive that the play could have been shut down. 24 to 14 after another Maloney conversion and the game looked shot.

However, it was that man again, Sandow who again lifted us back into the contest, slicing through the defence as he floated cross-field to set the stage for an improbable comeback victory at 24 to 20.

We had opportunities as the clock round down, but you just sensed we missed that little bit of class we needed to land the killer blow. It’s hard not to think had that invisible sniper not assasinated our dream-start and deprived us of our most potent attacking threat, that we might have been able to pull this game out of the fire but it was not to be and Kevin Locke and Bill Tupou scored late tries to put the result beyond doubt.

At some point, Stephen Kearney is going to have to stop using the “there was some encouraging signs out there” mantra at his post-match press conference, but we’ll give him one last use of the phrase. Missing Hindmarsh and Hayne for most of the game, playing a side as good as the Warriors, represented a particularly tough ask and the Eels played bravely. One senses that the challenge for this season will be hanging close enough to the eight, and keeping our key players uninjured before making it to all come together in the back half of the season. The club’s top 17 is good enough to match it with most of the sides in this competition, but it does need a win and it needs it pretty quickly before the pressure of sitting at the bottom of the table overwhelms the potential that exists within this side.