Below is a review of last night's game against the Broncos by respected journalist Mike Meehall Wood. I've also added a few extra notes at the end of this article.
Arthur pressure mounts as Parra fail to make domination count against battling Broncos
By Mike Meehall Wood
10 May 2024
The pressure continues to rise on Brad Arthur at Parramatta after his side slumped to a 30-14 defeat to Brisbane despite a mountain of possession and field position.
The Eels have now lost three in a row and five from six games ahead of a meeting with Melbourne at Magic Round at Suncorp next week.
The coach’s future is under discussion and his team are doing little to convince the higher-ups that things will change any time soon.
Arthur’s side were missing Mitch Moses and Clint Gutherson, but faced a Broncos without Adam Reynolds and were given all the ball they could ever want to make a breakthrough. They failed.
In the first half, the Broncos could barely cross halfway yet led comfortably at the break: in fact, Reece Walsh had scored and Selwyn Cobbo had one wiped by the Bunker before Brisbane even had a tackle in Parramatta’s half.
Mariner takes off with his second 🚀 #NRLEelsBroncos pic.twitter.com/TLVpj8bg4j
— NRL (@NRL) May 10, 2024
Their third try, just before the break, summed it up as Parra spilled the ball in attack and saw Deine Mariner race 80m against the run of play to score.
“We were clawing our way back in so it can be deflating coming in at half time and a boost for the opposition,” said Arthur.
“The body language and the signs in the dressing sheds were positive because we felt like we played better footy, we just weren’t in front on the scoreboard.
Match Highlights 🎥 - #NRLEelsBroncos
— NRL (@NRL) May 10, 2024
The Broncos have defied the loss of skipper Adam Reynolds this week to come away with a 30-14 win over the Eels. pic.twitter.com/ijROfKFFsp
The Eels bombed plenty of chances.
“We need to make sure that we come every weekend with that mindset, to back ourselves and play a bit of footy, to ice those moments that are letting us down.”
Paolo: The Eels' “DNA is still there” - the Eels just needed some “luck” to go their way.
Another bombed try: Sivo did well to catch this off a Sanders kick and offload in the wet but Talagi dropped a sitter and bombed another try
Ezra Mam set up two while playing more of a halfback’s role in Reynolds’ absence, allowing an easy second game at NRL level for Josh Rogers in the 7 jumper.
Once in the lead, it never looked like Brisbane were ever going to let it slip. They lost dummy half Billy Walters (above) to an arm injury but never faltered and, in the end, accumulated enough points to win with relative ease.
“It was good in patches,” said Kevin Walters.
“I thought Parramatta played some good footy and were unlucky a couple of times, they could have crossed the line. Their offloading was causing us a fair bit of grief with our defence.
“When we had to score we picked up some points that was very helpful throughout the game.
“Most of our tries were off no structure, just playing footy, so we got a bit lucky on a few occasions I thought.
“Our defence was really good. Our tryline defence – there was one slip up from Ezra but otherwise it was pretty good, which I was happy with.”
Talagi steps through the gap 🤩 #NRLEelsBroncos pic.twitter.com/WSclAeYJNZ
— NRL (@NRL) May 10, 2024
Blaizes running game was a highlight in a topsy-turvy rollercoaster of a night.
Parramatta went in with Blaize Talagi at the back and Ethan Sanders, in game 2 of his NRL career, in the halves.
Talagi had a night that, at best, could be described as up and down.
Mariner puts on the after burners 🔥 #NRLEelsBroncos pic.twitter.com/rMQbI4Tk3C
— NRL (@NRL) May 10, 2024
The Broncos celebrate Mariner's try (two for the night in the 24' and 38').
Talagi was caught out several times defensively: in the first half by Deine Mariner (above), who skinned the young fullback one-on-one with some fast footwork and then in the second by Mam, who saw him in the line and chipped in behind to score.
Parramatta had "gutsy" effort for little results
Before either of them, the rookie had been incredibly lucky as he spilled a bomb straight to Selwyn Cobbo for a try, only for an offside to be found that got him off the hook.
Yet in attack he threatened, with a step on Mam that prized open the Broncos defence and another late on to boot that, again, left the five eighth standing, albeit the Bunker later look it back for an obstruction.
It’s probably not surprising that young fullback finds it easier to attack than defend, but still, there’ll be no hesitations from opponents when it comes to sending up high balls in the future.
Sanders’ performance was a lot less eventful.
While he’s predominantly been a halfback coming through, since coming into grade he has definitively played a five-eighth, parked on one side of the field and playing second fiddle with the boot to Brown.
This might be to help him settle in, but bar a few darts, he hasn’t been a running threat and has played too far from the line to properly threaten.
Brown steals one back 💪 #NRLEelsBroncos pic.twitter.com/rltBOWbNXi
— NRL (@NRL) May 10, 2024
Brown steals one back right after the break to bring the Eels back into the game
Everything good the Eels did happened on the other side with Dylan Brown, but even then, the Kiwi international is clearly limited by having to do all the organising work that he’d rather leave to Mitch Moses.
It begs the question of whether Arthur might consider giving Sanders more to do in future games.
It’s likely the coach would prefer to ease him into the NRL, but as it stands, he has a five eighth who is a better halfback and a halfback who is a better five eighth.
Mitch Moses is possibly back next week, and not a moment too soon.
Was this Brisbane or Parra?
That first half was slightly mad, not least because the Eels created as many tries for Brisbane as they did for themselves.
It’s not new that Parra’s good ball attack is bad when Moses isn’t there, but it has never been so badly exposed as here.
Walsh goes the distance 🏎️ #NRLEelsBroncos @telstra Moment of the Match pic.twitter.com/sjLxBMMMyB
— NRL (@NRL) May 10, 2024
When Walsh raced away for the first try after 17 minutes, the Eels had enjoyed 82% of the territory and 57% of the time in possession, including three sets on the Broncos’ goalline.
While at least some of the issues were with the attack, plenty of credit can be given to the defence.
Brisbane don’t always get to show how resilient they are given how good they are at not having to do extended bouts of defending, but there was ample opportunity here to face up against a big powerful pack and turn them away.
While Parra generated a lot of offloads, as is their wont, the Broncos were consistently able to scramble and remove space when it occurred.
Moreover, on the occasions when the ball broke, they pounced and returned it to the house. Two tries from turnovers showed that in bold type.
Obviously, this wasn’t Parra’s best attack and there are key outs in Moses and Clint Gutherson.
But there was still a whole heap of defending to do to give Brisbane a platform on which to build, and they did it very well indeed.
Additional Notes:
- "Not Far": Brad Arthur and Junior Paolo's optimism is shared by Nine commentator Gus Gould who last night towards the end of the game called the Eels “gusty” and he believes "will be back” once Moses returns. It's akin to Nathan Hindmarsh's quipp earlier this week that the Eels "aren't far away."
- Talagi 's running game a highlight: 3 linebreaks, a try (could have been two), 215m and 7 tackle busts according to www.nrl.com
- 10 straight losses: The Eels have now lost the last ten straight when Gutherson doesn’t play.
- Losing 30-116: is the current Eels’ losing score for when Moses and Gutherson are both out simultaneously (0 wins / 3 games).
- On par: Conceding 30 points last night is on par with the Eels slump after R17, 2023 for the last 17 games - the second-worst rate in our NRL history.
- The Eels’ line speed last night (pre-contact metres) was one of the fastest it’s been this year (Eels are second-worst overall) and would be close to top-four levels (over 6.0). The table shows most teams have the Eels measure on most weeks.
Replies
We have a lot of issues to deal with. When you rely on one or two players to get you a winning game you will never be a serious contender for anything.
their line speed was prob the most pleasing thing out of the whole game
but once again - why is it so erratic 🤷♀️and accepted by the coaching staff that this is ok ??
Great read. Im not so sure though about Luck. For if thats true our boys have
Broken a Mirror, Hung a horseshoe upside down in the dressing room, walked under a ladder, opened an umberella inside, put their playing boots on a table, trod on a ladybug, driven over a black cat, placed their hats on the bed, had a tattoo of 666 inked and lost their rabbits foot.
I think a more honest assessment from BA might find that our boys, especially our back 5 lack enough skill for the rigours of winning in the NRL. Bring on Lomax next year, he is having another blinder tonight against the South Sydney Bunnies. Perhaps he might be able to get his hands on another Rabbits foot whilst his there and bring it with him next year.
In that first half we absolutely dominated all runs, metres gained and post contact metres yet still had a slower play the ball and managed to receive no six agains for ruck infringements (possibly one).
Either:
A) the ref was just letting them get away with a bit, or
B) we need a new wrestling coach.
Our poor 1 on 1 defense let us down. Plus lack of speed. We are just too slow a team
We are carrying an out of form Lane.
I can't believe how slow Penisini is. Never noticed until last night. I reckon RCG would lap him iin a race.
Penisini is a power athlete. His pace is good enough for the centres. Russel has a good top speed but takes 1 hour for him to reach it. Simmo is quick. Sivo don't even start.
Sorry EA, Peninsini is just a first grader, a good one going no where. Since he first started he obviously lacked pace and if somehow they can put 3 metres on him, they will have one of the best.....but I am not sure if that is now achievable at his age. These guys are professional athletes and we should have a sprint coach working with the guys every other day! that includes the forwards!
From Wiz's perspective I am genuinely surprised that you had not seen this weakness before.....RCG would not lap him but he will be gaining on him at the 50 metre mark.
A good example would be to look at Talaki's try for Cronulla, secondrower/ come centre who ran and scored a try from 50 metres out against Storm last night. My wife said we have not got a forward that could do that and I said in this current side we only have two backs DB and Simmo who could, that includes the new kid who would be no faster than Penisini!
All I said Penisini is a power athlete. And you right this big paragraph like I was talking about his performances etc lol
Russell is a funny 1 in the trails looked super quick and now looks pedestrian.
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