Eels Blogs

The parallels are uncanny.

Two salvage teams, two ‘fly in & fly out’ missions, two simmering jungles in the heart of enemy territory, two objectives with near impossible odds of survival….One identical outcome.

I know some will probably enjoy this weeks move reference more than others (Frank The Tank), but our ‘fly in & fly out’ mission into the North Queensland jungle struck a striking resemblance to that of an Elite Special Forces team led by ‘Dutch’ (Arnold Schwarzenegger) into the Guatemala’n jungle in the 1987 Action Movie ‘Predator’.

In the film, ‘Dutch’s’ team of himself, Dillon, Mac, Blain, Billy, Hawkins & Poncho are hunted by a climatized alien like creature with what some describe as a ‘woman’s genitalia’ for a face.

Through sheer grit, determination, spirit & courage Dutch is able to turn the hunter into the hunted & prevail, much like the Eels of Friday night's triumph.

How We Really Did It

See for yourself:

We all heard the pre-game narrative, the stats & history were stacked too highly against us. 'The Eels don't stand a chance' they said. 

No team had ever beaten the Cowboys in a final in Townsville.

8 of the past 10 preliminary finals have been won by the team coming from a week off.

The Eels had won just 2 of 14 past games in Townsville.

The Cowboys demolished the Eels 35-4 earlier this season.

Throw in the constant reminders in the media of these two games:

In 2005 a Thurston inspired Cowboys broke the Eels hearts with a 29-0 preliminary final ambush.

In 2017 the 8th placed Cowboys ended the season of the 4th placed Eels in an upset victory in Sydney.

HOE has brilliantly analysed exactly where & by how far the Eels season has turned in the last 7 weeks - ‘The Line in The Sand’ piece (https://www.1eyedeel.com/forum/topics/the-line-in-the-sand-now-or-never?context=featured) covers so much statistically & emotionally of our rollercoaster season, as well as some important aspects in our preliminary final, so I will keep this short(er).

Where it was Won: Defence 

The Eels Spartan-like defence, especially in the final 10 minutes of the game, was nothing short of phenomenal. 

From the moment Peta Hiku regained possession from an opportunistic short dropout in 69th minute, the Eels were forced to make 33 tackles to the Cowboys 20 tackles which included 3 straight sets within our own half, and most incredibly, 10 tackles within our red-zone to the Cowboys 0.

Greg Alexander ‘Outstanding, that is premiership winning defence from Parramatta. They defended 10 tackles within their own 20m with the game on the line’’.

What makes this stat even more Herculean by the Eels is the fact the Cowboys are the best team in the competition for scoring points in the last 20mins.

It was also just the 3rd time since Round 12 where the Cowboys had been kept scoreless in the final 20 minutes of a game.

Overall the Eels were forced, by our own hand at times, to make 71 more tackles than the Cowboys with 338 to 267, including 34 tackles within our red-zone to the Cowboys 8 (an unbelievable stat).

We also forced ourselves to defend 10 errors to the Cowboys 7, and 7 penalties to the Cowboys 5, while also missing 33 tackles to the Cowboys 24.

However, there is one key performance indicator that cannot be accurately measured or quantified through statistics or analytical tools = human spirit. 

The Eels reeked of it. 

Where it was Won: Attack

In last weeks annihilation of the Raiders, the Eels were tackled 23 times in Canberra’s red-zone for 7 tries.

This week the Eels were tackled just 8 times in the Cowboys red-zone for 4 tries - an unbelievable strike rate for a team that has, at times, struggled to score points while attacking the oppositions try line.

Is this due to the ‘taking the game on’ mantra Brad Arthur has mentioned recently?

Outside of completing 13 offloads to the Cowboys 5, and 6 line breaks to the Cowboys 5, we lost all other attacking stats.

Possession - Cowboys 54% / Eels 46%,

Completion Rates - Cowboys 85% / Eels 79% (60% in the first half).

Run Metres - Cowboys 1732 / Eels 1436

Post Contact Metres - Cowboys 588 / Eels 430.

Excluding the two really poor kicks out on the full, Moses again provided us with vital metres from his right boot when we were struggling to make metres & finished with 588 kick metres compared to Townsend's 395m - invaluable.

21st minute:

For the second week in a row, Ryan Matterson uses his ball playing skills to send one of our front rowers over for a very important try. Watch in the replay as Dylan Brown is tackled, you can see Matto frantically directing Paulo where to angle his run as he identifies Chad Townsend defending near the posts. Great vision Matto.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2022/09/24/the-middle-men-combine/

65th minute:

The match winner. In a preliminary final, where there is such a small margin for error, this Lane pass for the Sivo try was just awesome. An incredibly brave play under the circumstances. A Shaun Lane appreciation moment.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2022/09/24/lane-with-the-miracle-ball/

THE 1%ers.

Experts always speak of ‘the moments’, big games are won on ‘moments’. We literally had too many ‘moments’ to cover here, every player contributed, every player fought for 80mins through exhaustion.

Due to the insurmountable sacrifice Mitchell Moses made to miss the birth of his daughter & play this game, a game with no guarantees of a positive outcome, its one of Mitch’s 1%ers we can appreciate here (please feel free to let us know of any moments that stood out to you in the comments).

75th Minute

The Cowboys were enjoying repeat sets attacking our line, when a great ball by Townsend to a rampaging Jason Taumalolo isolated Mitch Moses just 9m out from our line. Moses was able to stop JT in his tracks, despite giving up 30kgs (115kgs to 85kgs), before Penisini is able to make it across in cover to help. This saved what could have been a match winning try.

Moving Forward 

 This is it. 13 years in the making.

The grit, determination, spirit & unity these players bled with to rise above history, statistics, and an excellent football team playing in front of their own crowd, was nothing short of extraordinary.

On Sunday, as passionate, frustrated, starving yet ultimately proud fans, we may just get our moment to be part of something truly special.

Gutho: ‘We did exactly what we came here to do, to win, we had to win, so we did’ - Just one more time Gutho, just one more time.

Good luck & thank you to Brad Arthur & each of the players in the squad for taking us to the 2022 Grand FInal.