Lessons learned from the past two NRL finals campaigns have convinced Parramatta coach Brad Arthur to rest up to half a dozen stars this weekend and give his fringe players some valuable game time.
The Eels are an outside chance of a top-fourth berth but must defeat Penrith on Friday and then rely on Manly – a skinny $1.06 with bookies – to lose to North Queensland.
https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.221%2C$multiply_0.8862%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_30/t_crop_custom/q_62%2Cf_auto/5aba34c21b977c48bda2423917b6e58275bec580 2x" alt="Brad Arthur looks set to rest Mitchell Moses and Clint Gutherson." width="335" height="224" />Brad Arthur looks set to rest Mitchell Moses and Clint Gutherson.CREDIT:NRL PHOTOS
But Arthur is eyeing a much bigger prize than simply a morale-boosting win over the Panthers a week out from the finals.
“I would much rather have all my players available and fresh for the first week than simply get to the finals and not be strong enough to advance,” Arthur said.
“The last couple of years we’ve been in the finals, last year we had four injuries against Melbourne in week one, including Fergo [Blake Ferguson], Maika Sivo and Marata Niukore, then we lost Michael Jennings on game day against Souths.
“That meant we had to bring in four new players who hadn’t played footy in a few months because of the COVID situation.
“This time we’re making sure we’re giving everyone some game time.
“We played Keegan [Hipgrave] and Stoney [Ray Stone] on the weekend and left Oregon [Kaufusi] out. The last few weeks we’ve been trying to give everyone some game time so if something does happen, none of them are coming into the finals underdone.”
Gutherson hobbled from the field in the second half on Saturday night during the upset 22-10 win over Melbourne and later quipped the injury was not serious and nothing that could not be fixed “with a few quiet beers”.
“He hasn’t missed a game in two years,” Arthur said.
“He has some bad bone bruising. He doesn’t usually come off, but he knew he couldn’t do his job the other night. Plus we only have the short turnaround to the Penrith game.
“I’m not sure how many players we will rest. Gutho won’t be there. Junior Paulo is suspended. And we’ll probably give Mitch some rest.
“Put it this way, it will be a very different looking team to the one we had last week, and it will be a very different looking team to the one we have come the finals.”
The Eels have bombed out in week two of the finals the past two years, including last year’s 38-24 loss to Souths when a host of players were called in at late notice, including debutant winger Haze Dunster.
Courtesy smh.com.au
Ex[plains some of the more "curious" selections in recent weeks.
Replies
I think this is part of BA's reflection as a coach, seeing how we go all in week 1 and come out fatigued into week 2, he wants to avoid that and in other words try this to see if it works, cause lets be fair if it doesn't the same narrative around this team and himself stays put.
I think this is a great choice, 09' Anderson rested some players and got hammered 37-0 and backed up with a win.
I'm hearing that Jake will be captain & halfback
Nope it's will !!!!!😎😎❤️
Congrats to Will. Who would have thought 🎖🎖🎖
Nope he crawled out , I packed him with a rope
lol i see what you tried to do there! :)
I think Ice, N.Brown, Gutho, Paulo, Moses, and D.Brown will probably be rested this week. I think Penrith will rest players this week cause I doubt Melbourne will lose to Sharks even with players rested.
Maybe Moses to get half a game? I'm not sure about leaving him out completely. He and Brown had some good combinations going last weekend. It would be good to continue that in some form this weekend.