After a seemingly never-ending off season, rugby league returned to Bankwest Stadium for the first time in 2020.
It was a pre-season that saw the Eels labelled top four certainties and premiership contenders much to the nervousness of the fan base.
The Eels and expectations haven't really worked well together in recent decades.
Coming into their round one clash with arch rivals the Bulldogs, they were heavy favourites and were moved even further ahead in the betting stakes when Canterbury's Jayden Okunbor and Corey Harawira-Naera decided to break team rules and engage in some reckless frivolity on the north coast.
Parramatta were last season fairly rightly called flat track bullies. Capable of blowing teams away but struggled in games that turned into a slug fest.
The Dogs promised to make this match tough. Their end to 2019 saw them go on a six match winning run that featured dogged defence and an unwillingness to surrender. With head coach and renowned hard nut Dean Pay at the helm it was hard to see this game being any different.
Neither side was flash throughout this match. Both sides struggled for fluidity and rhythm which is to be rather expected in round one. There were plenty of dropped balls and the two captain's challenges used were reminiscent of Shane Watson's use of the DRS during his Test career.
For Parramatta, Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard laid a solid platform in attack, carrying the ball well and then hitting hard in defence.
In fact neither side could be accused of shirking its defensive responsibilities.
Points were at a premium throughout the clash with only Brandon Wakeham and Mitch Moses troubling the scoreboard via a penalty goal each in the first half.
Parramatta had the best scoring chance of the first half when Blake Ferguson seemed to have crossed on the right edge after four Dogs player all bundled into him but were unable to knock him off his feet. Only his right toe brushing the chalk prevented him scoring a try that should never have been a chance.
Ultimately it was a Mitchell Moses grubber that led to Lachlan Lewis fumbling the ball in the in-goal and Reed Mahoney pouncing on the Steeden that saw the Eels take an 8-2 lead.
It was a gap the Bulldogs would never over turn.
This game was not one for the purists. It didn't have free-flowing football. What it did have was plenty of penalties and mistakes. 16 penalties and 26 mistakes to be precise.
But where the Eels of 2018 and 2019 would've cracked, this side didn't. The Dogs were tackled 28 times inside Parramatta's red zone. They scored two points.
The Eels will come up against better sides this season. They'll come up against more expansive teams with bigger attacking weapons. But they could've easily allowed in one or two tries. On a couple of occasions it was the last ditch scramble defence that prevented the Dogs from crossing the stripe. An indication of every man in Parramatta's defensive unit working for each other.
To judge either side's 2020 prospects on this sole performance would be a mistake.
The first month of the NRL season is about one thing. Winning. You keep winning, the pressure stays off, teams build in confidence and have a base to work into their season.
Premierships aren't won in March, but you can damn well lose them.
The attack will click in the next few weeks. The extra defensive work over the pre-season seems to have worked so far.
Next week the Eels head to the Gold Coast to play a Titans side that has managed to be more of a basket case than the Eels over the past four seasons.
Brad Arthur will be expecting an improved performance.
Replies
I agree.
I have no concern that the attack won't click - we've got too many weapons in attack, simply holding onto the ball and completing better will go a long way in addressing main issues.
Defence was what we needed and what we got. Althuogh the bulldogs didn't throw a whole lot at us, you can only play what's in front of you and we didn't let them cross the line.
Anywhere I look online, Doggies fans are happy with their gutsy performance (which I think they are entitled to be), Eels fans are happy with the gutsy win (which again I believe we are entilted to), and all other fans are disgusted with the dogfight match with a short highlights reel.
The reality is that the eels played an almost identical game last year to the same opponent and lost that.
Overall I'm happy with what we saw this week, and need to build on it next week with an equivelant defence and more fluid attack.
All the talk has been about the eels needing to improve their defense, particularly their goal line defense, the signs were good last night and BA has come out and stated that defense was the main focus over the off-season.
Our attack was error riddled and a bit clunky, it's to be extinct the early rounds, probably not to the extent it was but it is something that can be fixed in a hurry.
Judge the defence against a good side and not a depleted side who threw nothing and was bordering on a park footy standard attack .
BA has been saying the team has been focusing on defence during the offseason for the last 6 years and we have seen how that has panned out , if he could not get the defence right in 6 seasons then their is very little chance he will get it right in his 7th year .
When the eels play a top side and defend well then you can say things have changed .
Frankie Fong I disagree Dogs play a gutsy game even though a few players out. I thought they were the better side last night and Lewis played a pretty good game and close to MOM. They will niggle most sides except the very disaplined Storm side. Gee talking of Storm they were able to release Drinkwater who is a cut above to Cowboys as they have too much talent. Cowboys looked smoking hot in the 9s too.
I can't judge them against a good team until they play one fong, you can only defend what gets thrown at you.
Exactly Fong, and the Doggies were under strength to.!!
Just heard Ferguson charged with tripping. If he takes a guilty plea he will only receive a fine. Josh Reynolds career went belly up as he got automatic suspension of 8 weeks and hasn't recovered surely he could sue the Nrl. I mentioned yesterday they keep changing the rules. Congratulations to the Eels on premiership win 2020 looking likely. Are games on tonight? Just say you paid from overseas and interstate to attend Grand Prix. More germs in supermarket as everything has been handled and ATMs.
Exactly.
The difference between 1st & 16th on any given day is minute, especially early in the season.
Not sure if anyone else noticed who were at the game. When the final siren went at full time I noticed hopoate turn and walk off the field and straight towards the tunnel. Didn’t shake hands with the opposition, didn’t acknowledge any of his teammates or club officials. Even passed a few of his teammates who were on the bench walking onto the field and didn’t even look at them. Gone straight up the tunnel by himself and disappeared. Obviously a team player or just being a grub.
Hoppa was heading for a plane to Townsville to watch Jamil debut with Bronx on Friday night mate - didn't look all that good but he was in a hurry to get to airport.
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