Will EvansNRL 2009 - the run home: Eels
July 1st 2009 07:36
PARRAMATTA EELS
It’s hard to imagine a more tumultuous start for incoming coach Daniel Anderson – a shaky start on the field leading to lynchpin half Brett Finch effectively being forced out of the club. More bad form and injuries exacerbated the situation, while boardroom shake-ups were an unwelcome distraction. The Eels' mini-resurgence over the past month can be summed up in two words – Jarryd Hayne. The NSW Origin star has exploded, and with the help of the Ray Price of this millennium, Nathan Hindmarsh, the Eels find themselves only three competition points away from the top-8.
Best performance: June victories over Newcastle and Brisbane have been their most impressive, and epitomise Parra’s recent form reversal. Both games went down to the wire, but the young Eels held their nerve despite their underdog status.
Worst performance: The Eels haemorrhaged 88 points defensively in a fortnight against the Bulldogs and Broncos, prompting club legends to question whether some players were guilty of throwing in the towel.
Stars: Jarryd Hayne by the length of the Parramatta River. He is arguably the NRL’s form player following his shift to fullback, after an ill-fated early-season stint at five-eighth. Hayne has regularly carried his team, and is invariably among the best players on the field even in a losing effort. Hindmarsh has used his representative snubbing to produce the type of form that saw him among the first picked for NSW and Australia for so many years.
Disappointments: Krisnan Inu looked set to assume superstar status and walk into NZ Test teams for a decade after his brilliant debut season in 2007, but his injury-interrupted following season failed to meet expectations, and an alarming lack of confidence in 2009 has seen him spend time in the NSW Cup. Hulking centre-cum-backrower Ben Smith’s career is also at the crossroads after looking like a Blues’ prospect just a few short seasons ago.
Surprise packets: Cult hero Fuifui Moimoi has began to produce consistent quality footy off the bench recently, and shapes as a real X-factor in the Eels’ desperate finals challenge. Eric Grothe’s resurgence has been one of the Eels’ feelgood stories of 2009, after the blockbusting winger was dropped from first grade in 2008.
Recruits: Parramatta were woefully quiet on the player trade front in the off-season, with only former-Shark Kevin Kingston having any notable NRL experience. But the acquisition of Manly lower grade half Jeff Robson has proved a godsend after Finch’s departure and subsequent injuries to his replacements.
Rookies: The Eels have been forced to blood a number of first-timers, and they have generally passed their NRL initiations with flying colours. Daniel Mortimer, son of legendary Bulldogs No. 7 and serial Eel-botherer Steve, has handled the step up with aplomb and looks set to see out 2009 in the halves, while Tim Mannah has earned a starting spot in the pack with some damaging displays off the bench.
Injury impact: Their depth in the halves has been severely tested by a serious bicep injury to star playmaker Feleti Mateo and a broken jaw suffered by improving 6 or 7 Kris Keating.
Prospects: It would be a mammoth performance from the Eels to make the finals given their abominable start to the season and tricky run home, with matches against all of the current top five teams. But it’s not out of the question if they can keep the same team on the park and further develop the promising combinations that have emerged – however, a lot of the club’s hopes are riding on the big-hitting shoulders of Hayne.
It’s hard to imagine a more tumultuous start for incoming coach Daniel Anderson – a shaky start on the field leading to lynchpin half Brett Finch effectively being forced out of the club. More bad form and injuries exacerbated the situation, while boardroom shake-ups were an unwelcome distraction. The Eels' mini-resurgence over the past month can be summed up in two words – Jarryd Hayne. The NSW Origin star has exploded, and with the help of the Ray Price of this millennium, Nathan Hindmarsh, the Eels find themselves only three competition points away from the top-8.
Best performance: June victories over Newcastle and Brisbane have been their most impressive, and epitomise Parra’s recent form reversal. Both games went down to the wire, but the young Eels held their nerve despite their underdog status.
Worst performance: The Eels haemorrhaged 88 points defensively in a fortnight against the Bulldogs and Broncos, prompting club legends to question whether some players were guilty of throwing in the towel.
Stars: Jarryd Hayne by the length of the Parramatta River. He is arguably the NRL’s form player following his shift to fullback, after an ill-fated early-season stint at five-eighth. Hayne has regularly carried his team, and is invariably among the best players on the field even in a losing effort. Hindmarsh has used his representative snubbing to produce the type of form that saw him among the first picked for NSW and Australia for so many years.
Disappointments: Krisnan Inu looked set to assume superstar status and walk into NZ Test teams for a decade after his brilliant debut season in 2007, but his injury-interrupted following season failed to meet expectations, and an alarming lack of confidence in 2009 has seen him spend time in the NSW Cup. Hulking centre-cum-backrower Ben Smith’s career is also at the crossroads after looking like a Blues’ prospect just a few short seasons ago.
Surprise packets: Cult hero Fuifui Moimoi has began to produce consistent quality footy off the bench recently, and shapes as a real X-factor in the Eels’ desperate finals challenge. Eric Grothe’s resurgence has been one of the Eels’ feelgood stories of 2009, after the blockbusting winger was dropped from first grade in 2008.
Recruits: Parramatta were woefully quiet on the player trade front in the off-season, with only former-Shark Kevin Kingston having any notable NRL experience. But the acquisition of Manly lower grade half Jeff Robson has proved a godsend after Finch’s departure and subsequent injuries to his replacements.
Rookies: The Eels have been forced to blood a number of first-timers, and they have generally passed their NRL initiations with flying colours. Daniel Mortimer, son of legendary Bulldogs No. 7 and serial Eel-botherer Steve, has handled the step up with aplomb and looks set to see out 2009 in the halves, while Tim Mannah has earned a starting spot in the pack with some damaging displays off the bench.
Injury impact: Their depth in the halves has been severely tested by a serious bicep injury to star playmaker Feleti Mateo and a broken jaw suffered by improving 6 or 7 Kris Keating.
Prospects: It would be a mammoth performance from the Eels to make the finals given their abominable start to the season and tricky run home, with matches against all of the current top five teams. But it’s not out of the question if they can keep the same team on the park and further develop the promising combinations that have emerged – however, a lot of the club’s hopes are riding on the big-hitting shoulders of Hayne.
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