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Norman and the Eels get the job done on Friday night

(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Roar Guru
29th April, 2016
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Friday night football saw two traditional rivals go toe-to-toe in a game touted as one for the ages.

The build up to the game was not without controversy given the breaking news regarding Kieran Foran, but the Eels were able to put the drama aside and play the brand of footy that has seen them succeed so far in 2016.

The game began with the Bulldogs bursting out of the cage. Within minutes, half back Moses Mbye threw a lovely cut out ball finding Curtis Rona on the left wing, who cruised over to open the scoring. It wasn’t the way the Eels wanted to start the game, and they compounded the poor start by kicking long on their first two uses of the ball, resulting in seven tackle sets for the Bulldogs.

The next visit to the red zone saw the Dogs go back to plan A, with the same back line move which almost resulted in another try. This time however, Rona was held up and the Eels survived. Just.

The Eels offered nothing early, and almost went down further against the run of play. The Eels last tackle option was blocked by a set of legs and Moses Mbye raced the length to score. He impressively outran Aussie Semi Radradra over the length, although the try was called back for a knock on. The play was advantageous for the Eels, as from the ensuing set they were good enough to hit back. The 12-point turn around was complete when Beau Scott offloaded late to find Brad Takairangi who dived over the score.

A lacklustre first half, which looked more like two teams trying not to lose, was lacking spark. Both sides traded sets and safety-first last tackle options as the crowd fell silent. Enter David Klemmer. With ten minutes remaining in the half, he danced sideways creating an overlap, which was capitalised upon by Josh Morris. The Origin regular beat Semi Radradra to slide through the line as he has done so many times before. That stretched the lead out to six once again as Kerrod Holland coverted.

The half wasn’t without controversy, with less than a minute remaining the Eels took on the Dogs down the short side, throwing two forward passes in the process. They both went unpunished, with Clinton Gutherson dancing around fullback Will Hopoate to score a soft try. Hopoate’s miss was poor; it was as if Gutherson had spiders all over him. The try scorer then had the conversion attempt which was no good, with the Dogs going into half time leading 12-10.

The Dogs started the second half much the same as the first, on the attack early. Again it culminated with Curtis Rona diving over, this time in superman fashion, although he put a palm on the sideline prior to put down.

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The Dogs had more of the energy to start the second, only using two interchanges in the first half. It was a huge advantage considering the Eels were without Tim Mannah and Michael Gordon for the second half, both gone with injury.

With this in the back of their minds, the Eels were desperate for points as the Dogs looked more fresh and able. Luckily for them, they would find points, with man of the match Corey Normam throwing a dummy and beating a sluggish T-rex to score. That put them in front 16-12 after 50 minutes.

On the back of some slick offloads and a soft penalty, the Eels scored again. They got to their last tackle kick, which is a nice cross-field option. Usually safe, Curtis Rona spilled a simple one, with Vai Toutai the beneficiary. With an unsuccessful kick the score stretched out to 20-12 and would remain this way.

The Eels pure and simple had more energy, their kick chase and line speed were top notch. This was epitomised with Corey Norman’s effort on Will Hopoate to force a drop out 20 to go, and the Eels didn’t look back.

The Dogs really threw nothing at the Eels in the second half, with Corey Norman stealing the show. Full credit also needs to go to the Eels back row and bench, who all played big minutes given the injuries to key personnel.

It was more of the same in the last ten minutes of this one, with Corey Norman featuring again with a nice grubber gaining another repeat set. He had the ball on a string all night long and played a superb game in the absence of Kieran Foran.

The game finished with the Dogs throwing everything at Parramatta, but to no avail, the Eels defence holding on to stop any chance of a comeback. A little melee to finish the game kept the crowd happy, but it was nothing more than the Bulldogs letting out their frustration.

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