After the Parramatta Eels registered their fifth consecutive victory over the New Zealand Warriors on Saturday night, Daniel Anderson’s men now find themselves inside the top eight, and in control of their own finals destiny.
Victories over the Storm, Bulldogs, Sharks, Knights and Warriors has propelled Parramatta’s confidence to a level that few teams in the competition can now match.
Indeed it has made stars such as Jarryd Hayne and Fui Fui Moi Moi become the best players in their respective positions on the field.
It has also made young players such as Daniel Mortimer, Matthew Keating and Jeff Robson orchestrate a Parramatta offensive that has probably become the most lethal in the NRL.
And didn’t it show once again against the Warriors on Saturday night?
The Eels raced out to an 18 nil lead after just fifteen minutes into the first half.
Joel Reddy, Daniel Mortimer and Matthew Keating each posted four pointers in a period where the Eels had already wrapped up the two competition points.
Despite a 26 minute stalemate in the first half which saw the Warriors post a four pointer, the Eels eventually rediscovered their attacking mojo just before the break, with Luke Burt grounding his own grubber to score Parramatta’s fourth try.
With a 24-4 lead at halftime, the Eels in the past would have been guilty of letting teams back in the contest.
Indeed no such deficiencies were evident against the Warriors, as Parramatta piled on three more tries in the second half to post a convincing 40-4 win.
What made this performance so satisfying was the fact that the Eels managed to keep control of a contest that could have easily died out in both intensity and discipline.
Rather than giving away stupid penalties and producing lacklustre errors, Parramatta kept their foot firmly planted on the Warriors throat for the full eighty minutes.
Key Eels forwards Moi Moi, Hindmarsh, Lowrie and Galuvao played their part superbly in allowing the Eels to make over 1500 metres for the contest, which was almost four football lengths longer than what the Warriors managed to conjure.
With all this domination upfront, Parramatta’s fluent play with the football in hand was always going to eventuate against a Warriors pack with literally nothing to play for.
Thanks largely to the sublime skills of Hayne, the Eels conjured seven line breaks to the Warriors one and were also responsible for nineteen offloads in comparison to the opposition’s eight.
What made life more difficult for the Warriors was the fact that Parramatta for once, maintained their composure and discipline, to only concede three penalties in the entire match.
Ivan Cleary’s men received no sympathy whatsoever from their opposition, and it is these signs that should see the Eels not only make the finals, but possibly find themselves as the prime premiership threat to the top four teams in this year’s NRL finals series.
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