Wayne Bennett two, Daniel Anderson nil. St George Illawarra Dragons were primed for a first up win, while the Parramatta Eels were nowhere near prepared for the start of the season.
The Dragons came out of the blocks running and controlled possession, outscoring the Eels 18 points to 12. Given the amount of possession the Dragons had, it is amazing that the Eels were able to get so close and in fact score two tries – the same amount as the Eels. It was Sowards kicking game that made the difference on the scoreboard.
Why did Anderson not start the world’s best prop Moimoi? The Dragons had a far superior attack.
Bennett’s well-drilled Dragons only made two errors compared to the Eels’ 16, and had the ball for an incredible 15 more completions.
The concern for the Dragons is that they cannot play any better and only just won with two tries all, while the Eels kept turning over the ball and never really got going. They cannot play any worse, the only consoling feature for local fans.
Next week the Dragons are at home against the Bulldogs and the Eels take on Manly.
Terry Kidd
Guest
The Dragons can play better in attack. They were looking quite good until Nathan Fien was injured, obviously that disrupted things. This week against the Dogs will make things a little clearer.
Springs
Roar Guru
Ridiculous comment once again. I guess Robson wasn't in the same class as Cronk when we beat them in Round 18? Or Kimmorley? Or Prince? Or Soward? Or Marshall? Or Jones? Or Mullen? Because we beat all them... Robson was one of our best in the Grand Final. And we was our best in the Preliminary Final. The way you are saying how bad he is it seems as if you think we would have beaten all the teams by 50 points with Kris Keating at halfback. Please tell me how many games we won last year with Keating at half? I would have rather kept Kingston.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Rob You are correct, the NRL have amened it. See here http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/scores/tabid/10240/roundid/837/fixtureid/5812/infotabid/2/default.aspx It is 15 errors to 3 now.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Springs Red my lips.... One of the reasons why you got beat in the GF was because Robson is not in the same class as Cooper Cronk, 7 is THE most important position and being just handy is not good enough, and if you think he is better than Kris K then the Eels have massive problems. Robson cannot organise and is an ordinary tactical kicker.
Rob A
Guest
Hi Scott, I was at the game on Friday night and I am still trying to understand how the official error count was that high. I strive to be as impartial as possible when commenting in forums like this and I am struggling to remember more errors than the few I mentioned. I am happy to be put into my place if and when shown the evidence but I do not remember the game being THAT lopsided in theerror department. As I said in my previous post, the Dragons were better and deserved to win however there were key decisions that went against the Eels with soft (blatantly wrong in my Parra eyes) penalties. I still maintain that there is a lot to gain for Parra from this game and they will be better for the run. Rob
Springs
Roar Guru
Robson played far better than Keating last night, and played far better than keating last year, Robson deserves to start for a while longer yet.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Springs That was a typo and should have said the Eels had far superior attack, sorry, but it was midnite. lol The Dragons went sensational last night, it is unheard of to only make 2 errors, but I dont think they can win the comp. On the other hand, the Eels never got going and played dumb, and if they get it right, they can win the comp, but they need Kris Keating to be the organiser.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Rob Take your rose coloured glasses off! Official error count from the NRL Parra 16 Dragons 2. The Dragons also had 15 more completed sets. The Eels certainly had no luck with the bounce of the ball and with Ref decisions, but they played very dumb footy making many continuous mistakes which did not allow their forwards to get any advantage and made life difficult for their back line. The Dragons were clinical. The Eels had much more god given talent, but the Dragons played smarter and were prepared better. The Eels major concern is that they do not have an expert organiser or tactical kicker. Kris Keating must start next week.
Springs
Roar Guru
The Eels can play a lot worse, see Rounds 1-13 2009. And the Dragons can play a lot better, see same time frame. I don't know how the Dragons had a far superior attack when they only made two errors yet scored only two tries. They needed penalty goals to win! And I guess the points are wiped clean for the coach battle every year...
Rob A
Guest
Were you watching the same game I was? The standard was high and the Dragons were better and deserved the win but Parramatta didn't have 16 errors throughout that game. I can distinctly remember 3 knock-ons only - Tahu trying to regather from the Dragons mistake, Cayless running the ball up after the Eels try restart and one other. The Dragons were helped by some questionable refereeing decisions, especially the obstruction penalty on Robson and the stripping penalty on FuiFui. Both were horrendous decisions that gave the Dragons easy points. Having said all that, a lot of positives for the Eels out of this game and plenty to work on. They are looking good for the rest of the year.