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Parramatta will win at least five more games this season than they did last season and finish on a minimum of 32 points, which was good enough to get you into fourth place last year.
The NRL is so tight that you don’t have to make enormous improvements to rise dramatically on the table. Significant improvements in a few key areas is enough.
Parramatta are headed well up the ladder from the 12th place they occupied last season, when they won nine games and lost 15.
Even then they butchered several games they could have so easily won, so it wouldn’t have been a shock had they finished with 12 wins and 12 losses. Such a record got St George Illawarra into eighth place.
This year, Parramatta are going to be so much better as a team. We knew they had bought the right players to improve, most notably Kieran Foran, Michael Jennings, Michael Gordon and Beau Scott, but we still had to see some evidence that the Eels were finally going to get it together again.
Winning the Auckland Nines tournament was one thing, but I’m taking much more out of their 22-8 win over Penrith at Pepper Stadium on Saturday night in what was the final trial game for both teams.
It wasn’t a brilliant game, but it was the attitude of the Parramatta players that struck me. They were desperate to do well and that showed mainly in their defence. They kept the Panthers scoreless in the second half.
The Eels were clearly too good despite there being a huge amount of room for improvement in them and when that improvement comes they will be hard to beat against any team.
Halfback Foran looked like he was playing within himself. It seemed like his priority was to let five-eighth Corey Norman get used to playing alongside him.
Foran was stationed on the right, but Norman turned up on both sides of the field and occasionally right alongside Foran.
The biggest plus for Parramatta on the night was Norman’s form. He was heavily involved and obviously enjoying his football. His role was clearly defined and he went out and played it.
Norman’s role may have been clearly defined last year as well, but the fact Chris Sandow was playing halfback meant the attack was often all over the place due to Sandow’s staccato approach.
Whatever Norman was supposed to do didn’t happen nearly often enough, through no fault of his own.
Foran is going to be great for Parramatta and Norman in particular. It should be the best halves combination the Eels have had since they were winning premierships in the 1980s.
Big Tepai Moeroa led the way in the forwards with a powerhouse display. He was the perfect example of how much fitter the Eels look compared to last season.
Arthur has always wanted Parramatta to play a structured game, but too often things became ad-lib when Sandow was the dominant playmaker in the side. Against the Panthers, the Eels kept playing to a clear structure.
They were rusty, but they knew exactly what they were trying to do and how to go about it.
After the game, Arthur said: “Hopefully it was just ironing out the cobwebs because we were very rusty, our attack wasn’t great so we need to do a bit of work there. But I liked the mentality of our defence.”
Last season, Parramatta conceded 573 points in their 24 games, at an average of 23.87 points per game. Reduce that by a converted try per game this season and the Eels are in business.
It won’t be hard. Before you talk about an obviously improved attitude in defence, remember how often Parramatta put themselves under the pump in defence last year by making stupid mistakes when they had possession.
I can’t imagine a better way to kick off the competition than the Eels versus Brisbane at Pirtek Stadium on Thursday week.
The Broncos really should have won last year’s premiership. They were only a few seconds and one good tackle away from doing so.
They are bound to be right up there again this season under Wayne Bennett’s coaching and will provide Parramatta with a very difficult first-up challenge.
It should be an absolute ripper.
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