The Parramatta Eels' halves dilemma

With Corey Norman named in the reserves and rumours that he might be in the starting 17 for this week comes the debate about the current halves situation at the Parramatta Eels.

New signing Mitchell Moses was brought to the club to pair with Norman in the halves from now onwards. However, the form current five-eighth Clint Gutherson is in brings up the question about Moses’ position in the team, who understandably hasn’t got used to the Eels attacking system in such a short time.

Parramatta are currently sitting eighth, two points ahead of Canberra and Penrith (Penrith with a game in hand), and I wouldn’t be selecting a halfback who hasn’t adapted or fully learnt the attacking system in such a vital time in the season.

Three of Parramatta’s next four games are against top eight sides in North Queensland, St George Illawarra and the Melbourne Storm and these could determine the fate of the Eels’ season.

(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Many believe Norman should partner Moses in the halves, but that leaves Gutherson, who’s been one of Parramatta’s most influential players this season, to either push Bevan French out of fullback or to play on the wing or in the centres.

Others believe Moses will be playing for reserve grade side Wentworthville in the NSW Cup this weekend, with Norman and Gutherson in the halves against the Cowboys.

Gutherson should remain at five-eighth, Norman to slot in at halfback, Moses to fullback and French to replace Nathan Davis on the wing. Here’s why.

Firstly, Mitchell Moses has a major defensive issue in his game, which was evident during his time at the Tigers. The half has made 187 tackles (14.38 per game) and missed 63 (4.84 per game) this season. That means for every three tackles he makes, he’ll miss one.

Moses is nearly averaging five missed tackles a game and that’s not a stat that you want. It also gives the attacking players a target to run at. Considering that both Gutherson and Norman average two (16 for the season) and 2.22 (20 for the season) missed tackles a game respectively when playing in the halves, you would rather have Gutherson and Norman playing in the halves from a defensive point of view.

Secondly, Gutherson and Norman penetrate the line more than Moses has so far this season. Gutherson has eight line breaks (one per game) when playing in the halves and Norman has five line breaks (0.56 per game) compared to Moses with two line breaks (0.15 per game).

However, on his day, Moses has the ability to break the line on more than one occasion, but I don’t see him reaching that form this season. By having him at fullback, it allows him to float around the forwards and halves looking for inside balls or offloads, making him a more dangerous running threat.

(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Thirdly, the kicking games of Gutherson and Norman complement each other. While in the halves, Gutherson has made 44 kicks (5.5 per game) for 926 metres (115.75 per game) and with three forced drop-outs (0.38 per game) which shows he is not the major kicking option in the team.

Contrast that with Norman having 103 kicks (11.44 per game), 2571 kick metres (285.67 per game) and 11 forced drop-outs (1.22 a game); Norman is clearly the main kicking option in the side.

Since Moses has been the main kicking option since moving to the Eels, having both him and Norman in the same halves pairing may reduce the effectiveness of both their kicking games.

Finally, Bevan French is still a young and relatively inexperienced player (just 22 games to his name) and he doesn’t look as fluent as he did prior to his injury, which means some time on the wing for the rest of the season could do no harm to the 21-year-old.

He should replace Nathan Davis, who is named on the wing this week and only has eight games’ experience in the NRL, all with the Gold Coast Titans last season. Mitchell Moses would move to fullback, where he does have some experience – he played his first six NRL games for the Tigers there.

It would also remove his defensive liability from the Eels’ defensive line, as the fullback only has to make a handful of tackles a game.

Personally, I’d love for the Eels to prove me wrong and for the Moses and Norman combination to work for the rest of the season. But I’d love to see Gutherson rewarded for his performances so far this season.

However, having this depth of talent at Parramatta will do no harm for their chances this year, and particularly next year. Moses will get a full pre-season in and hopefully he improves his defence so they could be a serious force next year.