Opinion
After reading the article on the Bunnies’ spine, I thought I would attempt to rate the Eels’ one for a bit of fun.
In general, they all showed improvement last season, and Eels fans are obviously hoping that continues into 2020. It is still a young and inexperienced spine compared to some of the contenders, but there is plenty of upside as well.
Depth is a concern in all positions in the spine, though, with the top contenders Jaeman Salmon, Will Smith, Ray Stone and maybe Jai Field, all of whom are solid, but lacking in terms of being good first-graders.
At fullback we have Clint Gutherson, or King Gutho as he is affectionately called by the Parra faithful. Is he the best fullback in the comp? Not at all, but he does a solid job, even if he does sometimes get that dreaded over-rated tag. His stats in 2019 were quite good, in fact, they were surprising to me, rating in the top 20 players in try assists, line breaks and line break assists (ranked fourth here). All this while looking awkward with the ball at times.
He is deceptively quick, and his positional play is good without being great. My biggest concern is that his best quality is his effort. While this may not seem like a bad thing, it means he will never get to the top tier of fullbacks, which is important in becoming a premiership-winning team. His talk at the back, though, is good, which is needed from your fullback.
(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Dylan Brown at six is still a bit of an unknown. His debut season was hampered by ongoing back issues, which is obviously a concern for someone of his age. Other than that, the signs were good. He is quick off the mark, stronger than I thought he was or he looks, and he seems to be pretty mature for his age. There is clearly a lot of work to be done for him to establish himself as an NRL player, but if he can stay on the park, he looks the goods. His goal this year is to be able to take some of the pressure off Mitchell Moses and give the team options with ball in hand.
On Moses, 2019 was his best season in first grade to date. He led the league in try assists and average kick metres, was top ten in line break assists, points and 40/20s and was top 20 in one-on-one tackles. On the flip side, however, he was second and third respectively in missed tackles and errors.
His greatest strength is still his running game. He is quick and pretty good on his feet, which allows him to get through small gaps in the defence at times, a good example being the first try he scored against the Panthers in last week’s trial. He also has a good kicking game, even if he does spray one occasionally.
To get to the next level, however, he needs to develop his game-management skills. For all of the upside in 2019, much of his stats came when the Eels were well and truly on top of their opposition. He needs to learn how to compose himself and get the team out of trouble when behind on the scoreboard. If he can do this, he moves into the elite category of halves and definitely comes into Origin calculations.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Reed Mahoney is another young player with plenty of upside. He is a workhorse in defence, which at times comes to his detriment. In 2018 he often tired towards the end of each half, resulting in him becoming less effective, and sometimes a liability in defence. This was partially addressed in 2019 by him often getting a spell in the middle of the game. This posed problems for the Eels, who often didn’t have a replacement hooker on the bench.
This meant that Gutherson would have to go to dummy half, throwing out the entire dynamic of the team in attack and limiting his effectiveness as well. The Eels don’t have a quality back-up nine in the roster, with the likes of Ray Stone and Jaeman Salmon the next in line. This is an area that needs to be addressed for Mahoney to continue to develop. His goal this year should be to better learn when to run from dummy half to help the team, and in turn, the team must help him by not relying on him making so many tackles.
The spine is based around speed and energy for the Eels, so a lot of their success will depend on how the team’s big wingers and new forward pack can get them on the front foot. If they do, the spine will show how good they can be and cause headaches for the other teams.
The addition of Ryan Matterson provides a bit of ball-playing ability on the edge too, which provides more options, increasing the effectiveness. Having genuine strike weapons on each flank provides the opportunity for points and should also help these young halves prosper.
In all, I would rate the spine somewhere between a three and a half and a four, with the potential to be better as the season goes on.
Signs for Eels fans are promising, though, so hopefully they can stay healthy and continue their development.
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