If the question is how the Parramatta Eels win the competition in 2020 and break the longest drought in their history, then surely Thursday’s win over the Tigers leaves no doubt the answer is Mitchell Moses.
It’s almost beyond argument that the Eels have looked well off their best in the last fortnight – like they were missing their leader.
Sure, they murdered the Cowboys in their first game without Moses, but that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence given how poor the men from Townsville have been.
Over the next fortnight a scratchy win over the Knights and a shocking loss to the Tom Trbojevic-less Manly showed more about where the Eels have been at and what sort of rugby league team they are without Moses.
Recovering from a calf injury is never an easy thing to do for a half, particularly when the first game back brings with it physicality and a slippery Bankwest Stadium turf, but after a slow start where Parramatta’s forwards kept them in the game against the Tigers, Moses all but took over on their way to an eventual 26-16 victory.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
It was hard-fought and scratchy at times, but the class of Moses shone through.
And the forwards, particularly Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who has found a new lease on life this year, do deserve more credit than I’m giving them here. Without their tremendous work Moses simply wouldn’t have had a platform to lead the Eels through their come-from-behind victory.
But once the Eels had recovered from a fairly slow start against the Tigers, Moses took over the game. The men in blue and gold ran on 22 unanswered points, and Moses seemed to have a hand in most of them, even if he didn’t register an official try assist on the stats sheet.
While the Tigers are building something and were in the game for various patches, they lost their way big time in the second half, and the pressure, to go with the weight of possession, allowed Moses to control the game with his kicking and creativity.
Don’t get me wrong, Michael Maguire’s side were great in the early going, but they don’t yet have the experience to contend with a side like Parramatta for the full 80 minutes. In some ways it reminds you of where the Eels were themselves two years ago, only now blossoming into a premiership contender.
Dylan Brown also had his best game in a couple of weeks, and there is no small coincidence between that event and the return of his experienced halves partner.
By the time it was all said and done in Sydney’s west Moses ended up with a try, nine runs of the ball (some of them fairly dangerous), a line break assist, a forced dropout and well north of 300 kicking metres.
It’s that control when under the pump matched with the creativity when on the front foot that Parramatta have been lacking in the last fortnight. It shows on the scoreboard too.
The game to kick off Round 11 was arguably played in tougher conditions than the last two and against a far more physical rugby league team. The derby that has built up in the west of Sydney was felt in full force between the Eels and Tigers, and yet Moses was able to ensure his side went about their business methodically to score 26 points, just two fewer than they have had across the last fortnight combined.
It wasn’t only the physicality of the contest; the slippery nature of the ground played havoc too. Moses slipped twice on regulation kicks, while others were going head over turkey all night.
It makes Moses ball-handling and his splendid chip and chase effort for a solo try all the better, with the Eels half looking calm and composed.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
It’s almost a shame Moses won’t rate a mention for Origin behind Luke Keary and Nathan Cleary, so good is his form, but he proved last night the difference he makes to the Eels.
One of the big problems Parramatta faced last year was the way they slumped as soon as they were away from their new fortress, and while that hasn’t been tested yet, falling behind to the Tigers have them a sort of litmus test.
Premierships aren’t won by an individual player, but they are won by tough teams who know how to fight back into contests, and that was just another perceived issue of the Eels last year – that once they were behind, the inexperienced squad found the going tough.
Now, with Moses directing traffic and another year of experience under the belt, their forwards manned up and got the job done.
As mentioned, Campbell-Gillard has been on another planet this year, but his 236 metres from 22 runs against the Tigers took him to a new level. His starting front row combination with Junior Paulo is among the best in the competition, while Nathan Brown also added plenty of starch in the middle third.
With the Eels clicking and Moses at the fore, this looks a side that can win the competition. While they can’t afford to start the way they did on Thursday against the big guns – think what the Roosters or Storm would have done to them – they can afford the odd slip-up, and if nothing else, it’s character-building to come back and win games like that.
No matter what the Tigers are building on their side of town, there was one team last night who will be there when the whips are cracking, and they were wearing blue and gold.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Diddums
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Just like right now Jarrod Croker not spending 10 in the bin for a professional foul. Blatant as it comes!!!
Chris Love
Roar Guru
They shouldn’t have come within cooee. Massive forward pass missed that resulted in a try yet 5 minutes later a marginal one called on Parra. 3 disallowed tries to parramatta. Canberra weren’t even close in competing. Refs kept them in it.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Refs# fault – you serious? Parra took their foot off the pedal and gave the Raiders a sniff and almost stole it.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Nah - nothing illegal - Packer lined him up on the charge and gave it to him - Matterson should have been expecting some treatment given the talk in the media in the lead up
Chris Love
Roar Guru
There was a clear attempt to smash down on an upright player. That looked like intent to injure if I ever saw it. It was lucky the head got to the side a bit.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Canberra were lucky to even make it to golden point. Dominated for most the night poor refereeing kept them it it.
damo
Roar Rookie
I can see how much there is to like about MM & he really looks to be a competitor but every time I think about SOO & therefore Kangaroos reps, Cleary looks to be the player who is just growing into the true superstar. Throw in Keary (who could easily play 5/8 to Cleary's 7) for NSW & the fact that Qld's DCE & Munster are obvious Kangaroos means that MM looks to be at best a player in waiting. For me it harks back to the glory days of having a multitude of elite players across the halves (Lewis, Sterling, Mortimer, Kenny, Lamb et al forgive me if I've left out any others & also for showing my age) but that surfeit of talent also means that relatively deserving players will generally miss out. MM's career will be relatively complete if he becomes a Premiership winner- no amount of Kangaroo caps trumps that unless you've got both, & if the Eels do win one in the next few years then one would have to think it will be very influenced by MM so perhaps that may well be his best chance to really cement his status in the game long term.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I agree with that...when the Tigers were on the front foot early the Eels were a bit of a rabble and conceded points. They were good enough to turn it around but a better team may have put them to the sword That ties in with the “front runner” tag
The Barry
Roar Guru
I’ve still got my doubts about Parra in the big games and really the only way they can dispel that is to win a few at the business end But what I like about them is their strength all over the park...spine killing it, middle third of RCG, Paulo, Brown and Niukore arguably the best in the comp, both backrowers have skills, they can attack down both edges, centres are fast and good footwork and wingers are tryscorers (ok Fergo hasn’t scored in a while but Eels predominantly go down the other side of the park and how good was his no try put down?) and awesome carries on early tackles out of trouble
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Did you think Nofa was caught out of position when his side had the ball last night ? Twice he came infield for runs and for some inexplicable reason both times the attack was taken right to his empty wing whilst he’s playing the ball ! Fox commentary cries ‘where’s Nofoaluma ?’ He’s got some faults sure but you can’t pin that on him.
Nat
Roar Rookie
Agree Albo. The Storm's feeder team would be a handful in the NRL. They crushed the ISP season regular last season and Grant won MoM so may times it became a running joke. Here's a stat, Grant came in 5th for Line Breaks last season. How amny times does a hooker, and a slow one at that, edge out all but 5 other backs in the comp for breaking the line.
Nat
Roar Rookie
I agree. In fact Packer's was probably the worst and it was iffy, awkward at best.
Nat
Roar Rookie
They are every chance Scotty but I feel that they are a good momentum team. When the bounce favours them, they can be unstoppable with talent from 1 - 17. My greatest concern for them to be up there with the best is the maturity to grind when not a lot is going their way. Much like the Panthers, points are not the issue but defending against the tide has been less fruitful so far. Slow starts and periods of wane lesds to catch up footy and that will be their undoing against better opposition. I'm not sure late night was their best showing. I like the fact Moses knew to chip-n-chase and it was at a pivitol time, it shows he is listening, watching and maturing. Also aided by the fact Doueihi is very slow off the mark. He really should have put the Tigers to the sword when they were down on troops, players out of position, had a glut of posession and field position and the Tigers pretty much had one attacking play (twice Nofo caught out of position in attack and bumbled another). You have to think, a slightly better side or just the Tigers full compliment could have pulled off something special. I don't see Storm or Roosters letting those chances go by. Still, only halfway and Parra can/will get better but it still feels like '17 & '19 hwrere they are top echelon but stuggle come big game time. Do you think Maguire has to cut Brooks? He's just not adding a lot and very limited in utility value. Any other utility goes to center (even a backrower) leaving Marshall in the halves and their trained structures in place. It all got pretty messy after that interchange IMO.
Skidmarx
Guest
The tigers second 6 again was on the first tackle in the last couple of minutes, when the game was done . Hardly a leg up.
Nat
Roar Rookie
It's not a matter of better or worse, I think each of them is exactly what their respective teams needs.
SourD
Roar Rookie
Maybe no megastars, but they got so many players playing at a level that could be considered worthy of Origin - and i don't think too many of them are just having flukey seasons, i think they've improved to this point. Off the top of my head Gutho, Fergo, Jennings (obvs not getting in, but is amazingly back at career-best form), Moses (also not getting in ahead of Cleary/Keary), Brown, Lane (yes, i mean it), Paulo and RCG. I'd say Mahoney and Brown could be future considerations and i'm still leaving out Sivo, Blake and Matto. Is that 1- 13? That's a strong team.
SourD
Roar Rookie
Mahoney's off-the-ground spiral pass (and i'm pretty sure he can go either way) is a thing of beauty. Oh for the Dogs to have a dh with good passing skills!
SourD
Roar Rookie
I agree, i think Moses - who was always talented - has improved nearly all the little things that he had to and is in career best form. I think it's a bit harsh to still refer to him as a selfish player. I think his game management abilities have really improved, maybe not Cleary level, but still very important for the team. Hope he keeps it up in the finals to put away the criticisms that he's only a good frontrunner.
SourD
Roar Rookie
I think Gutho is at the level where he should be talked about around the same level as Tede and Trbo. Not saying he's as good/ better than them but that we should talk about them as the 3 outstanding fullbacks of the comp. They all have slightly different things that make them special, but the one possibly contentious thing i'd say is that Gutho is the most influential of the 3 on his own team. If the Blues and Roos carry a back as no.14 it should be him. (ps - i'm not a Parra fan).