Why Eels fans are the George Costanzas of NRL until title drought is eventually broken

Parramatta fans are nervous. Well, more so than usual. They’re the George Costanzas of the NRL.

It’s not that they fear success like George wondering if his pilot episode would become successful, it’s just that they don’t know what to do when everything appears to be going right.

And the Easter Monday loss to the Wests Tigers has triggered a lot of them into believing the world is crumbling around them again. For some of them, it’s sent them back to their safe place of thinking it’s not going to happen again this year so don’t get your hopes up.

When it comes to challenging premiers Penrith for this year’s title, it appeared after the first five rounds to pretty much be a two-horse race between Melbourne and the Eels. Cronulla have improved, the Roosters and Rabbitohs seem to have regressed and Manly’s finals fate still ultimately hinges on Tom Trbojevic’s availability.

After making the playoffs in four of the past five seasons – reaching the semi-final stage on each occasion, the Eels are primed to compete in 2022. 

The Eels looked like they were on a public holiday on Easter Monday but despite the loss they are still 4-2, just a win behind the second-placed Storm and one more behind the unbeaten Panthers. In a parallel universe, Parra could also be without defeat – Cronulla beat them by two with a last-minute try in Round 2 and the Tigers waited until the last second to sink them by a solitary point.

They’ve upset the Storm in Melbourne and their key players are injury free heading into Sunday’s trip to Newcastle. 

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

So what is there to worry about? Why have a lot of their fans gone into Easter meltdown quicker than chocolate eggs in the sun?

Ask any objective observer and they will tell you Parramatta are genuine contenders. 

Put the same question to an Eels fan and they start to reach for a blue and gold trinket of some description which they keep at arm’s length in case someone says to them that phrase they hate the most: “This could be their year.”

The mere mention of the title drought stretching back to 1986 is enough to send Eels fans into a frenzy.

Cronulla fans used to be triggered by the same phenomenon after a tick under half a century for their first title but since 2016, they’ve been impervious to the slings and arrows as a sense of calm has engulfed them that only a premiership trophy can bring.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Dragons fans from both sides of the joint venture experienced a similar feeling prior to 2010 although you can see they’re starting to become agitated again as their current drought has entered double figures and doesn’t look like ending any time soon with Anthony Griffin at the helm.

Eels fans can definitely lay claim to the most tortured fan base in the NRL. Only the Titans and Warriors among active clubs have a vacant trophy cabinet. 

For any Gold Coast diehard who has lived and breathed their varying states since 1988, any time they manage to last a few consecutive years without talk of a name change or bankruptcy is enough to keep them sane. 

Warriors supporters have made the grand final twice since their club’s admission into the big league in 1995 and also seem surprised when the team does well rather than expect success.

For Eels fans, the glory days of four titles from 1981-86 are still fresh in the memory because nobody lets them forget about it. And it also doesn’t help that several members of that team love nothing more than to answer a journo’s call to remind the current mob how good they were.

At least they don’t have the longest drought in Australian professional sport – St Kilda, who have not lifted a trophy since their only VFL/AFL flag in 1966, can lay claim to that unwanted title after the Melbourne Demons ended their 57-year stretch of misery last season.

Max Gawn shares the premiership trophy with Dees fans. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Eels coach Brad Arthur is acutely aware of the weight of history but in his own blunt way, doesn’t seem particularly bothered by it. He’s the kind of coach that would be just as anxious about getting his team to grand final success irrespective of the ghosts or glories of the past.

This season, as the club celebrates its 75th anniversary, is Parra’s best shot at the crown since the trifecta of heartaches spread across the first decade of the 21st century – the record-breaking side of 2001 which went missing on grand final night against Newcastle, the minor premiers of 2005 who capitulated in the preliminary final or the Cinderella side of 2009 which was beaten in the decider but found out the following year that the opposition was playing with confederate money.

With halfback Mitchell Moses in career-best form and receiving extra support this season from five-eighth Dylan Brown, it takes the pressure of the other members of their spine – fullback Clint Gutherson and hooker Reed Mahoney – to force their hand in attack.

Brown recorded his seventh try assist against the Tigers – that’s already his highest season tally and we’re only a quarter of the way through the schedule.

Gutherson is much better as a tireless support player while Mahoney is a workaholic tackler with darting abilities out of dummy half.

The Eels are better when Moses is the focal point of the attack but not the be-all and end-all who can be targeted by opposing defences. Brown’s rapid development this year is giving Moses more time and space, and he’s eating them both up.

As much as Arthur and club officials deny it, there’s also a sense of now or never about Parramatta’s 2022 campaign with Mahoney, Isaiah Papali’i, Marate Niukore, Oregon Kaufusi and Ray Stone heading elsewhere next season.

After 35 years of falling short, Eels fans will happily have their premiership window banged shut next year if they can finally get their hands on the trophy this time around.

They’ll happily become Frank Costanza and take premiership serenity now even if it means more drought insanity later.

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