Brad Arthur confirmed that his side are after Marty Taupau, but said that it was of his hands if the player would be able to join before the transfer deadline on Monday.
“He would be handy for us, but that’s not our call,” he said of the prop, who has put in a request for immediate release from his contract. “That is Manly’s call.”
Arthur was speaking after his side’s 34-10 victory over Penrith, in which Nathan Cleary was spectacularly sent off midway through the first half.
With the score 30-4 at half time, it looked like the Eels would run through the Panthers, but a combination of spirited resistance from Penrith and Parramatta taking their foot off the gas lead to the 12-men winning the second half.
It’s hard not to approach this game through the lens of the send off for Panthers superstar Cleary, in the 19th minute for a spear tackle on Parramatta five eighth Dylan Brown.
Brown, thankfully, was unharmed in the incident but Cleary will now face a significant stint on the sidelines: his charge earlier in the year that resulted in a fine will now count against him.
If the precedent set for spear tackles this season against Manly’s Karl Lawton and Wests Tigers’ Brent Naden holds, then a four or five-week ban is on the cards.
“I think he’s going to be missing for a bit,” said Ivan Cleary. “Based on other examples this year, it’s probably likely. He feels like he’s let everyone down.
“I didn’t say anything (to Nathan). Anyone who’s been in that position would feel the same. He certainly didn’t mean to do it. He’s done a fair bit for our team over the years and I know Nat pretty well, so it’ll just fuel his fire for later. What can you say, really?”
The truth, however, was that well before Cleary was marched, the Eels were well on top and could well have repeated the trick they pulled on the Panthers in their meeting earlier this year, where Parra took the two points 22-20.
The conditions that delivered that result were replicated tonight at CommBank Stadium, with Parra on top prior to the red card.
The Eels were big and strong in the middle, generating plenty of second phase play, with 18 offloads to 5.
They dominated with the boot, with Mitchell Moses registering 542 kicking metres, including a booming 40/20 – more like a 30/20 – before Cleary’s red card that shifted the momentum of the game. Brown also chipped in, with two superb try assists before the red card.
“Our first half was good, we played nice and professional,” said Brad Arthur. “Sometimes it get hard in that situation when they’re a man down and you’ve got plenty of footy, you can get a little bit loose with your mentality and we didn’t, which was good.
“Our completions were above 90%. We stuck to the plan. We went away from it a touch in the second half, but Penrith were very brave.
“Mitchell was good. He had a lot of involvement, a lot of touches and ran the footy. But I think it’s been built off the back of his defence. His defence in the last month has been very good.
“They’re a very good defence team so we had to make sure we ran the footy hard, chased the collision and got plenty of numbers around the ball because if we could get an offload to break them up and they’re the best defensive team.
“They were down to 12 and competed very hard. It got a bit lateral at times, but it was two points we needed and two points we’ll take.”
The Panthers had already been depleted in the halves coming into the game, with Jarome Luai missing in the 6 jumper.
His replacement, Sean O’Sullivan, was preferred over Kurt Falls, though one suspects that their partnership built in NSW Cup and honed during the Origin period will be returning until the end of the year with Luai missing until finals and Cleary slated for a long sit down.
To their credit, Penrith fought back hard in the second half, which they won 6-4, with a defensive effort that belied their man deficit.
“We won the second half so I felt they were very courageous,” said Ivan Cleary. “There were some lessons there. When Nat went off, we couldn’t handle it. They were on fire at the time and we couldn’t handle it, we couldn’t stem the flow and there’s lessons in that too.”
It started so well for the Panthers, with O’Sullivan profiting from an extend spell of pressure early on.
Parra hit straight back, however, with Brown setting up Isaiah Papali’I with an excellent kick before Moses manouevred the team into position with a 40/20 and Brown, again, created a try, this one for Maika Sivo.
After Cleary was dismissed, Parra kicked straight in Penrith territory and scored via Reed Mahoney, diving in off a smart Junior Paulo offload. He grabbed another moments later, slipping between the markers under the sticks.
Penrith were clearly rattled. Few will be able to remember the last time they conceded a try direct from dummy half, let alone between Isaah Yeo and Dylan Edwards. The Eels completed the half with a Clint Gutherson solo effort.
And yet. Parra can rarely string two solid halves together and, while the result never seemed in doubt from the second that Cleary left the field, it was inarguable that the Panthers were superior in second half.
They might have scored twice, with both Taylan May and Scott Sorensen having tries chalked off by the bunker. Eventually they got their try, with Moses Leota turning playmaker for Liam Martin.
The Eels did get one of their own to round out proceedings via Sivo, but Brad Arthur will still worry about the performance against 12 men after the break. He will, perhaps, be pleased that we all have something else to talk about.
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
"which Nathan Cleary was spectacularly sent off"- why was he "spectacularly" sent off? it was a grub act and he deserves everything coming as far as that tackle was concerned, there is a reason why those tackles are illegal. Is it was because it was Nancy who the rules are different for and he gets away with more than other players?
Tom G
Roar Rookie
Are the eels salary cap exempt all of a sudden? There’ll be no raids trust me. As for Danny weidler’s daily beat up I’d take that with a packet of salt
Tom G
Roar Rookie
For a club with such a giant nursery they don’t seem to do much with it.
Panthers
Guest
Quite a few players at Parramatta from Penrith. Just the same as it will be at the Dolphins, Bulldogs etc. Blake, Sivo , R.C.G, Cartwright, Cini, Hands . That’s after Michael & George Jennings . Next year J'maine Hopgood to start with. So not totally fixated on Manly.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
Brad Arthur’s Manly recruitment obsession is still alive and kicking i see. There are other teams Brad. Foran, Hopoate, Watmough, Lusick(s), Gutherson etc. can we interest you in seven who take the occasional ‘principled stance’??
Me
Guest
Taupau would be handy however his "handiness" could be even greater for the Eels after reading this. “Manly 7 fuming about claim they will soften their stance on “pride jersey”. A representative of the group contacted me to say “they don’t backflip on religious beliefs” and to suggest they would fold on their stance is “totally untrue”,” The Manly club has already admitted they were wrong but "did it again" to them. A few "unhappy chappies" there I would think? With the Eels losing some forwards next year it would be interesting to see if they got Taupau, could he lure others to come with him? Either Josh Aloiai, Josh Schuster and Haumole Olakau’atu would be more than "handy" at the Eels? Not entirely impossible considering these days contracts are barely worth the paper they are printed on and the Eels did raid Manly in the Watmough times.
Panthers
Guest
As a Penrith supporter, it’s disappointing . I don’t think Cleary & O’Sullivan are a good halves combination any way. No real running half between the 2. As long as Penrith don’t get slaughtered in the next 4 to 5 weeks. It’s not so bad. They should target the Warriors game to get a win in particular. The story mentions O’Sullivan preferred over Falls. Not so in this case. Falls wasn’t available & didn’t play NSW Cup , due to injury. Penrith had a close win there , with a couple of promising halves leading the way. Penrith most likely end up first or second. In any case top 4. Even poor performances can be followed by better results. Just look at South’s on Mitchell’s return. :thumbup:
Chris
Guest
One thing I’ve thought is that Ivan Cleary doesn’t change the game plan up . The teams that really pull Parramatta apart , are those that keep the ball moving. Cowboys did it easily & Broncos did it to them. South’s did it to them in the wet , although they dominated in the forwards in that game. That obviously wouldn’t have helped last night, after going down a player inside a quarter of the game . You have to note another team’s weaknesses & have the game plan on the night to take advantage of them. If they play each other again this season, Penrith should train for that game to keep Parramatta moving around. Some short kicks out wide is another way of attacking Parramatta’s often short defensive line.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately it could be bad news for the other teams in the comp and Cleary and his mate enter the finals series fully rested. Hopefully the wheels fall of the Panthers a bit though and they never get put back on.
Robbo
Guest
Yes I thought the Storm didn't get away as much against Souths, he's the best ref for the ruck but I still could have penalised the Storm another 50 times. The Storm just seem to play the maths of knowing they won't be penalised 50 times a game which is where I think a 5 minute sin bin will help.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I get where you’re coming from but I’m not so bullish on that Parra were on top when Cleary went. The Panthers have been beaten eight times in the past three years. Three of those have been to Parra Last nights game including the second half was way more impressive than they’ve been for six weeks. I’m not sure the game where they beat the defending premiers is the one where I write them off
Aiden
Guest
Of course the worst thing out of this is, his one silly act has destroyed my SuperCoach season. That me out if the finals in my cash H2H league. Also .. glad no-one was seriously hurt. Of course.
Tom
Guest
Yes this young ref Todd Smith seems impressive. Did a good job at cracking down on the Storm's nonsense in the ruck against South's last week too.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I always think the ones where the players have stopped and then get lifted are worse than ones - like Lawton’s - where the lifting is part of the tackle. The hand between the legs won’t help him either It will be pretty tough for the Panthers without both their halves for at least three weeks, but it might be something that sharpens their focus in time for September in a season where they haven’t had to get out of second gear too often
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
I’d be surprised if Nancy gets 4 weeks, no doubt daddy’s got some friends in high places
Tony
Roar Guru
The second half confirms that Parramatta are just making up the numbers in the top 8
Tony
Roar Guru
Pens down, we have a winner
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
wow - the Golden Child given his marching orders!
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
I'll take that bet. Knights v Titans. Round 16.
London Panther
Roar Rookie
I actually think Lawton’s is worse because he jumps off his feet and follows Murray to the ground. One of the other examples shown on Fox though was of Wallace (which was a grade 2), and I think Cleary’s tackle was worse than that. My view (which I appreciate is biased) is that it was a ‘better’ tackle than Lawton’s and Naren’s and should only be a grade 2. But if the judiciary comes out as a grade 3 I couldn’t complain. And we are all thanking our lucky stars that Dylan Brown wasn’t hurt.