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It’s silly season. We’ve gone through the finals, the World Cup and the November 1 deadline after which, NRL players who are out of contract for 2024 can discuss terms with other clubs. With that in mind, we’re launching Smart Signings, our new series on who NRL clubs should be targeting to address their biggest weaknesses, using the players that are actually available to them.
Parramatta might be the most obvious place for Smart Signings to kick off, because they are the closest to a Premiership team that we have beyond the actual Premiers.
Parra went toe to toe with the Panthers in the Grand Final, and beat them twice in the regular season, so they’re well into their ‘premiership window’, as much as I hate that phrase, and theoretically the team who need the least surgery to their squad to go one further next year.
That’s fortunate for them, as they really don’t have any wiggle room. They’re in the process of attempting to re-signing their halfbacks, Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown, and have already given big deals to their starting front rowers, Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard.
From a tactical perspective, that works. They’ve got a clearly defined style of play, based around their middles battering in the front door and creating second phase that gets their stellar playmakers running. Parra also love to make the field very wide indeed, with wingers who ‘hold the paint’ as Brad Arthur puts it, which in turn creates gaps along the seams.
If you wondered why their back rowers, Shaun Lane and Isaiah Papali’i, seemed to have so much success last year, there’s your answer. More than one opposing coach commented on angle running, too, which is also a product of larger than average gaps between players, which came from really stretching the field.
Papali’i has (after a fashion) departed to the Wests Tigers, but Parra seem to have already done their replacing with J’Maine Hopgood, Jirah Momoisia, Jack Murchie and Matt Doorey all added to the squad in the back row, along with internal candidates Elie El-Zakhem, Toni Maetele and Luca Moretti from NSW Cup.
My early bet would be Hopgood – who led the NSW Cup for offloads while at Penrith last year – and has impressed when given a first grade crack, or El-Zakhem, who was similar dominant in that key statistic and proved at the World Cup with Lebanon that he can cope with better competition.
Reed Mahoney is their other major loss, but he comes with a direct replacement in Josh Hodgson, my expectation is that he holds down that role as best he can for at least next year.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
The big issue that Parra faced, as anyone who read our tactical breakdowns of the NRL Finals will know, is maintaining intensity.
They could bash teams early, especially when Paulo and RCG were involved, but the better sides realised that you could wait out the storm and watch them fade.
This was evident from miles out, and screenshotting their average metres per set conceded stat became something of a meme for all the coolest kids in rugby league land.
It made for pretty bad reading: they could make metres seemingly at will, especially when the second phase was flowing, but haemorrhaged yards in the other direction.
Inevitably, when the whips got cracking, they ran into teams that could halt their charge. Parra proved unable to do the same, lost the yardage battle and thus the match. They might well have lost in the Prelim against the Cowboys, but got a fair blast of variance and iced their opportunities to progress.
When it came to the GF, the metres they could make through the middle dropped as their forwards tired, whereas Penrith’s backline-oriented yardage production kept chugging along.
The answer to this is quite simple, particularly if you follow Parramatta. Brad Arthur knew this problem existed, even though he said multiple times in pressers that it was fine, because he went in for Martin Taupau and David Klemmer, two arch big men, late in the season.
Neither were able to switch at the time and Klemmer has subsequently moved to the Tigers, but Taupau remains available. Why he isn’t already locked in, I don’t know: they need a bench big man, someone to work 15 minutes either side of the break while Junior and RCG have a breather.
Taupau was quietly very good last year: he averaged 11 hit ups for just shy of 100m per game, plus 19 tackles, despite only playing 38 minutes. Even factoring in a little decline due to age, he’s levels above Oregon Kaufusi – now departed to the Sharks – and the same defensive output as Junior Paulo despite ten minutes fewer on the field.
They also lack experience and leadership a little, with the final bench forward spot generally rotating between Ky Rodwell and Wiremu Greig, or not being used at all, as Arthur often played with 16 or, sometimes, even 15.
Taupau would likely want a little security and, at the age of 32, is probably only good for a year or two. Beyond him, Rodwell was voted Rookie of the Year and will likely be pushed further, while Larry Muagututia, who played u-19s Origin last year, is on a train and trial.
Parra are generally good beyond their two forward vacancies. Their spine, centres and wingers are basically locked in.
The only question, actually, might be around having too much depth as they cycled through left wing options (Bailey Simonsson, Hayze Perham and Sean Russell) and had them all look good, plus Haze Dunster who missed the entire campaign. Upcoming winger Matt Komolafe is also a standout at Flegg level.
There’s always the 17 jumper, because Arthur so regularly ignores it, with one of Makahesi Makatoa, Nathan Brown, Bryce Cartwright or Jake Arthur liable to find themselves underutilised on the bench.
Brown might bolt to a club that’ll give him more playing time, but with Hopgood, Doorey, El-Zakhem and Murchie all legitimate options, I wouldn’t worry too hard.