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It had all been going so well for Parramatta. For 20 minutes, they were more than the equal of the Broncos and looked like offering a stiff challenge to one of the big Premiership contenders and, perhaps, giving their own Finals hopes a massive boost in the process.
Then, as has happened so frequently this year, it all fell apart. Brisbane blew the game open with four tries – some brilliant, some highly avoidable – and that was that. 24-0 at half time and Brad Arthur’s hopes of another tilt at the Grand Final disappearing into the Queensland night.
It wasn’t just that his side were beaten. He also lost Mitchell Moses, most likely for the season, with a fractured eye socket. He had sustained the injury in the opening stages, but soldiered on until half time and had to be convinced not to come out for the second half.
With the game gone, there was little point risking further injury to the Eels’ most influential player. In the second half, they lost Andrew Davey and Daejarn Asi to head knocks, too.
“We were beaten by a time that was too good for us,” said Arthur. “We had some carnage and they were too good.
“It makes it tough but we’re not giving up. We’re still fighting until it’s over. We’ve got two games and we’re going to fight on. This team has been fighting all year and we’ll continue fighting.”
For Brisbane, this was another underlining of their credentials. Reece Walsh, Ezra Mam, Herbie Farnworth and, somewhat surprisingly, Billy Walters were their stars, far too good for Parra’s defence.
Adam Reynolds, too, became just the second player to 1000 goals in the NRL, following Cameron Smith.
Kevin Walters, of course, will be happier about the points against than the points for. He knows that the defence will terrify the Panthers – and, as is increasingly becoming clear, that is the only contest that matters in 2023.
“For me, this team works best going one week at a time,” he said. “We tried a little block period and it didn’t work so well, so we’ll go one week at a time.
“I keep telling anyone who wants to listen that we don’t know where our cap is, but we’re going to find it before the year’s out, that’s for sure.”
There’s a temptation to look at this Parramatta team and wonder what might have been. They had a shocker of a draw to start the season – one of the absolute toughest imaginable – that got them off on the wrong foot, which was then backed up by a combination of injuries, suspensions and off-field drama that ensured Arthur never had the best options to choose from.
There are certainly things that have gone very wrong: Dylan Brown’s incident, dual suspensions to Maika Sivo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard and their best players getting called into Origin for their most important game of the year.
If Parra make the Finals – and it’s not impossible – then they’ll see it as a win for the year given all that has happened. But with 11 wins on the board, two rounds to play and the Roosters and Panthers standing between the Eels and the magic number of 13 wins, it doesn’t seem overly likely.
Beyond the wins and losses, this was an example of why Parra won’t do anything this year.
Their middle remains a weakness defensively, with no ability to stop the roll or halt the offloads of the Broncos. That’s been there since last year.
Moreover, it’s built into the way that Arthur plays footy: so much salary cap is invested in RCG and Junior Paulo as his long-minute options, but it really hasn’t worked.
The pair have only started together eight times this year, and even when they do, they are invariably left on too long. The interchange policy is always suspect.
Today, Brisbane built fatigue on fatigue and exploited it late in the half. Paulo was given his spell seconds after the first try. Walters waltzed past Ryan Matterson, who looked knackered – but had only been on the field for four minutes.
Late half collapses have been a hallmark of Parra’s worst footy for several years. They were killed by it again tonight.
Brisbane knew that if they kept their cool, the points would follow. Parra, as has been the case for two years and perhaps longer, need to dominate possession to have the energy to last the full 40 minutes. In the first half tonight, they had just 38%.
Though the points didn’t come until later, the possession split was that all along – and that’s before factoring in the offloads, which were 7-1.
Arthur talks about ‘physicality’ constantly. You can only be physical for so long when you don’t have the ball. That’s the way to beat Parra, and everyone knows it.
When trying to work out the level of a side, it’s worth thinking about the different ways they can get through a game.
Brisbane, clearly, are one of those who have more than one way of winning, and that makes them one of the best.
Their defence, as pointed out last week by Todd Payten at the Cowboys and evidenced by just two line breaks against tonight, is right up there with the best. They faced two sides that throw plenty and gave them next to nothing.
On other occasions, it’s been the attack that has ended games early, particularly through the exuberance of Walsh and Mam playing in shape and the strike of Farnworth on the edge.
At the start of the year, it was sometimes the kicking of Adam Reynolds that unpicked defences when the best of the attack wasn’t always firing.
Cast your mind back to the opening month or so and there was a feeling that even though the Broncos were winning, they were a little lucky in how they did it, a feeling that was compounded by defeats to contenders just before Origin that positioned Brisbane just below the level of the very best.
Now, in the fullness of time, Walters has been vindicated. Last year’s Brisbane were tasked with improving the defence and becoming a highly transitional, efficient side. Now, they’ve taken that and added real flair with the ball. It’s impressive stuff.
Tonight it was both in the same game. They got into the cycle and kept Parra having to work hard, then outlasted them to get results.
The first try was excellent heads-up play from Walsh, Kurt Capewell and Reynolds and the third an extravagant scrum play that got Deine Mariner over. The second and fourth, however, were essentially caused by a defence that had strangled the Eels and induced tiredness and mistakes.
It was near-perfect stuff from the Broncos. They’re Penrith’s biggest threat this year.