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Parramatta fell well short of expectations in 2023 and they face plenty of big questions in the off-season to decide whether they can squeeze one last shot at the title from the nucleus of their team.
They became the first team to complete their season by virtue of their final-round bye and middling overall effort to finish with a 12-12 record which will leave them one win outside the final playoff cut.
Parra have an ageing squad, one that came so close to breaking their 1986 premiership drought by making the title decider last year, and a coach who has been at the helm for a decade.
Balmain coach Warren Ryan famously said he left at the end of 1990 because “all the juice had been squeezed out of the lemon” with that squad. It was an unpopular quote which annoyed their stalwarts at the time like Benny Elias, Steve Roach and Paulo Sironen but he was ultimately proved right.
The Tigers plunged out of playoff contention the following year and never did make the finals again during their final decade as a stand-alone entity.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Parramatta are not necessarily heading for such a precipitous fall but with Junior Paulo, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Shaun Lane, Mitchell Moses, Clint Gutherson, Ryan Matterson, Maika Sivo will all be 29 or older by the time next season kicks off.
They’ve all certainly got a few good years left in them but do the Eels still have a roster capable of competing for titles or just finals appearances?
The main problem for the Eels is hooker. They were not prepared to match the big bickies that Canterbury shelled out last year to snare Reed Mahoney and they rolled the dice on Josh Hodgson’s surgically repaired 33-year-old legs. He tried his guts out but the English veteran simply wasn’t the player he was in his prime and he announced his retirement on Wednesday despite the club recently exercising the option on his contract for next year.
Brendan Hands was Hodgson’s initial mid-season replacement before Joey Lussick was recalled from the Super League. He has two more years on his new deal so the Eels are putting their faith in him to solve their No.9 jersey dilemma.
The Eels have one of the NRL’s best and most skilful packs but they lack fear factor. The impact of Isaiah Papali’i leaving for the Wests Tigers was as great as the impact he left in defensive lines. Brad Arthur would sell off his first-born son to Manly if it meant opening up salary for Papali’i to return. He’s already done that but he will find a way when the Kiwi forward next becomes available.
J’maine Hopgood proved an astute pick-up from Penrith and he could be knocking on the door of Maroons selection next year.
But such is the money tied up on extending Moses and the deals already inked by their nucleus of veterans, the Eels are yet to make a splash in free agency for 2024 and are unlikely to have the funds to bring any top-line talent through the door.
J’maine Hopgood looks to pass. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Moses is the obvious answer but Dylan Brown is now arguably just as important to Parramatta bouncing back in title contention.
His mid-season absence due to sexual touching charges derailed their campaign. Arthur said Brown owed his teammates to perform when he returned for the closing rounds. That debt extends to next year as well.
Moses is an élite organiser, Clint Gutherson is as reliable and non-stop as they come at fullback but the Eels need Brown to spark their attack.
There was plenty of talk early in the season about Parra looking to bring in a recruit with X factor. They’re not easy to find but they still need to locate one because their team is very right arm, medium pace over the wicket.
Parra have flown in the face of the cut-throat nature of NRL coaching and stayed loyal to Arthur, who is under contract until the end of 2025.
The Eels have dangles the bait for Wayne Bennett in the past and the veteran coach looking at options after next year while denying that he’s doing so, as is his custom at times like these.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Arthur will be one of a few coaches wary of his boardroom falling for the siren song of Bennett if the Eels struggle next year.
There’s only so long a coach’s message can keep sinking into a team and usually less time than that for a club to stick by someone who has not delivered the title they desperately crave.
Not a great deal for a team that’s missed the finals. The clubs below them will be doing a lot more soul searching and roster rejigging over the summer months.
Parra need to add an element of unpredictability to their side – Arthur is not the kind of coach who will suddenly transform a team into the 2005 Tigers who can strike from anywhere on the park.
The Eels actually lead the NRL in offloads by a decent margin on the rest of the league – popping passes in a tackle to get an extra 10 metres down the field is nice but it’s better to split open a defence with quick footwork, attacking shapes and tackle busts (Parra are only ahead of the Dogs in that stat in 2023 – ouch).
The 2024 season will be era-defining for this current group. If they struggle out of the gates, change could be swift at Parra.
They are still a very solid side so they should be in the playoff mix and unlike the rest of the NRL, they match up well with the Panthers, beating them twice this year.
But this iteration of the Eels won’t last forever and they’re going to have to start looking to the future to replenish this roster at some stage in the next year or two.