Parramatta confident their no-name outside backs can get them over the line in NRL clash against Brisbane Broncos
Cheyse Blair makes a tackle on Blake Ayshford during an NRL trial at Gosford.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
BETWEEN them they have played only 51 NRL games, but Parramatta believe their unknown outside backs can get the job done against the Broncos on Friday night.
Brisbane are still braced for the late inclusion of Test stars Jarryd Hayne and Willie Tonga, but the official line from the Eels camp is that injuries have forced the club to name virtually untried wingers and centres.
Wingers Cheyse Blair (yet to play NRL) and Ken Sio (one game) are virtually unknown outside their own homes, while centres Esi Tonga (36 games) and Ryan Morgan (14) are hardly established players.
Esi is the younger brother of Willie Tonga, his off-season beset by drama after he went missing from the Queensland State of Origin Emerging Squad camp in Brisbane.
A date has yet to be set for Tonga to front a QRL tribunal to show cause why he should not be disqualified from Origin consideration for two years.
Morgan and Sio are Parramatta juniors, with Sio making his NRL debut in a final round match against Gold Coast Titans last year when he scored a try in the Eels' 36-12 win. Murwillumbah-born Blair is a Titans junior, having graduated from the Bilambil Jets.
Former Titans winger Jordan Atkins will play for Eels affiliate Wentworthville, even though his 40 NRL games make him seem like a veteran alongside Blair and Sio.
Parramatta's NSW Origin prop Tim Mannah is battling a knee injury but is determined to play against Brisbane, while former Test utility Reni Maitua has made himself available after missing the trials with an ankle injury.
"There's a bunch of us injured boys who are 50-50 in terms of of getting ourselves right," Mannah said yesterday. "It's a pretty big group of us, but we'll see how we go and who plays on Friday."
Broncos coach Anthony Griffin said he expected Hayne (knee) and Tonga (hamstring) to take the field.
"We're preparing as if they will play," Griffin said. "We have heard Hayne is very close."
