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Three big issues Eels must address if they’re any hope of ending 34-year title curse
NRL PREMIERSHIP
- October 13, 2020 8:53am
- by ANDREW JACKSON
- Source: FOX SPORTS
Questions to answer: Mitchell Moses, Brad Arthur and Blake Ferguson.Source: Getty Images
When Parramatta fell to a 22-18 loss to Manly in round 10 earlier this year, Brad Arthur had a simple message to his playing group.
“Good teams keep getting themselves up all the time,” he said.
“If we want to be a good team and play some reasonable football, teams are going to come after us and we have to be prepared for it.”
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Heading into that Saturday night at Brookvale, the Eels had won eight of their opening nine games and were riding a wave of confidence.
Three-straight wins against the Tigers, Bulldogs and Sharks seemed to be all the proof needed that the loss to Manly was but a minor blip on a road to bigger and better things.
From there though came a mix of disappointing losses and less-than-convincing wins that had many predicting Parramatta would be bundled out of the finals in straight sets.
The critics were right.
Teams were coming after the Eels, like Arthur had warned, but they were not prepared.
Parramatta’s premiership window may be open but it won’t remain that way forever.
They have the list capable of competing for the title.
So what went so wrong this year to send them crashing out in the second week of the finals once more and what needs to be done to make sure it does not happen again?
THE BIG ISSUES
Who does Mitchell Moses want to be?
If the Eels are going to take the next step towards winning a title, they need Moses to rise to the occasion.
His role in this Parramatta outfit may be clear on the surface but Moses is yet to prove he can be a reliable big-game halfback the team needs.
So what role does he
want to play in this side?
On Saturday night against South Sydney, Parramatta’s best attacking raids were the product of either offloads from forwards or Clinton Gutherson and Dylan Brown engaging the line.
You look at the way that Brown accelerates to jump at the opportunity off the back of a Nathan Brown offload and quick pass from Junior Paulo in the 73rd minute.
He not only quickly senses the space to immediately back himself under pressure but also shows game awareness to take the tackle soon after as Gutherson trailed on the inside.
Brown may have come up with a few crucial errors late but he has the temperament and ability to read a game that Moses is struggling with at the moment.
The halfback plays a role in setting up Gutherson for Parramatta’s third try of the night but outside of that is more of a linking option spreading the ball like a hooker or ball-playing forward would.
Even when he does engage the line, he is not going deep enough to leave the defence guessing and instead the plays become predictable as shown in the below example.
Brown, on the other hand, is the focal point of the attack outside of Gutherson, taking the line on in the lead-up to both of the first two tries against Souths on Saturday.
It causes indecision in the defence and helps him create space for Shaun Lane before the final try of the night.
Moses has just nine try assists from 19 games this year, ranking him 13th of starting halfbacks.
Brown’s five from 18 isn’t much better but points towards a pressing issue that the Eels need to settle heading into next season.
At the moment, this is Moses’ team. He is the organising playmaker and leader of the side - at least he is supposed to be.
However, it does not seem to be a role that sits comfortably with him.
Unlike Brown, who is beyond his years in his ability to read and interpret a game under pressure, Moses can at times be too erratic and come up with the wrong option in the big moments.
The missed penalty goal which triggered Parramatta’s demise is symptomatic of the mental battle Moses must overcome.
Parramatta needed him to steady the ship when they went out to a 18-8 lead but Souths charged back into the contest and they never recovered.
Moses’ demeanour has been criticised before.
“Mitchell’s form has gone off because of his emotional state,” Paul Kent said on NRL 360 a few weeks ago.
“He can still play football, but emotionally he’s not keeping himself on the steady so therefore they’re falling out of their game plan and they’re not playing the (right) style of football off the back of that.”
It does not bode well for Moses’ leadership credentials though if he is reliant on a 20-year old who is still learning himself.
It is not all about ability but also how Moses interprets his responsibility to this team.
Brown ran for 128 metres against South Sydney compared to just 28 from Moses.
Obviously, Moses isn’t expected to always be a running halfback but if he can’t stand up as the organiser the team need him to be, what role does he fulfil?
He can continue to overrule Brown if he sees fit as the more experienced option but at the moment it is the young five-eighth who is more threatening in attack.
Sticking with Parramatta’s issues in the spine, they will also need a bit more in attack from hooker Reed Mahoney.
No one can question Mahoney’s workrate but given Parramatta’s reliance on a power game up front, he needs to better inject himself by developing a strong running game.
Currently, Mahoney too often gets caught in the trap of throwing long balls out of dummy-half that leave the Eels moving too sideways and not taking advantage of the forward momentum.
He has done plenty right this year and like Brown is also growing in confidence.
Just adding a running game to his existing capabilities will help straighten up Parramatta’s attack and add an extra option to support Moses and Brown.
3:01
The edge defence
The last time Parramatta played Souths, they were completely torn apart on the edges.
South Sydney’s first try in the 38-0 drubbing was a result of Waqa Blake rushing out while Sivo did the exact same shortly after to open up the opportunity for their second.
It was far from an isolated incident too.
Given the raft of injuries that savaged Parramatta in preparation for Saturday’s do-or-die game, they actually did quite well to shore up that issue.
An intercept, mistake from Gutherson in-goal and misjudged kick accounted for three of South Sydney’s tries while two others took advantage of tired middles.
The opening try of the night though was a perfect illustration of Parramatta’s vulnerabilities out wide.
To start with, the Rabbitohs already had a four-on-three overlap off the scrum with Corey Allan out the back.
It saw George Jennings and Brad Takairangi both interested by both the Souths fullback and Campbell Graham, who played the decoy.
The result was a deceptively simple try that showed just how slick the Rabbitohs can be if they get it right and just how poor Parramatta can interpret set plays on the edge under pressure.
To be fair, this was a makeshift combination out wide but Arthur has had all season to try and fix the issue.
The deep hole it left the Eels in was there for all to see a few months ago against the Bulldogs.
This is the team in the competition with the worst attack yet they too were able to pull Parramatta apart thanks to their indecision and lack of communication.
Marcelo Montoya strolled over for one of three simple tries on that afternoon after a three-on-one opened up on the right edge.
That simply should not be happening if the Eels want to capitalise on a potential premiership window.
48 of Parramatta’s 57 tries have been conceded on the right and left edges with their right side the worst (27).
Blake in particular was a constant culprit throughout the year with 57 missed tackles (the most out of any centre in the competition).
He is still learning and Arthur could have made a big statement in setting clear expectations of the side by dropping Blake earlier in the year.
But he didn’t and Blake continued to struggle as his confidence dropped.
Getting Blake and his fellow edge defenders to be more comfortable in trusting each other will be key to Parramatta’s chances next year.