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Eels in the media

Gronk

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77,647
Mahoney steps up for Parramatta
Reed Mahoney has been given a chance of a lifetime after finding himself Parramatta's No.1 choice hooker following Kaysa Pritchard's serious shoulder injury.

A backhanded compliment by South Sydney's Sam Burgess was all Parramatta rookie Reed Mahoney needed to know he could make it in the NRL.

A massive opportunity awaits the Sunshine Coast product in the final five rounds as he gets set to answer Eels coach Brad Arthur's SOS.

Kaysa Pritchard has been ruled out for the rest of the year after copping a dislocated shoulder in Saturday's 26-20 loss to South Sydney.

Mahoney, 20, suddenly finds himself the club's first-choice dummy-half, with Cameron King (knee) expected to be sidelined until round 24.

Despite having just four first-grade games under his belt, Mahoney is buoyant about his ability to handle 80 minutes and prove himself as he chases a spot in the Eels' top 30 squad next year.

"I can definitely play 80 minutes. I'm used to playing 80 minutes, I did it through (under 20s) at the start of the year and I'm putting my best foot forward," Mahoney said.

Mahoney was thrown into the action in just the seventh minute against the Rabbitohs and proved himself a pest all game, successfully putting South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds off his usually stellar kicking game.

"After the game Sammy Burgess came up to me and said, 'You're a cheeky little prick' on the field," Mahoney said.

"I said, 'You've got to do what you've got to do, mate'. He said, 'Good stuff'.

"I think that's just part of my game. I like to have a bit of a laugh.

"At the end of the day, that's why you play footy. I'm a bit cheeky off the field and I enjoy doing that sort of thing, it's part of my game and I'm not going to stop it."

After standing out in the Eels' under 20s last year, the Beerwah Bulldogs junior was given a train-and-trial deal by Arthur before earning a spot on the Parramatta roster as a development player.

"I was working at the time and I got a call in a staff meeting. It was my manager. For some reason I knew I had to pick it up," Mahoney said.

"I knew that I had a fairly good year last year in the under 20s and there wasn't much talk about me training with the NRL squad.

"But I was happy with anything. He said, 'Come in until Christmas and see how you go'. I just took it with both hands and Christmas turned into 'Come back after Christmas, the new year'. The end of January, 'Keep coming'. Then it was mid-February. Then it was 'Have a trial match' and I was very lucky I got given a development contract.

"It's a good confidence boost. I didn't even imagine myself being here six months ago."

https://www.racingandsports.com.au/en/sports/mahoney-steps-up-for-parramatta-story-455257
 

Gronk

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77,647
http://www.nospam47.com/au/league/n...oses-peter-sterling/689l91e4rd6c1k2fuej68972c

Awsome. Journo is bored so he trotts out his yearly how many halfbacks have the Eels tried since Sterlo retired.

======

Parramatta has won four premierships since they entered the competition in 1947 and all four of those contained the same halfback, Peter Sterling.

Sterlo made his debut off the bench in Round 18, 1978 and by 1981 he was one of the premier halfbacks in the game, eventually rising to the best and widely regarded as one of the greatest ever in the game’s history.

In Round 3 of the 1992 season, Sterling was helped off the field just half an hour into Parramatta’s game against the Magpies, with a recurrence of a shoulder injury which had been reconstructed just a year ago. A few days later a teary Sterling announced his retirement from the game in a very emotional press conference.

Sterling finished his career having played 228 games for Parramatta, 221 of which were at halfback, of which he won 63.35% of games, including four premierships.

Ever since, Parramatta has tried desperately hard to fill his immense shoes, with many halfbacks tried and tested, but none managing to do as Sterling did and lead the Eels to a premiership.

In those 26 years since, Parramatta has used 35 different halfbacks. Only three sides have used more over the same period of time: Souths (43), Penrith and the Roosters (36).

Surprisingly, not one of those 35 players have played more than 71 games in the No.7 jumper. Tim Smith and Chris Sandow have both started in 71 games as halfback, with Jeff Robson the only other Eel since Sterling retired to have played more than 50 games in the No.7 jumper. He played 52 games.

They’ve had 14 players with less than 10 games at halfback. Just eight more players have played between 10 and 20 games.

Eight of the 35 halfbacks since Sterlo have managed a better winning record, but none of them played any more than 35 games in the halfback role. They are:

Troy Pezet – 3 games, 3 wins – 100% James Webster – 1 game, 1 win – 100%

Luke Burt – 1 game, 1 win – 100%

Jason Taylor – 26 games, 20 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses – 76.92%

Kieran Foran – 8 games, 6 wins, 2 losses – 75%

Jeremy Smith – 10 games, 7 wins, 3 losses – 70%

PJ Marsh – 15 games, 10 wins, 1 draw, 4 losses – 66.67%

David Penna – 35 games – 23 wins, 12 losses – 65.71%

Peter Sterling – 221 games, 140 wins, 4 draws, 77 losses – 63.35%

Prior to the debut of Sterling, Parramatta had played 637 games, winning 37.36% of games. During the Sterling era Parramatta won an immensely better 59.40% and since he retired, they’ve scored 46.19% of games won from the 656 played.

Trying to replace someone like Peter Sterling is a near impossibility, as Parramatta has proven. However, the Eels haven’t really persevered with any halfbacks since he retired. Given they haveappeared in just 2 grand finals since, while 15 of their seasons since has seen them finish in 10th place or lower on the ladder.

Their most recent halfback acquisition, Mitchell Moses, has played 32 games, winning 43.75% of his games in the No.7 jumper. Parramatta’s history suggests that he may only get another season and a half worth of games at halfback before he gets discarded for the next option.

Will Parramatta stick with him ?
 

Gronk

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Moses is signed until 2019, so I am very happy that we have him for next year.

We have a stupid system however and Moses goes on the market in November. This means that we need to make a call very soon about his future, which will probably involve a 3 year deal.

Dylan Brown certainly has potential, but do you hang your hat on him in November as being our future ?
 

84 Baby

Referee
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29,711
Parramatta has won four premierships since they entered the competition in 1947 and all four of those contained the same halfback
They also contained the same centres, one winger, 5/8th, lock & fullback/benchie. Should we compare Jennings/whoever else to Cronin/Ella, French to Guru (ouch), Norman to Kenny, Brown to Price or Gunco to Taylor?
 

T.S Quint

Coach
Messages
14,562
Moses is signed until 2019, so I am very happy that we have him for next year.

We have a stupid system however and Moses goes on the market in November. This means that we need to make a call very soon about his future, which will probably involve a 3 year deal.

Dylan Brown certainly has potential, but do you hang your hat on him in November as being our future ?

I think we do.
Moses is probably not the answer we weee hoping for. He's had the chance to step up this year and prove that he can lead a team out of form. Instead he's only gone backwards. There's every chance that he improves for next year, but at the moment I would definitely hold off on re-signing him and risk him walking away.

I think he would rather wait himself to sign anywhere considering he is so out of form he would be worth much less that he would be hoping. He would want to wait until next year himself to try and be playing better when he puts pen to paper.
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
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15,641
Does Moses deserve further opportunities with revised structures? Hes definitely got talent. Proved that last year. His defence has also improved.
 

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