OPINION
This is the time for Arthur’s Eels to turn promise into production
Columnist and author
August 27, 2022
Wow. Just wow.
You may recall how, after the first round this season, I said it was already over and that no-one who saw the Penrith Panthers play could doubt that they would win again, and everyone else was making up the numbers. I stand behind it, despite some recent stunning form by all of the Roosters, the Cowboys, Cronulla, Souths and the Storm on a good day.
But whoever saw Parramatta play the way they did against the Broncos on Thursday night?
Throughout coach Brad Arthur’s reign they have always looked a team of enormous potential that just couldn’t get it together when it counted – red-hot at the beginning of the season and even the middle, but no matter what Arthur did he couldn’t wake them up when September comes, let alone October.
Thursday night’s match was technically still in August, but their demolition of the Broncos with such power, precision and sheer ruthlessness, to record a 53-6 win – their fourth win in the last five matches – says that they, too, are coming to the boil when it counts.
All up? All up, I repeat, Penrith will still win the whole thing, but the NRL is in a healthy spot when all of the next five teams are in fantastic form and capable of making it to the Last Dance with them.
I’m still on Penrith to win it all, but Parramatta have emerged as a genuine September threat in the NRL.
www.smh.com.au