Phil Rothfield: Parramatta Eels set to become Brisbane Broncos of western Sydney
Phil Rothfield, Sports Editor-at-large, The Daily Telegraph
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RUGBY league desperately needed a shot in the arm and the mighty Parramatta Eels delivered it.
Friday night’s stunning victory over the Brisbane Broncos was the best thing I’ve seen all season.
Beautiful rugby league. Tough. Free-flowing. Plenty of speed, passion and big hits.
We’d been depressed about another State of Origin debacle, referees and the horrible knockout tackle on Billy Slater.
Down 12-0 early, the Eels looked outclassed and out of their depth. We were all thinking this was going to be one of those 40-6 sort of scorelines.
No Clint Gutherson. No Beau Scott. No hope. Another dismal Friday night game. But the Eels quickly fought back.
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The Eels celebrate a try on Friday night.
The Mitchell Moses pass for their second try is a season highlight. He floated it skilfully from left to right, on his bad side, and passed straight over the top of a desperate Broncos defender and into the arms of Kirisome Auva’a to touch down.
The pass of the year. Game on, ladies and gentleman.
Mitchell Moses produced the pass of the year.
Parramatta powered home to stamp their credentials as premiership contenders.
Nathan Brown leads the forward pack magnificently. Surely he’s the buy of the year.
The timing is perfect.
Going into retro round we stop to recall the Eels’ four glorious premierships in the magnificent ’80s. The days when they turned the SCG into blue and gold.
Can it happen again this year?
In the bigger picture, this is just the start of something potentially monumental.
This is about the club’s long-term future and the fact it is shaping up as such an NRL powerhouse. The launching pad to even becoming the Broncos of Sydney’s west.
The political rubbish and salary cap scandal are long gone.
They will get a new 30,000-seat stadium, which will open in 2019 next door to a thriving leagues club.
It will be a state-of-the art facility. And the leagues club has even bigger plans.
RUGBY league desperately needed a shot in the arm and the mighty Parramatta Eels delivered it.
Friday night’s stunning victory over the Brisbane Broncos was the best thing I’ve seen all season.
Beautiful rugby league. Tough. Free-flowing. Plenty of speed, passion and big hits.
We’d been depressed about another State of Origin debacle, referees and the horrible knockout tackle on Billy Slater.
Down 12-0 early, the Eels looked outclassed and out of their depth. We were all thinking this was going to be one of those 40-6 sort of scorelines.
No Clint Gutherson. No Beau Scott. No hope. Another dismal Friday night game. But the Eels quickly fought back.
More buzz: Highlights, lowlights, talking points
More Buzz: On-field violence ruining NRL
The Eels celebrate a try on Friday night.
Around $120 million will be spent on a multistorey hotel, new restaurants, a fitness and leisure centre, tenpin bowling, a new brewery and retail and fan areas.
A precinct for footy supporters to arrive earlier and stay longer. And spend money.
The fitness centre in the hotel is designed to attract sports tourism and visiting NRL teams.
Seriously, this could become a more powerful sporting franchise than the Broncos.
Artist's impression of the new Stadium at Parramatta.
“We are not Barangaroo, but we are hoping to be Parramatta’s version of Barangaroo,” leagues club chief executive Bevan Paul said.
Remarkably, this is a club that often uses the Cronulla Sharks as an example, according to communications boss Josh Drayton.
How they came back from the peptide scandal to win a premiership by clearing out the management and starting all over again.
The Eels have done exactly the same thing to recover from the salary cap disaster.
Friday night was just the start of something big.
Parramatta players after winning the 1986 grand final.
They have a great draw, facing Canterbury, Newcastle, Gold Coast, Brisbane again and Souths in the run home.
They haven’t played in the finals since 2009. But a top-four finish looks a real possibility and anything can happen from there.
In coach Brad Arthur they have a man who has delivered extraordinary results.
He’s no Craig Bellamy or Wayne Bennett just yet, but he sure can coach.
And the way he held the players together last year after they were docked 12 competition points and got them up week after week for matches with no more than pride on the line was commendable.
We’ll never stop blowing up about refs but suddenly the story of Laurie Daley’s future, the Origin loss and Slater’s concussion have been overtaken.
Rugby league needs a great story and the Parramatta Eels are it.
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