gong_eagle
First Grade
- Messages
- 7,655
Eels v Sea Eagles preview
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 2:24 PM
If it wasnt for a certain team from Victoria this clash would have more than a whiff of a grand final preview about it.
It certainly has the makings of a feisty encounter, with Jamie Lyon venturing back to Parramatta Stadium for the first time since deserting the Eels in 2004.
Things were fairly chummy when the Sea Eagles downed the blue-and-golds 22-12 at Brookvale in round nine, but before a vocal home crowd thats all likely to change. And you can bet that will fire up the players this time around.
Form-wise youd have to lean towards the Sea Eagles but only just.
The Eels scraped home 20-16 against the Broncos last Monday; before that they had a similarly narrow (18-12) win over the Rabbitohs.
Those victories came after they were thumped 34-10 by the Knights in front of their home crowd.
After losing consecutive games to the Bulldogs and Dragons the Sea Eagles have now won three in a row, accounting for the Roosters (56-0), Wests Tigers (34-4) before scraping home against the Sharks 17-12 after edging ahead with six minutes on the clock.
For the Eels, Eric Grothe returns after a week off at Joel Reddys expense while the Sea Eagles remain unchanged.
Watch out Eels: It would be easy to just throw up the name of Brett Stewart as the most likely danger the NSW Origin fullback does, after all, have 11 tries to rank fifth on the tryscorers list. But winger Michael Robertson has 11 too, while flanker Chris Hicks has nine.
That means the Sea Eagles attacking back three have contributed 31 of their 76 tries in 2007.
Without doubt they are the most dangerous trio in the comp. (Incidentally, Manly is most potent when spreading the ball left, having scored 35 tries in that zone.)
Watch out Sea Eagles: Parramatta captain Nathan Cayless is certainly leading by example.
In career-best form, Cayless ranks 13th for top running metres with 2,168 for an average gain of 145 metres a game. He also ranks eighth for offloads with 32.
Eric Grothes return is crucial too they missed his bumping runs out of dummy half and his great offloads last week.
Grothe has a team-best 32 offloads and is pivotal in getting much of the their go-forward and multi-phase play happening.
Where it will be won: Despite both sides having great attacking flair in their backlines, the forwards will lay the foundations for victory here.
There are plenty of knockers still doubting the credentials of the Sea Eagles but the statistics reinforce their claims in 2007 forwards Glenn Stewart (with 290), Anthony Watmough (282) and Brent Kite (274) all feature in the top seven in the comp for the most hit-ups, with Watmough their standout for running metres with 2,494 for an average 147-metre gain. By comparison Nathan Cayless is the only dominant Eel, with 260 hit-ups.
Not a split hair separates the teams in completions (Eels 75 per cent to Manlys 74 per cent) and line breaks (4.4 to 4.9). But in defence, theres an average converted try the difference between the two sides (19.6 points to 13.6 points) in favour of the Sea Eagles.
The History: Played 118; Eels 42, Sea Eagles 72, drawn 4. The Eels have won six of the past eight games, although the visitors have won two of the past three, at Brookvale Oval and the SCG. But, pointedly, the Eels have won the past five games at Parramatta Stadium.
Conclusion: It remains to be seen how the Eels rebound after last weeks close call against the Broncos, and how much it took out of them.
They have plenty to play for this week in a traditional grudge game and the fans will be doing their best to ignite some passion given Jamie Lyons appearance.
Speaking of Lyon, he is definitely playing below par. While his defensive statistics are sound (46 one-on-one tackles ranks him second) hes yet to make a line break in 2007!
The match-ups around the park will be awesome: Matt Orford v Tim Smith Lyon v Brett Finch Watmough v Nathan Hindmarsh.
And with referees and their performances increasingly under scrutiny it will be interesting to see how the normally well-behaved Sea Eagles go this week with just 94 penalties conceded in defence they are the second most angelic side in the NRL.
Last week they lost the penalties to the Sharks 11-7, although the Sharks are the third most disciplined in the NRL.
The Eels on the other hand are pretty much bad boys theyve given up 112 penalties with ranks them fifth worst.
Will Des Hasler be using the words cement truck again this week?
Finally, look out for another dazzling stint from the Sea Eagles Adam Cuthbertson what a find hes been!
From eight appearances off then bench hes made 19 offloads, four line breaks, three line break assists and scored three tries one to win them the game last week.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 2:24 PM
If it wasnt for a certain team from Victoria this clash would have more than a whiff of a grand final preview about it.
It certainly has the makings of a feisty encounter, with Jamie Lyon venturing back to Parramatta Stadium for the first time since deserting the Eels in 2004.
Things were fairly chummy when the Sea Eagles downed the blue-and-golds 22-12 at Brookvale in round nine, but before a vocal home crowd thats all likely to change. And you can bet that will fire up the players this time around.
Form-wise youd have to lean towards the Sea Eagles but only just.
The Eels scraped home 20-16 against the Broncos last Monday; before that they had a similarly narrow (18-12) win over the Rabbitohs.
Those victories came after they were thumped 34-10 by the Knights in front of their home crowd.
After losing consecutive games to the Bulldogs and Dragons the Sea Eagles have now won three in a row, accounting for the Roosters (56-0), Wests Tigers (34-4) before scraping home against the Sharks 17-12 after edging ahead with six minutes on the clock.
For the Eels, Eric Grothe returns after a week off at Joel Reddys expense while the Sea Eagles remain unchanged.
Watch out Eels: It would be easy to just throw up the name of Brett Stewart as the most likely danger the NSW Origin fullback does, after all, have 11 tries to rank fifth on the tryscorers list. But winger Michael Robertson has 11 too, while flanker Chris Hicks has nine.
That means the Sea Eagles attacking back three have contributed 31 of their 76 tries in 2007.
Without doubt they are the most dangerous trio in the comp. (Incidentally, Manly is most potent when spreading the ball left, having scored 35 tries in that zone.)
Watch out Sea Eagles: Parramatta captain Nathan Cayless is certainly leading by example.
In career-best form, Cayless ranks 13th for top running metres with 2,168 for an average gain of 145 metres a game. He also ranks eighth for offloads with 32.
Eric Grothes return is crucial too they missed his bumping runs out of dummy half and his great offloads last week.
Grothe has a team-best 32 offloads and is pivotal in getting much of the their go-forward and multi-phase play happening.
Where it will be won: Despite both sides having great attacking flair in their backlines, the forwards will lay the foundations for victory here.
There are plenty of knockers still doubting the credentials of the Sea Eagles but the statistics reinforce their claims in 2007 forwards Glenn Stewart (with 290), Anthony Watmough (282) and Brent Kite (274) all feature in the top seven in the comp for the most hit-ups, with Watmough their standout for running metres with 2,494 for an average 147-metre gain. By comparison Nathan Cayless is the only dominant Eel, with 260 hit-ups.
Not a split hair separates the teams in completions (Eels 75 per cent to Manlys 74 per cent) and line breaks (4.4 to 4.9). But in defence, theres an average converted try the difference between the two sides (19.6 points to 13.6 points) in favour of the Sea Eagles.
The History: Played 118; Eels 42, Sea Eagles 72, drawn 4. The Eels have won six of the past eight games, although the visitors have won two of the past three, at Brookvale Oval and the SCG. But, pointedly, the Eels have won the past five games at Parramatta Stadium.
Conclusion: It remains to be seen how the Eels rebound after last weeks close call against the Broncos, and how much it took out of them.
They have plenty to play for this week in a traditional grudge game and the fans will be doing their best to ignite some passion given Jamie Lyons appearance.
Speaking of Lyon, he is definitely playing below par. While his defensive statistics are sound (46 one-on-one tackles ranks him second) hes yet to make a line break in 2007!
The match-ups around the park will be awesome: Matt Orford v Tim Smith Lyon v Brett Finch Watmough v Nathan Hindmarsh.
And with referees and their performances increasingly under scrutiny it will be interesting to see how the normally well-behaved Sea Eagles go this week with just 94 penalties conceded in defence they are the second most angelic side in the NRL.
Last week they lost the penalties to the Sharks 11-7, although the Sharks are the third most disciplined in the NRL.
The Eels on the other hand are pretty much bad boys theyve given up 112 penalties with ranks them fifth worst.
Will Des Hasler be using the words cement truck again this week?
Finally, look out for another dazzling stint from the Sea Eagles Adam Cuthbertson what a find hes been!
From eight appearances off then bench hes made 19 offloads, four line breaks, three line break assists and scored three tries one to win them the game last week.
