Eels to tough for knights
http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/spor...hts-in-nrl-trial/story-e6frexnr-1226567425423
Reni Maitua scores a try for the Eels. Picture: Barnsley Tim Source: The Sunday Telegraph
HE has been encouraging the Parramatta Eels to believe again since September.
So when the moment finally arrived for Ricky Stuart to direct his remarks via two-way radio, the club's new coach was a contented man.
"I think the players and everyone else just gets sick of the off-season," Stuart said.
"We all wanted to see a game of football."
Chairman Roy Spagnolo has declared Stuart Parramatta's best signing since the great Jack Gibson, and his task of resurrecting the wooden-spooners will remain a talking point as the mercury dives over coming months.
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The Stuart era began at 5pm Saturday at Bellevue Oval, marking the end of the 125-day wait for two NRL clubs to exchange hostilities.
Stuart spent the 80 minutes alternating between a seat among the 5023-strong crowd and the sideline, where Parramatta launched top-liners Reni Maitua, Luke Kelly, Nathan Smith, Daniel Harrison, Talima Tautai and Taniela Lasalo into Newcastle's second-stringers.
Thanks to the class gap, Stuart was barely moved by the 46-10 scoreline that christened the third chapter of his NRL coaching career.
Having attended the funeral of his uncle, Geoff, in Canberra on Friday, Stuart needed to catch two planes back to Armidale, where the Eels had been training since Tuesday, to mark the occasion.
"It's never nice when you lose family, but it was important for me to be here and that's why I made the effort," Stuart said. "It's only a trial and I'm most pleased we got through without any injuries, and also managed to strike up a few combinations."
RICKY STUART
Ricky Stuart watches from the sideline. Picture: Barnsley Tim Source:
Although carrying a two-match suspension from last year's final round, Maitua was permitted to play because the game was not an official NRL trial and celebrated with a try on the quarter-time siren.
He stayed on until Parramatta posted their seventh unanswered try in the 44th minute, when Stuart began to roll out his youngsters.
Front-row pair Tautai and Lasalo continued until midway through the third quarter.
Kelly, who missed the final two months of last season with an eye injury, also staked a solid claim for the No. 6 jersey by having a hand in three tries.
"Those players just needed a bit more footy because they've had injuries, or, in Reni's case, can't play our next trials because of suspension," Stuart said.
"The front-rowers needed some game time and they should've done well because they're NRL players against a number of guys who've never played grade before."
Centre Jacob Loko was also pencilled in to make his return from back-to-back knee reconstructions, but he sustained a hamstring strain last week.
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