Over the years there have been a lot of Parra players who have been unduly criticised, bagged out, or just plain under appreciated by us fans. Who are your favourite 'under appreciated' Parra players ever?
I'd like to kick off with ……. Jeff Robson. He was often criticised as being slow, unimaginative, one-dimensional, and lacking a consistent kicking game. All of these things were, to some extent, true. But there was a lot of good about him, too. He was a great defender, one on one, and made many try-saving tackles as well as helping keep opposition forwards honest with his defence in and near the ruck, and cover defence out wide. Although his kicking game was erratic, he still set up his fair share of tries with kicks into the in-goal, and often got restarts through judicious kicks into the in-goal. He was never afraid to take the line on, and often showed strength and enough pace to get through the line and pass on to support players. He struck up a very good combination with Jarryd Hayne - with a lot of Hayne's magical runs coming off Jeff Robson passes. I believe he was a very steadying influence on Daniel Mortimer (who never again played as well as he did in the 2009 season). Robson, I think, mentored Mortimer, settled him down and allowed him to play his natural game of simply supporting and running. And, as dour as Robson was in his play, he got man of the match in (I think) the finals game against Canterbury, and led us to a grand final which we nearly won - against the storm. All in all, I reckon a very underrated player, and one of my favourite Eels ever.
I'd like to kick off with ……. Jeff Robson. He was often criticised as being slow, unimaginative, one-dimensional, and lacking a consistent kicking game. All of these things were, to some extent, true. But there was a lot of good about him, too. He was a great defender, one on one, and made many try-saving tackles as well as helping keep opposition forwards honest with his defence in and near the ruck, and cover defence out wide. Although his kicking game was erratic, he still set up his fair share of tries with kicks into the in-goal, and often got restarts through judicious kicks into the in-goal. He was never afraid to take the line on, and often showed strength and enough pace to get through the line and pass on to support players. He struck up a very good combination with Jarryd Hayne - with a lot of Hayne's magical runs coming off Jeff Robson passes. I believe he was a very steadying influence on Daniel Mortimer (who never again played as well as he did in the 2009 season). Robson, I think, mentored Mortimer, settled him down and allowed him to play his natural game of simply supporting and running. And, as dour as Robson was in his play, he got man of the match in (I think) the finals game against Canterbury, and led us to a grand final which we nearly won - against the storm. All in all, I reckon a very underrated player, and one of my favourite Eels ever.