Parramatta Eels’ challenge to win 12 of their 15 remaining NRL games must get off to winning start

TWELVE from 15. That’s the catchcry at Parramatta and you can hear the fire in the Eels players. But that fight must get off to a winning start against Souths, writes MATTHEW JOHNS.

PARRAMATTA, 12 from 15; that’s their focus.

Yes, other factors are at play which may change the original decision to deduct the Eels of 12 points, but these Parramatta players need a focus, and that’s it.

Twelve wins from 15 games. That’s their catchcry.

In adversity people show their true colours. It’s easy to play cool, calm and calculated when the going’s good.

Watch a post-match press conference; the winning coach smiles, practices a little philosophy, a few clever quotes here and there, and of course pays tribute to the fine young men he’s lucky enough to lead.

The next week he loses and he grunts, groans and whinges.

In the face of enormous adversity Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has shown himself to be a magnificent leader. No sooner was the original decision handed down and his team stripped of their points, than Arthur rallied his team and refocused them for the job at hand.

Twelve from 15.

No whingeing, no whining, just a catch cry, 12 from 15.

If the Eels make the finals it’ll become the most famous campaign slogan since, “Kevin ‘07!”

It’s a huge challenge, but that’s the very thing that excites footballers, the ability to do something some say is impossible.

You can hear the hunger and fire in the Eels players when they talk. Among all the dramas and the talk of Parramatta shedding star players, Arthur has managed to keep his men focused and fired up.

Friday night is a huge game for them. A win keeps morale sky high, the momentum builds even further, it becomes 11 from 14. It already sounds better.

A loss however can burst the balloon, suddenly the noose tightens, the momentum halts.

The old mantra of one game at a time has never rung more true than for Parramatta. But these next two matches in particular are absolutely vital.

Souths Sydney first, then the Melbourne Storm next week. If Parramatta can win these two games, it’s suddenly 10 from 13.

Then they play the Knights, and the Titans. Two games they would expect themselves to win, and if they do, eight from 11. Not sounding so impossible after all.

But again, one week at a time and it all starts now.

Friday night will be tough, especially with no Kieran Foran, and going up against a South Sydney side that should be stinging from a solid month of heavy criticism.

In seasons recently passed, a Michael Maguire-coached Souths team coming off a two-week preparation would be as tough an assignment as you could find.

But given the nature of Souths’ 2016 campaign, none of us really know what to expect.

Maguire’s decision to switch Inglis to five-eighth shows Souths will be different this week.

Maguire has come to the conclusion that for things to change he must shake things up.

He’s done that by benching Luke Keary, putting Alex Johnston to fullback and making the headline-grabbing decision to play Greg Inglis in the halves.

This tells me Maguire will return to a more simple power game. In the last month the Rabbitohs have played too structured and too sideways. So he’s removed a playmaker and put the ball running Inglis in the halves instead.

But this will only work if the Rabbitohs forwards can reassert some dominance in the middle.

Souths look their best when they play a rolling momentum-based game. The lack of forward dominance in 2016 has seen them revert to an overly structured attack, which I don’t think the Bunnies do particularly well.

The job’s simple for the Burgess brothers and their merry men in the middle — run hard and play the ball fast.

So often teams who get lost in their own structured football forget these two basic fundamentals. Just run hard and play the ball fast because that’s what creates time and space for your playmakers.

Judging by Parramatta tyro Ken Edwards’ comments last week; “You don’t want to be the next team facing us”, you know the Eels are going to be right up for this.

The question is, can the Bunnies rediscover the fight that once made them a competition heavyweight? If they can’t, they’ll be outmuscled by a team energised by the challenge at hand — 12 from 15.

Originally published as Parramatta Eels’ challenge to win 12 of their 15 remaining NRL games must get off to winning start