NRL 2022: Eels lock in charter flight for hit-and-run preliminary final mission to Townsville
The Eels have been told to ‘get the hell out of Sydney’ to stop the outside noise from burying their grand final hopes - and they’ve come up with a $100k plan to do just that.
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Welcome aboard, Operation Ambush.
The Eels are plotting a $100,000 hit-and-run mission in North Queensland to advance to the club’s first grand final since 2009.
Despite advice from premiership-winning experts, including Gorden Tallis that the Eels must “get the hell out of Sydney”, Parramatta is planning the opposite.
Instead of escaping the pressure and spotlight of Sydney, Parramatta has decided to complete the entire preparation for their huge preliminary final against the Cowboys in Townsville at home before jetting directly into enemy territory.
The special blue-and-gold charter flight will see the Parramatta squad fly to Townsville on Thursday, following their final captain’s run on Wednesday.
Such is the ‘get-in-and-get-out-with-victory’ attitude of the Eels, the players will be told to take no more than a backpack with them.
They have been told in no uncertain terms that their trip to the lush warmer climate has nothing to do with relaxation or the potential of an early start to Mad Monday.
Instead, the Eels have finetuned their preparation for their biggest match in 13 years that will also expedite their recovery and readiness for a grand final, should they overcome the Cowboys.
The Eels will jet directly out of Townsville and return to Sydney immediately following Friday night’s clash. The charter flight also provides an extra layer of biosecurity for the Eels to avoid contracting Covid.
“We want to maximise the preparation for the team,” Eels CEO Jim Sarantinos said. “Flying commercially and making multiple stops doesn’t do that.
“Obviously from a Covid safety perspective, heading into the important games of the season, being able to travel privately is an added bonus.”
Eels co-captain Junior Paulo said the team had learned from past road trips what works for their pre-game build-up and what doesn’t.
“The travel games for us are about flying in that day before, we’ve been finding out what suits us,’’ Paulo said.
The decision to book a charter flight is also in contrast to what a commercial flight would entail for the Eels.
Parramatta was facing the prospect of flying from Sydney to Brisbane on Thursday and then on to Townsville which would have seen the team arrive at 10pm the night before the biggest game of their lives.
Paulo spoke to Tallis’ concerns that the Eels needed to get out of Sydney and their “heads out of the papers”.
“There’s been a lot of outside noise that has been spoken about us,’’ Paulo said. “It’s always going to be outside noise to us, because the only thing that matters is this group to us.
“We know what team we want to be and how solid we are as a group. This is the ride we haven’t been able to enjoy over the last couple of years.
“We’ll regroup and just go again.
“There’s obviously a lot of pressure that has been put on us, over the past 20-years and we’d be lying if we said we didn’t hear it.
“Because it’s everywhere.
“And that’s just part of the rugby league world that we live in.
“The only way to respond to that is to go out there and perform.
“It’s all about making memories for us.’’
Michael Ennis told Fox League: “I think the big thing about a prelim final … is that they know what works for them as a group.
“They don’t need to publicly come out and make any statements about how they’re gonna handle the Cowboys or what they’re gonna do.
“They need to bunker down, they need to know what they’ve got inside their four walls.
“Bottle that, harness that energy, and make sure they go to Townsville and ambush the Cowboys.”
Eels coach Brad Arthur said simply: “The club’s done a great job for us, they’ve organised a charter flight for us. We’ll fly in and we’ve got one job to do.
“We’ve got an opportunity next week and we’re going to go after it.”
‘Someone has got an agenda’: Arthur fires up after Eels win
-Martin Gabor
Eels coach Brad Arthur has lashed those trying to divide his team after parts of an internal review were leaked claiming there was nepotism at the club.
The report was leaked the day before his side’s biggest game of the year, but instead of creating a divide, it seemed to bring the Eels closer together as they went on to thump the Raiders 40-4.
The timing of the leak threatened to derail Parramatta’s finals hopes with claims there was a perception of nepotism when it came to the appointment of players and staff from the junior grades upwards.
Arthur was furious with the timing of the stories, especially given the criticism surrounding his decision to pick son Jake on the bench for the Canberra game, but he was justified after the young playmaker came on to replace Mitch Moses when he left the field for an HIA.
“I reckon we showed how it affected the group,” Arthur fired up in the press conference.
“Someone has got an agenda, and they’re not going to break us.
“There are some personal interests. Whoever’s got the agenda, you’re not going to break this group. We’ve worked too hard.”
Skipper Clint Gutherson was one of the best players on the field on Friday and said the negative talk leading up to the game did nothing to break his side’s confidence.
“Not many things will break us as a group,” the fullback said.
“To be able to put that performance in after the past 24 hours – which I don’t even know where it came from – it’s pretty pleasing.”
Arthur has had to deal with plenty of dramas in the past including Michael Jennings testing positive to a banned substance just hours before a semi-final game in 2020.
The coach has also had to put up with constant criticism of his side’s inability to get past the second week of the finals, but the monkey is off his back and a more mature Arthur says he was well equipped to handle the pre-match controversy.
“When I first started coaching, I would have worried about it or bought into it or had some commentary about it,” he said.
“The thing is, I’ve got confidence in this group and I know exactly what’s in that dressing shed. I didn’t even feel the need to talk to anyone about it.
“We’ve dealt with plenty in the past. It’s only a couple of years ago we had other dramas.
“We didn’t even address it. We didn’t talk about it because it’s something that we can’t control, and its rubbish.
“The boys just wanted to go out and play for each other, and that’s what they’re doing.”
Dare to dream: Slick Eels make grand statement
Mitch Moses celebrated his 28th birthday in style but it was the Eels halfback who delivered the biggest present of all by helping Parramatta end 13 years of heartache to take them back to the preliminary finals.
Parramatta’s woeful record in the second week of the finals was the elephant in the room leading into Friday’s game against the Canberra but the weight of history meant nothing as they romped to a 40-4 win to set up a date with the Cowboys.
Things will be hot and humid in Townsville next week where the Eels haven’t won since 2017, and they’ll be desperate for revenge after North Queensland eliminated them in both 2005 and 2017 when they were despised outsiders.
And if they win that then one of the biggest fanbases in Sydney will be let loose in grand final week after having their hearts broken for so long.
“I’m happy for our club, but the job’s not finished. We’ve got a big week ahead of us,” Brad Arthur said. “It’s a good opportunity for us. The club has done a great job for us. They’ve organised a charter flight for us.”
The Eels had lost at this stage of the season in four of the past five years but they were never in doubt on Friday thanks to a dominant first half that saw them open up a commanding 22-4 lead which could have been even bigger had the officials not inexplicably called a Dylan Brown pass forward to deny Clint Gutherson a try.
Moses, who was in doubt for much of the week after knocking himself out while trying to tackle Viliame Kikau, was simply superb on the right and kicked the Raiders to death with a couple of line dropouts, a try assist and one of the best four-pointers of the finals when he sped onto a Junior Paulo offload early in the second half.
“There was talk about him not being able to handle the pressure but I think he showed he can handle the pressure,” Arthur said.
That try could have some competition after an audacious Moses flick and some brilliant work by the two wingers ended with Marata Niukore crashing over for his second of the night to put an exclamation mark on a statement win.
HALF MEASURES
The decision to pick Jake Arthur on the bench was questioned ever since the teams were released on Tuesday afternoon, but his dad’s decision to have him there as insurance proved to be a masterstroke.
The young playmaker was thrust into the action midway through the second half when Moses was forced from the field by the independent doctor in the bunker.
The halfback was caught in an awkward tackle by Jack Wighton and stayed down for a moment which was enough for the bunker to ask Parramatta’s medical staff to check on Moses.
It was a worrying 15-minute wait for Eels fans given what happened to Moses last week, but he was cleared to return and came back on with his side ahead by 24 points.
But bringing him back on may have been an unnecessary risk after he was whacked by Wighton who was placed on report for belting Moses when he was on the ground.
“I didn’t even think of it,” Arthur replied when asked if he should’ve kept Moses on ice.
THE SURE FLANK REDEMPTION
Moses would have spent Friday night dining out on birthday cake, but humble pie was on the menu for those who wrote off Waqa Blake after one poor performance.
Blake spilled three Nathan Cleary bombs which would have been dropped by any winger in the game.
But the Eels speedster clearly doesn’t carry his divots because he was safe as houses on Friday and completed his redemption arc with two huge plays in the space of 60 seconds.
The Fijian flyer shut down a Canberra raid by knocking Sebastian Kris into touch and then scored from the next set off a lovely ball from his halfback.
“You don’t get rid of blokes on the back of one performance,” Arthur said.
X-FACTOR
You’ve got to tip your cap to Raiders young gun Xavier Savage.
For much of the first half it looked like the inexperienced fullback was headed for a finals horror show.
He was clean bowled by a Dylan Brown grubber which led directly to a Tom Opacic try, and then he was dragged back by four defenders for a line dropout.
Others would’ve dropped their heads in that position but Savage bounced back in the best possible way when he burnt opposite number Clint Gutherson to score a stunning solo try that provided the travelling fans with a rare reason to smile.
It was an otherwise glum night for the Canberra faithful with Jordan Rapana producing a couple of forgettable moments to concede a try and then spill a potential four-pointer at the other end.
There cause wasn’t helped when Corey Harawira-Naera was ruled out of the game with a category one concussion just minutes after he’d come onto the field to replace Elliott Whitehead who had also come for an HIA.
Their star props were well handled with Joseph Tapine and Josh Papalii combining for just 170 metres and they lacked any punch through the middle.
“We weren’t good enough. They were far superior,” Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said. “We didn’t beat ourselves. We were beaten by a better team.”
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