Fergo v Foxx: Blake Ferguson tasked with stopping close friend Josh Addo-Carr

Last time they shared a field, Josh Addo-Carr was tending to his injured mate Blake Ferguson. The reunion is shaping as anything but a soft-hearted moment.

It’s the ultimate rugby league bromance but, for Blake Ferguson, even this friendship doesn’t come with benefits when it comes to containing Josh Addo-Carr on the football field.

“I don’t know how you stop him,” Ferguson declared.

But that will be the Eels winger’s main defensive task when Parramatta play their first home game of the season, against Melbourne at Bankwest Stadium on Thursday night, opposite Addo-Carr.

The pair produced arguably the most enduring image of the 2020 finals series when Addo-Carr knelt over a visibly distressed Ferguson as he clutched at his injured knee that ended his season in the 36-24 qualifying final defeat.

Josh Addo-Carr checks on injured mate Blake Ferguson during the Storm’s qualifying final win over the Eels at Suncorp Stadium in 2020. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

“We’re good mates off the field,” Ferguson said after the pair forged a close bond while in camp for both the NSW Blues and Indigenous All Stars.

“But come game week we don’t talk too much. We’ll have a yarn after the game though.”

Ferguson, 30, will have his work cut out for him after Addo-Carr started this season like he finished the last one — on the highlight reel.

Against South Sydney last week, Addo-Carr scorched around Josh Mansour and on a 50m run before sending a kick infield for the Storm to score off on the next tackle.

“He’s pretty electric, so you can’t give him too much space,” Ferguson said.

It looms as another battle between Ferguson’s strength and power and Addo-Carr’s blinding speed. But stopping the Storm winger will take more than that.

“It’s a collective thing,” Ferguson said of the Eels’ defensive approach to the Foxx.

“He’s really good out of the back field and we have to work hard for each other and do the job for the guy inside of you and outside to shut him down.

“It’s a team effort, we all go out to try and win our one-on-one battles. I’ve got a tough job ahead of me but I’m looking forward to it.”

Canterbury Bulldogs-bound Addo-Carr finished the 26-18 win over Souths with eight runs for 113m, two tackle busts and a linebreak. But no tries.

Ferguson, in Parramatta’s 24-16 comeback win over Brisbane, had 18 runs for 168m, seven tackle busts, two linebreaks, a try assist and a four-pointer of his own. The latter is something he didn’t manage until Round 16 in season 2020.

Blake Ferguson got off to a tryscoring start to 2021. Picture: Toby Zerna

“Last year was a bit of a rubbish year on a personal note,” Ferguson said.

“It’s a new year, so whether (scoring a try) happened in five or eight weeks time wouldn’t have bothered me.

“It was just getting over there pretty much sealed the game for us and gave us a little bit of leeway heading into the last 20.”

While the Storm exploded out of the blocks to lead the Rabbitohs 22-0 last week, the Eels struggled early against Brisbane, falling behind 16-0 at halftime before coming over the top of last year’s wooden spooners in the second half.

“You could see over the weekend the teams that completed and started fast went on to win the game, so we’ll be looking to do the same,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson and Addo-Carr celebrate the 2019 Origin series win. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Ferguson and Addo-Carr do battle on the field. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

“We were all pretty calm (at halftime) because we knew we hadn’t played our best.

“We’d only completed at 30 per cent in the first half and if you do those kind of things, dropping the ball on first and second tackle, you just make it hard on yourself.

“I was fired up, we spent all off-season working our backsides off to compete and we did that, we competed until the 80th minute.”

Parramatta will get an early test of their premiership mettle when they take on the Storm, who will be favourites even without star Origin trio Harry Grant, Dale Finucane and Brenko Lee.

“It’s always good to play them, they’re the benchmark from last year,” Ferguson said.

Eels youngster Haze Dunster. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

“They have some big forwards but so do we, we’re fighting fire with fire there in the pack.”

With Eels young gun Haze Dunster waiting in the wings for an NRL opportunity, off-contract veteran Ferguson is playing for his future.

“We all understand that the next person who comes in has to do a job and everyone is capable of playing in the top 17 — that’s the kind of pressure that’s there,” he said.

“And that’s good pressure.

“In-house pressure is always the best, when people are competing for positions each week.”