NRL 2021: Parramatta make early statement but have Eels matured enough to compete for title

The Eels refuse to entertain the idea that it was anything more than one win, but getting over the Melbourne Storm is a big deal — here’s why.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 18: Mitchell Moses of the Eels celebrates after Maika Sivo of the Eels scores a try during the round two NRL match between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm at Bankwest Stadium on March 18, 2021, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

In driving rain on Thursday night, Parramatta delivered a grinding win over a competition heavyweight to give fans hope their side can deliver when it matters most.

The Eels’ Achilles heel has been their inability to get past the second week of the finals, unable to beat the NRL’s class teams in crunch games.

In 2017, Parramatta returned to the post-season for the first time since 2009.

But in six subsequent finals games, Brad Arthur’s men have lost five of them. Their only win came in the 58-0 thrashing of Brisbane in 2019.

The significance of Thursday night’s 16-12 win over Melbourne comes into focus when you see that three of their five playoff defeats came at the hands of the Storm, in 2017, 2019 and again last year.

But Thursday night’s effort showed this contest between these two sides was no longer a boys v men affair.

The Eels, as a football team, have grown up.

The win came through defensive discipline, a high completion rate and possibly the most crucial ingredient of all, maturity.

Eels players look dejected after losing to the Storm in semi final in season 2019. Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Cameron Smith and his Melbourne troops celebrate beating the Eels during the 2017 finals series.

Nowhere was that evidenced more in Mitchell Moses.

Before Thursday night, just about every facet of the halfback’s game had been pilloried by critics, and even Eels fans desperate to break the club’s 35-year title drought.

If Moses missed a tackle, his defence came into question. If he didn’t run the ball, he wasn’t making the most of attacking opportunities or playing to his strengths.

Then came the ultimate insult of all for a halfback, that Moses didn’t have what it takes to elevate a roster stacked with power and strike to the next level.

But Thursday night Moses delivered a performance, with his boot, that should silence that outside noise and give Eels fans hope that he is the man to lead this side deep into a finals series.

From kicks to get his side out of trouble to the inch-perfect kick that found Maika Sivo, who scored the match winning try, Moses stepped up to produce a mature performance. Against the benchmark team in the competition, when the result depending on his ability to control the match, Moses showed he had come of age as a halfback.

Mitchell Moses celebrates Maika Sivo’s try after setting it up with a bomb kick.

When asked “what got the Eels home” in Thursday night’s gritty affair, coach Brad Arthur did not hesitate.

“Mitch,” Arthur said of the driving force in the crucial win.

“His kicking game was great. Sometimes we struggled to get out of our end with their pressure from their defence and Mitch came up with some great kicks.

“He kicked us out of trouble a few times and on the back of it he gave us a bit of energy and the boys chased hard.”

Eels hooker Reed Mahoney said Moses’ game management was the best he had seen from the halfback.

“He was in control. Mitch was at the back of my ear talking to me, telling me where he wants me to put the boys for a kick,” Mahoney said.

“His kicking game tonight was unbelievable, one of the best I have seen. The hard work he did the whole 80 minutes. Two minutes to go, he’s 50 metres out and puts it on a dime and big bullet man [Sivo] comes streaming through … good luck to anyone trying to stop that.”

A TALE OF TWO HOOKERS

According to Fox Sports Lab, Mahoney only averaged 2.6 runs per game in season 2020. But already, Mahoney has posted 10 runs in the opening two rounds of the season. Mahoney was also responsible for putting big man Junior Paulo over to score crucial tries against Brisbane and then again last night against Melbourne.

The development in Mahoney’s game is just another example of Andrew Johns’ influence on Parramatta’s young spine.

Mahoney revealed the Eighth Immortal has been encouraging the rising rake to run the ball to take advantage of the game’s new set restart rules.

“He has been encouraging me to run the ball … Mitch and Dyl [Brown] also have the belief in me to do that sort of thing,” Mahoney said.

Reed Mahoney has revealed he has trimmed down in the pre-season to help his running game.

“It’s something I’m trying to add to my game, the players I have around me helps. I have worked pretty hard on it in the off-season. I’ve shed a few kilograms to be a bit leaner, I’ve worked hard and it’s starting to pay off with my running.

“He’s helped me just as much as [Moses and Dylan Brown]. He’s helped me a lot in the pre-season. When Joey talks, you shut up and listen. He’s the Eighth Immortal for a reason. Having someone of that standard at your club. You be stupid not to pick his brain.”

While Mahoney’s stocks are on the rise, Storm coach Craig Bellamy made a startling admission about his own hooking dilemma.

For the first time in the best part of a decade, a chink in Melbourne’s armour might have just appeared.

Ironically, exposed last night by the Eels, the same side that the Storm has picked apart and dismantled with ease in recent years.

That without legendary hooker Cameron Smith, Bellamy said his side had for the second week running “lost their way” in crucial periods of a game.

“We’ve got some work to do. Without Cameron there we are still learning our way … we lost our way a little last week too but we managed to steady the ship,” Bellamy said.

“Whereas I think tonight we didn’t steady it that well. I couldn’t ask for any more effort from the player but I can ask for more smarter efforts.

Craig Bellamy has admitted his side is missing Cameron Smith’s experience and influence.

“Smithy would be picking them up out there [for their efforts], whereas that’s still a little part that we need to get right. The cover for what he [Smith] has bought us over the last few years in a game like this.”

STONING THE EARLY CROW

As Parramatta players sat sodden and enjoying a hard earned beer in the dressing room celebrating a gritty win over the premiers, all of a sudden the air of expectation around the club with the NRL’s longest title drought began to rise.

But coach Arthur has never been one for the early crow.

“It’s one game,” Arthur said.

“If we want to be the sort of team that they are and challenge, we need to make sure we do that every week it doesn’t matter who we play.

“We need to have the attitude that’s how we play and I’ll be happy if we can do that every week, sometimes it will be good enough, sometimes we’ll get beat but we need to make sure we start with our respect for ourselves and the opposition and be prepared to build our game.”