Parramatta v Manly: Mitchell Moses inspires Eels to first win of season over Sea Eagles

BRAD Arthur can coach. Mitchell Moses can play. Corey Norman looked happy. And the Parramatta pack, well, that goes a long way to answering the questions that were being asked of them.

Parramatta secured their first win of the season against Manly.

TODD Greenberg, we gave it a crack.

We understand Parramatta’s breakthrough win over Manly had all the makings of the #NRLTALKTHEGAMEUP campaign Greenberg has been plugging.

It’s just a shame the Eels’ star halves Mitchell Moses and Corey Norman didn’t want to play ball last night.

Forget the fact they played a hand in five of Parramatta’s seven tries in the 44-10 win, neither Moses or Norman could be bothered talking about it as they walked out of ANZ Stadium.

You want to know where the problem is for the NRL?

It was staring us in the face in the tunnel below ANZ Stadium.

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Parramatta secured their first win of the season against Manly.

Two players who have underperformed all season taking out their frustrations on what should have been a night of celebration.

Perhaps their egos were still bruised after the pasting Parramatta copped over the first six rounds of the season.

Perhaps it wasn’t their fault it took until round seven to get it right.

Perhaps Norman didn’t want to talk about the rumours he’s been unhappy at the club.

Perhaps Moses didn’t want to talk about the fact he now has to back it up against his former club Wests Tigers next Sunday at ANZ Stadium.

We will never know what they were thinking.

But seriously, you’d think the club would want the message out there for the fans.

You’d think their sponsors have earned a bit of positive publicity.

Mitchell Moses and Corey Norman answered critics with outstanding performances.

At least Brad Arthur wasn’t hiding from the reality.

“Where has that been” was the first question Arthur was asked at the media conference?

“Good question … good question,” Arthur conceded.

“I don’t really want to rehash the last five or six weeks because it hasn’t been pretty.

“But that is a real good question.

“The question now is not so much about how we performed but what we did with our performance, our identity.

“We played tough.

“We played controlled.

“We played patient.”

Manly were completely outclassed by the firing Eels.

Arthur admitted it started mid-week with that no-holds barred training session where blood and bad tempers came to the boil.

And on the back of that, Parramatta sparked their season to life.

They started nervous, with their only points in the opening 25 minutes coming via a penalty goal to Moses.

But once they clicked, the confidence grew by the minute.

It was built on the back of a powerful performance from their pack, that also hasn’t been short of critics.

And with their effort, the halves ran riot.

Moses played a hand in three of the seven tries.

Norman scored one himself and set up a ripper for Kenny Edwards with beautiful soft hands.

This is a team that was smashed 54-0 by Manly back in round two.

Parramatta were exceptional in the win.

But they looked completely different this time round.

No team in the NRL era has fought back to make the finals after losing their opening six games.

But judging purely on what we saw from Parramatta yesterday, and not on what Moses and Norman actually said after the game, this team that started the year as one of the genuine premiership favourites is not done yet.

Jarryd Hayne left the field early in the game with injury.

They now just have to back it up against the Tigers.

Maybe then Moses and Norman might want to talk the game up.

Or maybe before then someone at the club might want to pull them into line.

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