‘Everyone’s written us off’: How the Eels are using last season’s heartbreak to inspire them

The Eels were on the wrong end of some final round drama last season, but they’ve flipped the script entirely and are ready to exact some revenge.

Kennedy Cherrington scored the try that got Parramatta into the finals. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Parramatta players are still reeling from a series of unfortunate events that forced them out of last season’s NRLW finals series.

But they’ve flipped the script and get the chance to complete the ultimate form of revenge against the team that benefited the most from their spectacular slide down the ladder on the final day of the regular season.

The Roosters never sat inside the NRLW top four until the final round last season.

They didn’t even win their last game to sneak into the finals.

Instead, they sat back sweating on the Broncos to beat the Eels by more than 16 points, which they did with a 38-4 shellacking that knocked Parramatta out of the top four in their inaugural season.

The Roosters snuck into last season’s top four but ended up winning the comp. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

The Roosters went on to win the competition having beaten the Eels by a single point in the regular season to rub further salt into the wound.

Fast forward a few months and the blue and golds have produced an even bigger miracle to scrape into fourth spot having waited until round 5 to win their first and only game of the season against Brisbane.

They did the hard work last Sunday and then watched the understrength Roosters belt the Titans to help them finish fourth and set up a semi-final showdown between the sides this Sunday at Suncorp Stadium.

“The Roosters were the underdog comeback story last season, and I feel like we are that now,” co-captain Simaima Taufa said.

“We’re making it our own journey and path because we don’t know their story and how they came together as a group to get to a grand final.

“All I know is that our players here are looking forward to continually getting better as a group.

“I feel like we are the most improved team throughout the competition.”

Co-captains Simaima Taufa and Tiana Penitani squared off with Roosters players Isabelle Kelly and Zahara Temara at the NRLW season launch. Picture: Richard Dobson

Centre Tiana Penitani knows that the Eels have received very little support from pundits this week but she says everyone inside Parramatta’s four walls is confident they can pull off the upset of the season.

The Eels were clinical against Brisbane and played without fear having lost their previous three matches by a combined margin of 10 points.

“We’ve never had any doubt,” she said.

“I know that everyone has written us off going into the semis, but our losses were all small margins.

“If we play like we did on the weekend, then we can absolutely go all the way, and we’ve always had that faith from the very beginning.

“We knew it was going to be a matter of time until we’d play our best, and we definitely have improvement left in us.”

Former Rooster Kennedy Cherrington was outstanding against Brisbane and doesn’t want to hear anyone say her team doesn’t deserve to be playing finals footy.

“I wouldn’t say that we’ve scraped in,” she said.

“It’s been there all year, but we hadn’t played a 70-minute game until last week.

“We deserved a few wins before that but it was our own fault that we didn’t win because we made poor choices at the wrong time and ended up losing three games by two points.

“I’m really glad that we’re peaking at the right time because we know what works now.

“The Roosters showed in the previous season how it’s done and that you can flip a whole competition in a short space of time. It’s not how you start but how you finish.”

Kelly scored two tries in the round 1 win. Picture: Matt Blyth/Getty Images

The Roosters are the overwhelming favourites having won every game this season, including a 38-16 smash job when the teams kicked off the season at CommBank Stadium.

Roosters skipper Isabelle Kelly says the Eels are a scary prospect given they have nothing to lose, and she knows just how dangerous that can be after a fearless approach helped her side lift the trophy just a few months ago.

“Knowing some of the girls that we’re playing against, it’s going to be really tough,” Kelly said.

“They’ve got a great pack and they’re not going to hand us things like they did in round 1.

“We’re going to have to fight for things because them being here shows how hard they’ve been working behind closed doors to build on their culture to get into the semis.

“We know that they’re coming to get us, but we’re super pumped to go.”

Originally published as ‘Everyone’s written us off’: How the Eels are using last season’s heartbreak to inspire them