Eels Need to Beat Tough Sea Eagles

Along with Melbourne, Parramatta have been the form team of the NRL competition at present, and it has come from hard work and dedication as well as taking a uniform approach to attack and defence since Jason Taylor has taken over as coach.

Coinciding with Taylor’s appointment has been an undefeated streak of six including Newcastle, Canberra and most recently the Wests Tigers, and the Eels will be looking to add Manly to that list on Saturday night, with a win necessary to stay in touch with the top eight.

Manly coach Des Hasler thinks that it will be a competitive game saying “both teams have good aggressive forward packs and the one who handles the conditions better, and makes fewer errors should win”.

Hasler hinted that the kicking game of Matt Orford could play a big part and that “Orford would steer the team around the park well”.

There were some who thought that Manly were lucky to defeat the Panthers last week, but they have been churning out the wins regularly, suggesting that luck has little to do with it, and their forward pack has been impressive.

For Parramatta Jarryd Hayne has been in scintillating form scoring ten tries from his last four matches, and providing a real spark for the Eels in attack.

Eels coach Taylor has said “Jarryd himself would not have expected to score as many tries as he has, but I will be looking for him to continue to play as well in general play”.

Hasler while wary of Hayne’s pace has dismissed many of his tries as being “opportunistic, and we will not be throwing him intercepts”.

The Manly coach also said “that he thinks the Eels have a few chinks and when it gets to that stage in the game we will see where it ends up”.

Hasler is possibly alluding to the sometimes suspect inside defence of Eric Grothe on the wing, but only time will tell where the Sea Eagles target their attack.

The battle between Fui Fui Moi Moi and Brent Kite should be all important to the outcome as both men get their teams going forward and according to Taylor “Moi Moi has been leading the team, he makes an impact every time he runs the ball and is playing more minutes”.

The Eels have to keep it going this week and a chance at entering the top eight will beckon, while Manly are fast closing in on the top four and would be keen to finish there.

It is worth noting that The Eels have a solid recent record over the Sea Eagles.

Hasler said there is no chance of star centre Steven Bell playing, but captain Ben Kennedy is a certain starter.

Look for this to be a tight game, and with the Eels season on the line it should provide a finals atmosphere, and they may just get over the line against the Sea Eagles.

Source: NRL