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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:00:44 GMT 10
SATURDAY 27th JUNE: Parramatta Eels v St George Illawarra Dragons at Pirtek Stadium, 7.30pm
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:01:04 GMT 10
NRL.com
Eels
1 Corey Norman
2 Semi Radradra
3 Will Hopoate
4 Brad Takairangi
5 Ryan Morgan
6 Luke Kelly
7 Chris Sandow
22 Junior Paulo
9 Cody Nelson
10 Tim Mannah (c)
11 David Gower
12 Tepai Moeroa
13 Danny Wicks
Interchange
14 Darcy Lussick
15 Pauli Pauli
16 Daniel Alvero
17 Joseph Paulo
Coach: Brad Arthur
Dragons
1 Josh Dugan
2 Dylan Farrell
3 Euan Aitken
4 Peter Mata'utia
5 Jason Nightingale
6 Gareth Widdop
7 Benji Marshall
8 Leeson Ah Mau
9 Mitch Rein
10 Mike Cooper
11 Tyson Frizell
12 Will Matthews
13 Ben Creagh
Interchange
14 Jake Marketo
15 Trent Merrin
16 Jack de Belin
17 Heath L'Estrange
Coach: Paul McGregor
Reece Robinson's fractured cheekbone means Corey Norman shifts to fullback and Luke Kelly returns at five-eighth. Will Hopoate returns from Origin as Ryan Morgan shifts to the wing and John Folau drops out. Cody Nelson will make his Eels debut at hooker in place of Nathan Peats. Danny Wicks will start at lock with Anthony Watmough injured as Daniel Alvaro and Joseph Paulo come onto the bench with Kaysa Pritchard also out. Latest odds at Sportsbet.com.au.
Unchanged from the team who lost to the Roosters in Round 15. Latest odds at Sportsbet.com.au.
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:01:26 GMT 10
NRL.com
Eels v Dragons preview
By Chris Kennedy, National Correspondent
Thu, Jun 25, 2015 - 12:00PM
Parramatta Eels v St George Illawarra Dragons
Pirtek Stadium
Saturday 7.30pm
More than enough column inches have already been spent on the dramas taking place out west at the moment. At time of writing we're still not sure where Sea Eagles star Kieran Foran will be playing his footy next season but in the short term he certainly won't be on hand to help the 14th-placed blue-and-golds try and puncture the defensive wall of the third-placed Dragons.
Sadly for Brad Arthur, the list of players who won't be running out for his side is growing by the week.
Their last-start win against the Storm came at a huge cost, with hooker Nathan Peats (knee), reserve hooker Kaysa Pritchard (pec) and fullback Reece Robinson (fractured cheek) joining the injured list, while promising outside back John Folau (leg) will miss a month after being injured last week for Wentworthville while the first grade side had the bye.
The club's casualty ward is now the lengthiest list in the NRL, with all three hookers (Isaac De Gois is still some way off returning from his fractured cheek) out. Back-rower Anthony Watmough (shoulder) hasn't pulled up after going off injured against Melbourne a fortnight ago. Manu Ma'u still has a week to go on his suspension for lifting the knee on Cowboy Ray Thompson.
The forced reshuffle has in-form five-eighth Corey Norman shifting to the not-unfamiliar position of fullback, where he deputised against Melbourne late in the game. Will Hopoate returns from Origin in the centres moving Ryan Morgan to the wing for Folau, and Luke Kelly has been called into the halves to replace Norman.
Ex-Titan Cody Nelson makes his club debut at hooker, Danny Wicks starts at lock for Watmough, and Daniel Alvaro and Joe Paulo rejoin the bench.
No such problems for Paul McGregor's men, who are unchanged after a close-fought loss to the Roosters on Monday night, with Ben Creagh starting at lock for Trent Merrin who reverts to the bench.
Despite the loss the Dragons are still up in third place and still have the best defensive record in the competition. The only things arguably not in their favour heading into this clash are is a poor record at Pirtek and a five-day turnaround compared to the Eels, who are coming off a bye.
Rnd 16: 7:30pm Sat 27 Jun 2015
Watch Out Eels: With their first-choice halves combination broken up and their first-choice hooker and fullback missing, the question is how do the Eels find a way to put points past the Red V's impregnable defensive wall? There are no Dragons in the top 15 tacklers of the competition, showing they share the work around, and their main tacklers – Mitch Rein, Jack De Belin, Trent Merrin and Mike Cooper – all boast close to 97 per cent tackle effectiveness or better. Cooper is tackling at an absurd 98.5 per cent effective with just seven misses all year among 431 tackles made. Every other player who has made as many tackles as Cooper this year has missed at least twice as many as him. And for all the talk of their spluttering attack not matching their rock-solid defence, in-form halfback Benji Marshall is now equal second in the competition for try assists with 11.
Watch Out Dragons: For all their woes elsewhere, the Eels' left edge of Brad Takairangi and Semi Radradra is the most potent in the competition, with 31 tries down that third of the field. Major contributor Manu Ma'u will be absent and usual left-side playmaker Norman is moved to fullback so it will be interesting to see how that affects their combination but Norman can still chime in and blockbusting winger Radradra is in rare form.
Making this battle even more interesting is the fact the Dragons' right-side defence is the tightest in the competition with just 11 tries conceded down that channel.
Key Match-Up: Chris Sandow v Benji Marshall. As much as we picture Sandow as an energetic ball runner who loves stabbing deft kicks through the line and long angled punts downfield (his three 40/20s are the most in the competition this year) Marshall actually has more runs (8.2 versus 6.8) and kicks (10.5 v 9.1) per game than Sandow, as well as more tackle breaks (15 v 11) and, as mentioned above, try assists (11 v 9). If the Eels are to get over the top of the Dragons, there is no doubt some of that enigmatic Sandow brilliance will be needed.
The History: Eels 13, Dragons 14, Drawn 2. The Eels have won the past two against the Red V but prior to that it was six wins and a draw to the Dragons in the previous seven. The merged club has only won three times in 13 visits to Pirtek Stadium.
What Are The Odds: It's one way traffic in this one. Sportsbet reports 80 per cent of money being placed on the Dragons and more money on the Red V to win 13+ than all of the other margin options combined. One for the multis. Latest odds at Sportsbet.com.au.
Match Officials: Ashley Klein & Chris Sutton; touch judges: Nick Beashel & Kasey Badger; video referees: Shayne Hayne & Luke Phillips.
Televised: Fox Sports, Live, 7.30pm.
The Way We See It: In what has been a tumultuous week for Parramatta will they be galvanised into a big performance or simply weighed down by everything that has gone on? The deciding factor may be the fact the Eels are bordering on having more of their salary cap in the casualty ward than on the park. On that basis we'll tip the Red V to get the job done by two tries or more.
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:01:47 GMT 10
NRL.com
By Chris Kennedy, National Correspondent
Sat, Jun 27, 2015 - 09:30PM
The Eels have repaid the faith of long-suffering fans after a week in which they made headlines for all the wrong reasons, holding out a fast-finishing Dragons side in a tense 16-12 win at Pirtek Stadium on Saturday night.
With almost as many players in the casualty ward as on the field, ex-Titans back-rower Cody Nelson standing in at hooker, and a week of headlines surrounding whether or not Manly star Kieran Foran would still join the club following issues with his contract and Parramatta's governance, the Eels produced a determined defensive display in front of 15,046 dedicated fans.
Blockbusting winger Semi Radradra's hat-trick pushed him to 14 tries in nine games this year, under-fire halfback Chris Sandow kicked beautifully all night, Corey Norman looked at home at fullback and the previously sieve-like blue and gold defence held firm late in the game as Dragons halves Benji Marshall and Gareth Widdop reached deep into their bag of tricks but ultimately came up empty.
The match started brightly and seemed destined for an avalanche of points when it was 6-all inside six minutes but after a high-quality half where each side displayed strong defence and a sound kicking game a Gareth Widdop penalty goal was the only further addition to the scores before the break.
The Eels looked in for a long night when a precision Marshall chip found winger Dylan Farrell in space and he laid it back for Aitken to score, despite a serious question mark over his grounding.
When Leeson Ah Mau dropped it from the restart the Eels were handed a golden chance to hit back and hit back they did as Norman chimed up in the line in a left-edge play to help Semi Radradra add to his prolific 2015 season, scoring his 12th try in just his ninth game.
The Dragons were denied shortly after when a nice Marshall cut-out put Farrell over in the corner but Tyson Frizell was penalised for obstruction for bumping into Chris Sandow in the line in the lead-up.
The Eels came close a few times down their right edge as stand-in five eighth Luke Kelly showed some nice touches and combined well with Will Hopoate and Ryan Morgan. First a precision chip only just rolled into touch before Morgan could get there and later Joel Thompson produced a great try-saver to hold Kelly up.
The worst period for the Eels came around the half hour mark when the Dragons earned three straight sets at their line but they held strong and would have been relieved when Widdop opted to take the two after Kelly was deemed to have taken bench hooker Craig Garvey high.
Radradra scored his second of the night shortly after the restart when a great David Gower run and Takairangi decoy allowed Sandow to send his winger down a short side to earn his side the lead for the first time in the match, Sandow nailing another sideline conversion to make it 12-8.
The Dragons were denied a chance to go ahead after 60 minutes when Marshall's chip to Farrell was batted back to Aitken who looked to have scored, but the video referees upheld the on-field call that the bat-back had travelled fractionally forward.
It proved a critical call as the Eels got a penalty in the ensuing set against Will Mathews for putting Watmough in a dangerous position, then went the length for Radradra to bag his third career hat-trick.
It was another slick left-side shift from the Eels as Sandow and Takairangi combined to send the blockbusting Fijian over for his 14th try of the season.
Sandow hit the post with his attempted conversion but the eight-point buffer was the biggest lead of the night for either side and with 15 minutes remaining the Dragons started to feel some scoreboard pressure.
A magic grubber, regather and flick pass from Marshall almost led to a try but the flick went forward, then a powerful, surging run from Josh Dugan broke the line then drew a penalty to allow his side to press the Eels.
It allowed the Red V's own flying Fijian Eto Nabuli to bag his first try of the night when the Dragons went left to take advantage of a retreating Eels defensive line, although Widdop's miss from out wide kept the buffer at four points with 12 minutes to play.
Suddenly it was the visitors with all the momentum and the Eels looked shot when Aitken sliced straight through the middle but a forced offload let the home side off the hook.
The Dragons exploded into life as the clock wound down, both halves threatened every time they had the ball and the Red V piled on the pressure with several repeat sets in the final minutes.
Parramatta produced arguably their best defensive period of the season to hold their line with a number of try-savers, including Dugan being held up and a great Pauli Pauli save on a seemingly try-bound Peter Mata'utia.
The tense crowd burst into applause twice in the dying minutes as first Marshall and then Widdop passed into touch searching for an overlap, one going behind Farrell then another in front of him, as a desperate Eels side held on for a much-needed morale-boosting win.
Parramatta Eels 16 (Radradra 3 tries; Sandow 2 goals) defeated St George Illawarra Dragons 12 (Aitken, Nabuli tries; Widdop 2 goals). Half-time Dragons 8-6. Crowd 15,046.
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:02:31 GMT 10
 Semi Radradra celebrates a try. |
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:03:14 GMT 10
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:04:07 GMT 10
 Luke Kelly |
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:04:54 GMT 10
 Will Hopoate is tackled. |
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:05:45 GMT 10
 Chris Sandow and Semi Radradra celebrate a try. |
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Post by Electric Eel on Jul 19, 2020 15:08:14 GMT 10
 Semi Radradra scores a try. |
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Post by Electric Eel on Sept 8, 2021 13:29:14 GMT 10
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