NRL 2021: Parramatta Eels Season Review

The Parramatta Eels ended the 2021 NRL season in frustratingly familiar fashion, but this one felt different to the others.

Here’s your Parramatta Eels Season Review for 2021:

• The Season In Brief: Stats and Summary
• Takeaways From 2021
  • Things I Liked: Reed Mahoney, Junior Paulo, Isaiah Papali’i
  • 3-2-1: Mitchell Moses, Clint Gutnerson, Marata Niukore
  • Summer Notepad: Negotiating Table
• Preseason Prediction Throwback
• Way Too Early Thoughts On 2022

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The Season In Brief

We’re summing up the NRL season in a few words before getting into the nitty-gritty and breaking down some of the key moments in 2021.

By The Numbers

The Parramatta Eels attack struggled at times but still finished in the top half of the NRL to average 23.1 points per game (7th). While the key playmakers couldn’t always turn the opportunities into points, the Parramatta pack gave them plenty of chances with their 1,752 running metres per game (3rd-most in the NRL) translating into 30.7 tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line per game (2nd). Where the Eels did display some welcome consistency was in defence with their 18.7 points conceded per game for the fourth-fewest in the competition.

Copy: Bar Chart
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The Season In 200 Words

A third consecutive finals berth would be considered a success for most clubs but the Parramatta Eels seem to attract more than their fair share of criticism. They were being talked about as cannon fodder in this year’s finals series but in reality, Parramatta’s 8-6 prelim loss to eventual premiers the Penrith Panthers is a pretty fair representation of the Eels in 2021. 

Parramatta beat almost every team they were expected to beat while causing a few upsets along the way – two impressive regular season wins over the Melbourne Storm come to mind. Their defence was consistently one of the best in the competition and ensured they beat the lesser teams but their offence didn’t measure up against the top teams. They averaged just 12.2 points per game against top-four opposition this year – well down on their 23.1 season average – and it left them agonisingly short of a miracle Grand Final appearance. 

The ‘too sideways’ rhetoric continued for the most part of 2021 in regards to Parramatta’s attack, although by season’s end there were improvements in that area. Mitchell Moses developed enough to earn a maiden NSW Blues jersey while Isaiah Papali’i had a breakout year of mammoth proportions. I’m not sure the premiership window was ever truly open for Parramatta in 2021, but if you said you felt a breeze blowing now, I wouldn’t argue with you.

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Takeaways From 2021

Things I Liked

Jason picks out a few moments, matches or players that he liked most throughout the 2021 NRL season.

Reed Mahoney

I always thought Reed Mahoney had a bit of the Jake Friend’s about him. That is by no means a bad thing. Friend was a consistent State of Origin calibre hooker that could be relied upon to do a job at the highest level. He would have played more than three games for Queensland and one for Australia if not for a certain Cameron Smith.

The link between Friend and Mahoney even went that far with Harry Grant beating Mahoney out for a spot in the Maroons squad – something that is likely to continue for years to come.

However, Mahoney shed the reputation as a tackle-bot that can provide quality service from dummy half for 80 minutes in 2021. He became one of the best-attacking #9’s in the competition and it’s painful to think what could have been for Parramatta in September had he been healthy.

The 23-year-old managed just seven try assists across the first three years of his career (56 games) before sending 13 teammates over the line in 17 games this season.

When you’ve got a guy like Junior Paulo running off your shoulder, it pays to use him. Mahoney identified a few opportunities throughout the year to put Paulo one-on-one with a smaller man – a ploy that really started to come to life in Round 2 after only a handful of examples popped up in 2020.

In previous seasons when the young hooker will have made a pass to his half calling for the ball, Mahoney has taken on more of the creative duties and effectively overcalled his halves when he sees something on.

With the Titans edge players being dragged into the tackle and Erin Clark creeping in close to the ruck as Reagan Cambell-Gillard plays the ball here, Mahoney isolates Shaun Lane onto the much smaller Jamal Fogarty.

It’s a fairly common play and one Mahoney and the Eels will have trained for throughout the year. What most appeals is the fact Mahoney threw this on the 5th tackle when the call was more than likely one originally planned for Clint Gutherson on the short side.

Parramatta plays with a very good spine. One of the best. They’re going to struggle to keep it together, though. Playing out a career-best season and putting himself into the Origin conversation has blown up Mahoney’s value. He’s off-contract for 2023 and the addition of the Dolphins will only make it more difficult for the Eels to keep their man.

When looking down the list of players the Eels are negotiating with right now, Mahoney is towards the top of the wishlist.

Junior Paulo

Junior Paulo’s freakishness is one of the most understated aspects of rugby league.

The man is 188 cm and 123 kg and involves himself in ways players his size simply shouldn’t be able to do. For somebody to be that big and strong with skilful and soft hands is nothing short of freakish.

His stature and work rate gives the team 130+ metres per game. Although, he is capable of more across bigger minutes when required too. As a classic prop, Paulo is hardworking in yardage and active around the ball. He can fill the middle and drag the team up the field throughout his 40-50 minutes on the field. However, as the game goes wider and teams look to move the ball to the edges early and often, Paulo’s value as a ballplayer is what makes him one of the best props in the NRL right now.

Stop me if I’m overstating this, but 123 kg Paulo catches this ball on the skip before firing a rocket straight to the chest of his halfback out the back of shape on the left edge. Freakish.

Paulo being able to move and pass at that level is crucial to Parramatta compressing the middle and opening up space on the edges. He used Campbell-Gillard to engage three defenders before the pass to create a four on three overlap out wide. Sam Walker makes a good read which Joey Manu follows to shut the play down, but that’s a play that can produce points every week.

It’s a play that did produce points in Round 15 when Paulo hit Campbell-Gillard with the pass.

Again, he went to the line to engage three defenders in the middle. Importantly, he saw the opposition half fly out early on Moses leaving Campbell-Gillard (who runs a great overs line) one-on-one with a defender already on his heels.

When looking down the list of players the Eels are negotiating with right now, Paulo is towards the top of the wishlist.

Isaiah Papali’i

As the self-appointed president of Isaiah Papali’i Island, seeing him break out into one of the best backrowers in the NRL made for bittersweet viewing (why do you do this to me, Warriors?).

I could have looked at how he bumped his numbers up between 2020 and 2021, but it turns out we could add 2019 in there as well and still not get close to what he produced this season.

Brad Arthur started Papali’i on the bench for the first two rounds but it didn’t take long for the 23-year-old to lock down a spot on the edge. He ran for 200 metres off the bench in Round 1 and scored five tries in four games between Round 4 and 7 to announce himself as the leading candidate for the Most Improved Player award.

Effective and efficient in yardage and destructive in good ball, Papali’i involved himself all the way up the field. His work rate is incredible and Arthur kept him out on the field for 70+ minutes ten times throughout the year. Whether it was on the edge or in the middle, Papali’i played a physical style that forced multiple defenders into the tackle and pushed through those defenders for 1,500 total post-contact metres (3rd-most in the NRL).

Papali’i is still young and developing his game. He is willing and able to move into the middle if that’s where the Eels see him used best and a partnership with Paulo has mouthwatering potential.

When looking down the list of players the Eels are negotiating with right now, Papali’i is towards the top of the wishlist.

*Hmmmmmm, that’s three players at the top of the wishlist already…More on that below.

~ Jason

3-2-1

True rugby league fans will know there’s nothing more legitimate than the Dally M’s 3-2-1 voting system…With that in mind, Oscar picks out three elements from the 2021 season that deserve a mention.

3 – Mitchell Moses

I can’t have been the only one to join the Mitch Moses fan club in 2021. 

He’s a polarising figure in rugby league as evident in the rhetoric surrounding his State of Origin debut this season and that doesn’t feel like changing all that much. Still, he wouldn’t have lost any supporters in 2021. His temperament has matured and his effort on both sides of the ball is at the very least respectable if not admirable. He’s an obvious talent but putting it all together has been the challenge for Moses in his career so far and he came the closest yet in 2021. 

At his best, Moses is a genuine triple threat in attack. He can pass, kick and run effectively but he hasn’t always pulled the right trigger in the right moments. The premeditated long ball to his winger was one that Moses and the Eels as a whole were guilty of too often in 2021. 

This is Moses at his frustrating worst. He can see where the space is but he doesn’t manufacture the most effective action to get the ball there. In this instance, the defence was retreating in front of him and Moses would have been better off engaging the line with a forward runner or taking them on himself. Instead, he lofts a forced pass over the top and North Queensland slide to push Hayze Dunster into touch. 

Earning the right to throw this pass was the tale of Parramatta’s season. They have the ballplayer in Moses to execute this pass and the finishers out wide to ice the play but getting things right in the lead up was where the Eels fell away – most of the time. When they did put the defence under some pressure and work towards certain areas of the field effectively, Parramatta looked as good as anyone. 

If their Round 24 win over the Melbourne Storm was the highlight of Parramatta’s season, then this pass to Blake Ferguson for the opener was the cherry on top. 

The Eels have set up perfectly on the left post, Moses has Clint Gutherson in a familiar shape around him and the Storm jam in to shut it down – leaving Blake Ferguson all alone on the wing. It’s also only fourth tackle – usually, we’d see the Eels settle for a fifth tackle kick here but instead, Moses catches them out and lofts a gift over the top for Ferguson to score in the corner. 

If Moses can continue to present this kind of variety in attack he’ll be a premiere half in 2022. His kicking game is one of the best in the business and was Parramatta’s most repeatable and reliable avenue for points this season. 

Who could forget this doozy back in Round 2?

With aerial targets aplenty across Parramatta’s lineup – Maika Sivo, Shaun Lane, Ryan Matterson, Waqa Blake and Gutherson all come to mind – it’s no surprise the Eels scored more tries from kicks than any other team in 2021. They threatened to become a little one-dimensional for a while there but as the season developed so too did Parramatta’s attack as Moses began taking the right options with the ball more often. 

If Moses had premeditated the pass here as he did earlier in the season, this could have turned out very differently. Valentine Holmes has shot up to cut the play down and Moses knows he has three unmarked players waiting for the pass outside him, but instead, he dummies and puts the head down. He absolutely burns Ben Hampton for speed, tip-toes down the sideline and gets a ball back inside for Will Penisini to score. 

There aren’t many halfbacks in the competition who can pull this off. Moses’ combination of speed and ballplaying makes him a commodity among NRL playmakers and we saw him throw it all together in 80 minutes a few times this season. He thoroughly deserved his Origin debut and could very well have made a bigger dent in the finals series with a little more support in the spine. Dylan Brown had a very quiet year while the Eels never quite overcame the loss of Reed Mahoney in the back end of the season. 

At 27 years of age Moses’ best footy is still ahead of him and I’ll be rolling my fan club membership over into 2022. 

2 – Clint Gutherson

I couldn’t write a Parramatta piece without talking about the King. 

Clint Gutherson is consistently one of the Eels’ best players from week to week thanks entirely to his effort and willingness to compete on every play. He mightn’t have the strength of a Latrell Mitchell or the skills of a Tom Trbojevic but Gutherson is still in the top tier of fullbacks thanks to his reliability on both sides of the ball. 

His positional play out the back was a major contributing factor in the Eels’ third-best defensive record this season. 

Whatever he lacks in size or speed Gutherson makes up in timing. His fitness levels are elite and he gets into position early to defuse attacking kicks like these time and again. He also organises Parramatta’s defensive line superbly and on the rare occasion the opposition breaks through Gutherson can be relied on to shut it down – his 23 one-on-one tackles are the most by any full-time fullback in the competition (per FoxSports Lab). 

He’s also an elite support player. 

Efforts like this against the Raiders in Round 6 – with just two minutes on the clock and with his team up by 19 points – typifies Gutherson’s involvement in this Eels side. He never stops supporting his teammates off the ball and if there is ever half an opportunity, Gutherson will be there to turn it into a full one.

Still, there’s always room for improvement and with Gutherson it’s his ballplaying. ‘Gutho poor pass’ popped up too many times in my Eels notes this season and it cruelled their chances at being a top attacking side. There was some development throughout the year and we need to see more actions like this from Week 1 of the finals series. 

It mightn’t seem like much, but the three or four steps Gutherson takes straight towards the defensive line before passing here makes all the difference. Everybody knows where the space is and everybody knows that’s where the ball is going but by first running direct, Gutherson forces Jake Clifford to hold on in the defensive line with big Marata Niukore running at him. That gives Will Penisini just enough space on the edge to produce that miracle flick pass and Blake Ferguson finishes things off in the corner. 

He won’t give you many 10/10’s but King Gutho is good for an 8/10 most weeks. He’s as safe a bet as you’ll find in the NRL with his defensive involvements and his support play in attack is elite. You don’t have to love Gutherson to admit he’s a class player and he’ll be so again in 2022. 

1 – Marata Niukore

Parramatta’s unsung hero from 2021 is surely versatile forward Marata Niukore. Playing 21 games between centre, prop, backrow and the bench this year Niukore was effective wherever he went and provided the Eels with wonderful utility value throughout the season.  

He was preferred over Waqa Blake in the centres to begin the year and was an absolute handful out wide against smaller defenders. From his first eight games in the backs Niukore had two tries, one try assist, 24 tackle breaks and an average 108.5 running metres per game and for a moment there the positional change threatened to become permanent until Blake returned in Round 10.

The points dried up for Niukore when he shifted back to the pack but he still made an impact in the middle or on an edge. Parramatta’s halves weren’t the best in the business at passing their forwards into promising positions but when they got it right, Niukore was effective as any at generating ruck speed for his teammates to play off.

The simple tip on from Moses is effective here and Niukore makes a mockery of Scott Drinkwater and Ben Hampton in the defensive line. They manage to drag him down but Niukore plays the ball quickly and Moses takes off. It’s a repeatable action that wasn’t repeated enough in 2021. Moses and Dylan Brown didn’t get nearly enough out of the likes of Niukore, Shaun Lane and Ryan Matterson threatening on the edges and if they can incorporate more actions like these into their attack the Eels – and Niukore himself – should score a few more points in 2022.

~ Oscar

Summer Notepad

The NRL Notepad is a feature that has run all season. With the 2021 campaign wrapped up, we’re starting to think about what we’d like to see between now and March next year.

Negotiating Table

So, the Eels have a few decisions to make when looking down the list of players they’re negotiating with right now.

Mahoney, Paulo and Papali’i can’t all be at the top of the list. Clint Gutherson, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Maika Sivo (PO) and Dylan Brown (PO) are on the list as well.

Parramatta won’t be able to keep them all and the next few months will be crucial, not only for 2022 but 2023 and beyond.