Eels make history in reaching grand final

2009-09-28

Parramatta has made history by becoming the first eighth-ranked side to reach the NRL grand final after its comeback win over the Bulldogs on Friday night.

Playing in front of a record finals match crowd of 74,549, the Eels recovered from a 6-12 halftime deficit to do all the scoring in the second half to win 22-12 and move into their first grand final since 2001.

Without a premiership since 1986, Parramatta has now gone one better than the Vodafone Warriors, who broke new ground last year when they became the first eighth-placed side to be the minor premiers in week one of the finals (and came within one match of going all the way to the grand final).

But while the Eels followed their earlier play-offs wins over St George Illawarra (25-12) and Gold Coast (27-2) with an impressive victory over the second-ranked Bulldogs, their prospects in next Sunday’sgrand final were potentially dealt a triple blow.

The phenomenally talented Jarryd Hayne is on report after sliding in with his knees as Bulldogs winger Bryson Goodwin scored the first try in just the fourth minute of the match. Replays showed Hayne’s knee making contact with Goodwin’s head, referee Tony Archer putting the incident on report. The match review committee will scrutinise the act on Monday leaving Hayne in danger of being ruled out of the grand final.

Captain Nathan Cayless is also in doubt after leaving the field in the opening minutes with a hamstring injury while hooker Matt Keating faces the possibility of a charge for a 'chicken wing’ tackle on Bulldogs prop Ben Hannant, a tackle that forced Hannant to leave the field with a partially dislocated left shoulder.

But those concerns still couldn’t overshadow a memorable night for Parramatta. With Hayne again influential, the Eels finished the match as clearly dominant.

All of their tries had quality about them, Hayne putting on the magic to make something out of nothing to lay on a try for former Kiwi Joe Galuvao in the first half.

Some nice skills were involved in putting Luke Burt in for his try, ex Kiwi Krisnan Inu juggling but regaining possession cleverly to give Burt a clear run to the corner.

There was razzle dazzle and switches of play – Hayne involved twice – as prop Tim Mannah scored his first NRL try and the best of all was the last. Itwas ignited by a super-charged run from 2007 Kiwi prop Fuifui Moimoi with support coming from all over the place before Daniel Mortimer took the last pass for a brilliant try.

The numbers all belonged to Parramatta, including a 9-1 advantage in line breaks. The Bulldogs missed a massive 73 tackles while the Eels had a 41-12 count in off loads and 74-44 in tackle breaks.

Eight Parramatta players made more than 100 metres and two others made 90-plus. The best of them was Moimoi with 189 from 20 runs. Forced to carry an extra load after Cayless was injured, Moimoi responded fantastically as he continued his storming form over the last two months or so.
After being in such good touch for so much of the season, the Bulldogs seemed to suffer from having a week off after their first week finals win over Newcastle. They had Brett Kimmorley back from injury but lost fullback Luke Patten in the opening minute and ultimately couldn’t answer the Eels.

In Friday night’s NYC qualifying final, Wests Tigers advanced to the grand final by over-powering St George Illawarra 36-12.

Article courtesy of the Vodafone Warriors. A link to their website can be found here…