Saturday, March 13, 2004
Disgraceful start to season
Parramatta has kicked off their 2004 premiership campaign in the worst possible way, getting flogged by the under siege Bulldogs 48-12.
The 2004 Eels contributed one of the worst halves of football that the 1Eyed Eel can remember in the first half, going into oranges down 36 nil.
Defence was horrific. The one area Parramatta was supposed to have improved over the off season, defence at times was just embarassing as the Bulldogs ran in try after try in the first half .
International Jame Lyon was caught out twice in defence in the opening minutes, first allowing Braith Anasta to send former Parra centre Willie Tonga over to open the scoring and then falling off Anasta as the Bulldogs lock made it an early 12 nil lead.
Nathan Cayless was sin binned after having to make a desperate covering tackle and the twelve-men Eels just kept leaking in defence. Sonny-Bill Williams stepped straight past a shocking Mick Vella tackle as the Bulldogs went in again to rack up 18 early points. The Eels also had no answer to Brent Sherwin's kicking game and Thurston scored off a Sherwin grubber kick to put the Bulldogs in front 24 nil.
Sherwin displayed a touch of magic to send Williams over after he chippled over the top to make it 30 nil, before more awful Parra defence allowed Roy Asotasi to make it 36 zip at half time.
At least, the second half was better and the Eels drew the half 12 all, scoring three tries to two. Dykes put through a grubber for Eric Grothe to put the Eels on the board, then made a break that resulted in Vaeliki scoring. Matt Peterson completed an ethusiatic game at centre scoring the final Eels try. However, Parra just made too many errors all night. Luke Burt dropped the ball bringing in back from kick, allowing Jonathon Thurston to score a simple try and then Parra's night of embarrassing errors was completed when Corey Pearson tried to push a stupid pass that just resulted in the Bulldogs debutant Hutch Maiava picking up the ball and strolling over to score in the 79th minutes.
Too many dropped balls, too many missed tackles and outside of Dykes little attacking flair made this a very worrying start for the Eels premiership campaign.
The 2004 Eels contributed one of the worst halves of football that the 1Eyed Eel can remember in the first half, going into oranges down 36 nil.
Defence was horrific. The one area Parramatta was supposed to have improved over the off season, defence at times was just embarassing as the Bulldogs ran in try after try in the first half .
International Jame Lyon was caught out twice in defence in the opening minutes, first allowing Braith Anasta to send former Parra centre Willie Tonga over to open the scoring and then falling off Anasta as the Bulldogs lock made it an early 12 nil lead.
Nathan Cayless was sin binned after having to make a desperate covering tackle and the twelve-men Eels just kept leaking in defence. Sonny-Bill Williams stepped straight past a shocking Mick Vella tackle as the Bulldogs went in again to rack up 18 early points. The Eels also had no answer to Brent Sherwin's kicking game and Thurston scored off a Sherwin grubber kick to put the Bulldogs in front 24 nil.
Sherwin displayed a touch of magic to send Williams over after he chippled over the top to make it 30 nil, before more awful Parra defence allowed Roy Asotasi to make it 36 zip at half time.
At least, the second half was better and the Eels drew the half 12 all, scoring three tries to two. Dykes put through a grubber for Eric Grothe to put the Eels on the board, then made a break that resulted in Vaeliki scoring. Matt Peterson completed an ethusiatic game at centre scoring the final Eels try. However, Parra just made too many errors all night. Luke Burt dropped the ball bringing in back from kick, allowing Jonathon Thurston to score a simple try and then Parra's night of embarrassing errors was completed when Corey Pearson tried to push a stupid pass that just resulted in the Bulldogs debutant Hutch Maiava picking up the ball and strolling over to score in the 79th minutes.
Too many dropped balls, too many missed tackles and outside of Dykes little attacking flair made this a very worrying start for the Eels premiership campaign.
