With Round 26 wrapped up, our Ladies Who League columnist, Mary Kaye, reflects on some of her favourite Blue and Gold moments of 2014. Remember you can always find more of her work on ladieswholeague.com!
With our loss to the Raiders on the weekend, the Parramatta Eels ended their chances of playing finals football and played their last game for Season 2014.
Looking back over this season, it is very hard for me to feel anything but a tremendous sense of pride for what our team and our coach have been able to achieve.
My favourite moments have included:
- Seeing Nathan Peats in the blue and gold. Whilst his season ended prematurely, Peatsy was our buy of the season. He absolutely transformed our team in the weeks he played and he is the player I am most looking forward to seeing next year.
- Watching the emergence of new talent like Semi Radradra, Pauli Pauli, Kenny Edwards and - most of all - Tepai Moeroa. Parramatta is a club with one of the biggest junior nurseries in the NRL. This year, we reaped the rewards of this nursery and saw some amazing talent emerge. With a season of NRL under their belts, these youngsters will be all the better for the experience in 2015 - it's going to be exciting.
- Our attacking prowess on the field. One of my favourite things about that magic run in 2009 was Parramatta's unpredictability. This year we went back to that and became dangerous from any place on the field. Thanks to men like Chris Sandow, Corey Norman, Semi Radradra, Will Hopoate and Jarryd Hayne we could score points, a lot of them and quickly. We were exciting to watch and were capable of beating any team on our day. I'm looking forward to more of this in 2015.
However, for me, the greatest joy of all has been watching our supporter base throughout this year. As a supporter, this has been our best year since 2009 and for a supporters base as passionate as ours, it has meant so much to see the team playing good football again.
I will never forget the atmosphere at the Manly game and the jubilation following our victory.
I have the sense that 2014 has seen us turn a corner and for the first time, in a long time, the future looks really positive.
I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to the men that have worn the Blue and Gold jersey this year, as well as the members of the coaching staff who have been responsible for this season. You have brought a genuine sense of joy to the entire supporter base. We are proud of you and what you have achieved this year and I know that most of us are already looking forward to season 2015.
For our departing players, Ben Smith, Fuifui Moimoi, Ken Sio and Willie Tonga, I wish you all the best for your futures. Thank you for your service to our Club.
See you all in 2015!
P.S. For those of you attending the Ken Thornett Medal, be sure to come and say hello. I'll be the girl waiting in line to get a photo with David Gower.
