This week, Mary Kaye looks back at the Blue and Gold Round 20 performance against the North Queensland Cowbys at 1300SMILES Stadium. You can catch up on Mary Kaye's blogs at Ladies who League here
Unfortunately, Monday night was not the return home gift I was looking for from my beloved Parramatta Eels. After a 15 hour flight from Abu Dhabi, I finally landed at Brisbane Airport at 6.00 p.m. on Monday night. The first thing I did upon landing (of course, following instruction from the pilot that it was ok to do so) was to turn on my mobile phone and follow the score of the game between the Eels v Cowboys. I was heartened to see that at half time (when my flight to Sydney took off) that the Eels were behind only by 10-4.
When I landed in Sydney I checked the score again and saw that we had been defeated comprehensively by 46-6. As I said, not the result that I was after and I was extremely concerned, particularly when I found out that 5 tries had been scored in very quick succession.
However, after an opportunity to watch the game, despite suffering a heavy loss, the real story of the game was not as ugly as the scoreboard suggested.
Thanks to some tremendous defence, we were in the contest for most of the game, at most trailing by a measly 10 points. It was only following the 60th minute that things started to turn around and for me, that was probably the result of fatigue.
Brad Arthur said it best himself this week when he said that "when you have 35 per cent possession, it's hard to keep defending and defending against such a class outfit." I could not agree more - particularly when this class outfit includes players like Jason Taumololo, Jonathan Thurston and Jake Granville who is absolutely on fire at the moment.
The reality is that we made 70 more tackles than the Cowboys. This is a big number. This is essentially the amount of tackles that a Nathan Hindmarsh type player would make.
This blog is not an excuse but more of a reflection on the game itself and why I think it got away from us. A disappointing result, but not as disappointing as the score suggests.
The Eels continue their journey north this weekend as they take on the Gold Coast Titans this weekend. The Titans are another team I am hoping that the Eels take revenge upon following our loss to them at Pirtek Stadium earlier this year.
I'm hoping that all the Eels fans on the Gold Coast (and I know there are a lot of you) turn out in droves. I would love nothing more than to see a spattering of blue and gold at Cbus Super Stadium (are there two colours in the world that go better together than blue and gold?)
Next week is also an exciting week because on Wednesday night I'll be heading to Darwin to watch our boys take on the Penrith Panthers at TIO Stadium. I might even write my next blog as I pack.
Here's hoping for an Eels victory this weekend!
