This week, Mary Kaye pays tribute to the one and only David Gower, and reflects on the end of a Blue and Gold winning streak. Remember, you can find more of her work on ladieswholeague.com!
All good things must come to an end and with that in mind, it was a very committed Newcastle Knights which ended our unbeaten record at Fortress Parramatta in 2014, defeating the Eels 16-10 on Sunday.
Despite a very disappointed player group and fan base, it is important that we all remember how far we have come in the space of half a season. At this stage, the Eels are still well in the mix to be playing football come September and from a team that in the last 2 years has won 2 successive wooden spoons, that is a tremendous feat in its own right.
To keep moving toward September, we simply need to learn how to take advantage of the opportunities given to us and aim to be at our best each and every week, no matter the opposition.
In every loss, there are still stand out performers and we certainly had ours on Sunday but I thought I might take this chance though to do a quick shout out to my favourite player at the Eels at the moment (apart from Ben Smith and Nathan Peats…) and that's David Gower.
David Gower signed with the Eels at the beginning of this year and reminds me a lot of one of my other favourite players to put on an Eels jersey, Jeff Robson, in that he is a journeyman. He started at St George Illawarra and then moved to the Manly Sea Eagles. Hopefully he has found a permanent home here at Parramatta.
I would describe Gowie as a lovable work-a-holic who has been well worth every cent we paid to get him to our club. In every game he has played at the Eels he has worked hard, been strong in defence and been a real quiet achiever. He has been extremely reliable and I always love to watch him change in direction as he moves toward the line, whilst maintaining a good speed.
Most of all though, he clearly has a lot of love for the Blue and Gold jersey and its fans.
I'm so proud he is an Eel and hope to hear that he has re-signed with the club very, very soon.
David Gower - played strong, done good.
Now looking ahead, the bye has once again come at a good time for the team. The boys will regroup and come out ready to take on the Warriors, in what will be a big challenge (and probably very cold) in New Zealand. I am looking forward to it already and getting our campaign for September back on track.
Finally, a big congratulations again to our captain Jarryd Hayne, who has again been selected to represent the New South Wales Blues in State of Origin next Wednesday night!
I look forward to seeing him help guide the Blues to a victory in Queensland. It has been wonderful to celebrate #oneinarow, hopefully come next week it will have been a whitewash!
