{"id":117791,"date":"2021-08-21T21:43:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T21:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=117791"},"modified":"2021-08-22T05:59:39","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T05:59:39","slug":"sterling-declares-eels-machine-buy-of-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=117791","title":{"rendered":"Sterling declares Eels machine buy of the season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league icon Peter Sterling<\/a> says he has "no doubt" Parramatta<\/a> forward Isaiah Papali'i is the buy of the season, lauding his impact on the Eels following their crucial win over the Cowboys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Papali'i has transformed into a highly effective second-rower since moving from the Warriors<\/a> to the Eels ahead of this season, running dangerous lines and crossing for seven tries.<\/p>\n

Reagan Campbell-Gillard<\/a>'s groin injury gave Papali'i a chance to play in the front row in the Cowboys clash, and the 22-year-old also thrived in that role, as Parramatta clinched a 32-16 win over North Queensland on the Gold Coast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rugby league great Brad Fittler<\/a> suggested during Nine's post-match show that young Wests Tigers<\/a> fullback Daine Laurie was among the buys of the season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But Sterling saved his praise for Papali'i.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"This guy has come in and he's forced his way into the run-on side and then he's forced the coach [Brad Arthur] to play him 80 minutes pretty much every week," Sterling said.<\/p>\n

"Now, moving into the middle he hasn't done that the last couple of weeks, and that's covering for Reagan Campbell-Gillard.<\/p>\n

"But he's forced the coach into playing him in the position that he wants to play [and for] as many minutes as he can.<\/p>\n

"And I think he's scored seven tries this year; he's shown a real propensity to be able to get the ball over the line.<\/p>\n

"Shaun Lane was the starting [second-rower on Papali'i's preferred side], and Papali'i \u2013 he was the guy that was left [on the bench]. His form has forced the coach to play him in the run-on side in his preferred position. I reckon he's played more minutes than just about any other forward in that Parramatta side."<\/p>\n

Papali'i averaged 149.5 metres over his first 21 games of this season.<\/p>\n

Captain Clint Gutherson<\/a> and veteran winger Blake Ferguson<\/a> are the only Eels players leading the New Zealander in that statistical category.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league icon Peter Sterling says he has "no doubt" Parramatta forward Isaiah Papali'i is the buy of the season, lauding his impact on the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117791"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117793,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117791\/revisions\/117793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}