{"id":364041,"date":"2024-01-30T18:59:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T19:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=364041"},"modified":"2024-01-30T21:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T21:02:23","slug":"major-concern-over-eels-after-key-spot-left-bare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=364041","title":{"rendered":"Major concern over Eels after key spot left bare"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eels<\/a> were the great enigma of the NRL<\/a> in 2023, beating premiers Penrith<\/a> twice yet going on to become only the second team in the past decade to go from grand finalist to missing the top eight.<\/p>\n

It's clear Parramatta has the roster to make the finals – the fact that despite the disaster of 2023 they signed just two fringe first graders in Kelma Tuilagi (Sea Eagles) and Morgan Harper (Sea Eagles) shows that.<\/p>\n

But they need to put it all together more consistently in what shapes as a make-or-break season for coach Brad Arthur and several of his big names.<\/p>\n

THE MOLE: <\/strong>'Next Nathan Cleary' in line for 'shock' promotion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> NRL legend's shock new role with Tigers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Aussie teen superstar likened to Usain Bolt<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

Go-forward has been a highlight of the Eels' performances in recent years but was sadly lacking last season – only the veteran Reagan Campbell-Gillard and new boy J'maine Hopgood had productive campaigns in the engine room.<\/p>\n

Youngster Wiremu Greig should provide some more firepower up front but the man the Eels really need to reproduce his best is the giant Junior Paulo.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The big man with slick hands can be a match winner but was well down in stats in both running metres and post contact metres in 2023 and hopefully with a good off-season behind him, will come out of the blocks firing and help the Eels pack regain that hard edge.<\/p>\n

THE NO.9 DILEMMA\ufeff<\/h3>\n

Hooker proved a problem for the Eels last season with the departure of the busy Reed Mahoney to the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

The Eels gambled on a 33-year-old coming off a knee reconstruction to replace him and Josh Hodgson struggled, eventually retiring due to injury.<\/p>\n

They decided against going into the marketplace for a top class No.9 this summer – and the spot looks like being shared between Joey Lussick and Brendan Hands.<\/p>\n

Both are fair players – but do they have the polish to get the Eels to finals footy in the key dummy-half role?<\/p>\n

Time will tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Eels were the great enigma of the NRL in 2023, beating premiers Penrith twice yet going on to become only the second team in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":364043,"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\/364041"}],"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=364041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":364044,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364041\/revisions\/364044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/364043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}