Nathan Smith reviews the Parramatta Eels vs. the Canterbury Bulldogs. Here’s how the game went.
MATCH TIMELINE
| Minute | Scoring Play | Score |
| 12th | Brandon Wakeham (Bulldogs) – Penalty Goal | Bulldogs 2-0 |
| 34th | Mitchell Moses (Eels) – Penalty Goal | Eels 2-2 |
| 64th | Reed Mahoney (Eels) – Try | Eels 6-2 |
| 67th | Mitchell Moses (Eels) – Conversion | Eels 8-2 |
MATCH SUMMARY
1st Half
The first half started fast for the Eels, who had the 21,000-plus crowd fired up. An early opportunity presented itself when Blake Ferguson looked to cross the line, only to have the referee call it back on the ruling that his foot had just scraped the touch lne. After this, Parramatta failed to make use of the hometown energy and began to concede simple penalties through careless mistakes. The Bulldogs would eventually take advantage by converting one such penalty to make the score 2-0 at the 12th minute. Parramatta continued to make easy errors, however they defended well and eventually evened the score with a penalty goal of their own. At halftime the score read 2-2, which was an indication of how poor the attack had been from both sides.
2nd Half
The second half did not change much. Parramatta were careless with the ball and the Bulldogs were not able to capitalise. This continued until the 64th minute, when a Mitchell Moses grubber kick rebounded off of a Bulldogs defender and led to a Reed Mahoney try. This would prove to be the winning (and only) try of the game.
GAME HIGHLIGHT
There were few highlights, but if there had to be one, it would be Parramatta’s defence. The Eels gave away a lot of ball, however they refused to concede a try. This will be something that they can take away from the game and build on. On the Bulldogs’ side of things, they can be proud of how they responded to a tough week. They hung on and toughed it out. Expect this to be a motif of the Dogs’ season: they may not be the best attackers, but they won’t let anyone through very easily.
SQUADS
Parramatta Eels: 1. Clinton Gutherson, 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Michael Jennings, 4. Waqa Blake, 5. Blake Ferguson, 6. Dylan Brown, 7. Mitchell Moses, 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 9. Reed Mahoney, 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Shaun Lane, 12. Ryan Matterson, 13. Nathan Brown. INTERCHANGE: 14. Brad Takairangi, 15. Marata Niukore, 16. Kane Evans, 17. Peni Terepo.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs: 1. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 2. Nick Meaney, 3. Reimis Smith, 4. Will Hopoate, 5. Christian Crichton, 6. Brandon Wakeham, 7. Lachlan Lewis, 8. Aiden Tolman, 9. Jeremy Marshall-King, 10. Dylan Napa, 11. Josh Jackson, 12. Joe Stimson, 13. Adam Elliot. INTERCHANGE: 14. Dean Britt, 15. Renouf To’omaga, 16. Raymond Faitala-Mariner, 17. Kerrod Holland.
