Parramatta are playing for a spot in the grand final for the first time in 13 years after Brad Arthur’s men finally broke the duck.
The Raiders’ dream run finally came to an end but coach Ricky Stuart made a bold declaration on his way out the door.
Pundits have called for Latrell Mitchell to stand up and inspire his teammates to victory over the Panthers, while Craig Fitzgibbon wasn’t happy with his team’s display.
Read below for all the big talking points from the second week of finals!
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EELS’ MONKEY OFF THE BACK
They still haven’t won a premiership since 1986 but Brad Arthur’s Eels have finally progressed to a preliminary final in his ninth season at the helm.
Arthur’s men had won just two of nine finals heads into Saturday night and never made the third week of finals.
But they got the monkey off their back with a thumping 40-4 win against Raiders and Parramatta will now play for a spot in the grand final for the first time since 2009.
“They are through, they have broken that duck, broken the ghost of week two,” Fox League’s Yvonne Sampson said.
The Cowboys enjoyed the week and will start favourites at home against a Parramatta outfit desperate to end their premiership drought.
“I’m happy for our club, but the job’s not finished. We’ve got a big week ahead of us,” Brad Arthur said.
“It’s a good opportunity for us. The club has done a great job for us. They’ve organised a charter flight for us.”
Premiership winner Mick Ennis has done some coaching at the Eels and praised the side for bouncing back from their loss to Penrith in the first week of finals.
“Huge moment for the Parramatta club, there has been a lot of question marks and a lot of pressure all the way through the season,” Ennis said.
“A lot of people were saying it is irrelevant what they do in the regular season, it all comes down to what they do when the finals come around.
“Beaten last week… they fly out of the blocks against the Raiders who came to CommBank to ambush the Parramatta side.
“They got the crowd behind them and never looked back.”
Star halfback Mitchell Moses came into the clash under a concussion injury cloud but showed no signs of it as he dominated the Raiders.
Moses left the game for an HIA in the 52nd minute but passed it and finished with a try, three tackle breaks, a try assist and two line break assists.
“There was talk about him not being able to handle the pressure but I think he showed he can handle the pressure,” Arthur said of Moses.
The 28-year-old had a swollen ankle after the game but is a near certainty to start against the Cowboys.
RICKY GOES DOWN SWINGING
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was never going to go quietly into the night after his side stunned the critics and not only surged into finals, but won.
Their dream run ended when they were dragged back down to earth by the Eels in emphatic fashion on Saturday night.
The 40-4 loss was Canberra’s worst finals defeat in club history, but Stuart emphasised it was still a great season while also making a bold claim.
Stuart declared the Raiders would have made the top four without injuries, despite his side sitting 15th heading into Round 8.
The Green Machine lost his halfback Jamal Fogarty (knee) for the first 12 weeks of the season and then hooker Josh Hodgson (ACL) went down for the year just six minutes into Round 1.
Stuart said if he’d been offered a semi-final exit halfway through the season he would have taken it in a heartbeat.
“Look if after Round 12 this year, if one of you (reporters) had come and said to me that I’ll do a deal with you and you can get to the second semi-final and get flogged,” Stuart said.
“We were coming what 11th or 12th or 15th at one stage.
“What these blokes have done… that game there that does not define these blokes, the team, the club – I’m very proud of them.
“The journey they’ve been on and the difficulties that we were confronted with, for us to get to where we did, I’m very proud of them.”
Stuart was asked how the season would have panned out without injuries to key players and the veteran coach didn’t mince his words.
“We would have made the top four, the second of the season showed that,” Stuart said.
“We were only three or four wins out of the top four.
“We would have made the top four but we didn’t and every team gets some bad luck and injuries and I’m not sitting here crying over spilt milk.”
Stuart must now turn his attention to retaining Joe Tapine who finished the season as the form prop of the competition.
Tapine is free to sign with rival clubs from November 1 and the Raiders will be doing everything they can to lock him down long-term before he heads to the World Cup with New Zealand.
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‘THE BIGGER THE GAME, THE BETTER LATRELL PLAYS’
Fox League’s panel of experts have called for Latrell Mitchell to stand up and deliver after an unusually quiet performance against the Sharks on Saturday night.
Mitchell record only 50 running metres from five runs but contributed a try assist and two tackle breaks in his side’s 38-12 win.
Fox League’s Corey Parker conceded Mitchell’s playing style differs to that of James Tedesco or Tom Trbojevic who carry the ball often into the line.
However, the NRL legend believes he needs to do more if the Rabbitohs want to break into the grand final and beat the reigning premiers.
This time last year, Mitchell was suspended and had to watch on as his team lost in the big dance — but now he has a chance to redeem himself.
“Before the game we spoke a lot about Latrell, last week against the Roosters he was pivotal, five runs tonight and I don’t think he had that same impact that we saw last week,” Parker said.
“Five runs isn’t much for a fullback, but he isn’t the type of fullback that does all those runs and takes those carries like a Tedesco.
“But I just thought his involvement at different stages was not Latrell Mitchell elimination final-esque.”
Michael Ennis echoed Parker’s opinion, explaining the representative gun plays a “completely different role” to that of Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards.
The Rabbitohs now face a huge grand final rematch in this year’s preliminary finals and Ennis called on Mitchell to “inspire his teammates” to victory.
“Next week the stakes heighten again, and the bigger the game the better Latrell plays,” Ennis said.
“Going back to Accor Stadium where Souths have had so much success, where Latrell has a lot of success.
“They are going to need a whole lot more from him, you know Dylan Edwards is going to have 200 metres and 20 carries next week, that is an absolute guarantee.
“You don’t expect that from Latrell Mitchell because he plays a completely different role, but they need him to be that physical presence and inspire his teammates.”
Meanwhile, Fox League’s Braith Anasta believes it is a “good sign” for Jason Demetriou’s side that they were able to come away with a win despite an off performance from their marquee man.
“If you peel it back though, it is a good sign for Souths, if their best player doesn’t stand up and own the game and take full control, they still won the game,” Anasta said.
“I don’t think Walker shined, I don’t think Cook shined, but they still won,” Fox League’s Gorden Tallis said.
CRONULLA’S FINAL LESSON AND BIG FULLBACK CALL
The Sharks were taught a lesson in finals football by a strong Rabbitohs outfit who only last year made it all the way to the grand final.
Souths dominated the contest in a 38-12 win, and coach Craig Fitzgibbon said he was “bitterly disappointed” with his team’s performance.
“Bitterly disappointed with our performance, not good enough this time of year and we got a lesson in fundamentals of footy,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We didn’t respond to anything in the right fashion tonight, we had a couple little squirts of energy but nothing of note.
“I’m disappointed that we finish off the season in that fashion.”
Despite bowing out in straight sets from a second-place finish, there is many positives to take away from this season for the Sharks.
The club’s decision to sign Hynes was vindicated and the former Storm fullback is in contention for the Dally M Medal after a strong season.
Meanwhile, Craig Fitzgibbon became the first rookie coach to finish in the top two since Trent Robinson in 2013.
Although the club has seen a major turnaround, Fitzgibbon said he “won’t be finishing this year feeling happy”.
“I just want to get onto next year and improve it,” Fitzgibbon said.
“While I’m really disappointed about tonight, I have had a thoroughly rewarding season on the whole, it just doesn’t feel like it at the moment.”
Fitzgibbon also explained instability within the team could be a reason for the Sharks leaking their most amount of points this year in a sudden-death final.
“We’ve been shuffling the decks a lot over the last eight weeks, guys in, guys out, different combinations and no consistency at training with guys in and out,” Fitzgibbon said.
“But it’s no excuse. You know who you are and you know how you want to play and defend. For semi-finals, that defence is just not good enough.”
Meanwhile, Fitzgibbon has a huge call looming with Rugby Sevens recruit Lachie Miller and young gun Kade Dykes vying for Will Kennedy’s fullback slot.
Miller slotted onto the wing in the absence of Siosifa Talakai, and his best position is clearly at fullback.
Since returning from an ankle surgery, Kennedy has been unable to deliver his best attacking football, recording only two tackle breaks and 12 carries on Saturday night.
Dykes, who made his NRL debut earlier this season, has only played two games but will also be in the race for the fullback slot.
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SHARKS LACKING STAR POWER
After a 38-12 flogging in a huge finals encounter against the Rabbitohs, the microscope has been firmly placed on the Sharks’ attacking power.
Star halfback Nicho Hynes leads the way for Cronulla and is the focal point on offence, and Fox League’s Corey Parker believes he can’t do it on his own.
The 26-year-old is flanked by Matt Moylan, Blayke Brailey and Will Kennedy — who failed to deliver points on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Souths’ spine of Cody Walker, Latrell Mitchell, Damien Cook and Cameron Murray all contribute at different times when their team perform.
“We talk about Souths, they have got Murray, they’ve got Cook, they have Mitchell, they have got four genuine threats,” Parker said.
“For mine, Kennedy wasn’t seen much, he is not offering a lot with the ball, it all goes through Nicho Hynes so it sort of limits and puts all focus onto the one man.”
Both Michael Ennis and Braith Anasta agreed the Sharks’ spine was lacking impact, and backed one man to have a major influence for Craig Fitzgibbon’s side next season.
“Moylan was nowhere to be seen, Brailey wasn’t and then Kennedy too, they never looked likely tonight,” Anasta said.
“They need to take a look because they don’t have that big power game, they need to be able to have a game plan at times that isn’t so reliant on Nicho Hynes,” Ennis said.
“I think Brailey, who we saw at different stages this year be given a license to be more active out of dummy-half and he is capable of that, he is a very creative dummy-half.
“That may be an area they can look at in terms of controlling their attack to try and provide some variety in attack.”
While the focus was placed on Cronulla’s spine, Gorden Tallis turned the attention back to the middle forwards.
Tallis explained that Hynes and Moylan were afforded no time or space to create off the back of a slow ruck speed.
“But they had no punch in the middle, they had nothing to play off, every time they tried it was off a slow play the ball,” Tallis said.
“It is really hard to play off a slow play the ball.”
The former Brisbane enforcer went as far to say Craig Fitzgibbon needs to recruit players in the middle of the field, with veterans Andrew Fifita and Aiden Tolman departing.
