2012 Parramatta Eels season

The 2012 Parramatta Eels season is the 66th in the club's history. Coached by Stephen Kearney (who was replaced part-way through the season by assistant coach, Brad Arthur) and captained by Nathan Hindmarsh, they competed in the NRL's 2012 Telstra Premiership. The Eels finished the regular season in last place for the first time since 1972, also failing to make the finals for the 3rd consecutive year.

Summary

2012 saw the retirement of Eels legends Luke Burt and Nathan Hindmarsh. It would also mark the first time since 1972 that the team would succumb to the dreaded wooden spoon. The Eels struggled all year, securing just their first win of the season in Round 5 against defending premiers Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles before ending a six-game losing streak against the Cronulla Sharks. This horror start to the season, and a win rate of less than 25% over almost two seasons with the club, coach Stephen Kearney was forced to resign and Assistant Coach Brad Arthur would become caretaker. The team responded to this producing 3 wins from 4 games, including competition front-runners Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos to give the fans some hope for the rest of the season. However this was short lived and following a 38-6 thumping to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Round 25 of the Telstra Premiership were officially unable to avoid the wooden spoon.

Whilst Parramatta’s problems were largely attributed to their relatively poor defence, numerous pundits claimed Parramatta’s problems in 2012 were largely credited to the recurring absences of star fullback Jarryd Hayne. Even whilst producing higher per-match statistics than any other fullback in the game (8 tries, 14 try-assists), Hayne only managed to complete 10 games from the season’s 24, due to both injury and State of Origin duty.

Throughout the season many of the Eels players came under scrutiny and were dropped to the NSW Cup, including high profile recruit Chris Sandow, who at the time was touted as overweight and unfit,^[1] and veteran Luke Burt. As a result players Matt Ryan, Jake Mullaney and Nathan Smith were called up to the top squad and have impressed in their roles of Second-Row, Fullback and Hooker respectively, making a suitable replacement for injured stars Jarryd Hayne and Matt Keating.

Towards the end of the season Ricky Stuart was announced as the new coach for the Parramatta Eels from 2013.^[2]

Fixtures

Trial matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
11 February	Wests Tigers	Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford	Loss	20–12	E. Tonga, Toutai	Burt 2
17 February	Penrith Panthers	Centrebet Stadium, Penrith	Loss	26–12	Sio, Sandow	Burt 2	18,511

Regular season

The 2012 Telstra Premiership season draw for Parramatta is as follows^[3][4]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
2 March	Round 1	Brisbane Broncos	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Loss	6–18	Sandow	Burt 1/1	11,339 [5]	[6]
12 March	Round 2	New Zealand Warriors	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Loss	20–36	Sio, Blair, Sandow (2)	Sandow 2/4	12,102 [5]	[7]
18 March	Round 3	North Queensland Cowboys	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville	Loss	42–6	O'Hanlon	Sandow 1/1	8,239 [5]	[8]
23 March	Round 4	Penrith Panthers	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Loss	6–39	Maitua	Sandow 1/1	13,788 [5]	[9]
31 March	Round 5	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Win	29–20	Hayne (2), Keating, Sio	Sandow 6/6 & FG: 1/1	13,518[10]	[11]
8 April	Round 6	Newcastle Knights	Hunter Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	14–6	T. Mannah	Sandow 1/1	24,158	[12]
15 April	Round 7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Toyota Stadium, Woolooware	Loss	24–18	Hayne (2), Blair	Sandow 3/3	14,327 [13]	[14]
29 April	Round 8	Wests Tigers	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Loss	30–31	Blair, Hayne, Ryan, Sio, W. Tonga	Burt 5/5	19,654 [15]	[16]
4 May	Round 9	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park	Loss	12–46	Morgan, Sio	Burt 2/2	28,214 [17]	[18]
13 May	Round 10	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	Loss	40–34	Morgan (2), Sio (2), Blair, Sandow	Burt 5/6	9,210 [19]	[20]
18-21 May	Round 11	Bye
26 May	Round 12	St. George Illawarra Dragons	WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah	Loss	14–12	McGuire, Ryan	Burt 2/2	12,756 [21]	[22]
4 June	Round 13	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Win	29–20	Burt (2), Hayne (2), Morgan	Burt 4/5; Sandow FG: 1/1	10,009 [23]	[24]
8-11 June	Round 14	Bye
16 June	Round 15	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park	Loss	6–24	Maitua	Burt 1/1	14,212 [25]	[26]
23 June	Round 16	Penrith Panthers	Centrebet Stadium, Penrith [27]	Win	19–18	Burt, Hayne, Morgan	Burt 3/3; Sandow FG: 1/1	15,275 [28]	[29]
30 June	Round 17	Newcastle Knights	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Loss	12–20	M. Keating, Sio	Burt 2/2	12,022
8 July	Round 18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Brookvale [30]	Loss	40–24	Sio (2), Burt, Mullaney	Burt 4/4	16,065
13 July	Round 19	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park [31]	Loss	12–32	Morgan, Sio	Burt 2/2	31,102
21 July	Round 20	Melbourne Storm	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Win	16–10	Hindmarsh, Sio, B. Smith	Burt 2/3	9,029
30 July	Round 21	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane [32]	Win	22–42	Sandow (2), Burt, Moimoi, Poore, Sio, N. Smith	Burt 7/7	22,626
6 August	Round 22	Wests Tigers	Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Campbelltown	Loss	51–26	Mullaney (2), Roberts, Sio, Tautai	Burt 3/5	14,822
11 August	Round 23	Sydney Roosters	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta	Win	36–22	Morgan (2), Sandow (2), Blair, Hindmarsh	Burt 6/7	12,193
19 August	Round 24	Gold Coast Titans	Skilled Park, Gold Coast	Loss	24–16	Burt, Lasalo, Sandow	Burt 2/3	14,159
26 August	Round 25	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park [33]	Loss	6–38	Burt	Burt 1/1	24,121
2 September	Round 26	St. George Illawarra Dragons	ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park	Loss	8–29	Morgan	Burt 1/1, Hindmarsh 1/1	45,863

Ladder

National Rugby League

2012 NRL season
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	18	0	6	2	568	369	+199	40
2	Melbourne Storm (P)	24	17	0	7	2	579	361	+218	38
3	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	16	0	8	2	559	438	+121	36
4	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	24	16	0	8	2	497	403	+94	36
5	North Queensland Cowboys	24	15	0	9	2	597	445	+152	34
6	Canberra Raiders	24	13	0	11	2	545	536	+9	30
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	12	1	11	2	445	441	+4	29
8	Brisbane Broncos	24	12	0	12	2	481	447	+34	28
9	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	11	0	13	2	405	438	-33	26
10	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	506	551	-45	26
11	Gold Coast Titans	24	10	0	14	2	449	477	-28	24
12	Newcastle Knights	24	10	0	14	2	448	488	-40	24
13	Sydney Roosters	24	8	1	15	2	462	626	-164	21
14	New Zealand Warriors	24	8	0	16	2	497	609	-112	20
15	Penrith Panthers	24	8	0	16	2	409	575	-166	20
16	Parramatta Eels	24	6	0	18	2	431	674	-243	16

National Youth Competition

2012 National Youth Competition
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Newcastle Knights	4	3	0	1	0	134	56	+78	6
2	Wests Tigers	4	3	0	1	0	144	70	+74	6
3	Cronulla Sharks	4	3	0	1	0	138	88	+50	6
4	New Zealand Warriors	4	3	0	1	0	114	78	+36	6
5	Melbourne Storm	4	3	0	1	0	105	82	+23	6
6	Penrith Panthers	4	3	0	1	0	105	82	+23	6
7	Sydney Roosters	4	2	0	2	0	116	104	+12	4
8	Canterbury Bulldogs	4	2	0	2	0	92	91	+1	4
9	South Sydney Rabbitohs	4	2	0	2	0	122	128	-6	4
10	Parramatta Eels	4	2	0	2	0	102	112	-10	4
11	Brisbane Broncos	4	2	0	2	0	96	114	-18	4
12	Canberra Raiders	4	2	0	2	0	90	108	-18	4
13	North Queensland Cowboys	4	1	0	3	0	88	114	-26	2
14	St. George Illawarra Dragons	4	1	0	3	0	72	128	-56	2
15	Gold Coast Titans	4	0	0	4	0	82	131	-49	0
16	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	4	0	0	4	0	72	184	-112	0

Squad

Transfers

In:

Nat.	Pos.	Name	From
	SO	Ben Roberts	Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs
	HK	Nathan Smith	Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs
	PR	Taulima Tautai	Cronulla Sutherland Sharks
	PR	Jon Mannah	Cronulla Sutherland Sharks
	CE	Esikeli Tonga	Gold Coast Titans
	CE	Willie Tonga	North Queensland Cowboys
	LF	Joseph Paulo	Penrith Panthers
	SR	Daniel Penese	St George Illawarra Dragons
	SH	Chris Sandow	South Sydney Rabbitohs
	WG	Cheyse Blair	Sydney Roosters
	FB	Jake Mullaney	Wests Tigers

Out

Nat.	Pos.	Name	To
	PR	Manase Manuokafoa	Bradford Bulls
	SH	Jeff Robson	Cronulla Sutherland Sharks
	SO	Daniel Mortimer	Sydney Roosters
	WG	Daniel Tupou	Sydney Roosters
	WG	Etu Uaisele	Penrith Panthers
	CE	Joel Reddy	Wests Tigers
	FB	Tom Humble	Wests Tigers
	PR	Pele Peletelese	Burleigh Bears

Retirees

• Chris Hicks
• Chris Walker
• Paul Whatuira
• Carl Webb

Note: Former Manly player and NSW representative, William Hopoate will join the Eels in 2014 after completing a two-year religious mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[37]

Player statistics

Player statistics as of 26 August 2012.^[5]

Milestones

• Round 4 — Four losses marked the Eels' worst season opening since 1991
• Round 5 — The Eels broke their losing streak in to 2011 Premiers, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Part-way through the season it was announced that head coach Stephen Kearney would depart the club, with his assistant Brad Arthur taking over for the remainder of 2012. About a week later Ricky Stuart was announced as the Eels' head coach for the 2013 NRL season.

Jersey and Sponsors

Parramatta retain Pirtek Fluid Systems as major sponsor in 2012. The team is often referred to as the Pirtek Eels. Apparel sponsors for 2012 are Law Partners Compensation Lawyers, the University of New England, and Capital Corporation. ^[38]

References

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