Fit and firing Eels have Pearson primed for season ahead

With a new - and unexpected - partner with her in the halves and a fresh outlook under new coach Steve Georgallis, Parramatta halfback Rachael Pearson is excited for what the 2024 season will bring.

Fresh off the back of an upset Round 1 win against the Broncos, Pearson said after missing the start of the season last year and unable to help turn results around when she returned from injury, she was “excited” to build on the strong start.

“It's hard coming up here and playing at Suncorp against the Broncos at any stage, so Round 1, we just really wanted to start our season off well and I feel like we did that,” Pearson said.

“Obviously, there's areas of the game that we'll pick apart and improve on, but a great start for our season.

“I think we were all in agreement that we needed to be fitter this year and we had time to build on that and get our fitness up to scratch and it's huge in a game; a 70-minute game that you need to be fit and the girls really bought into that.

“It showed (against the Broncos), we played the full 70 minutes and felt (good).

“We just went out there and played our game.”

In his first official game in charge, Georgallis was pleased to see his more experienced players like Pearson step up to set the tone for the side.

“Rachael Pearson came up with a 40/30 which changed the momentum back to us, and a great kick for Kennedy’s try,” Georgallis said post-match.

“Those girls there are like the heartbeat of the Eels team’ Mahalia [Murphy], Abbi [Church], Elsie [Albert], Rach, Kennedy [Cherrington]; some of those (other) players aren’t even of age yet, they have their best footy in front of them.

“A lot of those (senior) girls missed the majority of last year and our biggest job this year is to try and keep those girls on the park and make sure they are playing every week.

“It’s a short comp, nine weeks, but it’s a tough comp, it’s a tough competition, if we can keep those girls on the park, we’ll have a good year.”

While Pearson pulled the strings to help guide the Eels to their opening round win with a clever 40/30 kick to turn momentum, a try assist and six points from goal kicks; five-eighth Tohi-Hiku – who played all her games on the wing and in the centres last year – took to her new role with aplomb, also setting up a try.

“She's great; she's such a powerful player and deceivingly strong and fast,” Pearson told pan66.com.

“I thought it was a great idea to put her at six and she's proved to be the right choice to get her hands on the ball more.

“She can pass, she can kick, she can take on the line, so why not put her at six? She played really well.”

This week, the Eels will take on the Sharks at Allianz Stadium in the first game of Sunday's NRLW double header.

Cronulla flexed their defensive muscle in their opening win over the Cowboys to shut them out, with the Eels facing a challenge against them after suffering two injury blows in the Round 1 win, with Rueben Cherrington and Boss Kapua both ruled out for the season.