Sticky's Eels a real deal Parramatta Eels halfback Chris Sandow, shown here scoring a try against the Warriors on Saturday, is relishing the chance to run the football more. PARRAMATTA are today leading the premiership for the first time since round 26, 2005. Sure it's only one round but the performance against the Warriors could not have been more impressive. I spoke to Fox Sports Stats whiz Aaron Wallace after the game to get an insight into key areas of improvement on last year. Obviously the Hayne Plane, with three tries, was the big story on Saturday night.It was the good news story the game so desperately needed and reminded us all of his sensational 2009 form. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, we forgot about the Cronulla drugs scandal and Ben Barba's issues that have dominated the sports pages. Champion fullback Hayne only got his opportunities because the Eels played a far more structured game. Last year under Stephen Kearney they averaged 9.6 offloads a game. Against the Warriors they made only four.Halfback Chris Sandow ran the ball 10 times on Saturday night. Last year he did that only once and averaged just 4.4 runs per game. What it shows us is that Sandow has been given a licence to run the football. He is no longer shackled to a strict game plan. He can again show us the breathtaking attacking qualities that made him such a great No.7 and feared player at the Rabbitohs. He finally played like the $500,000-a-year player that Parramatta had paid for. Others who have struggled in recent years were back to their best form. None more so than co-captain Reni Maitua, who set up Hayne's first try with a glorious pass that was probably the most skilful act I saw in the opening round. He's Parramatta's only 80-minute forward and has a different option every time he touches the football. The interesting part is that Parramatta won by 30 points yet played nowhere near their potential. The fact they completed only 68 per cent of their sets - even less than the Warriors - proves that point.It's so hard to believe that this was basically the same side (with Nathan Hindmarsh and Luke Burt) that spent all but one round of 2012 in last place. Obviously new coach Ricky Stuart had them mentally fired up to produce something special. Stuart has now won his first match with all three of his NRL clubs - the Roosters, the Sharks and the Eels.While Parramatta looked so impressive, we have to keep in mind the standard of their opposition. The Warriors were just plain shocking. They have lost five of their past six matches by 20 points or more. In the final 20 minutes of their past three games, they have been outscored 62 points to nil in total. It says they either give up or they are unfit. It can't be anything else. Whatever the case, it was a disastrous start for new coach Matty Elliott with a team that has enough talent to make the finals - if they ever get their act together. Gow puts his hand up for Sharks, but only as an adviser PETER Gow is making some noises about getting involved at the crisis-torn Cronulla Sharks again. He is Elle Macpherson's dad and the former chairman who was famously sacked for cutting up a St George fan's jersey in the Sharks' King Wan restaurant. "There can be no doubt the coach and his staff should not have been made scapegoats," Gow told me. The only way forward is for the existing board to resign and pledge not to stand for re-election. Gow doesn't want his old job back. He's moved on from those days and is too relaxed in retirement. "I am 100 per cent for the Sharks and don't aspire to political ambitions but feel something must be done," he said. This real need is to invite genuinely talented, well connected people to join the board. You don't ask them to contest an election. People like James Packer and David Gyngell don't contest elections, nor should they. Gow is happy to act in an advisory role. He is still a popular figure in the Shire and hugely influential among the members. The other man being spoken about over the weekend is former Australian cricketer Stuart Clark. He did a wonderful job as chief executive of the Sydney sixers and is regarded as one of the brightest young sporting administrators in the country. Clark is a Shire boy and a lifelong Sharks supporter. He would make an ideal member of the board, or better still, a chief executive. Four straight days of rugby league (a massive improvement on the cricket season) and being back at Shark Park last night. The Sharks directors. They should stand down immediately. And it's about time CEO David Smith showed some more support to the players. The Bulldogs" Todd Greenberg is the best CEO in the NRL by the length of a footy field. Still, even the top operators can make mistakes. Saturday night's game against the Cowboys should never have been taken to Gosford. Only 11,627 turned up for a game that would have got 25,000 at ANZ Stadium. The Poms have produced some of the toughest forwards in rugby league history. Malcolm Reilly, Cliff Watson, Vince Karalius, Adrian Morley and Kevin Ward to name a handful. South Sydney's Sam Burgess can be added to the list. He's as hard and tough as any of them. The A-League looked to have won the battle of the footy crowds on the weekend until the embattled Sharks attracted 17,541. Sydney FC got 16,155 at Allianz Stadium and the Wanderers 15,089 at Parramatta. In the NRL, the Eels (13,351), Dogs (11,627) and Panthers (10,882) were off the pace.