Round 19, 2018: Parramatta 14 Canterbury 8

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Eels v Bulldogs: Round 19 preview

It was already the season from hell for Parramatta before last week's 18-16 road loss to Newcastle.

The last-placed Eels jumped out of the gate and looked set to post a cricket score on the Knights, only to stop playing and crashing to their 14th loss in 17 games.

Parra can't seem to play from in front or behind and it's anyone's guess how they will perform when they kick off round 19 against the Bulldogs on Thursday night.

The Doggies are also languishing near the bottom of the ladder and will boost their chances of avoiding the wooden spoon if they can win this one. Coming off last week's loss to Souths, Canterbury got the better of the Eels in round 10, winning 20-12.

Key match-up: Josh Jackson was an Origin player and wants to get back there, while Nathan Brown has never played Origin and is dying for a chance. But they might be waiting a while given the Blues' embarrassment of back-row riches and the fact they are coming off a series win. Jackson and Brown don't play the same game but neither takes a backward step and their respective performances could have a big influence on the result.

For the Eels to win: After blowing a strong start last week, Parra need their playmakers to take charge when things get tight and keep the team on an even keel. They had 10 points in 10 minutes and just six over the final 70 minutes against the Knights and have to find some consistency in their attack.

For the Bulldogs to win: With his team light on experience for the rest of the season, first-year Dogs coach Dean Pay has to rely largely on youthful enthusiasm over the final seven rounds. If they keep their errors down and limit penalties, the Doggies should take care of a team playing with zero confidence.

Eels Stat Attack: Parramatta's recent form may be poor but their recent record against Canterbury is excellent, winning four of their past five games. The Bulldogs also have a poor record in Thursday night contests this year, losing all three matches.

Bulldogs Stat Attack: Rhyse Martin produced a wow of a game a fortnight ago with 24 points including a hat-trick and six goals and his goal-kicking has been a standout since taking over from Moses Mbye after his exit to the Tigers. Martin has kicked 13 goals from 14 attempts at a strike rate of 93% – better than any other regular goal-kicker in the league this season.

And another thing: Between them, Parramatta and the Bulldogs basically owned the early to mid 80s, racking up a collective eight grand final appearances. The Dogs broke the Eels' run of three straight premierships with a 6-4 win in the '84 grand final before Parra sent Mick Cronin and Ray Price into retirement in '86 with a 4-2 defeat of the Dogs in the grand final.

Parramatta Eels v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Thursday 7.50pm at ANZ Stadium

Head-to-head: Played 143; Bulldogs 76 wins, Eels 62 wins, 5 draws
Previous result: Bulldogs won 20-12 at ANZ Stadium in round 10
Points per game: Eels 14.8; Bulldogs 16.4
Points conceded per game: Eels 23.1; Bulldogs 21.2
Televised: Live on Nine, Fox League

NRL.com

Eels outlast Bulldogs in battle of cellar dwellers

Parramatta have dragged arch rivals Canterbury into the thick of a wooden spoon stoush and their darkest days in a decade with a scrappy 14-8 victory at ANZ Stadium.

With a miserly crowd of 8,437 on hand, the Eels nabbed their first win in a month in unconvincing fashion to rise to equal footing with the Bulldogs and North Queensland on 10 competition points.

A points differential of -132 still leaves Parramatta in last place with six games to play.

Rookie coach Dean Pay has been lumped with salary cap strife that has seen millions of dollars in talent and fan favourites forced from Belmore.

To boot, he now finds himself in real danger of taking home the Bulldogs first wooden spoon since 2008 - the year when Sonny Bill Williams walked out the door.

Throughout this forgettable contest, the Eels executed like a team running last, bending their backs to provide plenty of chances, while never looking like knowing how to convert them.


After a bright beginning the Bulldogs joined them, frittering away their own fifth tackle plays with balls that went forward, over the sideline and anywhere but where designed.

Down by eight points with seven minutes to play, Canterbury opted to take a penalty goal.

It drew the Bulldogs to within one scoring play. But it said everything about this which is giving their everything, yet walking away with a seventh loss from their last eight outings.

They started in vastly different fashion. Canterbury's willingness to give the ball early air paid dividends after just seven minutes, Kerrod Holland on the end of a hot-potato last tackle play that featured eight passes and ended with a 6-0 lead.

Mitchell Moses took a similar lead with the Eels first raid which finally came with almost 20 minutes down.

As has been Parramatta's way so often in 2018, his desperate bat-on ended with a wildly forward pass and Michael Jennings blowing up out the back.

Eventually the Eels warmed to their task, and only a top notch try-saving tackle from Josh Jackson denied Kaysa Pritchard scurrying over from dummy-half.

An ill-fated foray from the same position by Jarryd Hayne the very next play killed Parramatta off quick smart.

A Brett Morris sin-binning for holding back Bevan French from chasing a kick, gave the Eels another sniff. And another ludicrous forward pass from Pritchard snuffed it out within seconds.

Canterbury's 12-man defence finally wilted, with Corey Norman piloting Tepai Moeroa through from halfway and that man again Pritchard sliding out of a cover tackle for Parramatta's first points.

Out the other side of a 6-6 halftime deadlock, Hayne created a repeat set with a devil of a dribbling grubber that pinned the Bulldogs in their own in-goal.

Once more though the chance was squandered, George Jennings bundled into touch after a cut-out pass left him with nowhere else to go.

Moses slithered another grubber into the in-goal, with Brad Takairangi this time unable to ground the ball cleanly.

Doing it all himself at the other end of the paddock, Moses then snaffled a ricocheting kick from Lachlan Lewis to go 90 metres and take Parramatta to a 12-6 lead.

For the next 27 minutes both teams had a crack, but walked away with just a penalty goal each added to the scoreboard.

News & Notes: Bulldogs forward Clay Priest hyper-extended his left elbow in the 47th minute and didn't return... it was the Bulldogs' fourth-straight loss at ANZ Stadium for the first time since 2010... Parramatta's Nathan Brown finished with 26 runs for 252 metres and 40 tackles... After throwing seven offloads in the first 13 minutes, the Bulldogs only managed another three in the next 67... Parramatta take on premiership front-runners South Sydney next week, while the Bulldogs host Wests Tigers and former teammate Moses Mbye ...Crowd: 8,437.