Round 21, 2018: Parramatta 28 Gold Coast Titans 12

NRL.com

Eels v Titans: George Jennings back; Gold Coast settled

Parramatta are desperately trying to avoid the wooden spoon, while the Gold Coast will be brimming with confidence after their impressive last-start 36-12 win over the Warriors.

Few anticipated the landslide, but five-star performances from young guns AJ Brimson and Phillip Sami engineered a commanding victory at Cbus Super Stadium.

Key match-up: Nathan Brown v Jai Arrow. Both locks pride themselves on their work rate and enforcer factor. Whoever dominates from the opening whistle could determine who collects two Telstra Premiership points on offer. Arrow continues to catch the eye, going to another level after impressing for the Maroons in State of Origin.

For the Eels to win: Inject Clint Gutherson into the action at every opportunity. The classy fullback is the ultimate competitor, but much like his struggling teammates appears to have lost his mojo in 2018. If he fires alongside the in-form Jarryd Hayne, the hosts could chalk up their fifth victory of the campaign.

For the Titans to win: Let AJ Brimson show his class. The youngster has lived up to the considerable hype, acting as the perfect foil for Ash Taylor in the halves. Last Sunday he was close to best on ground against the Warriors, and a repeat performance could seal a win on the road for Garth Brennan's men.

Eels Stat Attack: Given they sit in 16th spot, it doesn't come as a major surprise they have made more tackles (6761) than any other team. Prop Daniel Alvaro has been an ironman, chalking up 748 tackles himself.

Titans Stat Attack: A whopping 645 missed tackles is one of the main reasons Gold Coast won't be playing finals football this year. On the flip side, Ash Taylor has the most try assists (17) in the competition.

And another thing: Saturday night will see Hayne take on his former employers from the glitter strip for the first time following his departure last November. Even though both sides out of semi-final contention, expect a fiery 80-minute encounter.

Eels: Winger George Jennings (groin strain) returns, allowing Jarryd Hayne to shift back to centre and Brad Takairangi to the bench. Reed Mahoney starts at hooker for Kaysa Pritchard (shoulder) with Jaemon Salmon to debut as the bench utility. Tim Mannah starts at prop with Daniel Alvaro (knee/concussion) out. Kane Evans has been recalled on the bench with David Gower dropping to the reserves.

Titans: The Gold Coast are unchanged.

Head-to-head: Played 17; Titans 11 wins, Eels 6 wins
Previous result: Eels won 30-8 at ANZ Stadium in round 24, 2017
Points per game: Eels 15.1; Titans 19.4
Points conceded per game: Eels 22.4; Titans 24.4
Televised: Live on Nine, Fox League

Petero Civoniceva's prediction: This is a tough one to pick. The Titans will have some confidence after a good win and an extra spring in their step this week. They've certainly got some players that can do some damage. The Eels were good for a large part of that game against the Rabbitohs and even though they lost their way a bit over the final 20 minutes or so, I'm going with them to win this one on the home ground factor. They have some individuals who should be able to get them home.

Tip: Eels by 4

NRL.com

Hayne fires as first-half blitz guides Eels past Titans

Jarryd Hayne enjoyed taking on his former Gold Coast teammates for the first time since moving south as he scored a try on the left edge and then set up another on the right to help Parramatta to 28-12 win over the Titans at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

The lead had already exchanged hands twice when Hayne displayed some brute strength to plant the ball through the legs of three Titans defenders in the 27th minute. Two minutes later he ran across the field to chime into the backline and put Bevan French over in the right corner.

Hayne now sits on 109 tries for Parramatta, or one short of premiership-winning five-eighth Brett Kenny.

His defence was on song as well, wrapping up Kevin Proctor in a ball-and-all tackle five metres out early in the second half. But it is Hayne's finesse in the points-scoring department that helped the Eels post four first-half tries to take a 22-8 lead into the sheds, which ended up being too big a gap to breach.

It was Corey Norman's 74th minute try which sealed the win. And it was lock Nathan Brown's heroics in the middle – over 220 metres and 20 hit-ups – that also helped grab the just the fifth win of the 2018 Telstra Premiership season for Brad Arthur's men.

But that's now two wins from Parramatta's last three games to put an exclamation mark on the back end of the year.

They also survived prop Tim Mannah being sent to the sin-bin in the 67th minute by not letting any tries in. However Phillip Sami and Ryan James both crossed for the Titans before the final passes were ruled forward.

The Titans have been able to win away at some very parochial venues in Sydney – beating the Bulldogs at Belmore and the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.

Maybe the wide open spaces of ANZ Stadium, with a small crowd on hand, didn't stir the competitive juices enough. On paper playing a team four spots lower than them on the NRL ladder would give the Titans favouritism.

And while newly re-signed winger Anthony Don scored a brace, including a 90-metre intercept try in the 53rd minute that got the Titans to within 10 points (22-12), the Titans did not remain threatening enough for most of the match. They made 14 errors and conceded nine penalties, which didn't help.

Then again they had some bad luck. Michael Gordon, Jai Arrow and Konrad Hurrell were either held up over the line, or lost control of the ball right on it.

The Eels' first points came with co-captain Mannah scoring his maiden try of the season – and only the sixth of his 221-game career, showing it is something worth celebrating.

In fact it had been 31 games since his last four-pointer. But it put the Eels up 6-0 after just six minutes and the Titans were looking lethargic.

But then the Gold Coast's two top try scorers – wingers Don and Sami – awakened. Don went in over in the north-east corner of ANZ Stadium in the 18th minute and Sami followed up on the left edge four minutes later. Both men have now scored 25 tries between them this year.

Just when the Eels looked like slipping away once more in a game, they rallied and posted three more tries – four in total for the opening half.

In the second half the points came slower for the Eels. But they hung on throughout the game to put a little more ride back in the Parramatta jumper.