Knights on life support as Eels eyeball top four after 20-14 win
Newcastle’s finals aspirations are in tatters following an 20-14 loss to an Eels outfit who are edging towards a second chance in the NRL finals after another victory at Bankwest Stadium.
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Parramatta produced a semi-final like win to beat Newcastle 20-14.
Unfortunately for the Knights it could be as close as they get to a finals opportunity as they slumped to their sixth consecutive loss in front of 20,671 people.
Unlike their recent performances, this was a spirited Newcastle side but the Knights are quickly losing touch with the top eight.
“It’s going to be hard,” Newcastle coach Nathan Brown said.
“We’re not going to control our own destiny. If we win tonight we would’ve controlled our destiny. The way the competition is anything is possible.
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“We have the Cowboys next week. One positive is we play teams in and around us.
“Our effort was outstanding. A couple of games since Origin where I’ve been critical of areas in that department. That was a real positive for us.”
The Eels have all but booked themselves a finals spot with four rounds remaining. A remarkable turnaround given their wooden spoon disaster in 2018. Not only are they set to return to the finals, the Eels are now on the cusp of a potential top four finish and will finish this round two points outside fourth spot.
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur said his team still “has a bit of work to do” to mix it with the top four sides.
“It would be nice to get a home final,” Arthur said. “The guys have instilled calmness in me. I know I can rely on them now. It was a step in the right direction. When they went to back to back tries, we rolled up our sleeves and went again.”
KICK HAPPY
All but one of the six tries came from the boot. Clint Gutherson scored two first half tries to help Parramatta to an 8-2 half-time lead.
The Knights returned serve scoring twice in the opening seven minutes of the second half when respective Mitchell Pearce and Kalyn Ponga kicks produced tries to Mitch Barnett and Shaun Kenny-Dowell to have the Knights leading 14-8.
A Junior Paulo off-load to Reed Mahoney helped bring the points level after 56 minutes with the Knights unable to gain any momentum after that try.
SIVO STARS
It was an emotional night for Parramatta winger Maiko Sivo whose dad Joeli left Fiji for the first time.
He was on hand to watch his son’s game, with Sivo a contender for rookie of the year. He scored his 16th try to close out the scoring for the Eels after a Dylan Brown grubber and is now the leading try-scorer.
“I was emotional,” Sivo said. “I looked at the stands when I was coming out for warm-up and I was emotional. It means everything to me having him here coming all the way from Fiji with my cousin.
“So far so good. (The year) has been awesome. I can’t believe where I am now.”
KLEMMER CONCERN, PONGA CLEAR
Newcastle prop David Klemmer was placed on report for a forearm to the throat of Manu Ma’u in the dying stages of the match.
Ma’u reacted throwing an air swing but there could be concern for Klemmer. Fullback Kalyn Ponga avoided the attention of the match officials with a first half shoulder charge of Gutherson as the Eels No.1 tried to score a try in the corner.
The force of Ponga’s tackle saved the try and put Gutherson into the sideline with the bunker backing Ponga. Ponga said there was little he could do.
“I had to brace,” Ponga said. “It would’ve been hard to wrap my arm given the angle I was coming on.
“In the second half after 20 minutes I was fully gassed. Maybe because we didn’t have the ball for a lot of the game. We were terrible in the last 20 minutes.”
PARRAMATTA 20 (C Gutherson 2 R Mahoney M Sivo tries M Moses 2 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 14 (M BarnettS Kenny-Dowall tries M Lino 3 goals) at Bankwest Stadium. Referee: Jon Stone, Adam Gee
Originally published as Knights on life support as Eels eyeball top four after 20-14 win
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