Mitchell Moses cops serious knee injury as Parramatta sink to dire 30-4 loss to Newcastle
PARRAMATTA have hit their lowest ebb after falling 30-4 to Newcastle in the latest horror show of a truly dreadful season, a defeat compounded by a serious injury to Mitchell Moses.
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EMBARRASSING, weak, and unprofessional.
That is how Parramatta coach Brad Arthur described Parramatta after the Eels sunk to a new season low by being belted 30-4 by the Newcastle Knights in an ANZ Stadium horror show.
And few will argue.
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On a nightmare evening that put the Eels on a collision course with the wooden spoon, Parramatta conceded five tries and scored just one in arguably their worst performance of the year.
Maybe even worse than the 54-0 lose to Manly earlier this year.
The Eels were only spared the embarrassment of being kept to nil against the injury ravaged Knights when Josh Hoffman scored a consolation try in the 75th minute.
“It is embarrassing,’’ Arthur said.
“We are not proud of that performance. We are not proud of ourselves. We have let a lot of people down tonight, our club, our fans and most importantly ourselves. We have embarrassed our fans.’’
And things could get worse — if that is even possible.
In a blow that will certainly further the crisis, Mitchell Moses was taken from the field with a suspected knee injury, Bevan French suffered a hamstring injury and Tepai Moeroa was placed on report for a shoulder charge.
But right now Arthur has bigger problems.
The under siege coach questioned his team’s professionalism following a performance that saw four Eels defenders allow Daniel Saifiti to score a try off a one out hit-up that followed an injury time-out.
“It is not good enough,’’ Arthur said.
“No were near it. We had some injuries but that is not an excuse. Last year we had injuries and that galvanised us. We played some of our better football when we were down and out. We need more want and desire.
“We got here tonight and I don’t know where our mentality was at. It certainly wasn’t at being tough.’’
The demolishment ended any hope of a final’s making miracle and has left the Eels anchored at the bottom of the NRL table.
Not even the prospect of having Jarryd Hayne and Tim Mannah return from injury next week could give Arthur reason to be optimistic fresh after the flogging.
“We have to stop with the talk,’’ Arythur said.
“We have to start actioning it. Hopefully we get some players back but we will have to wait and see later in the week.’’
The Eels will be playing for nothing more than pride for the rest of the season — and they may embark on that mission without star back’s Moses and French.
“Mitch, I think it was an MCL,’’ Arthur said.
Will had a hamstring injury. I don’t know about Mitch and Will. I don’t know how bad they are.’’
Arthur questioned his own performance with his job as coach fast coming under threat.
“We need some pride in our performance,’’ Arthur said.
“They get paid to play well and I get paid well to coach. Right now we aren’t doing it. So let’s do it.’’
Newcastle romp began when Jack Cogger scored in the 14th minute and finish when Connor Watson went over in the 68th.
Decimated by injuries to key players, the makeshift Knight’s ended a four match losing streak to give Nathan Brown new hope.
“We have had a tough month,’’ Brown said.
“To come here tonight with our share of problems and win is great.’’
NEWCASTLE 30 (J Cogger S Mata’utia D Saifiti K Sio C Watson tries K Ponga 5 goals) bt PARRAMATTA 4 (J Hoffman try) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Gavin Reynolds, Chris Sutton. Crowd: 7,719