Penrith add to Parramatta’s pain in 2018 with gritty 12-6 victory at ANZ Stadium
PENRITH and Parramatta were desperate, scrappy and physical but in the end it was the Panthers who were victorious, handing the Eels a 12-6 defeat to keep them winless in 2018.
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THEY are Parramatta’s fierce western Sydney rivals who have now book ended the Eels’ worst start to a footy season in 27 years.
Penrith piled further misery on an under-pressure Eels with a gritty 12-6 win — just four weeks after their round one victory at Panthers Stadium on March 11.
Defeat has Parramatta 0-5 — their worst start to a season since the Mick Cronin-coached 1991 team.
That year, Parramatta lost their first seven matches and finished second last.
“It’s become pretty desperate now,” Eels coach Brad Arthur admitted. “We just have to stay in the fight and it will turn.”
Panthers coach Anthony Griffin added: “Parramatta are having a bad start but I’m sure they will get back on the board soon.”
The Panthers must take enormous delight in embarrassing their more famous neighbours.
Despite yet another loss, Parramatta did show plenty of courage and commitment.
The Eels had a genuine crack in the second half but just couldn’t find the matchwinner.
If winning is habitual, the Eels proved that so is losing.
Parramatta must wonder when and where they will find that first win. The Eels travel to Canberra this Saturday night.
Conversely, Penrith are flying, this their best start to a season since 2004 when they began as defending premiers.
Arthur lauded his side’s effort yesterday but also lamented a fifth successive loss.
“The attitude was good this week, the commitment was great. It’s a bit annoying that it hasn’t been there for four weeks,” Arthur said.
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“We can’t have anything less than that if we want to dig ourselves out of this hole. We probably bombed two or three opportunities.
“Those opportunities will stick as long as we stay in the fight. If we don’t stay in the fight, then those opportunities won’t come.”
Arthur said his side, in difficult times, played “nervously.”
“Do we make a pass, don’t we? Do we offload the footy, don’t we?” he said. “Maybe (we could) relax a little bit and make those plays and back ourselves a touch more.
“But it’s easier said than done when you’re chasing victory and the last thing you want to do is turn the ball over. I understand where the players are at.
“We just have to chase it a bit more and back ourselves a bit more. When you’re confident and you put those plays on, they stick. It’s a confidence thing.”
Eels co-skipper Beau Scott added: “Our attitude was there today. A couple of bounces of the ball and it could have been a different result.”
Parramatta’s second-half revival brightened up an otherwise scrappy match.
Overall, there were 33 missed tackles, 28 errors and 22 penalties. Both teams completed at 72 per cent.
The first half was particularly tough to watch. There were 14 handling errors and 16 penalties — 30 stoppages. Penrith led 10-0 at the interval.
Penrith’s defence worked tirelessly for each other all match, delighting Griffin.
“(Defence) was the real highlight of our day,” Griffin said. “It was a tough old game. It’s just been a really good five weeks for us.
“When they got that try, (four minutes into the second half) you could feel they were coming. We had to be rally good defensively. It was the best I could think of for a long while, particularly against a desperate side.
“They had heaps more ball than us in the second half, field position. It wasn’t happening for us in attack so to win without the ball was really pleasing.”
Parramatta was behind by just four points for most of the second half and had chances to win but they slipped away.
Panthers prop Trent Merrin was sin-binned in the sixth minute for a professional foul, as was Eels co-skipper Tim Mannah a few minutes later.
There was plenty of heavy collision in the match.
Eels winger Josh Hoffman bombed a certain try with a dropped ball during the first half, another horror moment for Arthur.
Everything that can go against Parramatta is.
“It was a really good team effort” said Panthers skipper Peter Wallace.
It was an unusually subdued pre-match atmosphere with no lower grade matches played.
PENRITH 12 (J Mansour try J Maloney 4 goals) bt PARRAMATTA 6 (G Jennings try M Moses goal) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 10,061