Eels ’bludgeon’ Rabbitohs in shock boilover as NRL flipped on its head

South Sydney have relinquished the top spot on the NRL ladder after the Parramatta Eels ambushed the Rabbitohs on their own turf.

Souths’ streak has been ruined. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The Parramatta Eels have broken the hoodoo against the South Sydney Rabbitohs with a crushing 36-16 win to knock off the ladder leaders.

The 2022 grand finalists were expected to be also-rans against the ladder-leaders but have pulled off a major scalp as the side tries to get back into finals contention.

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It was a stunning turn of events after the Eels had lost their last six matches against the Rabbitohs by an average of 24 points in those matches.

And it also snapped the Rabbitohs’ six-match winning streak which had taken the side to the top of the ladder.

Souths will now drop to second on the ladder with the Panthers taking top spot on points differential.

But in front of a crowd of 27,432, the fourth biggest crowd in history between the teams and biggest since 1971, it was all about the Eels as Mitchell Moses’ celebrated his new deal and his return from concussion in the best way possible.

Not the game Latrell wanted on Indigenous Round. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

What a win from the Eels. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Moses halves partner Dylan Brown was also named the man of the match as the halves ran riot.

Moses had three line break assists and four try assists, while Brown had a try, a line break and a line break assist as well as 14 runs for 140m.

While the Eels had been facing a long road back after a slow start to the season with just four wins from 11 games, it appeared to be a season-changing victory.

“They are back in business,” Fox League commentator Dan Ginnane said of the Eels’ win.

“This is a statement. They’ve come here and bludgeoned South Sydney.”

Making the Eels win even more remarkable was that they lost forwards Andrew Davey via concussion and Ryan Matterson through a calf injury.

However, the other forwards stood up.

Wiremu Greig supported Junior Paulo up front with a game-high 200m run metres (Paulo ran 198m) in his best game in the NRL.

The Eels forwards were huge. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

J’maine Hopgood continued his electric start to his NRL career with a Queensland State of Origin debut being touted.

The Eels lock was unstoppable in the first half, running for 79 metres, busting three tackles and popping four offloads to go with 25 tackles as Parramatta bashed their way through South Sydney’s forwards.

Social media was quick to declare that the Eels that romped to the 2022 grand final had finally arrived.

Parra's back! That was some win by a depleted Eels side.

— Dean Ritchie (@BulldogRitchie) May 19, 2023

Rabbit look more than a little bewildered. They’ve been stunned.

— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) May 19, 2023

Post-match, Eels coach Brad Arthur returned to his regular composed self in the press conference after unloading after the Raiders loss last week.

“I’m happy for the club, I’m happy for the players, they’ve been working hard,” Arthur said. “I know the results haven’t been there but it hasn’t been through effort or application at training and preparation, just haven’t been getting it right on the field for 80 minutes on the night but we got it right tonight.

“It’s frustrating, but if we keep coming with that attitude and we keep coming with that fight, we’ll give ourselves the chance to put some back-to-back wins which will be important and turn it around.”

Eels skipper Clint Gutherson said that the results this season hadn’t been through lack of trying.

“Our confidence has been there every single game,” he said. “A few things haven’t gone our way in a few of the losses. The results probably haven’t shown how we’ve played and the team that we are. It’s been a bit frustrating in that way.”

With Martin Gabor, NCA Newswire