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Roosters end Eels’ season from hell after grand final run

The Sydney Roosters are still alive in 2023, but the same cannot be said for the 2022 grand finalists Eels, who were put out of their misery.

Eamonn Tiernan
2 min read
August 18, 2023 - 11:29PM
Roosters v Eels 3 Big Hits
Roosters v Eels 3 Big Hits

The Sydney Roosters are still alive in 2023 after ending the Eels’ season with a convincing 34-12 victory at Commbank Stadium on Friday night.

It marked a third straight win for the Roosters who will face wooden spooners the Wests Tigers next week, before they take on arch rivals the Rabbitohs in the final round.

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James Tedesco scored two tries against Parramatta but the Roosters will be without their skipper next week after he suffered a category one concussion.

But the result was also curtains on the Eels horror season.

A year after they were beaten by Penrith in the grand final, Parramatta will again finish up a season against their noisy neighbours, but this time in Round 26 given they have a bye in the final week of the regular season.

There were questions at the start of the year whether their premiership window had closed given they had lost so many key players, and those concerns seem justified after an underwhelming campaign that has seen them spend just six weeks in the top eight.

The Eels have been put out of their misery. Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images
The Eels have been put out of their misery. Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images

On a night they simply had to win to keep their slim finals hopes alive, Parramatta set the tone early with a failed captain’s challenge in the very first set that they were never going to win.

The Eels drew first blood in the match when backrower Bryce Cartwright looked like he’d be tackled short of the try line in the ninth minute, but he reached out for the chalk.

Referee Ashley Klein sent it upstairs ‘no try’ but after several replays the Bunker found Cartwright managed to graze the ball with a millimetre of line and it was awarded.

But it all quickly went downhill.

Tedesco got his side on the board after breaking two tackles from a scrum move and diving over in the 25th minute.

The Tricolours made it two tries in a matter of minutes when they scored again off a scrum move, this time with Joseph Suaalii finishing out wide.

“This is brilliant ball playing from Luke Keary, his eyes do all the work and there was no one stopping Suaalii,” Cooper Cronk said on Fox League.

The Roosters scored a third unanswered try when Joey Manu burst down the right edge and beat three defenders before finding Tedesco back on the inside in the 35th minute.

“Marvel at Manu here, he bounces off tackles and then gets a beautiful ball for his skipper,” Cronk said.

Tedesco set up the first try of the second half when he threw a crisp cut-out pass for Suaalii to score his double in the corner.

Tedesco went off for an HIA in the 62nd minute after falling into the forearm of Maika Sivo, who was placed on report over the incident.

Roosters captain James Tedesco is injured against the Eels last night.
Roosters captain James Tedesco is injured against the Eels last night.

However, Roosters coach Trent Robinson admitted there was little the Eels winger could have done to avoid the contact as Tedesco slipped over.

The Eels scored a fortuitous try in the 64th minute after Bailey Simonsson regathered a ball that hit him in the head and then racing down the left wing before putting Clint Gutherson over.

But Roosters young gun Siua Wong scored when he pounced on a bouncing pass in the 69th minute before Nat Butcher barged over to seal it at the death.

The win saw the Roosters leapfrog Parramatta into 10th place on the ladder.

With Martin Gabor, NCA Newswire

Originally published as Roosters end Eels’ season from hell after grand final run

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Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/sport/nrl/roosters-end-eels-season-from-hell-after-grand-final-run/news-story/f2085593fb1bf05464ec4b698db91e42