While it is a theory that applies to all the top eight sides contesting the NRL finals next week, the Eels heavy loss against the Dragons on Friday night confirms that Parramatta must score the first try in their sudden death playoff if they are any chance of going past week one of the finals.

Over the course of their seven match winning streak, Parramatta managed to score the first try in five matches which inevitably led to good wins against the Storm, Warriors, Panthers, Sharks and Bulldogs.

Indeed Parramatta have shown that they are a confidence team and in turn, depend more on a good start than most sides in the NRL.

You only have to look at the Eels heavy defeat against the Dragons to see why.

In front of the Oki Jubilee faithful, Parramatta were the unfortunate team on the end of a Dragons revival that has once again set them on course for a place in this year’s Grand Final.

Making do without influential players Nathan Hindmarsh and Eric Grothe, one sensed the confidence of this Eels team was to about to take a battering after just the opening ten minutes of the first half.

After second rower Ben Creagh scored the opening try for the Dragons, it proved enough to cast their opposition’s game into error and ill-discipline.

At the end of eighty minutes, the Eels had conceded eight penalties to the Dragons three and made sixteen errors to just their opposition’s six.

Such a high error rate for Parramatta resulted in Daniel Anderson’s men completing only twenty out of 37 sets against a Dragons unit which completed all but five of theirs.

The contrast in respect for possession ultimately allowed the Dragons to regain their aura as world beaters and post a very convincing 37 nil whitewash against the Eels and pour water over their rivals hot streak in the last two months.

Dragons winger Brett Morris epitomised his side’s growth in confidence, scoring a hat-trick of tries that will see him finish as the NRL’s leading try-scorer this season.

Morris was able to finish off some neat plays from a Dragons backline that made do with the re-emergence of class from players such as Darius Boyd and Matt Cooper.

Indeed Dragons halves Ben Hornby and Jamie Soward regained their licence to showcase their ball playing skills, thanks to the hard work of their forward pack.

Dragons prop Justin Poore left more than a few bruises on future team-mate Fui Fui Moi Moi, producing some great hits on the Eels forward.

Partner in crime Michael Weyman bent the Eels defence on numerous occasions to lay the platform for the likes of Ben Creagh, Matt Prior and Beau Scott to make easy yardage on the fringe of the ruck.

Indeed the Dragons managed to replicate the formula that had deserted them over the past three weeks.

Parramatta on the other hand once again failed to find the key to turning around a match they really should have been more competitive in.

If the Eels are to learn anything from Friday nights massacre, it is the knowledge that they can ill afford to start poorly against either the Dragons, Bulldogs or Titans next week.

Parramatta are yet to showcase the mentality to steer themselves out of trouble against quality opposition, and will need to bank on replicating the form of their previous eight weeks to have any chance of leaving a mark in this years final series.

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