Eels collapse into crisis as Raiders cause upset

A club in a slump became a club in crisis on Monday night when one-time NRL premiership favourites Parramatta slumped to their fourth loss with a lacklustre 24-14 loss to a spirited Canberra side at Parramatta Stadium.

Desperate to get their campaign back on track, the Eels showed little of the magic or heart that captivated the league at the back end of last year, with the architect of that brilliant run Jarryd Hayne again struggling to make an impact as the home side crashed to a four tries to three defeat.

The Raiders, on the other hand, had plenty of heroes as they surged to their first away win of the season, five-eighth Terry Campese again the linchpin as he unleashed a backline which attacked with plenty of venom.

But the Eels were ordinary and even when they looked like mounting something – they inevitably found a way to botch the play.

Whereas last year every pass found its mark and every kick seemed to bounce their way, Parramatta just couldn’t conjure a sequence.

Their efforts were summed up in a diabolical night for centre Joel Reddy who wasted two golden opportunities and eventually ended up on report when frustrations got the better of him.

Twice in the first half Reddy found himself in open space, but both times he pushed a pass that didn’t need to be thrown before he lashed out with an elbow to the face of Campese with the Eels attacking the Raiders line.

For all Parramatta’s inadequacies, credit must be given to a Canberra side who beat their opponents with skill, power and speed – a three qualities once used to sum up the Eels.

Shaun Fensom’s refusal to give up was rewarded when he burrowed through four defenders to open the scoring in the 11 minute.

After Luke Burt got outside Daniel Vidot for is first of the night Vidot responded by acrobatically leaping over his opposite to give the Raiders a 12-4 lead after 27 minutes.

Vidot attempted a repeat performance only for the Eels to take advantage of his fumble to go 100 metres on the next set, an all too rare Feleti Mateo bust handing Burt his second try.

But again the Raiders advanced, Joel Thompson going on a sizzling 50 metre run that left Burt sprawled on the ground and the Hayne train stranded at the station to put the Raiders up by eight at the break.

Parramatta again reduced the deficit, though it was hardly a play to have coach Daniel Anderson smiling; a Kris Keating pass intended for Hayne hit Ben Smith on the chest before he fell on the crumbs to score.

For the fourth time Canberra surged, the Eels revival lasting all of three minutes before McCrone kicked ahead for himself to score next to the posts for a lead the Raiders would never relinquish.

Anderson was surprisingly positive after the game as he did his best to maintain confidence within his camp.

“I feel we’re in a lot better shape tonight than we were after last week’s loss,” Anderson said in reference to the 11-0 loss to struggling Cronulla.

“We’re not doing what we’re saying we’re going to do – it’s very frustrating.”

Veteran backrower Nathan Hindmarsh – who matched Brett Kenny’s club record of 265 appearances – was equally upbeat.

“Last week was as low as we can go so the boys will take a tiny bit out of tonight’s game,” Hindmarsh said.

“Tonight we showed some tiny glimpses of improvement so that’s a bit of a confidence boost, even though we are cheesed off we didn’t win the game.”

Raiders coach David Furner was pleased with how his side responded after blowing a big lead against Wests Tigers last weekend.

“We had to get the players up after losing that game last week – that was pretty tough for all of us and we worked hard this week,” Furner said.

“I know there was a lot of external pressure on Parramatta, I suppose we’re up in Canberra there and we just go about our business.”