Heartbroken Parramatta coach Brad Arthur declared near enough is not good enough as the Eels fell desperately short of a breakthrough win in round three of the NRL on Sunday.
Parramatta led 18-16 with six minutes to go against Manly at Brookvale Oval before a last minute Steve Matai try robbed them of their first away win in 21 matches.
The Eels showed they are no longer the same side that secured back-to-back wooden spoons, displaying a steely resolve against last year’s grand finalists after trailing 10-0 at halftime as they bounced back strongly from last week’s 56-4 thumping at the hands of premiers the Sydney Roosters.
That cricket score had brought back memories of Parramatta’s defensive frailties from the past three seasons but their round three performance gave Eels fans reason to believe better days lie ahead.
But after taking over from Ricky Stuart in the off season, former Manly assistant Arthur said there was no such thing as an honourable loss under his regime.
“We tried hard but we need to be better if we want to win games of footy,” Arthur said.
“It is heartbreaking for the players and the fans but at the end of the day we have to pick ourselves up and have a look at why it happened and what we can do to get better and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The Eels’ promising effort, inspired by a double from big winger Semi Radradra to register six tries in three games, was just one of a number of talking points from the NRL’s round three.
Considerable pressure has eased on St George Illawarra coach Steve Price after the Dragons recorded a 3-0 start to the season courtesy of a gritty 14-12 win over the Sharks on Saturday, with Brett Morris’ gravity-defying 40th minute put-down an early contender for try of the year.
“I’m really, really proud of our guys and really proud of the effort and commitment they have shown in the first part of the season,” Price said.
Morris scored a double in the Dragons win to register his 101th career try for the joint venture.
Todd Carney made a promising return from a hamstring injury in his first game of the year for the Sharks.
The match review committee will endure a busy Monday after five players were reported in Wests Tigers’ spiteful 25-16 win over South Sydney on Friday.
Aaron Woods (striking), Tim Simona (dangerous contact), James Gavet (striking), George Burgess (high tackle) and Bryson Goodwin (high tackle) will all have incidents reviewed from a torrid encounter in which Greg Inglis was knocked out in the fifth minute and didn’t return.
Tigers duo Simona and Liam Fulton also left the field as per the NRL’s new concussion rules.
The Roosters scored twice in the last five minutes to secure a 30-26 win over Brisbane on Friday with Ben Hunt starring for the Broncos and Mitchell Pearce laying on a perfect face ball for Boyd Cordner to score the matchwinner in the 79th minute.
At Penrith fullback Matt Moylan landed a sideline conversion after the siren to give the Panthers an 18-16 win over Canterbury.
The Warriors finally notched their first win of 2014 with a nailbiting 20-16 win over North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday night.
Canberra hosted Gold Coast in the late game on Sunday and Newcastle travel to Melbourne for Monday night’s final game of round three.