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Parramatta’s horror run has hit a new low with Ryan Matterson sent off and facing a lengthy ban as the Eels’ NRL season continues to freefall after a 56-10 flogging at the hands of Manly.
With coach Brad Arthur already under immense pressure, the Eels turned in an insipid display against their arch-rivals as they sunk to a fourth straight loss.
The result catapulted Manly above Parramatta in the NRL’s top-four race and the Sea Eagles are now one win behind the Sydney Roosters in fifth but with a far superior for-and-against record.
Tom Trbojevic was again brilliant for Manly with five try assists and a four-pointer of his own, while Daly Cherry-Evans booted the Eels into submission.
Winger Reuben Garrick also finished with a hat-trick, as he overtook Matthew Ridge for the most prolific points-scoring season in the Sea Eagles’ history.
In an end to the game that summed up their current plight, Parramatta spent part of the second half with just 11 men after Marata Niukore was also sin-binned professional foul.
It came after Matterson was marched almost immediately for a shoulder charge that connected directly with Brad Parker’s head.
Parker was flattened but later recovered in the sheds, while Matterson would now likely need a miracle to play again before the finals.
Most worrying for the under-fire Arthur though will be the fact that the Eels were woeful even when they had 13 men on the field.
In their few chances on the Sea Eagles’ line, the Eels either coughed the ball up or kicked it over the dead-ball line on six occasions.
Their only first-half try came through a nice flick pass from Matterson to Tom Opacic to make it 26-4 at the break, before Waqa Blake grabbed one late from a Dylan Brown grubberkick.
But otherwise they completed at just 68 per cent and desperately missed Reed Mahoney’s clean passing out of dummy-half.
They conceded 16 linebreaks and missed 34 tackles, as Cherry-Evans and Trbojevic cut them to shreds.
Manly had scored twice before the Eels even had a play-the-ball through tries to Parker and Garrick, fittingly from a Cherry-Evans grubberkick and Trbojevic cut-out ball.
Jason Saab also scored a try and set up another for Trbojevic, with the latter coming after Cherry-Evans had put him into space with a brilliant cut-out ball.
The highlight of the night from Trbojevic came when he offloaded as he fell close to the line during the second half, putting 18th man Moses Suli over.
It marks the fifth time Manly have put 50 points on a side this season, with their only concern Josh Aloiai being put on report for a shoulder charge.
© AAP
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