Parramatta’s charge up the ladder has continued with a beatdown on the Dolphins, delivering a 48-20 thumping to the NRL new boys.
It could have been more than 48, but with the game over after 20 minutes, the Eels put the cue in the rack.
Redcliffe did salvage some pride, winning the second half, with the ever-excellent Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow scoring two trademark long range tries, but their catastrophic first half with the ball – completing just five sets – ended any hope of making this a contest.
Parra, on the other hand, have now won five on the trot and scored over 30 points in all but one of them. They’re warming nicely in the second half of the year.
Mitch Moses recovered from his chastening Origin experience on Wednesday night with a superb showing that shredded the Dolphins’ left edge, while Clint Gutherson further stated his case as one of the most underrated players in the competition, scoring another double and setting up more.
There’ll be greater challenges than this, but the way in which they were able to generate offloads and play second phase footy was exactly what Brad Arthur would want to see. It was that blueprint that took Parra all the way to the decider last year.
“I can sit here and be critical of our second half, but we did the job,” said Arthur.
“We’ve won five in a row and haven’t done that at the club in my time. We were in a bit of a hole at the start of the year in terms of results.
“It sets us up for a nice rest in the bye then we can reassess. We’ve got some big games coming up.”
Wayne Bennett, however, would take the season ending today, with his side now one win from four and the last three defeats by wide margins.
“We had a pretty poor start, we came back in the second half and showed we could do a bit of something,” said Bennett.
“I thought we found something in the second half and it was important we did. I’m pleased we managed to do what we did in the second half.
“They reminded themselves what they’ve got to do to play well. There were a lot of good things in the second half.”
The Parramatta attack has been one of the best in the comp, and even when they were losing, it was always a threat.
They’ve been without Dylan Brown for several weeks now, but Daejarn Asi has stepped in seamlessly, while Moses and Gutherson have hit even greater heights in his absence.
Today was all about the second phase, however. J’Maine Hopgood, Junior Paulo and Bryce Cartwright were exceptional in offloading, which generated the space for the halves to dominate.
Cartwright in particular was the game’s best player in the opening half, and seems to be fulfilling the role that Shaun Lane and Isaiah Papali’i played last year, isolating men in the line and getting the arm free. Moses had a field day as a result.
The question marks remain around how well the Eels can do it against better teams – their slow start and hard draw are what left them outside of the eight until last week – but they’ll be well aware that comps are won in October, not March.
They’re coming into form at exactly the right time and now get a week off, followed by eminently winnable ties with the Warriors and Titans, both at home. Seven in a row, and a late charge for the top four, are not out of the question.
It’s been a good run for the Dolphins in their first year, but any lingering hope they had of making a tilt at the finals ended here. They’re done.
Last time out they copped a battering at Manly, and that could perhaps be chalked up as a bad night. Today, they got another, with the game done well before half time.
There’s not much to add after that: this was one team that frontloaded everything into the first half of the year and is now running on empty, with three players on club debut and others looking like they were playing Queensland Cup not that long ago, which they were.
In truth, this is the Dolphins that we thought we were getting early in the year, and it’s to their eternal credit that it’s taken until beyond halfway through the season for the collapse to come. But it has come, and in a big way.
This defeat edged them into a negative record for the year – seven wins, eight losses – and even if they don’t win again this year, it’ll still be a successful first crack at the NRL.
The fundamentals that delivered them their success seem to have disappeared completely, and it’ll take an almighty effort from Bennett to bring them back midseason.
It’s two Queensland derbies next, with the Broncos and Titans likely licking their lips at facing this version of the Dolphins, followed by the Panthers. Things could get uglier yet.
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