Fans vent their disgust as Eels crash to embarrassing loss to Titans
Even two more additions to Parramatta’s bulging casualty ward paled into comparison to the hurt inflicted by the Titans.
A stunning 52-10, nine-tries-to-two thrashing by the Gold Coast had Eels fans leaving CommBank Stadium early and booing their team on the way out.
The visitors even left several tries on the table but still consigned Parramatta to second last on the ladder and easily the worst defence in the NRL (leaking almost 38 points a game). The Titans repeatedly cut an obliging Eels defence to ribbons, none more so than Keano Kini.
His first-half pyrotechnics came with an Origin caveat for hopeful Queenslanders, considering Jye Gray this weekend joined Maroons fullbacks Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh on the sidelines.
Kini is not eligible for Origin after moving to the Gold Coast at the age of 16. More power to New Zealand though as the Kiwi livewire tore Parramatta to pieces.
After Arana Hau opened the scoring, it was all Kini, who simply clicked his heels, spun on the spot and left Mitchell Moses grasping at thin air as he set up AJ Brimson in the 12th minute.
Three minutes later, the Eels’ kick chase was non-existent on a Joash Papalii bomb and Kini obliterated them once more. With several Parramatta forwards stuck running on a treadmill, Kini’s long break had Sialetili Faeamani scoring for an 18-0 lead at better than a point every minute.
The Eels then lost interchange forward Sam Tuivaiti to a heavy concussion when his head was crunched in an attempted tackle. He will join Jonah Pezet, Isaiah Iongi, J’maine Hopgood, Bailey Simonsson and several others on the sidelines when they host Canterbury next Sunday.
Kelma Tuilagi will miss that local derby, too, after a category one HIA in the second half as well.
To think the Gold Coast could have stretched their lead even further, only for a couple of last passes to go awry. Moses finally had Parramatta troubling the scorers via a short side raid – albeit with an undetected forward pass from Tuilagi – that was finished off by Will Penisini.
But just as the Eels surged, their play was still peppered with mistakes and miscalculations.
The very last play of the half, when Penisini backed himself with an ill-advised chip kick from a quick tap, said plenty. So did a fuming Moses, who was left with arms outstretched and a few choice expletives at the set-piece move he had set up being ignored.
Tries to Jayden Campbell and Cooper Bai after the break ensured any hope of a Parramatta revival died on the vine. So too, the rare Eels raid that ended in a breathtaking Titans try, in which Faeamani went from one side of the field to the other to link with Phillip Sami in an 85-metre four-pointer.
From there, a late Josh Addo-Carr try was answered with three more by the Gold Coast as they raised a half-century of points for only the second time in the club’s history. Parramatta would do well to forget this one in a hurry.
Dan Walsh is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.