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Matterson marched in woeful night for Eels

3 minute read

The pressure has increased on Brad Arthur after his Parramatta side were flogged 56-10 by Manly and Ryan Matterson was sent off for knocking out Brad Parker.

BRAD ARTHUR.
 BRAD ARTHUR. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Image

Parramatta's horror run has hit a new low with Ryan Matterson sent off and facing a lengthy ban and the Eels' NRL season spiralling out of control with a 56-10 flogging from 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, with the Sea Eagles one win behind the Sydney Roosters in fifth but with a far superior for-and-against record.

The Eels meanwhile are now sixth, with games against Melbourne and Penrith still to come.

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 claimed a hat-trick, as he took his points-scoring tally for the year to 268 and above Matthew Ridge's club record.

Symbolic of their current plight, Parramatta spent part of the second half with just 11 men after Marata Niukore was also sin-binned for a professional foul.

It came after Matterson was marched for a shoulder charge that connected directly with Brad Parker's head in the 62nd minute.

Parker was flattened but was later standing in the sheds, and while Arthur labelled it an accident, Matterson will need a miracle to play again before the finals.

"He is a bit sick, a bit sore," Manly coach Des Hasler said of Parker.

"It's a short turnaround (into Friday's game against Canberra) but at this stage, I'd say it might be difficult."

Most worrying for Arthur though will be the fact that the Eels were woeful even when they had 13 on the field.

They either coughed up the ball when pressing the Manly line and also kicked it dead 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.

But otherwise they completed at just 68 per cent and desperately missed Reed Mahoney's service 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 grubber kick and Trbojevic cut-out ball.

Arthur admitted afterwards he knew further heat was coming on his position, and said it was now his responsibility to turn the Eels around.

"Our start, we look like we're down on belief. We couldn't afford to start like that," Arthur said.

"A penalty two tackles into the game. I just don't think we're calm in defence at the moment.

"It just snowballed out of control."

Jason Saab also scored a first-half 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 just the third time in history a team has scored 50 five times in a season, with Manly's only concern Josh Aloiai being put on report for a shoulder charge.

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