Round 11
Panthers 30 d. Eels 20

2006 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Panthers comeback to beat Eels
Fri May 19, 2006
The woes for Parramatta have continued losing their 4th successive match going down 30-20 against Penrith earlier tonight at CUA Stadium in front of 16,764 people. The match wasn't short of controversy with inform Eels fullback Wade McKinnon suffering a lip laceration and suspected broken after he received a forearm from Panthers prop Matthew Cross when he scored in the second half. McKinnon was immediately rushed off the field and taken to hospital.

Parramatta's loss broke the tradition of teams winning on the rebound after getting a new coach mid-season with the last two clubs to have new coaches during a season in the Warriors and South Sydney both coming up trumps. It wasn't to be for Taylor and despite the loss he found positives in the performance.

Taylor said, "Having said that it's a bit of a fairytale for me at the moment and I know I'll be grounded in a few weeks if we don't sing the victory song in the dressing room after the game. We can build on that, definitely, we'll get some players back next week and ... we will get better."

Parramatta raced out to an early 10-0 lead and it looked like they would explode free from the shackles of Brian Smith's style of coaching. Young winger John Williams scored first in corner after four minutes and that was backed up with Fui Fui Moi Moi crashing over four minutes later.

The steam wore off the Eels and Penrith grinded their way into the match scoring the next four tries through Luke Priddis (22nd), Rhys Wesser (27th), Michael Gordon (33rd) and Priddis again in the 38th minute to push the score out to 22-10.

Parramatta received a slice of luck right on the stroke of halftime when Frank Puletua was penalised in possesion for an incorrect play the ball. The Eels went for the try and was rewarded when captain Glenn Morrison scored. Brett Delaney's conversion brought Parramatta within six points at the break.

The second half was a match that never got going with the quality of football. Campbell landed a penalty goal in the 45th minute to push Penrith's lead out to eight points and the game just simmered along until drama erupted in the 65th minute.

Parramatta players all match complained about the running style of Cross who leads with the forearm when he carries the ball, much like former Newtown, Canterbury and Penrith enforcer Peter Kelly did during his fine playing career. However, the rules have changed when it comes to contact with the opponent and Cross could find himself in a lot of trouble as he made contact with McKinnon's jaw. Morrison pleaded with referee Steve Clark to have a look at the video referee only to be given a stern warning about his conduct and leadership by the referee.

Morrison after the match said, I was next to him and he led with the elbow. I asked the ref if I could speak to him but he didn't really want to. I said to him I'd already spoken to him during the night about them leading with the elbow on another occasion.

"I asked him to have a look at it and at least put it on report because we'd lost a player and an interchange, but he didn't want to know it. Then he finally said there was a head clash. I was there, it wasn't a head clash.

"I don't think we have another $10,000 to keep commenting on things, I'll leave it at that."

Penrith coach John Lang when asked about the incident said, "He's obviously hit him with his arm but I didn't think there was anything malicious in it from what I could see on the screen, so everybody can make their own judgement."

Daniel Wagon scored right on fulltime to bridge the gap to ten points. However, the match will only be remembered for the one incident.

Even though the Eels have had a change of coach, the blame the referee culture that was famous under Smith was still apparent in the Parramatta camp. The Cross incident was 50-50 and it does cover up the fact as Phil Gould pointed out in the commentary that the Eels looked extremely unfit.

The decision to sack Smith in November last year and keep him for the 2006 season ensured that everything at Parramatta this year would be done with 1% less intensity than what it would be in any other circumstance. Parramatta's season is on the ropes with only two wins, eight losses and a bye from the opening 11 rounds but it's not all lost as they still have a class side on paper and plenty of depth.

Penrith weren't overly impressive but any victory during the Origin period is always a good one, especially considering halfback Craig Gower was unavailable. Preston Campbell went well at halfback, Luke Lewis was extremely impressive in his 100th first grade match playing five-eighth and Luke Priddis played another outstanding match scoring two tries. Matthew Bell on debut at the age of 24 looked the goods and made some strong impact.

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