Newcastle has trotted out one of their worst efforts of the year which sees them drift further away from finals contention, while the Eels have all but secured their place in the 2019 finals after downing the Knights 20-14 at Bankwest Stadium tonight.
The scoring opened in the 11th minute when Mason Lino kicked a penalty goal. Some ill-discipline by the Eels was not able to be capitalised upon by Newcastle.
Parramatta responded with a try in the 18th minute when Mitchell Moses put in a shallow cross-field chip. Brad Takairangi leapt up and took the catch before offloading to Clint Gutherson sweeping around and he scored in the right corner. Moses was unable to convert.
The next ten minutes was dominated by Parramatta as Newcastle suffered from their own ill-discipline, mistakes and restricted play in attack. In the 29th minute Moses chipped over the top early in the set and Gutherson flew through unchecked, regathered and then fell over the line for a good try. Moses was again unable to convert from out wide.
The Knights came out after the halftime break keen to get back into the game and after just 3 minutes a Mitchell Pearce kick to the right side finds Mitch Barnett, who took a great catch and scored just to the right of the posts. Lino converted from almost in front.
Newcastle added another try after a magnificent defensive set trapped Parramatta inside their own 10. Kalyn Ponga put up a cross field kick which found Hymel Hunt, who got a miracle offload away to Barnett, who miraculously caught it with his fingertips before passing to Shaun Kenny-Dowall who threaded his way through the cover defenders to score in the corner. Lino converted with a brilliant kick from touch.
In the 56th minute Reed Mahoney scored a crafty rake's try when he linked with Junior Paulo in a slick run around play near the Knights line, before slamming the ball down over the line for a good try. Moses converted to level the scores.
Five minutes later and the Eels took the lead back again when Dylan Brown's grubber was pounced on by Maika Sivo, who scored in the left corner. Moses again failed to convert.
Moses kicked a penalty goal right on full time to seal a scrappy win.