Eels bounce back in style to destroy Knights

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Newcastle Knights v Parramatta Eels

The Parramatta Eels have put the disappointment of last week's loss behind them, bouncing back to beat the Newcastle Knights 39 points to 2 at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.

Despite the hefty scoreline, it was the Knights who got on the board first, with Gutherson kicking a dropout out on the full and Clifford knocking the penalty goal over in the 9th minute.

The Eels wasted no time hitting the front after that, capitalising on a relieving penalty with a Reed Mahoney short ball to Shaun Lane, who trundled his way over the line.

The match was quite an arm wrestle for the next 20 minutes, with Nathan Brown dropping it to let the Knights off the hook and Tuala kicking it dead to give the Eels a 7 tackle set in the 25th minute. 

Five minutes later the Eels finally got on the board again and it was through Shaun Lane once more, this time the lanky back rower got a last second offload away to an unmarked Hayze Perham, who went in for the try.

The Eels posted one more penalty goal before the break, making it a 14-2 scoreline at half time. 

It took the Eels 7 minutes to post their first points of the second half, with Reed Mahoney identifying some slow marker defence to make a 10 metre run close to the line before hitting Dylan Brown (who was playing centre for the day) to crash over for his 3rd of the season so far.

The Eels kicked a penalty goal 5 minutes later, before a poor Clifford kick was fielded on the full in goal by Gutherson, which saw the Eels march down the field easily. Mahoney opted to go short to Papali'i with a crash ball on the last, and it looked like it was going nowhere before the Tigers bound back-rower wrestled his way to the line.

The Eels were back on the attack 5 minutes later, with Moses forcing a dropout that Clifford kicked out on the full. The Eels took the tap, and Papali'i again muscled his way to the line and it was again poor defence from Newcastle.

Simi Sasagi dropped the ball in the Knights next set, giving the Eels another golden opportunity. They took full advantage, with Moses putting in an early kick that Edrick Lee got to first but failed to ground, gifting Will Penisini his first try of the season. 

With 10 seconds to go, Mitch Moses nailed a disrespectful field goal to make the final score 39-2. 

Next week, the Eels take on the Cowboys in Darwin on Saturday night, while Newcastle have it all to do against Melbourne at home on Sunday Arvo.