Almost exactly a year after their record-breaking defeat in the final, the Brisbane Broncos are on the verge of a new low – the wooden spoon – which was once again beaten by the eels at Bankwest Stadium.
An ankle injury that ousted star second rower David Fifita from the field early in the second half and landed Parramatta prop Junior Paulo in the dispute added to Brisbane’s pain in the 26-12 defeat.
Paulo came in to tackle the busy striker but helped make him fall awkwardly in what appeared to be an accident. The eels will have to wait nervously to see if the frontrower is hit with a dangerous hip drop contact charge.
However, trainer Brad Arthur insisted that Paulo had no case to answer.
“There’s not much in there, is there? It shouldn’t even have been a punishment,” Arthur said at his media conference.
“It’s not a punishment. What should he do? No way. That wasn’t the description of the hip device.”
Parramatta was nowhere near as clinical as they were when they pulled out 58-0 12 months ago and didn’t fully find their groove, but the win keeps the team in the top four.
Fullback Clint Gutherson set up the opening attempt for Blake Ferguson and scored two four-point points in the first half to lay the foundation for a triumph in Ryan Matterson’s 100th game.
The Eels have averaged 12 points per game since round 12 and couldn’t score a try against Penrith last week. So the comfortable result is a timely boost before the final in a fortnight.
“It was a step in the right direction, it was better,” said Arthur.
“I thought we were trying to play a lot more football. We played a nice power game there for a while. In the second half it would have been nice to take some of those opportunities, but we have to appreciate that.” the Broncos – they were brave. “
Brisbane remains at the foot of the ladder with just three wins alongside the Bulldogs, who upset South Sydney on Thursday, but because of a far worse difference.
The Broncos have to beat the Cowboys next week and hope Canterbury lose to the Panthers at the top of the ladder so as not to come last for the first time in the history of the Powerhouse Club.
For the visitors, who already lacked Payne Haas’ support for family reasons, things went badly when Tyson Gamble was confronted with the fifth eighth in the first minute.
After Gamble was knocked out, Kotoni Staggs moved to fifth, Richie Kennar took his place in the middle and Xavier Coates got off the bench and onto the wing.
Sivo plays soccer in dry weather in driving rain
After an initial arm wrestling, winger Ferguson crossed his second attempt of the season in the 21st minute thanks to a nifty pass from Gutherson.
Winger Maika Sivo scored after flying on a long ball from Mitchell Moses before the Broncos hit back through a raging Fifita that ran down the Eels halfback.
It wasn’t long before Parramatta took control again and Captain Gutherson brought the steeden to the ground after noticing a distraction from his own step on the cultivator.
And the “King” immediately grabbed his double in the shadow of half-time, drew a curved line out of a scrum and cut between Herbie Farnworth and Corey Oates.
Farnworth takes a boyd kick
Fifita’s injury didn’t prevent the Broncos from landing the first blow of the second half over Farnworth, but Eel’s five-eighth field collected an idiosyncratic Issac Luke pass in the 49th minute and shot 55 yards in the final goal.
Arthur wanted to give Gutherson, who was running 186 yards, a solid break towards the end, but he only managed to lift it off in the last few moments.
“We had seven players playing every game – Gutho played every game, every minute,” said Arthur.
“I can’t get him to train for a minute. But that’s Gutho – that’s what his teammates mean to him, that’s what the club means to him.
“He just has to keep being Clint Gutherson. I think he’s doing a fantastic job for us. His lead has improved and the game is getting better.”
