Eels' season still alive - NRL Premiership - Fox Sports

Parramatta Eels' season still alive after tight win over Brisbane Broncos

August 13, 2010

A desperate Parramatta Eels outfit kept their NRL season alive with an entertaining 30-14 upset victory over a Darren Lockyer-less Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.

Needing to win to keep in touch with the top eight, Parramatta buried their second half fade out against Gold Coast Titans last weekend to hold off the Broncos.

A spectacular individual try by veteran winger Luke Burt in the 72nd minute after he chipped over the head of Brisbane fullback Josh Hoffman stretched the Eels' lead to 24-14 before rookie Anthony Mitchell finished the job with a try on debut in the final minute.

Parramatta's blue and yellow wall hung on desperately in the second half, denying Brisbane forward Sam Thaiday a try with four minutes remaining that would have set up a grandstand finish for the crowd of 38,193.



Parramatta deserved the win with lock Feleti Mateo outstanding in attack along with fullback Jarryd Hayne who scored the opening try and was desperately unlucky not to get a double in the 58th minute.

"We really dug deep," said Parramatta skipper Nathan Cayless whose 217th game as captain eclipsed the previous best by former Penrith and Roosters great Brad Fittler.

"We played to our potential tonight, we've been disappointing.

"We've kept our season alive.

"We played some footy tonight, we'd got away from that a bit."

Hayne's almost try was typically spectacular.

After splitting the defence the fullback angles a clever chip kick past Brisbane opposite Josh Hoffman before regathering the ball and appearing to score a freakish try.

Brisbane winger Antonio Winterstein did his best to stop Hayne from grounding the ball and after numerous looks from various angles video referee Sean Hampstead correctly ruled Hayne had failed to ground the ball.

A try would have kicked Parramatta out to a 24-10 lead but instead, Brisbane scored five minutes later through forward Ben T'eo who cashed in on a great Shane Tronc off-load after he was swamped by four defenders.

Brisbane appeared to miss Lockyer's guidance with stand-in pivot Matt Gillett having a quiet game.



Eels coach Daniel Anderson, who went into the game unaware of rumours the club had sounded out Melbourne Storm assistant Stephen Kearney for next season, praised his players for bouncing back from a poor second half last week against the Titans.

"We're pretty banged up in the dressing room, but we're happy," said Anderson who made special mention of Cayless's record as the most capped captain of a club.

"Caylo (Cayless) has broken a record in the history of the game, it's not a little milestone, it's 112 years to be the longest serving captain of one club."

Cayless, who was proud of the way his players dug in to keep their season afloat, said his teammates just kept turning up for each other.

"Personal milestones are things you reflect on when you're retired, which is not too far away," said the Kiwi international.

"It was just relieving to get a win and stay alive.

Brisbane coach Ivan Henjak had few excuses.

"They were good, they were desperate but we didn't execute some things," he said.

"They were better than us."