One club joined the list of dead men walking and the other took a step to avoiding the wooden spoon on Friday night when Parramatta Eels upset New Zealand Warriors 30-20 in front of another sold-out crowd at GO Media Stadium.
Missing Mitchell Moses and with just one win from their last 12 games, Parramatta dominated the Warriors in a crushing win as three tries in the last 10 minutes flattered New Zealand.
The Warriors, meanwhile, welcomed back halfback Shaun Johnson while Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad came back into fullback with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck shifted to the wing.
However none of these men or fellow big name Addin Fonua-Blake could spark their team in a must-win fixture.
But an ugly accusation has taken the gloss off the match when in the 47th minute, Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak accused Eels forward Joe Ofahengaue of a “squirrel grip”.
Watene-Zelezniak held his groin after a tackle and pointed angrily at the Eels players after he was tackled in a three-man tackle.
Replays appeared to show nothing illegal in the tackle but referee Todd Smith asked if Watene-Zelezniak wanted to make an official complaint.
He put the incident on report after Watene-Zelezniak pointed out the alleged perpetrator and seemed to insist he had been grabbed below the belt.
The match review committee chose to take no action against Ofahengaue due to a lack of evidence but that didn’t stop Manly prop Josh Aloiai from labelling him a “grub” for his apparent actions.
“Joe doing what he does best,” Aloiai posted. “Grub.”
It was an unsavoury moment in what was otherwise a strong performance from the under-fire Eels, who now move four points off the bottom of the ladder.
Eels skipper Clint Gutherson praised his team’s performance after surviving an onslaught in the opening 20 minutes.
“We kept defending, defending, and they were the first ones to crack. The last few months we haven’t taken opportunities. Tonight, 90 per cent of passes stuck,” Gutherson said.
“If we can play like that it’s going to be a fun last five weeks.”
However, it wasn’t what the home crowd of 23,812 fans would have been looking for after selling out Go Media Stadium every game so far this season.
Coach Andrew Webster lamented his team’s errors, one-on-one defensive misses and lack of resilience.
“It’s been all year, it’s frustrating. We haven’t shown our potential … it’s just not good enough,” Webster said.
“I feel like we dropped our bundle.”
Despite languishing three points out of the Top-8, Webster insisted the Warriors’ season isn’t over.
“Four games, four wins, see what happens. Bye to finish. We haven’t made it easier but we won’t be giving up.”
