The Panthers have suffered a major injury blow just two weeks out from the NRL finals, with five-eighth Jarome Luai dislocating his shoulder in Parramatta’s 32-18 victory on Thursday night.
Four tries to Maiko Sivo — including a first half hat-trick — and two Clint Gutherson tries either side of half-time helped the Eels silence a sold out Panthers stadium of 21,525 supporters.
Tyrone Peachy, Nathan Cleary, Liam Martin and Tom Jenkins all scored for the Panthers, although with three of those scores coming in the final quarter of an hour, they were little more than consolation.
Of greatest concern for the Panthers though will be the availability of Luai for finals.
Luai fell awkwardly on his extended left arm as he attempted to dive over and score a try, with the Eels’ Bryce Cartwright tackling him to hold him up over the line.
The five-eighth immediately left the field and, although Fox Sports reported that the shoulder was put back in the sheds, the 28-year-old will remain a doubt for the rest of the season, with the finals starting in two weeks time.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary described the injury as “decent” and would not be drawn on the severity until his playmaker had undergone scans, but said training staff were “fairly positive about the potential of it”.
“We’ll know a bit more tomorrow,” he said.
“There’s often a lot of injuries at this time of year in and around finals.
“Whatever happens we’ll come up with a plan from there.”
The Panthers looked utterly lost in attack and were easily picked off in defence with Luai off the pitch until the closing stages of the contest, although rested fullback Dylan Edwards will return to boost the team.
“It’s pretty embarrassing to be honest,” a miffed Nathan Cleary told ABC Sport.
“I can’t remember the last time we put in a performance like that.
“We just didn’t win enough moments tonight when things weren’t going right. We didn’t show enough resilience.”
Parramatta though, put their disappointing season behind them with a staggering performance, ending an eight-match Penrith winning run and opening the door for Brisbane to claim the minor premiership.
“I dunno whether to laugh or cry, because we’re going to miss out [on finals] by a game,” Eels coach Brad Arthur told reporters after the match.
“At least we fought to the end … It’s better to finish this way.”
“We came to play,” Eels halfback Dylan Brown told ABC Sport.
“It’s the only thing you can do to finish off a disappointing season, go out with a bang.”
For the second week in a row, Penrith conceded the first points, Sivo burrowing over after just three minutes thanks to a stunning pass out the back from Dylan Brown on the left touchline.
The Eels, although not mathematically out of finals contention, are a near certainty to miss out, with coach Brad Arthur promising “a bit of fight and passion” in the pre-game build up, and his side certainly delivered right from the off.
Parramatta should have had another inside the opening ten minutes, Ryan Matterson dropping the ball over the line under pressure from debutant fullback Jesse McLean.
Daejarn Asi broke through a weak tackle from Moses Leota and offloaded to Matterson, who should have done better.
The Panthers got on the board with a lovely left-side move, finished by Tyrone Peachey but Nathan Cleary uncharacteristically missed the kick.
The Eels struck back immediately, Sivo diving over in the corner for his second.
He was also caught high by teenager McClean, who was put on report for the swinging arm and Parramatta were offered a possible eight-point try.
However, Gutherson missed the sideline kick, settling for the penalty under the posts to give the Eels a 12-4 lead.
Soon though, Sivo had another, a simple move down the left to complete his hat-trick inside 23 minutes.
The Panthers looked to hit back through Luai, but instead lost their inspirational five-eight after Cartwright held him up as he dived for the line, inadvertently falling on his arm and causing the injury.
“He’ll probably get scans tomorrow … I’m hoping he’ll be alright,” Nathan Cleary told ABC Sport.
The Eels are set to become just the second team in the last decade to miss the finals after playing in the grand final the previous year, but continued to dominate through the middle.
Gutherson, who appeared to be struggling with a leg injury, managed to step and slide through to score just before half time.
A stern team talk at half-time saw the Panthers go went 72 metres in the first set only to give away a penalty to erase those gains.
Gutherson scored his second moments later from a Daejarn Asi tap-down off a pin-point Dylan Brown kick to make it a stunning 28-4.
Penrith huffed and puffed in the second half, but lacked the spark to breach the notoriously porous Eels defence until Nathan Cleary pounced on a short goalline drop out to reduce the deficit with 14 minutes remaining.
Gutherson left the field with a right knee injury right after that score, shifting the momentum further towards the two-time defending premiers.
But Sivo nabbed his fourth in the final ten minutes off a well-worked scrum play to seal the victory, even though Martin capped his 100th NRL appearance with a try at the death, followed soon after by another consolation from Jenkins.
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