Eels too slippery as Storm fades

PARRAMATTA have taken advantage of an Origin-depleted Melbourne line-up to post a 22-6 victory in their NRL match at AAMI Park.

With the competition-leading Storm missing six of their stars, the Eels benefited from having no State of Origin representatives to book their fourth successive win and consolidate their top eight berth.

The Eels burst out of the blocks last night and raced to a 16-0 lead, with halfback Mitchell Moses orchestrating their attack and it proved to be too big a margin for the home side to peg back.

After an early try to Parramatta winger Bevan French, Melbourne winger Suli Vunivalu was sent to the sin bin in the 11th minute.

He was penalised for a professional foul as he tried to slow down the play after a Semi Radradra break and in his absence the Eels scored through Moses.

They quickly sent the ball wide through five pairs of hands and French kicked across field, with Moses winning the race to the ball.

Less than a minute after Vunivalu returned, the in-form Radradra dived across in the corner.

The Storm’s night got worse when they lost centre Cheyse Blair, who appeared to re-injure the ankle that kept him sidelined for almost a month.

Eels skipper Tim Mannah was also an early casualty because of concussion.

Melbourne finally landed on the scoreboard just before halftime when Vunivalu made a break and then showed his skills by grubbering a ball infield for young fullback Jahrome Hughes to dive on for a 16-6 scoreline.

The second half was much more of an arm wrestle, with former Manly prop Nate Myles, in his first match in Storm colours, in the thick of the action.

But gun Parramatta fullback Clint Gutherson put the nail in the coffin when he scored in the corner in the 70th minute and converted his own try.