Eels play ‘dumb’ footy in defeat
PARRAMATTA coach Brad Arthur has labelled his side “dumb” after their woes were compounded by a 17-10 loss to North Queensland last night.
A Blake Ferguson blunder allowed the Cowboys to snatch the come-from-behind win, however the Eels winger was hardly to blame after George Jennings fired an ill- advised pass to him on his tryline.
Jennings, playing his first game of the year and getting his call up after Maika Sivo was suspended, would have loved his time over as he attempted to spread it to Ferguson on a kick return, only for the Eels star winger to spill it. From the next playthe-ball, Cowboys centre Tom Opacic ploughed over to break a 10-10 deadlock with five minutes remaining; a Jordan Kahu field goal then sealed a valuable two points for the spluttering Townsville side.
Arthur didn’t mince his words when asked where his side lost it, saying they lacked composure and blew what few attacking opportunities they had in the second-half.
“I was proud of our effort but we had a chance to win that game,” he said. “We let ourselves down at the back end with some moments we didn’t get right. The Eels were much improved following their 62-10 thumping to Melbourne last week, but now look set to fall out of the top eight this weekend.
COWBOYS 17 (M Scott, K Feldt, T Opacic tries; J Kahu 2 goals, field goal) def EELS 10 (B Takairangi, J Hoffman tries; M Moses goal).