Parramatta Eels

The battle of the west headlines Friday Night Footy this week and the red-hot Panthers face an Eels side smarting from a heavy loss to the Cowboys last ...

It’s not like the match went down to the very last second! Keep an eye on smh.com.au for the match report from the great Adam Pengilly lobbing very soon. That’s it for the blog tonight, thanks for logging in.

Penrith have lost their first home game in almost three years after Parramatta upset their western Sydney rivals.

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad's return to the Canberra side was somewhat short-lived, taken from the field with a leg injury in the second half, while Josh Papali'i remained on the field after appearing to hurt his leg. From the next play Kikau was able to kick for Taylan May to score, with the powerful second-rower also putting his winger over with a deft ball early in the second half. And suddenly when Dylan Edwards let a Mitch Moses bomb bounce on the next set and Dylan Brown chased through to score, Parramatta led 22-14 and victory was in sight. Leading 14-10 with with 18 minutes to play and after dominating the second-half tug-of-war, the Panthers made an uncharacteristic mistake with James Fisher-Harris putting the ball down on halfway after a set restart. In doing so Parramatta became the first team to beat Penrith at the ground since Canberra in July 2019, a time when lockdown-inducing pandemics were a thing for Hollywood movies. With coach Ivan Cleary watching on from his hospital bed with an infected knee, the Panthers gave up a 14-10 lead with 15 minutes on Friday night to go to suffer their first loss of the season.

One of the most impressive winning runs in NRL history has come to an end, as the Eels stunned the Panthers...

Penrith were back on even terms right on the bell after a brilliant grubber from Viliame Kikau to winger Taylan May, but it was the build up that was the talking point at the break. The game couldn't have started much worse for Parramatta - they lost their challenge within a few minutes of kick-off after a Hayze Perham error was reviewed, and things didn't get much better for the winger as he was steamrolled by Dylan Edwards for the opener shortly after. Penrith, impenetrable at home for nearly three calendar years and undefeated in the NRL in 2022, were stunned by a Parramatta side who fought fire with fire in the forwards, and did enough with ball in hand to come away with a 20-18 victory.

The battle of the west headlines Friday Night Footy this week and the red-hot Panthers face an Eels side smarting from a heavy loss to the Cowboys last ...

It’s not like the match went down to the very last second! Keep an eye on smh.com.au for the match report from the great Adam Pengilly lobbing very soon. That’s it for the blog tonight, thanks for logging in.

Watching from his hospital bed, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary saw his team lose their first home match in three years in a controversial but thrilling derby.

From the next play Kikau was able to kick for Taylan May to score, with the second-rower also putting his winger over with a deft ball early in the second half. And when Dylan Edwards let a Mitch Moses bomb bounce on the next set and Dylan Brown chased through to score, Parramatta led 22-14. It took the visitors just four minutes to capitalise, with Gutherson putting Ryan Matterson through a hole to give the Eels an unlikely lead. Leading 14-10 with with 18 minutes left and after dominating the second-half tug-of-war, the Panthers made an uncharacteristic mistake with James Fisher-Harris putting the ball down on halfway after a set restart. "I said to the players after the game, in nine years now I think it's the proudest I have been in my time at the club," Arthur said. It marked the Panthers' first loss of the season, in a ferocious western-Sydney derby that was not without controversy and came down to a missed Nathan Cleary two-point field goal in the final minute.