The Parramatta Eels shaky start to the 2024 NRL season has gone from bad to worse as they went down to a rejuvenated Dolphins side 44-16 in Darwin on Friday night.
Parramatta showed promise in the first half and controlled the majority of the game until the 49th minute, where they held a six-point lead.
From that point, the Dolphins went on a tear and scored eight unanswered tries in the next half-hour of play to walk away with a convincing win.
The loss for Parramatta highlights many worrying concerns for the side but coach Brad Arthur believes his side’s inconsistency could be the root cause of their struggles in 2024.
“What’s wrong with our season is that we are a part-time footy team at the moment,” Arthur said.
“We pick and choose when we want to play and we pick and choose in the 80 minutes when we want to make a tough choice or a soft choice, because that second half wasn’t good enough.”
“It just all got too fast for us and too hard and we gave up, simple as that.
“There’s only a handful of players at this club at the moment that choose to come every week to play with the right mentality and toughness... and want to be an 80-minute footballer and the want to be an NRL player every week.”
The Eels' loss came at their annual home game in Darwin where humid conditions didn’t help their cause, but Arthur was reluctant to put any blame on the weather for the result.
“We didn’t play to the conditions real well and you know what, we spent a lot of time behind our goalposts. We’ve just got to harden up and defend one set.
“I don’t think it was a fitness issue, we are just making some soft choices at times instead of making decisions that are best for their teammates.”
Parramatta now face the tough challenge of getting their season back on track against the Manly Sea Eagles next Saturday afternoon.