"Soul destroying": Alexander reacts to Parra's horror loss

Following a disastrous result for Parramatta to begin the season, Greg Alexander believes that this loss will be a ‘soul destroying’ one.

After a lot of promise during the pre-season, which included strong wins over the Sharks and the Roosters, Parramatta was brought back to earth in humiliating fashion by the Melbourne Storm.

Despite scoring the first try of the match, the Eels conceded 52 unanswered points to the Storm, seeing them start the season with a heavy loss.

They also conceded 17 errors alongside eight ruck infringements, which prevented them from being able to get their attack going.

Reflecting on the result, Alexander admitted that this result will give coach Jason Ryles a reality check.  

“It’s a soul-destroying feeling for a Parramatta side,” he noted on SEN’s Kick Off.

“They got themselves into a position coming into the off-season where he thought, ‘We are on our way’.

“There had been massive improvements throughout the season, we’ve got a good side that were putting on the field, and then that happens.

“It’s a reality check.”

That would be a sentiment shared by Chad Townsend on SEN League in the aftermath of the match, believing that there are no positives to take from this.

“I look at the scoreline, 52 points to four. Off the back of pre-season, your Round 1 game should be at your freshest, your most focused," he said.

“It’s really baffling to me how they can toss this up in Round 1, and I honestly don’t think there is any positives that you can take out of this game.

“The thing they need to do is sit through this, watch it all back, and then we need to fix it and fix it quickly.”

The Eels will look to rebound from their horror start to the season against the reigning premiers, the Brisbane Broncos.

The match is being played at Suncorp Stadium on March 12.