NRL: Eels embarrassed in Penrith

The Eels remain winless after the opening four rounds of the NRL. Photo / Getty Images

Parramatta produced one of the most inept performances in the NRL club's proud history with local rivals Penrith embarrassing the Eels on their home turf with a 39-6 thumping on Friday night.

Without a win in 2012, the Eels were booed from the field as they headed to the halftime break down 23-0, the only thing saving them from similar treatment on fulltime being the fact most fans had already left.

And it was one of their own that did most of the damage, former Eel Etu Uaisele scoring a hat-trick in the seven tries to one rout.

The nature of the defeat is sure to increase pressure on under siege coach Stephen Kearney, Panthers playmaker Luke Walsh having a field day against an Eels defence which resembled a rabble for much of the contest.

The Panthers - themselves embarrassed at home by South Sydney last week - were clinical, though it was hard to judge just how good they were against a team that barely looked up to NRL standards.

Parramatta enjoyed the better of the opening ten minutes - thanks to a series of penalties piggy-backing them out of their own half - but when Uaisele scored his first of the night with Penrith's first crack at the opposition line, the writing was on the wall.

Four tries went up on the board in the space of 13 minutes as Penrith kept attacking the youthful Eels right edge defence, Michael Jennings crossing before Uaisele went over again.

Parramatta knew it wasn't their night when Nathan Hindmarsh - who came up with 52 tackles on the night - was brushed off by Walsh, who passed for Lachlan Coote to make it 22-0 after 26 minutes.

The razzing by the home fans after Travis Burns had added an uncontested field goal on the halftime hooter didn't have the desired affect, with Walsh setting up Brad Tighe for a try seven minutes after the restart.

Ken Sio's fumble to gift Burns a try made it 33-0, Parramatta's only joy of the night coming when Reni Maitua went over under the posts 11 minutes from time before Uaisele celebrated with a salsa dance with his final try on the hooter.

Kearney struggled to offer an explanation for the performance, other than to say his side played like 17 individuals rather than a team.

"I'm a bit lost for words," he said.

"The disappointment for me is we were playing in front of our home fans - the performance was very, very disappointing, and that's putting it mildly.

"The fans deserve a lot better than that."

Asked about getting booed, prop Tim Mannah said: "Yeah it hurt, but I know where they're coming from.

"I can understand their frustration, we're feeling the same frustration."

Asked whether Kearney's job was safe, Eels chief executive Bob Bentley said: "Of course it is, he's the coach of the team.

"There's no reason why it wouldn't be."

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary -who lodged an official protest over the state of the playing surface - was happy with the performance, but would have like even more carnage.

"We got a bit sloppy ourselves ... I thought we were in a position where we could really put them away but we didn't necessarily do that," Cleary said.

"We could have probably driven the knife in a little harder."

- AAP