League: Eels too slippery for desperate Warriors

Eels captain Nathan Cayless gets the pass away in the tackle of Monty Betham. Picture / Fotopress

Eels 38 Warriors 20

PJ Marsh was a key figure in the Eels' win over his old club the Warriors - or he got smashed.

Those were the opposing views of coaches Brian Smith and Tony Kemp after the Eels ended the slim hope Warriors fans held of their team making the finals.

They let in five tries at Ericsson Stadium on Saturday night in a second-half flurry as bad as was the first-half collapse at Penrith the previous weekend, poor decision-making and bad one-on-one defence contributing to some sparkling Eels' attack.

The Warriors' attack was stuttered and error-riddled in the second spell, and it was not until the last two minutes that they added to their halftime score. They lacked precision and accuracy in everything from passing to structure.

The Eels had been equally bad in the first half but got their act together in the second.

Fullback Wade McKinnon benefited from quick hands in the 57th minute, centre Ben Smith beat a broken defensive line in the 60th, Glenn Morrison scored from a quick exchange between three-quarters Timana Tahu and Luke Burt in the 65th and Tahu scored in the 68th.

Substantial numbers in the crowd of 19,211 departed, which was unfortunate, because they didn't see Burt break 90 metres down-field and run around the same distance side-to-side as he waited for back-up, Smith getting his second try and the conversions giving Burt a personal tally of 18 points.

The Warriors scored early through one of their few consistently good players, Wairangi Koopu, and showed enthusiasm with kick charge-downs and their chase.

Captain Steve Price was replaced and within a few plays, Eels' five-eighth John Morris had dropped a kick to Burt for their first points.

Morris was stepped by his opposite Nathan Fien for the Warriors' second try. But then they spilled the ball and Burt scored off a tricky turn-and-pass spin from Tahu.

The Warriors had enjoyed a weight of possession and territory early on and did not convert that to as many points as they should have. Eels wing Eric Groethe robbed Todd Byrne of the ball in a competition for a bomb from Stacey Jones; Monty Betham was twice held up over the line after running from dummy-half; prop Iafeta Paleaaesina got over the line, but hooker Marsh got his forearm under the ball and held it clear: and there were too many knock-ons in opposition territory.

The score remained unchanged for 13 minutes of the second 40. When Parramatta went off, the Warriors could do nothing to stop them. Price described it as "unusual" and felt his team had put in far more effort than they did against the Panthers.

"We were trying our hardest, it was very, very hard to stop."

The Eels enjoyed several repeat sets, a mistake let them in for the first try and they got on a roll, Price said.

It was Marsh who had a hand in many of the Eels' winning plays. And captain Nathan Cayless rallied them well.

Rookie wing Simon Mannering was a target, Brian Smith admitting he'd been surprised when the centre/secondrower started on the flank. Mannering played well but inexperience cost under the hammer of Tahu.

Smith was beaming afterwards. He declared that the win was "tremendous, wild, frantic".

It was the loosest win he'd ever been associated with, too many errors, but his side showed tremendous spirit to withstand the Warriors' attack in the first half then respond in the second.

"For the size of the game tonight, how important it was to both teams, in the first 15 everything seemed to go against us. I don't know how they did it but they hung in."

Eels workaholic Nathan Hindmarsh gave a hint of their pre-game thinking when he said it took "a lot longer for them to crack than what we'd hoped".

And that perception from other teams that the Warriors will crack if pressure is sustained for long enough - it's just a matter of when - will continue to haunt them in remaining games.

Smith said Marsh had been as much a part of the winning points as those scoring them, testing the Warriors with probing runs and picking out the right attackers with his dummy-half passing.

Marsh, cut from the Warriors after taking longer than expected to come back from a serious neck injury, agreed with his coach's assessment that it was his best game since returning to the Eels. He also agreed there was something special in beating his old club, that he'd proved what he wanted to.

"Yeah, it was sweeter. I think each week I'm getting closer to getting back to where I was. I don't want to talk too much about how I left the club, but I'd like to think there are still a few PJ Marsh fans here [at Ericsson Stadium]."

Smith said he believed Marsh wasn't yet back to full confidence but playing his old side had motivated him.

"It seemed to come together better for him tonight. I think PJ can be a big difference for us going forward, I'd like to see him doing more and more.

"He's a special player, he's so tough. He weathered the Warriors front-on in defence and they targeted him and he still sparked in attack - not too many little men are capable of that."

Marsh had "shown what he was capable of ... to one or two people in particular," Smith said in a side-swipe at the Warriors' management.

Kemp's version when asked if there was any regret at the club after releasing Marsh: "No, I don't think so. PJ got smashed a couple of times. He didn't cause any headaches for us. I thought Tahu was the difference."