Parramattas free fall continues at the worst time of year

If Parramatta fans felt squeamish watching the blood ooze from a nasty gash to Blake Ferguson’s head, imagine how they will feel on Friday morning knowing their side are in freefall at the worst possible time of the season â€" and about to embark on a horror run home to the finals.

The Eels crashed to a 28-0 loss against the Sydney Roosters in testing and greasy conditions in Mackay on Thursday night.

Brad Arthur’s men are well down on confidence, having lost three of their past four matches, and South Sydney, Manly, Melbourne and Penrith await them in the next five weeks.

Halfback Mitchell Moses is a chance of returning from a broken back next Friday night against the Rabbitohs.

But they could be without prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who lasted just eight minutes on Thursday night before he broke down with a groin injury. Campbell-Gillard was tackled by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and signalled to the sideline to be replaced immediately.

Centre Waqa Blake also failed a head injury assessment while Ferguson’s head was soaked in blood after an accidental knee from Roosters playmaker Drew Hutchison. Fortunately Ferguson was able to be stitched up mid-game and returned in the second half with heavy bandaging and headgear.

“We came here with a good attitude, but we dropped too much ball,” Ferguson said.

“We just need to generate more power through the middle. We didn’t do it from the back field. It’s disappointing to lose like that.”

Club great Peter Sterling criticised the Eels last weekend for being too conservative coming out of their own end. Against the Roosters, they lacked any real ideas when attacking their line.

On the final play before half-time there was nothing happening and Will Smith, one of the Eels’ best, looked stunned when caught with the ball.

Roosters hooker Sam Verrills darts out of dummy-half in Mackay last night.Credit:Getty

Moses will ease some of those problems, but they need a reboot â€" and quickly.

The injury-hit Roosters completed just three of their opening 10 sets, including rare errors by James Tedesco and Daniel Tupou.

But they were patient, worked their way into the game, and were rewarded with tries in successive sets to Josh Morris and Sitili Tupouniua.

Roosters enforcer Victor Radley said despite his side dropping the ball “20-something times”, it was comforting knowing they refused to concede points.

Halfback Sam Walker, whose run started the first try, and also had a touch in the second four-pointer, finished off the Roosters’ third to seal the result a long way out from full-time.

The Roosters had been tackled just twice inside the Eels’ 20m well into the second half.

There will be some concerns for Morris, who hobbled from the field with a hamstring injury midway through the second half. The veteran centre was rushed back into the starting side because of the back line already being decimated by injuries to his twin Brett (knee), Joseph Suaalii (foot), Billy Smith (foot) and Matt Ikuvalu (ankle).

You can only hope the injury does not keep Morris sidelined too long given it is looking more likely the red, white and blue curtain is about to drop on his fantastic career.

The Tricolours, unlike Parramatta, are looking more like heavyweights each week, despite the unbelievable casualty ward.

Tedesco was his normal brilliant self, while Joey Manu confirmed why he is expected to field $1 million offers from clubs such as the Warriors with a busy and classy night, often coming off his right wing looking for work and playing as a second fullback.

Manu scored a long-range try in the final five minutes to make the night even more painful for Eels fans stuck in lockdown watching at home.

Parramatta did get across the line twice through Tom Opacic and Dylan Brown, but the bunker denied them on both occasions.

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Christian Nicolussi covers rugby league for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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