Dylan Brown stole the show as Parramatta beat Canberra 28-20 in a thrilling contest at Gio Stadium to climb up to fifth on the ladder.
The Eels five-eight played a key role as the visitors snapped the Raiders’ three-game winning streak, scoring two tries and up 153 running metres, six tackle busts and three linebreaks.
Brown’s first try was the pick of the night, as he threw a dummy before bouncing off Raiders big man Josh Papalii and then stepping around Xavier Savage to score.
Dylan Brown was at his best for the Eels in a 28-20 win over Canberra on Sunday
The Eels star’s scintillating footwork had rugby league Greg Alexander gushing with praise in the commentary box.
‘[It’s] not easy to do that [bumping off Papalii] and beat Xavier Savage with another bit of brilliant footwork,’ he said on Fox League.
‘This was all Dylan Brown. There was nothing done on the inside to help him, there was no extra numbers, he had to do all the work himself.’
There were only two tries in the second half and Brown had his fingerprints all over each, first breaking the line for Canberra local Bailey Simonsson to score in the corner and put his side ahead 22-20.
The star five-eight finished with two tries and racked up 153 running metres, six tackle busts and three linebreaks in a scintillating performance
The Raiders led 18-16 at halftime but fell just short of a fourth straight win
But they were home when Brown crossed for his second, benefiting from a huge Shaun Lane line break after their defence absorbed plenty from the Raiders.
Eels’ coach Brad Arthur acknowledged the youngster’s brilliant outing as exactly what he’s capable of.
‘That’s Dyl, he’s a competitor, he competes and scraps and fights for everything, he’s a tough kid,’ he told reporters.
‘The strength is his running game and when our team provides momentum he can he can carry off the back of it […] he can’t do that unless the forwards are rolling the sleeves up.
Mitchell Moses was also in inspired form for the Eels, running the game in the halves
The win marked the first time Parramatta have won back-to-back games this season
Asked what he made of his usually-inconsistent side winning back-to-back games for the first time since round five, Arthur said he was simply impressed they’d stood up to a Raiders’ barrage and only conceded two points in the second half.
‘I’m not worried about winning two matches in a row, I’m more worried about our second-half defence […] [it] was excellent,’ he said.
‘We were courageous on our tryline, I don’t think we had any football down our end of the field […] defensively the desperation was outstanding.’
The win keeps the Eels firmly in the NRL’s top-four hunt, moving to 8-4 for the campaign to stay level with third-placed North Queensland.
Canberra had proved up for the fight and led 18-16, with two tries for Seb Kris and a clever dummy-half dive from captain Elliott Whithead getting them in front.
Kris’ second was particularly fortuitous, Eels’ fullback Clint Gutherson simply gifteing the Raiders the lead by inexcusably dropping a Jack Wighton bomb for Kris to gather.
Sebastian Kris (left) scored two tries for the Raiders, putting them ahead early in the game
Canberra had made the most of limited opportunities earlier, leading despite missing 25 tackles compared with Parramatta’s nine.
Isaiah Papali’i continued his strong form with 143m, while Junior Paulo (142m) and Ryan Matterson (155m) also stayed hot.
The defeat snapped Canberra’s winning streak at three games, and they face another stern test next weekend with the Sydney Roosters headed to town.
Jack Wighton (right) caused Eels fullback Clint Gutherson issues with his bombs
But the fact his side had stuck strong and taken it up to one of the NRL’s genuine contenders encouraged Canberra coach Ricky Stuart his side was on the right path.
‘As disappointed as we are to lose, that was a good game of football that went from end to end and whenever they turn up with that type of effort, we just keep developing into the team we want to get to,’ he told reporters.
‘A couple of line breaks here and there in the second half turned it […] we’re showing we can match it with them and we’re certainly not intimidated by any team.
‘If we can hold on to some combinations now […] we keep those combinations and get some cohesion we’ll just naturally keep improving as a football team.’
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