Golden Gutherson steps up for Eels in extra time to sink Raiders
Mitchell Moses became the third player in 24 hours to be assisted off Bankwest Stadium with a serious leg injury.
The turf played no part in the injury, and Parramatta’s footing at the top of the NRL ladder looks assured.
That the Eels came from behind, without the Dally M halfback of the year on the field, is a nod to their title credentials a week after pushing the premiers all the way.
It was a victory sealed in the most dramatic fashion. With Moses off the field and nobody else capable of kicking a field goal, Clint Gutherson did the job. With just two minutes and 34 seconds left in extra time, the skipper slotted one straight between the posts.
Up until that moment, the Eels and Raiders had scored exactly the same amount of points in their games against each other over the previous 38 years.
Moses’ injury, suffered six minutes before half-time, wasn’t the only setback they had to overcome. The referees have kept a relatively low profile since the resumption of the season, but Ashley Klein changed all that.
The whistle-blower disallowed a Parramatta try to Marata Niukore, ruling Moses knocked on in tapping back his own kick. It was a close call but replays suggested otherwise.
Clinton Gutherson of the Eels celebrates kicking the winning field goal in golden point time.Credit:Getty
However, there was no doubt Klein dudded the Eels when he missed a blatant forward pass in the lead up to Elliott Whitehead’s try. The movement was spectacular, not least because Jarrod Croker threw the ball at least a metre forward. This was a square-up from the footy gods after the Eels got a fortuitous call a fortnight ago to squeak home against Manly.
The Eels refused to let the bad calls become decisive ones.
Dylan Brown was forced to call the shots solo at the age of just 20. He came up with the right decisions under pressure. Gutherson also led from the front, coming up with a series of clutch plays throughout to seal the result.
It was a brutal battle. Moses is scheduled to go for scans that will determine his immediate future. Josh Papalii, Waqa Blake and Junior Paulo all came off to be assessed for head knocks. While they returned to the field, there are likely to be other casualties unable to back up next week.
All the early running was with Parramatta. They completed their first 10 sets and didn’t need to make a single tackle in their quarter for almost a quarter of the game. And then a Reed Mahoney forward pass from dummy half totally changed the momentum. Josh Papalii strolled over untouched moments later and when Whitehead scored, the Raiders went into the sheds 12-8 up.
Despite Moses watching helplessly from the sidelines, the Eels scored three consecutive tries, to Ray Stone, Michael Jennings and Maika Sivo.
The game appeared over. This is the time when Moses would normally be called upon to manage the final few moments and ice the game. But Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad scored two tries, including a long-range effort with just 91 seconds left on the clock. Jarrod Croker levelled it all up with the conversion to send the game into extra time.
Nathan Brown may have been suspended, but his absence was offset by another lunatic lock. Corey Horsburgh was a stick of gelignite with no wick. Kaboom. When he was pole-axed by three Eels forwards, he was promising to get square before he was even vertical again.
The fiery redhead was later on the receiving end of a tackle from Ryan Matterson. Again he began the counterattack while still on his back. Perhaps upset that his leg was worked over in the tackle, he was in tears as he limped off the field just before half-time.
Just as everyone was warming to the new six-again rule, there was an unexpected controversy. On at least two occasions, the ‘Phantom Bell’ struck. The ding that signifies the restart of the tackle count went off inexplicably, fooling Brown into getting caught with the ball on the last tackle.
There were other odd spots. Officials ruled there was no danger in playing on the Bankwest surface, but both sides bucked convention by completing their warm-ups indoors. While the attrition rate was high, it had more to do with the ferocity of the contact rather than the state of the pitch.