NRL: Final chapter a horror read

Nathan Cayless. Photo / Getty Images

There aren't many fairytales in sport, but rarely do they turn into the nightmare former Kiwis prop and Parramatta Eels skipper Nathan Cayless has had to endure in his farewell to the NRL.

In the pre-season analysis of this year's NRL, many expected the captain of the side would be leading his team to fight it out for this year's title. However, Cayless' career will instead come to an end in a whimper at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday night with his side out of finals contention.

The Cinderella run to last year's grand final must seem like a lifetime away to Cayless, whose playing days come to an end with every achievement in the game ticked off - except for a premiership.

"You don't always get a fairytale," Cayless said after Friday night's 24-16 loss to South Sydney, which finally quashed any hope the Eels may have had of sneaking into the top eight.

"We've only got ourselves as players to blame - the coaching staff and everyone involved with the club has prepared us hard every week. It's very frustrating if you look at the players we have. It's probably an attitude thing I suppose.

"You've got to work hard every week at training and play hard for every minute of every game and we haven't done that this year, so we've just got ourselves to blame."

Barely half an hour had passed after the loss to the Rabbitohs that the post-mortems were already under way, with coach Daniel Anderson admitting the club was in need of at least one more playmaker next year to complement holdovers Daniel Mortimer and Jeff Robson.

Mortimer struggled through a horrendous case of second-year blues while Robson's rhythm was upset with his constant shuffling between halfback, hooker and five-eighth.

The Eels options appeared limited after veteran halfback Brett Kimmorley this week decided to hang up the boots, leaving Anderson to ponder the prospect of improvement coming from within.

"We have to improve our skill level over the summer. We have to improve our passing, our kicking, lots of the basics of the game," Anderson said. "We defended with a great deal of motivation but we have struggled to score points."

Asked whether his side fell victim to expecting the same Jarryd Hayne-inspired late push that propelled last season's dramatic charge, Anderson said: "I don't think we rested on our laurels, I don't think we trained any lighter or we weren't as committed.

"But I've sensed that we thought it will happen and we haven't earned enough rewards. "

South Sydney's finals fate remains undecided as they wait on a host of other results.

- AAP