"I just think we wanted to win. That desire to win, as long as you have that winning attitude you'll be good."
The Warriors will now prove a formidable opponent for Brisbane next Sunday. Having clawed their way into the top eight with a last-second win over Penrith in the final round, Stacey Jones' side had already upset the Roosters and the minor premiership-winning Knights before tonight's heroics.
A confidence side, few would have wanted to run into the Warriors after they discovered that winning feeling. Three straight road trips seemed as if they had taken their toll in a sloppy second half but, given a sniff, the Warriors seized their chance to add another chapter to a dramatic season.
That drama seemed unlikely to eventuate early on, as the Warriors took complete control of proceedings in a dominant first half that owed as much to Parramatta's mediocrity as it did their own ability. Having already been denied an early try due to a forward pass, the Warriors soon struck with a double blow through Lisone and Adam Tuimavave-Gerrard.
The Warriors were showing much more physicality than they managed in a pair of losses to the Eels earlier in the season but their opponents had a huge hand in allowing such supremacy. Simple errors were continually proving the Eels' undoing, with handling mistakes and ill discipline resulting in a woeful 7/16 first half completion rate.
They were also dropping off tackles in defence, missing 18 in the half, and the outstanding Mason Lino took advantage of one such lapse to grab his side's third. The Warriors were hardly flawless themselves, and one mistake allowed Zach Dockar-Clay to force his way across the line, but any vulnerability in defence went largely untested by the Eels.
Worryingly for the Warriors, however, the roles reversed immediately after halftime, with mistakes combining to give John Folau and the Eels a lifeline. The tide had turned - now it was the Warriors failing to complete their sets - and another Eels try seemed inevitable, coming when Halauafu Lavaka easily out-jumped the defence.
The Warriors' forwards were visibly starting to tire and, running out of interchanges to compound the problem, Kelepi Tanginoa gave Parramatta their first lead of the game. Josh Aloiai appeared to seal the result 10 minutes later but that only set the stage for the frantic finale to come.
Junior Warriors 29 (S. Lisone, A. Tuimavave-Gerrard, M. Lino, K. Robinson, T. Lolohea tries; M. Lino 4 cons, dg)
Junior Eels 26 (Z. Dockar-Clay, J. Folau, H. Lavaka, K. Tanginoa, J. Aloiai tries; N. Davis 3 cons)
HT: 19-6
