League: Playoff hopes slip away with defeat

NZ Warriors 12 Eels 20

The Warriors' brief flirtation with the playoffs was virtually snuffed out last night when they ran into a dogged Parramatta Eels side with their own top eight ambitions.

Although few people had expected at the start of the season that the Warriors would be among the contenders, especially after they were stripped of four points for a salary cap breach, it was almost within their grasp a fortnight ago after four wins in a row.

Most at Warriors HQ were singing from the same songbook and refused to talk about playoffs but underneath it all, they knew exactly what they needed to do.

The mathematicians will point to their calculators and say it's still possible but Ivan Cleary's side will realistically need to win all six remaining games to be in with a chance. It would take a trek through the history books to find a streak of six straight wins.

The Warriors were strangely off-colour last night and the biggest shame was that it was in front of their best crowd of the season. Maybe it had been helped by the number of former Kiwis playing in the curtainraiser but most of the 14,499-strong crowd were there to see a Warriors side that seems to have turned the corner after a couple of quiet seasons.

Cleary can talk about the fact he's building for 2007 and, while it looks promising for next season, fans would have loved for the Warriors' 2006 ride to continue. After being down 14-0 after only 15 minutes, they fought back to set up an exciting finish but simply couldn't find a way through with their season on the line.

The signs were ominous when Brent Webb was ruled out just before kickoff, not having recovered from a corked muscle in his hip picked up in the golden-point loss to the Bulldogs.

It not only robbed the Warriors of one of their best players, it also robbed the game of the much-anticipated match-up with the fullback who will replace him next season, Wade McKinnon. The Eels custodian made one good break and was largely safe as the last line of defence.

He saw his side race out to an early lead after the Warriors gifted the Eels two tries in the opening 10 minutes when first Manu Vatuvei and then Simon Mannering coughed up the ball to flying winger Jarryd Hayne.

Hayne hasn't needed any help finding the tryline of late - he scored four tries against the Knights last weekend and has now touched down eight times in three games.

When Nathan Hindmarsh crashed over five minutes later to extend the lead to 14-0, the Warriors had hardly seen the ball. They came back into it when Steve Price scored his fifth try of the season after spinning in the tackle and, while they threatened on a couple more occasions, the good work was undone when Luke O'Dwyer scored in the 38th minute.

The Eels found great success attacking the home side's left-hand defence of Mannering and Vatuvei and it was down this side that all four Parramatta tries were scored.

Perhaps realising their season was on the line, the Warriors tried desperately to get back into the game after trailing 18-6 at halftime. They dominated territory and possession and narrowed the gap to 18-12 when Grant Rovelli rounded off a move that featured a great Mannering offload in the 53rd minute.

Mannering was held up over the line soon after but a combination of terrific Eels defence and poor Warriors handling continued to frustrate the home side. Their effort could not be questioned but they lacked quality when it counted and there was a sense they would just fall short.

As the hooter sounded at the end of the game, fans headed to the gates disappointed. Parramatta had kept their season alive. The Warriors' condition, however, is all but terminal.

Warriors 12 (S. Price, G. Rovelli tries, T. Martin 2 gls)
Eels 20 (J. Hayne 2, N. Hindmarsh, L. O'Dwyer tries, J. Hayne, M. Riddell gl).
HT: 6-18.