The Eels celebrated Brad Arthur’s milestone match with a dominant win over the Bulldogs in the annual King’s Birthday fixture.
Parramatta blew the Bulldogs off the park in the 34-12 victory, as Arthur became the most-capped coach in Eels history with 244 matches in charge of the Blue & Gold.
Halfback Mitchell Moses was magnificent with two try assists and ten points, while “King” Clint Gutherson scored a sensational first-half hat-trick.
NRL Match Highlights: Bulldogs v Eels
Daejarn Asi made two try assists in an impressive Eels debut, while Reagan Campbell-Gillard completed a successful return from a groin injury.
The result marks Parramatta's third consecutive victory and puts them just one premiership point behind eighth-placed Manly, who the Eels face on Saturday.
The Eels set the tone early on, opening the scoring after Mitchell Moses forced a drop out.
Daejarn Asi’s cross-field kick could not be cleaned up by the Bulldogs, and Clint Gutherson was on hand to scoop up the ball and touch down. Moses’ conversion handed the Eels an early 6-0 lead.
Gutherson scores the first
Gutherson made a tremendous try-saver soon after, but it would only delay the Bulldogs as Matt Burton opened their account shortly afterwards.
The remainder of the first half was one-way traffic, as the Eels ran in three unanswered tries before the break.
Gutherson scored his second try in the 22nd minute when he lurked on the inside to latch onto a clever Moses pass and slice through the line.
Gutherson on the inside
Minutes later, the Eels co-captain combined with Moses once again to complete his terrific first half hat-trick.
Moses split the Bulldogs’ defence on the halfway line and put the foot down before finding Gutherson in support, who evaded Reed Mahoney en route to his third try of the afternoon.
Clint scores a King's Birthday hat-trick
With Moses kicking four goals from four attempts, the Eels took an 18-point lead to the sheds.
Parramatta showed no sign of slowing down when the second half commenced, as they registered their fifth try in the 50th minute.
Moses fired a pass down the shortside to Bryce Cartwright, whose wonderful offload sent Will Penisini charging towards the try line out wide.
Penisini makes it five
The Bulldogs pulled one back when Hayze Perham slipped through, but the Eels ended any hopes of a comeback when the NRL's leading try-scorer Maika Sivo strolled over at the end of a backline play for his 16th of the season.
Sivo scores his 16th of the season
Moses converted from out wide to stretch the Eels' lead to 34-12.
Up by 22 points with less than 10 minutes remaining, the Eels could easily have slipped into complacency.
Instead, the Blue & Gold showed great desire until the full-time siren, highlighted by Mitchell Moses' chase and try-saving tackle on a runaway Jacob Preston.
Moses makes a magnificent cover tackle
The Bulldogs looked to have scored a consolation try at the death through Josh Addo-Carr, but the winger was unable to apply the finishing touch and the Eels emerged 22-point winners.
The Eels will look to continue their strong run of form in Saturday's match-up with the Manly Sea Eagles at CommBank Stadium.
