Parramatta coach Jason Ryles punched a wall in the coach’s box as Mitchell Moses did his State of Origin selection hopes no favours in his side’s 32-12 loss to the Rabbitohs on Thursday night.
Both teams were firing in attack early but Parramatta leaked two quick easy tries in the game when Cody Walker caught Mitchell Moses napping to score a rare try and Euan Aitken waltzed through for a soft four-pointer.
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Parramatta coach Jason Ryles had steam coming out of his ears in the coach’s box, throwing his radio on the ground and whacked the wall with his first, leaving a fairly visible dent.
“Jason Ryles filthy. Just threw the radio and punched a bit of the wall there,” Cooper Cronk said on Kayo Sports.
“He knows that’s soft defence for the two tries from South Sydney.”
Commentator Andrew Voss said: “Parramatta do miss a lot of tackles on both tackles. It’s an alarming start for some of the individuals on the team.
“Fourteen-and-a-half minutes in and the coach loses his you-know-what but with good reason. Individuals missing tackles.”
“Jason Ryles did that first 40 pretty tough in the coach’s box,” Yvonne Sampson said at halftime.
It got worst for the Eels, conceding a rare eight-point try when Parramatta’s Sean Russell kicked Tallis Duncan in the face while attempting to tackle him over the line.
The Bunker ruled: “Sean Russell makes a deliberate action to kick at the ball. He strikes Tallis Duncan in the face in a tryscoring circumstance.”
“Jason Ryles doesn’t want to watch,” Voss said as Ryles was spotted with his head in his hands in the coach’s box.
Duncan had a blinder for the Rabbitohs, saving a certain try with a huge tackle, setting up a Edward Kosi try before scoring one himself.
“He will be a very good player for South Sydney for a long time,” Cronk said.
In his 250th game, Moses was exposed defensively by Walker when the veteran Bunnies five-eighth caught Moses napping and jogged through virtually untouched to score his second try.
“That’s just bad defence,” Cronk said.
“When you’re four on four and the ballplayer has got to the outside shoulder of the backrower Kelma Tuilagi, you just can’t open up that passage.
“Someone like Cody Walker will sense it, when there is space to run he will take the opportunity.”
Cronk said: “The thing that sums up Parramatta is they miss more tackles than anyone else in the game, and they don’t break enough tackles at all with the ball in hand.
“Both sides of the ball are quite ineffective. That’s been the story tonight.”
Moses’ performance won’t help his case to keep his spot in NSW’s No. 6 jersey for the State of Origin decider, with calls for Ethan Strange to return to the starting side.
“Mitch Moses had an usually really poor night in defence with his decision making,” Matty Johns said on his Thursday night show on Kayo Sports.
Eels great Nathan Hindmarsh said: “Both those Cody Walker tries he slid out when he didn’t have to and he left his inside man stranded.”