Eels blitz Broncos to break record for biggest finals win
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A five-star performance from Eels halfback Mitchell Moses has helped the Eels crush the Broncos 58-0, a new record for a finals game, at their Bankwest Stadium fortress on Sunday afternoon.
The 24-year-old had the ball on a string as the Eels toyed with the Brisbane defence in an 11-tries-to-nil demolition that was also the club's biggest win over Brisbane.
It was also the heaviest defeat suffered by the Broncos and the most points scored by a team in finals history.
The Eels had the ball on a string from the outset while Brisbane's horror afternoon included a sorry string of lowlights, including poor errors and soft defensive lapses.
Brimming with confidence, Moses's highlight reel included an incredible kick for himself to score despite heavy attention from the defence and two switch-back plays where the Broncos shifted to their left before Moses rifled long balls back across-field to create space for Shaun Lane and Maika Sivo tries.
The Eels' propensity to spread it wide and early paid dividends in a round 25 win over Manly and despite Brisbane surely knowing what was coming they were near powerless to slow down the likes of Blake Ferguson, Waqa Blake, Michael Jennings and Sivo, who each had the chance to wind up in open pastures.
Only desperate defence from teen sensation Payne Haas, making a cover tackle in the corner he had no right to make, denied Blake early on after Jennings had already plucked a Moses cross-field bomb from the air to open the scoring.
Match: Eels v Broncos
Finals Week 1 -
home Team
Eels
5th Position
away Team
Broncos
8th Position
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Sydney
Moses's own try followed soon after, with Brisbane paying the penalty for a silly Joe Ofahengaue challenge taking out Moses's legs as he kicked with a fresh set on their own line.
It became three tries in eight minutes as Ferguson made the difficult look easy in the right corner following a Blake break.
A couple of Reed Mahoney errors handed Brisbane brief respite which they brought undone with handling errors and poor kicks before Lane's 33rd-minute try and a stunner from Sivo right on half-time.
Brisbane's afternoon could best be summed up by a 39th-minute last-tackle play – one of their few in the Eels' half – in which two passes hit the ground and they lost 15 metres on the play before Andrew McCullough dropped it as he was tackled trying to kick.
Staring at a 24-0 deficit, Brisbane needed something special to start the second half and when Dylan Brown was placed on report for a crusher on Anthony Milford to kick off a run of three straight penalties but their attacking set started with a Pat Carrigan forward pass.
Instead the Eels poured downfield from the scrum and Sivo bagged his second off a Clint Gutherson cut-out soon after.
Gutherson walked straight through some shocking defence to set up Brown in the 53rd minute and Moses made it 34-0 having missed five goals in what could have been an even uglier margin for the visitors.
Brisbane's season ended in sorry fashion and there were few positives; their attack in the few chances they had was even more clueless than their defence with simple errors and poor passing and kicking denying them any chance of making a mark on the scoreboard.
Ofahengaue landed himself on report for a dangerous shot on Ferguson late in the game and for the second time in the match it cost his team a try as the Eels again charged downfield and Tepai Moeroa rolled over the top of some limp defence.
Moses collects a double as records begin to fall
With eight minutes to play the Eels were pretty much doing what they wanted; Waqa Blake marked the short kick-off and ran 20 metres with several defenders hanging off him and moments later Moses received a scorching pass from Mahoney to stroll over untouched to equal Parramatta's biggest win over Brisbane at 46-0.
The 29,372-strong crowd evolved their "Sivo, Sivo" chant into "we want 50" and the Eels players listened as Brown ran through on his own bomb to snatch the ball for the 10th Blue & Gold try.
Even then the Eels weren't done; James Segeyaro was penalised for a strip with two minutes remaining and Moses' 40-metre touch finder set up one last attacking raid with Daniel Alvaro again embarrassing Brisbane's goal-line defence for a 58-0 final score.
For Brisbane, it will be a long summer of soul-searching with plenty of unanswered questions after producing their worst performance of the year in their biggest game of the year.
Parramatta's prize, such as it is, is a semi-final on Saturday against minor premiers the Storm in Melbourne – the team who handed them the 2019 Telstra Premiership season's biggest beating in round nine with a 64-10 win at Suncorp Stadium.
However it will be a different Eels team coming off their best win of the year.
Moses does it on his own
