The Dolphins have overcome an injury crisis, torrid Darwin conditions and their coach’s absence, parlaying a second-half onslaught into a 44-16 NRL thrashing of Parramatta.
The Eels’ loss on Friday night at TIO Stadium will renew concerns about their ability to win without Mitch Moses and to make matters worse, replacement playmaker Daejarn Asi concussed himself in the second half.
He will miss next week’s game against Manly through the league’s concussion policy.
Parramatta have now lost three of four games without Moses and as in their round-five loss to Canberra, they fell in a heap and conceded 40 points after the break.
The undermanned Dolphins ran in eight consecutive tries after halftime, the first five of those in a 14-minute period, to blow the Eels out of the water.
Tom Gilbert, Thomas Flegler, Felise Kaufusi, Herbie Farnworth and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow all missed through injury, with coach Wayne Bennett also remaining in Brisbane with the flu.
But the absences counted for little as the spine put on an absolute clinic, attacking with reckless abandon from distance despite the hot and humid conditions.
Scheming hooker Jeremy Marshall-King helped set the fireworks in motion, twice catching Parramatta’s defence napping by dashing out of dummy-half and setting up long range tries.
Stand-in fullback Trai Fuller grabbed the second of those, having been called into the team from outside of the top 30 squad amid the injury carnage.
The 27-year-old was superb in only his second NRL game but it was difficult to find a player in red who didn’t shine.
Max Plath had a try-scoring double as reward for his support play, while Tesi Niu packed on two tries of his own, the first of those after a beautiful flat pass from Isaiya Katoa.
Breakout winger Jack Bostock finally had results for his first-half effort by completing a hat-trick in the final minutes.
The Eels’ capitulation came after they dominated territory in the first half, but only had an 8-4 lead to show for it.
Halves combination Dylan Brown and Asi were uninspired attacking the Dolphins’ line, appearing fresh out of ideas once Fuller proved he was able to withstand the extra pressure they applied to him.
The Dolphins were patient amid the onslaught and seemed to only become livelier as the conditions wore their opponents down.
Things aren’t about to get any easier for the Eels, who face heavyweights the Sea Eagles, Brisbane and Melbourne in their next three games.