The Dragons were way too good for the Eels back in Round 10 in a match that was notable for being former Raiders custodian Josh Dugan’s first game in the Red V.
It was prop Trent Merrin who made the early inroads though, strolling through some flimsy Parramatta defence just 90 seconds into the contest.
After failing to capitalise on one or two chances the Eels were shortly back up their own end and watching second-rower Ben Creagh go through untouched after some good lead-up work from halfback Nathan Fien on the 20-minute mark.
A laser cut-out ball from pivot Jamie Soward for winger Dan Vidot put the Dragons up 16-0 shortly afterwards, then an almost identical play – a long Soward pass to Vidot – earned the same result 10 minutes later to make it 20-0 at halftime.
Needing to score first after the break, the Eels instead watched Dugan soar above several defenders to claim a Soward cross-field kick and earn his first try in red and white and a 26-0 lead.
Shortly afterwards he was involved in another of the match highlights when he found himself in space with just Hayne to beat, only for his opposite number to pull off a crunching one-on-one trysaver.
The Eels finally got on the board with three-quarters of the game gone when a Joe Paulo short ball put Chris Sandow through a gap allowing Peni Terepo to score.
After being denied a double by the video ref, Dugan soon scored a double anyway when he latched onto a Fien kick into the corner.
Another Paulo short ball led to another Terepo try inside the last five minutes but it wasn’t enough to stop the Dragons running out handsome winners.
