Dylan Brown has no regrets about signing a 10-year, $13m deal to join Newcastle, the club he will play against next week.
But Brown will wake up Friday morning regretting just one passage of play that left the Eels anchored to the bottom of the ladder.
On the final play on Thursday night, and trailing the Dolphins 20-16, Parramatta spread the ball to their left in the hope of a match-winning try.
Mitchell Moses’ long cut-out pass took one bounce and was picked up by Josh Addo-Carr, who set off downfield.
Addo-Carr threw the ball back in-field for Brown, and all Brown had to do was pin the ears back and try and beat Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow in a foot race. He could not, and then bobbled the ball as he was tackled.
That Brown error was not the reason Parramatta lost the game, but it will be a play the playmaker wishes he could have over.
If you wanted to be narky, Brown also bombed a try in the first half when he could have gone with it himself, but threw a ball back in-field for Isaiah Iongi who spilled the ball metres from the line.
The Dolphins looked in trouble when they trailed 12-6 in the second half. What followed was two quick tries, including a long-range effort to Herbie Farnworth.
A contentious crusher tackle on Farnworth by J’maine Hopgood gifted the Dolphins an eight-point lead with nine minutes remaining. Farnworth stayed down, and Hopgood asked what else he could have done. Referee Wyatt Raymond told Hopgood he had a duty of care and should have released his grip to allow Farnworth’s head to slip through the tackle.
Skipper Mitchell Moses kept pleading Hopgood’s case, before Raymond told Moses: “I can only tell you so much.”
Eels coach Jason Ryles said the signs were positive.
“I loved the effort and how hard we fought. We created opportunities, they had to complete at 95 per cent – and play out of their skin a bit – but in the end, we weren’t good enough. We didn’t ice our opportunities.
“An old bloke once told me, ‘the scoreboard is the last thing to change’. There are a lot of things improving out there, the younger players are getting better each week, we’re getting better as a club, and that’s all I can ask.”
As was the case in last week’s game against Cronulla, Parramatta had their chances to win.
Instead, they head to Brown’s future employers in the Hunter next Friday, followed by games against Manly, Penrith and the Bulldogs.
Nothing separated the teams at the break after Sean Russell slotted a penalty goal from 45m out.
The Eels had all the ball and field position in the first 40 minutes, and were fun to watch as they went side to side and regularly caught the Dolphins short in defence.
But the visitors were first to score through Jack Bostock, who was clipped high in the previous set and awarded their only penalty of the half.